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Tether deactivated accounts of crypto companies
According to documents released this week by the New York Attorney General regarding the settlement, stablecoin issuer Tether has deactivated the accounts of several high-profile crypto companies by 2021.
The list of deactivated accounts includes cryptocurrency trading platform MoonPay, crypto lending company BlockFi, crypto investment firm CMS Holdings, and crypto hedge fund Galois Capital. BlockFi is currently going through bankruptcy proceedings and Galois Capital has closed.
The list includes companies and individuals who have been fired for various reasons, a source familiar with the matter said. Although the NYAG investigation ended in February 2021, some documents date back to June 2021.
“We do not wish to comment on any individual relationships, but all have undergone strict compliance checks on registration and ongoing monitoring required by Tether’s compliance policies,” Tether said in a statement.
BK Offshore Fund was also on the list of deactivated accounts. He was sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in February 2023 on allegations that it was a fraudulent scheme, mixed investor funds, and $3.6 million pyramid-like payouts to investors before collapsing in 2022 .
The list of deactivated accounts includes a total of 29 accounts that have been deactivated. The user codes for each account have been edited and the list does not contain any other information.
NYAG investigation into Tether
The documents were collected by NYAG during a Tether investigation that resulted in a settlement in February 2021 and a fine of $18.5 million. They were published following a freedom of information request made by crypto publication CoinDesk, and the Attorney General's Office made them available to The Block.
The documents provide additional information about Tether's banking structure, its Bitcoin lending operations, and information about its commercial papers at the time.
The documents also show that Tether partially backed its stablecoin with Chinese commercial paper, which the company did not publicly admit at the time - despite strong rumors and articles suggesting that this was the case. The company no longer has commercial papers backing its stablecoin.
Tether initially opposed the release of these NYAG documents, but dropped the objection.
“After vehemently defending this, Tether withdrew from opposition, giving CoinDesk and other media outlets access to these documents to prove their commitment to transparency and openness regarding further unproductive US litigation,” the company said.
Unstoppable Domains will launch a racing game with NFT
Blockchain domain address registration service Unstoppable Domains has partnered with blockchain project MetaRides Racing to launch a non-fungible token (NFT) racing game
In the new game, users will be able to interact between dozens of automotive worlds, access to which is given to NFT owners. The goal of the game is to "break down the barriers between the metaverses by creating digital dealerships and offering collectible cars."
Domain owners on Unstoppable Domains will be able to customize their cars and give them original domains such as .x, .crypto and .nft.
In the first version of the game, users will be able to ride on the roads of the metropolis and its environs, as well as become owners of a Zara supercar. As development progresses, new locations and vehicles will be gradually added to MetaRides Racing. Also, over time, a multiplayer mode will appear - players will be able to invite friends and race together.
To ensure NFT racing car compatibility, MetaRides has partnered with nearly 60 different metaverse platforms including Income Island, Frenzland, Beyond Earth, XSpectar, Lunar One, Cyber Realm, EntertainM, XVerse, BloomVerse and many more.
“Through a partnership with Web3 industry leader Unstoppable Domains, MetaRides is expanding the possibilities of the blockchain gaming space.
Blockchain technology is helping us take gaming to the next level by allowing gamers to fully own and freely transfer, sell or trade their assets across dozens of interoperable virtual worlds,” said Mike Herm, CEO of MetaRides.
MetaRides Racing will soon appear on Steam, the largest platform for video games. In the future, the developers plan to significantly expand the list of platforms on which the game is available, including Epic Games Store mobile devices.
Web3 domain registrar Unstoppable Domains reached the unicorn level last year, climbing to $1 billion in capitalization. Last year, the startup raised a new capital round led by Pantera Capital's hedge fund, Unstoppable Domains.
In total, the project managed to raise $65 million. The pool of investors also included Mayfield, Gaingels, Alchemy Ventures, Redbeard Ventures, Spartan Group, OKG Investments, Polygon, CoinDCX, CoinGecko and others.
Transaction volumes on Robinhood fell 68% in May 2023
Popular trading platform Robinhood (HOOD) experienced a sharp drop in cryptocurrency trading volume in May 2023. This was stated by representatives of the company in an official statement dated June 12. At the same time, they stressed that transactions in shares and options remained at a high level.
