Blockchain & Digital Assets

July 5, 2024 @ 4:04 pm By JD Alois  |  

FATF [Financial Action Task Force ] met last month and provided a brief update on the global association’s attempt to reign in the cryptosphere. FATFA established the “Travel Rule” while the US held the chair of the group. This rule requires buyers and sellers of… Read More

July 5, 2024 @ 3:41 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Consensys announced the acquisition of Wallet Guard, a user-centric browser extension, security dashboard, and security engine that protects users’ wallets, digital assets and data from theft, scams, and fraud. Through this acquisition, Consensys intends to “integrate Wallet Guard’s capabilities to further bolster MetaMask, the world’s… Read More

July 5, 2024 @ 8:28 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The European Banking Authority (EBA) issued new Guidelines on the so-called ‘travel rule’, i.e. the information that should accompany transfers of funds and certain crypto assets. This rule will help tackle “the abuse of such transfers for money laundering and terrorist financing purposes.” The Guidelines… Read More

July 5, 2024 @ 8:25 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Banque de France (BDF) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) are pleased to announce their collaboration relating to wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC). The BDF and the HKMA have been “maintaining a close partnership in promoting financial innovation.” The latest collaboration is… Read More

July 4, 2024 @ 11:25 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Bitcoin Suisse has removed the crypto custody fee on USDC holdings, effective immediately. This move follows a collaboration with Circle, the issuer of USDC, announced in January 2024. The partnership aims to expand USDC liquidity in Europe “by maximizing its usage across all Bitcoin Suisse… Read More

July 4, 2024 @ 5:29 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

QED, the zk-Native blockchain protocol, announced it has raised $3 million in a funding round led by Arrington Capital with participation from several venture capital firms and companies including Starkware, Draper Dragon, Blockchain Builders Fund, Lbk Labs, Paper Ventures, Valhalla Capital, Edessa Capital and Anagram… Read More

July 4, 2024 @ 4:48 pm By JD Alois  |  

Tokenization platform Tokeny says it has added IOTA EVM to its list of supported distributed ledger technologies. The IOTA Foundation supports a blockchain that is “open, feeless, and scalable distributed ledger, designed to support frictionless data and value transfer.” The ecosystem aims to emerge the… Read More

July 4, 2024 @ 1:27 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The former Solicitor General Paul Clement, who had previously represented the Loper Bright fisherman in the SCOTUS Chevron case, has reportedly filed an amicus brief on behalf of the nascent crypto and blockchain sector in Custodia Bank‘s appeal versus the Federal Reserve. Notably, Paul Clement… Read More

July 4, 2024 @ 1:26 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

On Friday, June 28, 2024, Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia appeared to have struck a major blow to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler’s “regulation-by-enforcement” campaign being carried out against secondary crypto-asset… Read More

July 4, 2024 @ 10:21 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Chainlink announced a collaboration with Fidelity International and Sygnum to bring Net Asset Value (NAV) data onchain. In this landmark production use case for tokenized assets, the collaboration provides transparency and accessibility “around key asset data for Sygnum’s recently issued onchain representation of Fidelity International’s… Read More

July 4, 2024 @ 10:19 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Miguel Buffara, Lead Financial Engineer at RACE, recently commented on how RWA tokenization is enhancing investment processes for HNWIs. Miguel Buffara from RACE explained that it could be beneficial to tokenize real-world assets for various use-cases. Buffara also shared details about RACE and the impact… Read More

July 4, 2024 @ 9:31 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Paul Grewal, Chief Legal Officer at Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), confirmed via social media that Coinbase has responded to the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) effort to block “reasonable discovery” from SEC Chairman Gary Gensler in a case that it—not Coinbase—chose to file. Democracy, as well… Read More

July 3, 2024 @ 9:02 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

In support of a more efficient DeFi market, HTX Ventures, the global investment arm of the cryptocurrency exchange HTX, has announced an investment in RedStone. RedStone is reportedly one of the “fastest-growing” modular oracles in 2024 “that delivers diverse, high-frequency data feeds to EVM Layer1,… Read More

July 3, 2024 @ 3:50 pm By JD Alois  |  

IOTA, a blockchain ecosystem, has funded the I3-Lab at Imperial College London. IOTA has provided £1 million to support the research facility. According to the firm, the college is also providing additional funding. IOTA seeks to advance highly scalable distributed ledger technology (DLT) for Web3… Read More

July 3, 2024 @ 10:04 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Elliptic’s crypto AML (anti- money laundering) service will reportedly aim to enhance compliance for global crypto exchange, Gate.io. Gate.io, a virtual currency exchange and Web3 innovator, recently announced it has enlisted Elliptic, the provider of blockchain analytics and investigative solutions, to strengthen its compliance program…. Read More

July 3, 2024 @ 9:30 am By JD Alois  |  

In commenting on a rule adopted this week pertaining to Registered Index-Linked Annuities and an amended registration form to accommodate these offerings, SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda slipped in a note about his opinion as to how crypto or digital asset offerings may be managed going… Read More

July 2, 2024 @ 12:38 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Paxos, the regulated blockchain & tokenization infrastructure platform, received full approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for its Singapore entity, Paxos Digital Singapore Pte. Ltd. to “offer digital payment token services as a Major Payments Institution.” The approval enables Paxos to “issue stablecoins… Read More

July 2, 2024 @ 12:36 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Circle, a global financial technology firm and the issuer of USDC and EURC, has announced that it has become the “first” global stablecoin issuer to achieve compliance with the European Union‘s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework. This achievement was reportedly enabled “by the company’s… Read More

July 1, 2024 @ 4:40 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a sign of trust, the US Marshals Service (USMS), which happens to be part of the US Department of Justice, has selected Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) to help it manage its digital assets, which come from seizures and forfeitures. While one part of the federal government… Read More

June 30, 2024 @ 10:28 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Real-World Asset Tokenization: A Game Changer for Global Trade, a new paper released by Standard Chartered and Synpulse, predicts that demand for overall tokenized assets could reach USD 30.1 trillion by 2034, and that trade finance assets “could become one of the top three tokenized… Read More