Blockchain & Digital Assets

October 19, 2023 @ 10:00 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Binance Academy, the “open-access” blockchain and Web3 learning hub, has joined forces with Blockchain Center, an independent non-profit research laboratory that fosters blockchain talent development through education, research, and development worldwide, to expand their joint blockchain education program globally. Now branded as the Global University… Read More

October 19, 2023 @ 9:45 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dismissed the charges, with prejudice against Ripple principles Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen. This is according to an X (Tweet) distributed by lawyer James Filan and reposted by Stuart Alderoty, Chief Legal Officer at Ripple. Alderoty stated: “The… Read More

October 19, 2023 @ 7:31 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Ava Labs is accelerating its push in India with key strategic hires: Devika Mittal and Kamakshi Arjun, who will focus on the firm’s growth in the Indian market. Before joining Ava Labs, Devika was “the Head of Token Listings for Okcoin (in the OKX umbrella),… Read More

October 19, 2023 @ 9:08 am By JD Alois  |  

Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), the second largest crypto exchange in the world, has announced a new office in Dublin, Ireland as its European Union headquarters. The EU has approved digital asset regulations under the MiCA law or Markets in Crypto Assets. The new regulations are being implemented… Read More

October 18, 2023 @ 11:09 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision published a consultative document to follow on from its prudential standard on the treatment of crypto-asset exposures, finalized in December 2022. Disclosure of crypto-asset exposures “proposes a standardized disclosure table and set of templates for banks’ crypto-asset exposures with… Read More

October 18, 2023 @ 7:19 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Zodia Custody, an institution-first digital asset custodian whose shareholders include Standard Chartered, SBI Holdings and Northern Trust, is launching SAF3, the real-time digital asset custody platform in Australia, designed for institutions. SAF3 has been built by institutions for institutions, and will be “launched in Australia… Read More

October 18, 2023 @ 10:59 am By JD Alois  |  

While a decision is not yet final, the European Central Bank (ECB) has entered the “preparation phase” to issue a digital Euro. The ECB has been ruminating on the pros and cons of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for some time now. This most… Read More

October 18, 2023 @ 9:58 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) is reporting that Germany will become a Regional Talent Hub, “marking another key milestone in our international expansion strategy.” In 2021, Coinbase claimed that it had become the first crypto company “to receive a crypto license from BaFin.” This license, for crypto custody… Read More

October 18, 2023 @ 7:25 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The US division of crypto exchange Binance has reportedly suspended withdrawals of dollars by its customers from the digital asset platform (as per the firm’s updated terms shared on Monday). In June of this year, Binance.US decided to halt US dollar deposits, following the US… Read More

October 17, 2023 @ 9:32 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Digital asset investment products saw inflows for the 3rd consecutive week totaling US $15m, although trading volumes remain 27% below the 2023 average, according to an update from CoinShares. CoinShares also revealed in its report that Bitcoin saw $16 million inflows last week, “bringing the… Read More

October 17, 2023 @ 5:02 pm By JD Alois  |  

Figure has completed $16 billion in blockchain native lending transactions since 2018. The data point was shared by founder Mike Cagney, who was responding to a LinkedIn post that said the world is five years away from broad-based utilization of tokenization having any volume or… Read More

October 17, 2023 @ 4:49 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) is working to update the financial system that was built over 100 years ago by using crypto to provide people with more economic freedom and opportunity. To advance this purpose, Coinbase is building what it claims it the most “trusted” crypto products and… Read More

October 17, 2023 @ 2:59 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

OKX Ventures, the investment arm of crypto exchange and Web3 technology company OKX,  announced the participation in last year’s Series B for Celestia Labs. Celestia is described as “the first modular blockchain network, meaning developers can use Celestia as a base layer for consensus and… Read More

October 17, 2023 @ 11:53 am By JD Alois  |  

MiCA, or markets in crypto assets regulation, was approved by the European Union earlier this year. The aim is to provide regulatory clarity for digital assets in the EU. Today, the European Markets and Securities Authority (ESMA) has issued a statement cautioning crypto investors that… Read More

October 17, 2023 @ 8:50 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Binance Labs, the venture capital and incubation arm of Binance, which is being sued by US regulators for a wide range of issues while also dealing with major operational challenges, has invested in Initia, a network designed for highly interwoven modular rollups. The platform enables… Read More

October 17, 2023 @ 8:42 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Tether, the largest stablecoin company in the world, reaffirmed its commitment to working closely with law enforcement agencies across the globe to combat cryptocurrency-funded terrorism and warfare. To date, Tether has “aided 31 agencies worldwide with investigations across 19 jurisdictions, freezing a total of $835… Read More

October 16, 2023 @ 11:23 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Latin America has the seventh-largest crypto economy of all regions Chainalysis studies. it is not far behind MENA, Eastern Asia, and Eastern Europe. Its position compared to other regions has “held relatively steady over the last two years.” Latin America shows the highest preference “for… Read More

October 16, 2023 @ 9:56 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Sygnum, the digital asset bank, has generated additional CHF multi-billion client demand by complementing its core regulated digital asset offering with traditional securities. As noted in an update from Sygnum: Market traction due to clients’ ability to combine crypto and traditional assets conveniently, simply and… Read More

October 16, 2023 @ 5:19 pm By JD Alois  |  

Binance UK will stop accepting new users as of today (Monday, October 16, 2023). The announcement follows the denial of approval for a third party to provide marketing services to the UK iteration of the world’s largest crypto exchange. This month, the UK Financial Conduct… Read More

October 16, 2023 @ 4:59 pm By JD Alois  |  

BlackRock has denied reports that its Bitcoin ETF has gained approval. Expectations that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will grudgingly approve an exchange-traded product for a spot Bitcoin fund have helped to drive prices higher of BTC in recent days. Initial reports of an… Read More