The firm's management said that Robinhood has registered $2.1 billion in cryptocurrency trading volumes, a 43% decrease from the previous month. On an annualized basis, this value fell by 68%.
Average Daily Trading Revenue (DART), a metric that tracks daily trades and fees generated, was down 22% in the reporting period and down 53% compared to 2022.
Just last week, Robinhood delisted 3 cryptocurrencies. This was the result of regular checks. Thus, only 15 digital currencies remained available for trading on the site.
Among the affected coins and tokens were Cardano (ADA), Polygon (MATIC) and Solana (SOL). It is these virtual assets that have been identified by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as unregistered securities in recent lawsuits against Coinbase (COIN) and Binance.
Dan Gallagher, chief compliance lawyer for Robinhood Markets, revealed that his company was trying to register as a dedicated digital asset broker in 2021. However, at that time, negotiations with financial regulators were unsuccessful.
The cryptocurrency market has been hit hard and lost several tens of billions of capitalization after several leading crypto exchanges were sued on charges of violating US securities laws. Robinhood also received a subpoena from the SEC.
ARK Invest CEO Cathy Wood: Bitcoin Price Will Definitely Hit $1M
ARK Invest CEO Cathy Wood doubled down on her bitcoin outlook, saying the top cryptocurrency will hit seven figures.
In an interview with Bloomberg, the expert confirmed that she remains confident that the $1 million target for BTC will be met.
According to Wood, the current global economic environment boosts her confidence in the flagship crypto asset:
The more uncertainty and volatility in the global economy, the more our confidence in bitcoin grows.
And one of the reasons is that we have just experienced an inflationary panic. We think this was largely driven by the supply chain, and bitcoin was, and still is, a hedge against inflation.
The CEO of ARK Invest is confident that a deflationary macroeconomic environment is looming over the world and Bitcoin will have a purpose other than acting as a buffer against inflation.
We now believe that the greater risk is deflation rather than inflation. And why would bitcoin succeed in this case? Because it is the antidote to counterparty risk in the traditional financial system.
Everything on the Bitcoin blockchain is transparent and perhaps pseudo-anonymous. We can see all transactions, all activity, and therefore we have a much better understanding of how little counterparty risk is in the world of blockchain.
Venture Capital Funding for Crypto Companies Dropped Sharply
According to a Fortune report citing PitchBook data, 8 cryptocurrency-focused venture capital funds alone have raised a total of $500 million.
This represents just 2.3% of the total raised in 2022 and marks a 90% reduction in the amount of funds available for financial support.
Uncertainty about the future of regulation, the consequences of the crisis in the banking sector hinder fundraising. The situation is aggravated by the SEC lawsuit against the Binance exchange.
It is unlikely that against this background the situation will improve in the near future. The US Securities and Exchange Commission's lawsuit against the Binance cryptocurrency exchange and its CEO Changpeng Zhao will bring new uncertainty to the cryptocurrency sector.
The crypto market faces a difficult task of restoring trust. Investors are moving to shares of companies working with artificial intelligence. The total value of the cryptocurrency market has declined to $1.1 trillion from a peak of over $3 trillion in 2021.
Jane Street Group, Jump Trading and other major trading firms have abandoned cryptocurrencies in the US amid increased scrutiny from regulators.
And after the banking crisis, regulators tightened their grip on the crypto market even more. As they say, the SEC lawsuit against Binance added fuel to the fire. The general situation on the market has cooled the interest of investors in cryptocurrency companies.
According to PitchBook, cryptocurrency venture funding in the first quarter of 2023 fell 80% year-over-year, from $12.3 billion to $2.4 billion.
According to statistics, traders lost almost $300 million on exchanges last day, as the rate of leading cryptocurrencies collapsed. Now the market will be watching how the process of confrontation between the SEC and Binance will unfold.
It is unlikely that venture investments in cryptocurrency companies will increase. However, it will not disappear completely, but will not rise to the 2022 high over the next months.
Bitcoin-ATM Installation Rates Resumed Growth
The number of cryptocurrency ATMs around the world has increased to 35,065 units. In early April, there were 5% fewer — 33,389, according to the Coin ATM Radar service.
The United States remains the leader in the number of installed bitcoin-ATMs - 30,014 (84.7%). On the second line of the ranking is Canada with 2740 units or 7.6% of the total. In third place is Australia - 463 (1.3%).
