Blockchain & Digital Assets

September 25, 2024 @ 7:15 pm By JD Alois  |  

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler took a bit of a beating yesterday during a House Financial Services Committee hearing. The gathering also included all other commissioners which provided an opportunity to hear opposing perspectives held by the Republican minority. The hearing memo… Read More

September 25, 2024 @ 7:24 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) commenced Phase 2 of the e-HKD pilot program and is expanding Project e-HKD to explore new forms of digital money. The HKMA in Hong Kong revealed on September 23 that it officially began Phase 2 of the e-HKD Pilot… Read More

September 25, 2024 @ 6:53 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Circle has recently announced the initial availability of a completely new suite of product, which is being referred to as Compliance Engine, and it is described by the stablecoin issuer as a new service that aims to “help companies build onchain while meeting rigorous demands… Read More

September 24, 2024 @ 5:25 pm By JD Alois  |  

Caroline Ellison, once the CEO of Alameda Research, the hedge fund affiliated with FTX, has received a two-year sentence for her involvement in the failure of the once-popular crypto exchange. FTX collapsed into bankruptcy following a “run on the bank“-like event as investors pulled money… Read More

September 24, 2024 @ 3:16 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and Digital Asset report that their digital security pilot has succeeded. The two entities partnered on the US Treasury (UST) Collateral Network Pilot. This project sought to utilize distributed ledger technology (DLT) applications to support market connectivity across… Read More

September 24, 2024 @ 1:14 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Polytrade, which claims to be a leader in RWA tokenization, announces its strategic partnership with Anotherblock, a platform focused on facilitating the buying and selling of fractionalized music rights through NFTs. This partnership sees Polytrade assume responsibility “for royalty distribution, further positions the business at… Read More

September 24, 2024 @ 11:38 am By Omar Faridi  |  

In response to growing institutional demand, Fireblocks has launched an integration with Lido to provide easy and secure in-platform access to Lido’s liquid staking protocol and stETH token. Users can now stake their ETH, receive rewards, and “use stETH for on-chain activities, including Fireblocks Off… Read More

September 24, 2024 @ 8:17 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Bank of Canada is reportedly halting its plans to roll-out a central bank digital currency (CBDC) to the nation’s businesses and consumers. A digital economy supported by innovations like central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) could help with streamlining digital transactions but some nations like… Read More

September 24, 2024 @ 8:03 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Kraken announced the closing of the Coin Meester B.V. (BCM) acquisition, which is said to be a key element in their European growth strategy. With the acquisition of BCM, one of the Netherlands’ oldest registered crypto brokers, Kraken have expanded their Dutch footprint and enhanced… Read More

September 23, 2024 @ 6:00 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

CI recently caught up with Tyler Adams, CEO and Co-founder of COZ, a software firm in the blockchain sector providing various products to s support Web3 development. In addition to his efforts to combat counterfeiting, Tyler is part of the lobbying group Stand With Crypto,… Read More

September 23, 2024 @ 6:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

Representative Patrick McHenry, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Senator Cynthia Lummis have sent a letter demanding the Securities and Exchange Commission rescind Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 121.  The bicameral letter has been signed by 42 members of Congress. Both Lummis and McHenry… Read More

September 23, 2024 @ 12:32 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Abra, a global platform for digital asset services, announced it has partnered with Praxis, the first network state, to collaborate on real world asset tokenization, as well as DeFi services to network states, including those created on the Praxis platform. This partnership marks the launch… Read More

September 23, 2024 @ 12:31 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Ownera, a provider of tokenization interoperability networks based on the open FinP2P protocol, and Fnality, a financial market infrastructure bringing together the safety and institutional quality of central bank money with the functionality and resilience of blockchain technology, have announced a strategic partnership. This collaboration… Read More

September 23, 2024 @ 10:58 am By JD Alois  |  

Switzerland-based digital asset bank Sygnum has received approval to operate under the Token and Trusted Technology Service Provider license from Liechtenstein’s financial services regulator, the Financial and Markets Authority (FMA). The license positions the bank to operate under the European Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations…. Read More

September 23, 2024 @ 8:41 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Frankfurt am Main Public Prosecutor’s Office – Central Office for Combating Internet Crime (ZIT) – and the Federal Criminal Police Office ( BKA ) have shut down 47 exchange services hosted in Germany that were “being used for criminal purposes.” These were platforms on… Read More

September 23, 2024 @ 8:34 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Boerse Stuttgart Digital provides crypto infrastructure to DZ BANK, giving cooperative bank customers access to cryptocurrencies Safe and easy access to regulated cryptocurrency trading and custody services for retail customers. This is said to represent a key milestone for mass crypto adoption in Europe. As… Read More

September 22, 2024 @ 7:21 pm By Michael Wong  |  

HSBC has successfully tested the use of quantum-secure technology for the buying and selling of tokenised physical gold, marking a significant advancement in protecting critical financial applications from potential future quantum computing threats. This milestone is part of HSBC’s ongoing efforts to safeguard digital assets… Read More

September 22, 2024 @ 9:14 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Borderless Capital, a Web3 investment manager, has launched its third DePIN-focused fund, a $100 million fund designed to accelerate the growth and development of Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN). The DePIN Fund III is backed by prominent investors, “including peaq, Solana Foundation, Jump Crypto, IoTeX,… Read More

September 22, 2024 @ 8:34 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Crypto.com, which claims to be trusted by more than 100 million customers worldwide and the industry leader in regulatory compliance, security and privacy, announced this past week that users in the U.S. can add PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) as a payment method to fund purchases of cryptocurrencies…. Read More

September 22, 2024 @ 8:31 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The US, Indonesia and Turkey are leading the crypto and blockchain markets with 33% of RWA crypto interest, according to a report from CoinGecko. CoinGecko notes in its report that the country most interested in crypto Real World Assets (RWA) is “the US, which accounts… Read More