Blockchain & Digital Assets

March 29, 2023 @ 9:26 am By Omar Faridi  |  

MakerDAO, which claims to be the longest-standing DeFi lending protocol and creator of DAI, the original, “decentralized” stablecoin, has announced the approval of the Maker Constitution. Succeeding in a Governance Poll on the MakerDAO forum, The Maker Constitution will gradually “change the operations of MakerDAO,… Read More

March 29, 2023 @ 8:38 am By Omar Faridi  |  

ZEBEDEE, a payments processor, has announced an overhaul of how users can move money across the world. The upgraded feature for borderless transactions showcases “the power and potential of global, friction-free and currency-agnostic payments and represents a significant improvement and simplification of how anyone can… Read More

March 28, 2023 @ 9:49 am By JD Alois  |  

This past week, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission filed an enforcement action against Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ). The lawsuit comes as no surprise to industry followers as Binance is the largest crypto exchange globally and represents a fat target for regulators. The… Read More

March 28, 2023 @ 8:34 am By Omar Faridi  |  

CoinShares, Europe’s digital asset investment firm, is announcing the launch of two  zero management fee Crypto Index ETPs: CoinShares Physical Top 10 Crypto Market ETP & CoinShares Physical Smart Contract Platform ETP. These two products will be “listed on German’s main market Xetra.” Both ETPs… Read More

March 27, 2023 @ 10:48 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Strike, which claims to be the world’s leading digital payments platform built on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, announced the launch of fast, secure, and low-cost money transfers from the U.S. to Vietnam, “further expanding its revolutionary cross-border payment service.” Strike has partnered with Getbit “to enable… Read More

March 27, 2023 @ 10:43 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

We recently connected with Dr. Amrit Kumar, COO at Altlayer, which focuses on building key infrastructure for Web 3.0, an evolving set of standards that aims to support the Internet of the future. Dr. Amrit Kumar (currently at Altlayer) previously co-founded Zilliqa Research, where he… Read More

March 27, 2023 @ 10:37 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Huobi has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Copper. Huobi is in discussions to join Copper’s ClearLoop Network, “making it the fifth exchange to join since January 2023.” Five of the top ten global crypto exchanges have “either integrated or are working towards integrating… Read More

March 27, 2023 @ 6:35 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Banxa, the on-and-off ramp solution for web3, has integrated with The Graph, the decentralized infrastructure protocol, “to allow users to pay with fiat currency to access blockchain data organized by The Graph.” This integration, now “available directly in The Graph’s user interface, decreases barriers to… Read More

March 27, 2023 @ 3:23 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Crypto appears to have chosen an unlikely supporter in its ongoing struggle against oversight by the US Securities and Exchange Commission: an ex- Coinbase worker who was convicted of allegedly engaging in insider trading. This, according to a recent report by the WSJ. Ishan Wahi,… Read More

March 27, 2023 @ 3:18 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Nvidia’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) management has recently stated that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH) don’t bring anything “useful” for society. This, despite the firm’s powerful processors selling in massive quantities to the nascent crypto industry. Michael Kagan, Nvidia’s CTO, noted that other popular uses of… Read More

March 27, 2023 @ 12:13 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed charges against Binance, founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (known as CZ), and former Chief Compliance Officer Samuel Lim with “numerous violations” of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and other regulations. Filed in the U.S. District Court for… Read More

March 27, 2023 @ 9:10 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Obligate, a Zürich-based investment platform that enables companies to issue on-chain bonds and commercial paper to receive funding, recently “opened onboarding for issuers and investors.” Built on Polygon, the L2 blockchain for institutional finance, the platform “enables the management of corporate debt financing in a… Read More

March 26, 2023 @ 11:37 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Sygnum, the digital asset bank, announces the opening of its Middle East hub in the Abu Dhabi Global Market international financial centre “to provide a portfolio of Swiss-regulated crypto banking services.” This move should further strengthen Sygnum’s global reach, “following Sygnum Singapore’s growth via corporate… Read More

March 26, 2023 @ 10:18 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act was introduced last week as a bipartisan act of legislation. The bill seeks to clarify and affirm that blockchain developers and service providers do not custody consumer funds, a realm that is currently opaque. This is the 4th time that… Read More

March 26, 2023 @ 3:56 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)’s Digital Ledger Technology (DLT) Pilot regime is applicable from March 23, 2023, according to an update shared with CI. The Pilot reportedly “allows some exemptions from the EU’s MiFIR and CSDR regimes, making it easier for market participants… Read More

March 26, 2023 @ 3:51 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

After months of litigation, Celsius recently revealed it has reached an agreement with the Custody Ad Hoc Group and the UCC on a Settlement that reportedly “returns most digital assets in the Custody Program to account holders who opt in to the Settlement.” Custody users… Read More

March 26, 2023 @ 7:27 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Pundi X is now registered with FINTRAC as the Money Service Business in Canada. This registration enables Pundi X “to conduct virtual currency and payment service provider businesses in the country, and marks an important milestone in the company’s expansion efforts.” Zac Cheah, CEO and… Read More

March 25, 2023 @ 7:45 am By Omar Faridi  |  

MetaMask Institutional, the web3 wallet for organizations developed by ConsenSys, and the first multi-custodial institutional web3 offering on the market, launched its institutional staking marketplace in partnership with Allnodes, Blockdaemon, and Kiln. The marketplace will also “leverage ConsenSys’ own technology with ConsenSys Staking (formerly Codefi… Read More

March 24, 2023 @ 5:18 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

TYB is now available on the Shopify App Store, making it the “first” end-to-end Web3 community-powered loyalty solution available to Shopify’s merchants through an Avalanche-based platform. The app allows Shopify merchants “to implement TYB’s community-integrated-commerce tools to directly connect with and reward fans for taking… Read More

March 24, 2023 @ 5:16 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Crypto-asset firm Tether claims it has approximately $1.6 billion in excess reserves in order to fully back the issuance of its USDT stablecoin. Tether expects to record a $700 million profit in this latest March 2023 quarter, which will be taking its total excess reserves… Read More