In terms of manufacturers, General Bytes is in the lead with 10,109 crypto ATMs (28.8%). Next come BitAccess (6913, 19.7%) and Genesis Coin (6596, 18.8%).
The leading Bitcoin ATM operator is Bitcoin Depot, which operates 6,362 devices or 18.2% of the market share. The top 3 also includes Coin Cloud (4265, 12.2%) and CoinFlip (4043, 11.5%).
In January 2022, device installations began to slow down. In the second half of last year, only 94 new ATMs appeared against 4169 in January-June.
Recall that in February 2023, the bitcoin-ATM operator Coin Cloud filed for bankruptcy. The company's liabilities to ~10,000 counterparties are estimated in the range of $100 million to $500 million.
In the same month, West Yorkshire Police and the UK Financial Conduct Authority launched raids against illegal bitcoin ATMs in the Leeds area. In March, checks began in London.
Sotheby's to sell second set of NFTs from Three Arrows Capital collection
The second NFT sale from the Three Arrows Capital Grails collection will take place in New York on June 15th. In the announcement of the upcoming auction, Sotheby's announces that 37 unique works of generative artists will be put up for auction. Among them, "Goose" by Dmitry Chernyak and "Fidenza # 216" by Tyler Hobbs are especially noted.
Note that the Goose collectible by Dmitry Chernyak was purchased by Three Arrows Capital co-founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies in August 2021 for about 1,800 ETH, which at that time was about $6 million.
Earlier, Teneo, the liquidator of Three Arrows Capital, announced its intention to auction the entire NFT collection of the bankrupt cryptocurrency hedge fund. The first NFT Grails trade brought Teneo over $6 million.
Venezuelan Blockchain Petro Stops Generating Blocks Since May 24
A private association of crypto enthusiasts, Asonacrip, issued a statement that the network of the official Venezuelan cryptocurrency Petro stopped generating blocks on May 24, which affected the functionality of the crypto asset.
On May 27, the work of the blockchain was briefly restored, since as many as four blocks were formed in the network, on May 28, the problem repeated itself.
Asonacrip also reported the mass blocking and deletion of Petro wallets that occurred at the time of the suspension of the network:
Hundreds of PATRIA platform user accounts were blocked and deleted within hours without warning, most of which belonged to active members of this community.
Venezuelan journalist and Venezuelan Legislative Assemblyman Mario Silva said that the withdrawal of funds in fiat currency was blocked, which he attributes to the intervention of Sunacrip more than two months ago.
Curiously, neither Sunacrip nor Petro's official support account have reported any issues to date.
Venezuelan cryptocurrency watchdog Sunacrip is under temporary administration by the Intervention Council after its head, Joselit Ramirez, was arrested for alleged involvement in a multi-billion dollar cryptocurrency corruption scheme.
In the Chinese city of Nanjing launched its own metaverse
The project called Blockchain Technology and Application Innovation Platform of China was created with the support of the state. The goal of the project is to “deepen the integration of industry, science and research in the field of the digital economy and the metaverse.” Among the founders of the platform are various academic institutions and blockchain companies from all over the country.
Although the initiative of Nanxing University, one of the country's most prestigious ones, is aimed at launching a digital China, it could also, the authors say, be an important boost to the Jiangsu province's economy.
The province aims to generate 135 billion yuan ($19.3 billion) in annual revenue from the metaverse industry by 2025, which could help Nanjing rise in the commercial attractiveness rankings.
In December 2022, the administration of Zhejiang Province announced that it intends to make the region one of the largest centers for the creation of metaverses in the PRC. For this, the authorities were going to allocate a budget of $28.7 billion.
In July 2022, Shanghai unveiled a roadmap for the development of the metaverses, allocating $52 million for them. According to local media, the metaverse industry in China has already raised about $780 million, and this figure is expected to grow to $5.8 trillion by 2030.
Fantom Foundation and Justin Sun withdraw funds from Multichain
Lookonchain analysts reported that the Fantom Foundation withdrew $2.4 million of liquidity from the MULTI native token protocol on the SushiSwap decentralized exchange.
At the same time, the Chinese crypto investment company HashKey Group transferred $250,000 to the Gate.io crypto exchange, Arkham Intelligence crypto analysts reported.
In addition to tokens, Tron founder Justin Sun withdrew 470,000 USDD stablecoins from the protocol, Lookonchain also noted.
