Get your everyday, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related information — investigating the stories flying under the radar of the crypto news.
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Adoption news
- In the united kingdom, the level of comprehension of cryptocurrencies is declining, implying that some crypto users may not fully comprehend what they are buying, the UK Financial Conduct Authority said, presenting their research results. „But we find that attitudes have changed, as cryptocurrencies appear to become more normalized — fewer crypto users regard them as a bet (38 percent, down from 47 percent ) and more see them as an alternative or complement to mainstream investments, together with half of crypto users stating they intend to spend more,“ they added.
- Landon Cassill is going to be the first NASCAR driver compensated entirely in cryptocurrency at a 19-race sponsorship deal with Voyager that begins at Nashville Superspeedway this weekend, AP reported, including that Cassill said Voyager is paying“market rate“ for the sponsorship but the capital will be distributed in crypto. He explained the payment is a“portfolio of electronic assets“ that includes litecoin (LTC) and bitcoin (BTC) priced at market prices, per the accounts.
- Fireblocks said it’s integrated Crypto.com into the Fireblocks Network, a digital asset move network for institutions. This integration enables Crypto.com to expand their reach over 400+ institutional participants throughout the network, which includes“some of the largest global banks, liquidity suppliers, [over-the-counters], hedge funds, and asset managers,“ they added.
Exchanges news
- US-based Kraken can go public in 12 to 18 months, CEO Jesse Powell told Bloomberg TV. He explained that the firm is“doing all the prep work“ to develop into a public company, however he declined to give a goal evaluation. He still forecasts that BTC will hit a new all-time high this year. Bybit was also cautioned, per a report by Tokyo Sports (via Yahoo Japan), as the FSA has stated that exchanges based outside Japan shouldn’t target Japanese residents with advertising campaigns without obtaining prior working permission. The YouTuber, named Hiraku, has nearly 4.4 million subscribers and allegedly mentioned in a video that he had opened an account on the Bybit platform after getting BTC as a birthday gift.
Investments information
- Audacity Capital LLC is going to put money into cryptocurrency-related startups led by entrepreneurs of Black and African descent, Bloomberg reported. The Los Angeles-based firm has raised an undisclosed amount from investors including IDEO CoLab Ventures and Electric Capital. The fund intends to spend up to USD 100,000 each in as many as three startups per year, each the report.
- Cryptocurrency cash network Coinme said it has increased USD 10m at a funding round from existing investors and it’ll shell out the new capital on goods and market growth, according to an emailed press release.
- Decentralized gaming guild of gamers, Yield Guild Games (YGG), has increased USD 4m at a Series A investment led by venture capital firm BITKRAFT Ventures, the emailed press release states. GG is on a mission to accelerate the“play-to-earn“ phenomenon, which is set to allow gamers to monetize their gaming time.
- Decentralized credit system for crypto loans without collateral Goldfinch, has increased USD 11m at a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z crypto).
- Decentralized derivatives trade SynFutures has increased USD 14m in a Series A funding round led by electronic asset investment finance Polychain Capital, according to a press release. The system aims to allow traders access to any assets they wish to exchange, including large-capitalization cryptoassets, conventional stocks, gold, indices, or any others, to lower the barrier of entry into the derivatives market.
- TRM Labs, a blockchain intelligence firm, said it has closed a USD 14m Series A funding round, led by Bessemer Venture Partners with additional involvement from PayPal Ventures, Blockchain Capital, unspecified executives from Google, along with many others. TRM’s platform integrates more than a dozen blockchains, also analyzes billions of digital asset transactions to discover in real-time signs of fraud and financial crime like money laundering, “ the firm said.
- Global securities indicator writer MSCI is looking at launching indexes for crypto assets, Reuters reported, citing CEO Henry Fernandez. He gave no details on what assets any indicator would focus on any deadline for their debut and MSCI later declined a Reuters request to elaborate on his remarks.
- Russia-based significant metal producer Nornickel is supplying blockchain-based tokens together with conventional certificates due to his or her commodities (ETCs) based on their metal.
Regulation news
- Indonesian central bank Bank Indonesia has prohibited Indonesian financial institutions from accommodating cryptocurrency for a means of payment or alternative financial services tools, according to Tempo. The ban is based on existing laws, and the lender will stun managers to be certain financial and banking institutions are complying with this said.
- The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has delayed the decision whether to allow a Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF), saying in a filing that they will seek more public opinion to the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) proposal. The majority of their concerns still revolve about whether regulation has changed enough to the asset to be safer for investors, in addition to whether the company has a strategy set up to avoid manipulation and fraud.
- A poll conducted in South Korea has found that 73% of respondents say they want public officials to be made to declare their crypto holdings. Per NewsTomato, the poll of 500 people aged 18 and over was conducted nationwide by the economics and politics researcher Realmeter. While 20% said that they opposed the notion, the rest stated they“did not know“ how they felt about the idea.
- Public officials at the Russian Republic of Tatarstan is going to be compelled to declare their crypto holdings, reported Realnoe Vremya, in which a presidential decree has stipulated that civil servants must make annual declarations on their holdings, in addition to those of any dependents, such as spouses and kids within their care. The decree did not contain any references to crypto mining, but although specialists claimed measures to police the sector would be forthcoming.
DeFi information
- Ethereum (ETH)-based DeFi protocols Keep Network and NuCypher said they have agreed to unite in“the very first decentralized on-chain network update combining two protocols“ The new project is called KEANU and will work on merging“the very best of both networks,“ including developmental and Coding efforts, “ they said.
NFTs information
- Non-fungible token (NFT)-construction platform Enjin (ENJ) said it is partnering with Virtual Worlds, a company specializing in digitizing historical artifacts, to generate a limited-edition set of NFTs representing legendary Egyptian monuments like the Pyramids of Giza and Great Sphinx of Egypt. This collaboration will be the very first example of employing NFTs to digitized historical landmarks, while the first stage of the collaboration will see the invention of treasure hunts where gamers can claim NFT artifacts in 3D environments.
- Beer brand Stella Artois is issuing a series of NFTs of electronic racehorses as part of the 3D racetrack undertaking, where gamers will be able to bid to own exclusive horses, according to Adweek. Bidders will compete for one of 50 Genesis electronic racehorse NFTs that are going to be offered at 10 horses per day, while every winner will be given a collection of assets including three NFTs, one NFT Stella Artois piece of artwork, one Genesis racehorse NFT and one branded epidermis, together with five collectible skins released in total.
