Blockchain & Digital Assets

April 7, 2024 @ 9:19 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Xoom, PayPal‘s (NASDAQ: PYPL) cross-border money transfer service, announced that U.S. users now have the option to fund money transfers to friends and family abroad using USD converted from PayPal USD (PYUSD), a U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoin2. Rolling out to customers in the U.S. starting now,… Read More

April 6, 2024 @ 2:14 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

OKX Ventures, the investment arm of Web3 technology company OKX, is pleased to announce its participation in the seed funding round of UTXO Stack, a modular BTC Layer 2 blockchain launch platform. The seed funding round was reportedly co-led by ABCDE and SNZ, with OKX… Read More

April 6, 2024 @ 1:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) together with seven central banks has recently announced plans to join forces with the private sector to explore how tokenisation can enhance the functioning of the monetary system. Project Agorá (Greek for “marketplace”) reportedly “brings together seven central banks:… Read More

April 6, 2024 @ 12:12 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Following a nine-day trial, a jury in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has found Terraform Labs PTE Ltd. and its former CEO, Do Kwon, guilty of defrauding investors in crypto asset securities. The verdict comes after the Court’s… Read More

April 6, 2024 @ 12:09 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Swift announced the findings of the second phase of industry-wide sandbox testing on its central bank digital currency (CBDC) interlinking solution, with the results showing that its connector can enable financial institutions to carry out a wide range of financial transactions using CBDCs and other… Read More

April 5, 2024 @ 2:18 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) says it has officially been registered as a Restricted Dealer by the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA). This move reportedly makes Coinbase the largest and first international cryptocurrency exchange registered in Canada. This milestone, following their formal launch in August 2023, reinforces their commitment… Read More

April 5, 2024 @ 2:15 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

OKX has released a report titled ‘Unlocking the Infinite Potential of Crypto and AI.’ The research report from OKX explores “the convergence of AI and crypto, a major trend in the current market cycle that is giving rise to new applications and innovations encompassing areas… Read More

April 5, 2024 @ 12:57 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Celo Foundation and Rarible introduce Celosphere, a new NFT marketplace powered by RaribleX and platforming digital ownership aligned with the Celo community’s mission of creating prosperity for all. Built on Celo, an emerging Ethereum Layer-2 and mobile-first blockchain network, the Celosphere provides creators “with… Read More

April 5, 2024 @ 10:55 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Chainalysis is marking its 10th year of operations this spring, and they’re reflecting on how far they’ve come with their clients and how the’re continuing to evolve with the rapidly changing ecosystem. Chainalysis notes in a blog post that the market revival we are experiencing… Read More

April 5, 2024 @ 9:45 am By Michael Wong  |  

Ellipsis Labs, a player in the development of on-chain exchange technologies, has announced raising a total of $20 million in its Series A funding round. The round was led by Paradigm, with significant contributions from Electric Capital, highlighting strong investor confidence in Ellipsis Labs’ potential… Read More

April 5, 2024 @ 9:35 am By JD Alois  |  

ZA Bank, one of the first regulated digital banks in Hong Kong, is now supporting stablecoins. Stablecoins are digital assets tied to another asset. Typically, this means fiat currency like the US dollar or Euro, but they can also be tied to other assets like… Read More

April 5, 2024 @ 6:04 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Umbrella Network is joining forces with Arthera, marking a step forward in enhancing blockchain usability. This partnership underscores a shared commitment “to reducing entry barriers and catalyzing growth within blockchain opportunities.” Layer 1 blockchains have evolved, “offering better scalability and decentralization. However, the persistent challenge… Read More

April 4, 2024 @ 1:47 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

CertiK has released its latest report, entitled Hack3d: The Web3 Security Report for Q1 2024. Hack3d is described by CertiK as being the industry’s most comprehensive record of statistics and analysis of on-chain security incidents. According to a blog post by CertiK, the research report… Read More

April 4, 2024 @ 12:52 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) clients are not really interested in crypto-assets, according to recent statements from the firm’s Chief Investment Officer. As reported by the WSJ, even following the considerable surge in prices of Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies as well as the involvement from other TradFi… Read More

April 4, 2024 @ 10:28 am By JD Alois  |  

A new report states that digital asset trading hit an all-time high in March. According to information provided CCData, Spot and derivatives trading volume on centralised exchanges rose 92.9% to a new all-time high. The report shares that trading topped $9.12 trillion in March. The… Read More

April 4, 2024 @ 10:09 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Wyoming-based digital asset bank Custodia will continue its efforts to obtain access to a Federal Reserve master account. Wyoming is a digital asset-friendly jurisdiction. A Federal Reserve master account is an account in which a Reserve Bank allows banks or credit unions to use the… Read More

April 4, 2024 @ 9:48 am By JD Alois  |  

Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain LightLink has closed on a $6.2 million seed round, according to a note from the company. The funding came from MH Ventures and NxGen as well as several “high-profile individual crypto investors.” LightLink aims to provide dApps and enterprise users with… Read More

April 3, 2024 @ 10:28 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Matrixport, which claims to one of the leading digital assets ecosystems, recently unveiled its new prime brokerage service, Phoenix Prime. This breakthrough offers the first unified access “to the crypto market, featuring a tech-enhanced trading infrastructure with minimal microsecond latency, and a quant-driven, capital-efficient system… Read More

April 3, 2024 @ 8:23 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Sumsub has teamed up with Mercuryo, a global payments infrastructure platform, to publish a detailed update for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), titled “Mastering Travel Rule Compliance”. The update reportedly covers everything businesses in “the digital token space need to know about the Travel Rule… Read More

April 3, 2024 @ 5:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

While everyone understands that securities will inevitably become digital, policymakers have been slow to provide an ecosystem to support the nuances intrinsic to the transition from analog. Eventually, digital securities will become the dominant sector of digital assets, and clear-cut rules are needed. Today, the… Read More