Multichain ran into problems after users reported a delay in transactions, which has been happening for several days now. The protocol team claims that the delays are caused by the upgrade and there is only one router left to upgrade at the moment.
The bridge/swap is working properly, only the Router2 routing is waiting to be updated, noted Multichain's vice president of strategic partnerships under the pseudonym Mog, adding that "99% of other routing/token bridges are working according to plan."
Algorand, Polygon and Solana create $50 million investment fund
Fund manager Borderless Capital launched the Cross-Chain Ecosystem Investment Fund. Investors include Jump Crypto, Aptos Labs, Polygon Ventures, Solana Foundation, Algorand Foundation, GSR, Arrington Capital and other institutions.
More than twenty blockchain teams and venture capital funds have joined together to create a $50 million Cross-Chain Ecosystem Fund focused on supporting and developing new startups using the Wormhole cross-chain messaging protocol. The Cross-Chain Ecosystem Fund is managed by Borderless Capital, a leading Web3 venture capital firm.
Navigating the Web3 landscape is becoming increasingly challenging due to the proliferation of multiple layer 1 blockchains, layer 2 scaling solutions, and specialized application chains with unique goals and parameters. This complexity creates difficulties for users and repels developers, who have limited access to a single ecosystem, which hinders their development.
The Cross-Chain Ecosystem Fund aims to unlock the full potential of the cross-chain future by redefining the user experience and making Wormhole the cross-chain standard for developers to overcome the limitations of individual ecosystems. This innovation prioritizes aggregation, security, scalability, interoperability, and composability.
“We believe in the boundless future of Web3 and are very pleased with the support of our partners and investors who share our vision. Just as Web2 creates value by connecting user relationships, we believe Web3 is the natural next step,” said David Garcia, CEO and Managing Partner of Borderless Capital.
“Our goal is to empower developers to overcome the limitations of individual ecosystems, paving the way for blockchain applications and protocols to reach their full potential.”
Wormhole, the technology hub of the Foundation, is the foundational protocol that allows value and data messaging to be exchanged between more than 23 high-value chains already in use by influential protocols and companies such as Coinbase's Uniswap, Circle and Base.
“Cryptocurrency is still a nascent industry with virtually limitless room for growth, and we should do nothing but work together, no matter which particular networks people might be more interested in.
It's great to see so many ecosystems teaming up with leading VCs to come together to solve the interoperability challenge by supporting startups that integrate the Wormhole internetworking messaging standard,” said Dan Riser, Head of Operations, Wormhole Foundation.
The Cross-Chain Ecosystem Fund is backed by Jump Crypto, Polygon Ventures, Aptos Labs, Solana Foundation, Sei Foundation, Algorand Foundation, CLabs (the company behind the Celo blockchain), Moonbeam Foundation, Optimism, Circle, MultiCoin GP, Tushar Jain and Kyle Samani, Arrington Capital, GSR, Floating Point Group, Chainlayer, Chainode Tech, 01Node, Staking Fund, Moonlet, Forbole Ventures, Syncnode, Inotel, Triton One, Strangelove, Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo, OtterSec and others.
MicroStrategy explores the possibilities of Bitcoin Ordinals
The Ordinals protocol launched on the Bitcoin network in January, followed by a wave of experimentation with the first blockchain. Often, the protocol is used to release NFT analogues, but MicroStrategy management believes that the potential of the project is much higher.
For example, thanks to Ordinals, an experimental framework for creating Bitcoin-based tokens was recently launched. "Standard" was named BRC-20. After that, the number of transactions and fees increased significantly.
Sailor noted that projects such as Ordinals are driving the adoption of the first cryptocurrency among both crypto enthusiasts, companies and even governments.
In addition, due to the large number of transactions and high fees, miners earn more and have more incentive to maintain the network.
It is not yet known exactly how MicroStrategy plans to use Bitcoin Ordinals. Sailor hinted at the DocuSign system, which is used for electronic document management between companies.
However, it is centralized, so firms rely on a single proprietary database. If you run a similar system on the blockchain of the first cryptocurrency, this will give a “new level of corporate security.”
Coinbase Expands in Singapore
According to The Block, the expansion comes as the platform seeks to strengthen its international presence in response to regulatory crackdowns in the United States, where the company is based.
