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Qtum launches new website with DeepSeek integration Qtum $QTUM, an open-sourced public blockchain project, has launched a new official website that integrates with the Chinese large language model (LLM) DeepSeek. Earlier this week, Qtum founder Patrick Dai announced via X that the "DeepSeek model will online this Friday."

Bitcoin reserve legislation moves to House floor vote in Montana U.S. non-profit, the Satoshi Action Fund, reported via X that the U.S. state of Montana’s strategic Bitcoin ( $BTC ) reserve legislation has passed the committee stage, and now moves forward for a House floor…

Bitcoin’s bull run is going to continue as fundamental stars start to align. That’s according to analysts at research and brokerage firm Bernstein, who said on Monday that investors should be prepared for the next leg of the bull rally in Bitcoin and equities related to the alpha crypto. Bitcoin Has More Room To Run Bernstein analysts Gautam Chhugani, Mahika Sapra, and Sanskar Chindalia believe that the current bull market started in Q4 of 2023 following the anticipation of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund approval in the United States, driving the price of BTC from $25,000 levels to past $46,000 by the time the funds started trading on Jan. 11, 2024. According to Bernstein, the massive inflows into the spot ETFs created the next tailwind. Their unprecedented success was not priced in, and Bitcoin skyrocketed to a record high of about $74,000 before the bulls took a temporary break. Finally, the victory of pro-crypto Donald Trump in the November presidential election further spurred the next huge bullish impulse following his campaign promises to make the U.S. the world’s crypto capital and establish a national Bitcoin stockpile. At the time, Bitcoin hit its historic high of $108,786 on Trump’s swearing-in day. “The next leg of the Bitcoin bull market is loading up with a confluence of several positive catalysts,” the analysts wrote. They think that the Crypto Task Force, led by Trump’s AI and crypto Czar David Sacks, will deliver the National Bitcoin Reserve with the directive of the president. Other Bitcoin Tailwinds That Could Drive Prices Higher In 2025 Bernstein strategists further added that Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund purchasing Bitcoin via the exchange-traded funds was bullish for the foremost crypto. Moreover, the new Trump regime recently announced a sovereign wealth fund (SWF). They also highlighted Strategy’s (formerly MicroStrategy) recent $742 million BTC purchase, taking its total stash to 478,740 BTC, worth around $45 billion at current market prices. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s repeal of SAB 121, a move that now allows crypto custody by banks, and strong year-to-date Bitcoin ETF inflows of nearly $5 billion are other catalysts noted by Bernstein. “The confluence of adoption by banks, institutional investors, corporates and eventually sovereigns (directly or via sovereign funds) is positioning Bitcoin as the clear challenger to gold,” the report said. “With Bitcoin at $2 trillion market value vs. $18 trillion market value of proven gold reserves, we see asymmetric upside for Bitcoin.” The Bernstein analysts have previously forecasted that the Bitcoin price would be valued at $200,000 per coin by the end of this year.

SEC waiting for Atkins to be confirmed as SEC Chair prior to dealing with lawsuits Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett reported via X that according to multiple legal sources, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is prioritizing cases with impending court deadlines,…

Non-fungible token (NFT) giant OpenSea has halted its newly introduced airdrop reward system following widespread criticism from its user base. The move comes after concerns were raised regarding the platform’s experience points (XP) system, which users claimed encouraged wash trading, prioritized fee generation, and failed to support builders within the ecosystem. XP System Paused OpenSea launched the beta version of its upgraded marketplace, OS2, on January 28, introducing a points-based mechanism to determine user eligibility for an upcoming airdrop of its native token, SEA. However, community backlash quickly followed. Many argued that the XP system was flawed and did not align with the long-term sustainability of the NFT space. In response, OpenSea co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer announced that the platform would be pausing XP rewards for listing and bidding activities. Acknowledging the strong sentiments surrounding point-based reward systems, Finzer stated that while liquidity incentives remain important for a competitive marketplace, OpenSea is taking a step back to reevaluate the best approach. “We’ve heard the feedback on the current XP system, and we’re putting a pause on XP given directly for listing and bidding. While we don’t think liquidity rewards are inherently bad, we understand that there are a lot of strong emotions towards point systems, and that the NFT market as a whole is in a unique spot right now. we’re building OS to support this space long term, so we’re pausing this part of the rewards program while we think through the best path forward.” Instead of continuing with the criticized XP system, OpenSea will focus on “XP shipments,” a newly introduced mechanism that aims to reward broader participation in OS2. Users who engaged with the beta version early and provided feedback via Discord have already received the first round of shipments. A second round is now being distributed to users who have purchased NFTs on OS2, with additional XP multipliers for those holding assets from top-volume projects for over three months. OpenSea Data Breach The latest controversy comes a month after a report revealed that 7 million email addresses were leaked during OpenSea’s 2022 data breach. The breach involved NFT marketplace’s email service provider, exposing the emails of industry professionals, including Binance founder Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao. Security expert “23pds” warned that the leak could further endanger the privacy and assets of crypto users. OpenSea initially disclosed the breach in June 2022 and attributed it to an employee of its vendor, Customer.io. However, the full extent of the leak only surfaced last month which left users vulnerable to scams and malicious attacks. The post OpenSea Halts Airdrop Reward System Following Community Backlash appeared first on CryptoPotato.