“The point is that the world is sort of moving forward with or without the US, and as a global company, we are determined to keep moving forward in international expansion,” said Hassan Ahmed, regional director for Coinbase in Singapore.
According to the publication, the crypto exchange received the approval of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for the provision of services in October last year. However, the company also recently obtained a license to operate an international exchange outside of Bermuda, where it plans to offer derivatives trading services.
Coinbase has been under the scrutiny of US regulators since the beginning of the year. In particular, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has repeatedly put pressure on the company. The head of the regulator, Gary Gensler, commenting on the petition of the exchange demanding a clear position on the regulation of cryptocurrency, argued that the relevant laws are already in place.
“There is nothing about the new technology that would make it inconsistent with public policy set out by Congress,” Gensler said.
Cryptocurrencies are very popular among the people of Singapore. According to an Independent Reserve survey, almost one in two (43%) Singaporeans have invested in digital assets. At the same time, 91% said they had heard about cryptocurrency, and respondents aged 26-35 were the most knowledgeable group.
Moreover, the residents of Singapore were not afraid of the fall in market quotes in 2022 - more than 70% of respondents would advise their loved ones to invest in cryptocurrency. However, in order to increase the attractiveness of crypto investing, a clearer regulatory framework needs to be created.
Flare Partners with Rationarium to Deliver Full-Featured Web 3 ERP Solution
Flare has announced a partnership with Rationarium, the provider of the world's first complete web3 enterprise cloud solution. As part of the partnership, Flare will use Rationarium solutions for grant management, accounting and finance, taxation, human resources, expenses and payroll.
Web3 enterprise software provider Rationarium helps web3 and blockchain companies consolidate off-chain and on-chain transactions into a single ledger. Its crypto-native ERP (enterprise resource planning) solution includes accounting and tax modules that are fully customizable, allowing customers to tailor products to suit their needs.
Through a partnership with Rationarium, Flare will use a purchase ledger and treasury function that handles data in both fiat and cryptocurrencies, as well as its grant and token management products. In addition, all Flare employees and contractors will be able to process their expenses on Rationarium and receive payment in fiat or cryptocurrency.
Rationarium Founder and CEO Amaan Jalwa said: “With Rationarium, Flare will be able to simplify the management and record keeping of its operations in both fiat and cryptocurrencies. In particular, we have worked closely with the Flare Ecosystem team to create a custom grant management platform for layer 1 protocols.”
Based on the EVM, Layer 1 Flare is designed to make the blockchain more useful by providing decentralized access to high integrity data from other chains and web2. This enables the development of new real-world use cases and decentralized applications that are optimized for adoption by businesses and consumers.
LG announces NFT integration plans
Representatives of the household appliances and electronics company from LG spoke about their plans for development in the non-fungible token (NFT) sector. They noted that the organization's specialists have carefully studied this industry in the past few years and came to the conclusion that it is expedient to develop their own tools.
Thus, today the company's management plans to obtain a patent for a technology that will enable users to trade non-fungible tokens (NFT) using their home TV. According to the developers, they are hard at work creating innovative software.
According to their specialists, the new tele-device will allow you to establish a connection with the NFT market server, receive and display preview images and make purchases through a cryptocurrency wallet. The latter will connect directly to the TV without any problems.
The company’s management recalled that, in fact, LG began work on introducing NFT into its TVs back in September 2022. Then the developers of the company released their own trading platform Art Lab.
It has been connected to the blockchain network Hedera Network, in which LG has been the node operator since 2020. However, this time, the representatives of the organization want to present their clients with a more convenient and easy-to-use tool.
The decision to apply for a patent was made as LG executives see an ever-increasing consumer demand for NFTs. The company said that they are well aware of the economic prospects and plan to become one of the market leaders in this segment.
South Korean firm LG is not the only electronics giant to integrate NFT into TVs. In January 2022, Samsung launched a marketplace on 3 of its devices with the support of the Nifty Gateway marketplace.
New York Bans CoinEx Exchange, Seizes $1.7M
CoinEx was shut down for failing to register as a broker-dealer and for "falsely presenting itself as a cryptocurrency exchange," the NYAG said in a statement.
Attorney General Letitia James has banned Hong Kong-based crypto exchange CoinEx from New York. According to a June 15 announcement, more than $1.7 million worth of the exchange's funds were seized, allegedly for failing to register as a securities and commodities broker.
The agreement resolves a previous lawsuit against CoinEx in February, when New York State accused it of falsely presenting itself as an exchange and refusing to register with local governments.
“As part of today’s consent order, CoinEx is prohibited from offering, selling, or buying securities and commodities in New York, and is also prohibited from making its platform available in the state,” the announcement reads.
Under the agreement, more than $1.1 million will be returned to 4,691 New York investors and more than $600,000 in penalties will be paid to the state.
In addition, CoinEx must implement geo-blocking to prevent access from New York IP addresses. CoinEx is also prohibited from creating new accounts for US customers.
“Today’s agreement should serve as a warning to crypto companies that there are serious consequences for ignoring New York laws.
My office will continue to pursue crypto companies that blatantly ignore the law, mislead investors, and put New Yorkers at risk,” James said in a statement.
Bitstamp and Interactive Brokers Get FCA Approvals
The approval, received on June 13, makes Bitstamp UK Limited the latest addition to the FCA cryptocurrency registry and comes just a day after broker/dealer trading company Interactive Brokers (UK) received the approval.
Notably, the FCA has not approved any crypto asset firm since Hidden Road registered in December, making these recent approvals the first in six months, joining companies such as TP ICAP, Revolut, Gemini, Kraken and eToro.
Working in the UK requires crypto firms to comply with FCA anti-money laundering requirements. The UK government is promoting London as a center for cryptocurrencies, but the regulatory approval process has been criticized for its slow pace and conservative approach.
The FCA began filing applications for registration under its anti-money laundering regulations in January 2020. However, many struggled to meet the regulator's criteria by the March 31, 2022 deadline, with only 42 crypto firms successfully registered to date, causing frustration in the digital asset community.
However, the regulatory framework may soon become clearer as the UK Financial Services and Markets Bill, currently before Parliament, should lay the legislative groundwork for including stablecoins and cryptoassets in financial services regulation, expanding the FCA's powers.
“This achievement is Bitstamp's recognition of our ongoing and unwavering commitment to operating at the highest level. It also confirms that our platform offers compatible and secure access to cryptocurrencies in the UK in accordance with the strict requirements set by the FCA,” Bitstamp said in a blog post.
Bitstamp and Interactive Brokers join a growing number of firms, including a16z, interested in establishing a presence in the UK and operating in a more favorable regulatory environment for crypto companies compared to the recent SEC enforcement action in the US market.
Binance and Coinbase lawsuits are dangerous for DeFi
It turns out that the regulatory authorities are striving to suppress the main advantages in the form of smart contracts, the absence of intermediaries and wide user opportunities. The most dangerous thing here is that continued opposition can create uncertainty among developers and make it harder to implement new concepts.
The SEC list includes a number of tokens that are assigned the status of securities. This means that they are obliged to comply with the requirements of the law and comply with all procedures that are provided for standard securities. For DeFi, this means significant barriers to innovation.
Also, do not lose sight of the prospect of liquidity problems due to the impact on market availability or trading activity. In general, such actions can reduce the effectiveness of decentralized protocols.
In the event that the coins specified by the SEC are actually recognized as securities, DeFi will be forced to incur higher costs, as well as face administrative difficulties, which will negatively affect the overall performance of the sphere.
The danger is also that not only those coins that were listed in the list, but also any others can be recognized as securities. As a result, uncertainty hangs over DeFi, reducing investor interest and increasing their risks.
It turns out that the position of regulators provides unfair advantages to the traditional finance sector. However, it cannot be said that there are no fraudulent operations or other negative precedents in it.
For example, the crisis that occurred in 2008 exposed the facts of illegal operations, weak management and unreasonable risks. Nevertheless, banks received state support, despite the direct impact on the situation.
Stock exchanges are a completely different story. The accusations are built without a legislative basis (recall, the head of the SEC himself could not answer for sure whether ETH is a security), however, there is no question of any liberal approach.
There are obvious contradictions regarding fairness and accountability. Regulators oppose innovation and fair competition between the crypto industry and the traditional financial industry.
In the longer term, this threatens with a high migration of strong players in the digital currency market to more favorable conditions, as well as obstacles for the accession of institutional investors who will not agree to work in an area that does not have a clear regulatory framework.
In any case, experts see a long-term confrontation, and some are confident that the Republicans' coming to power following the elections will give more freedom to the crypto-sphere.
Aave Proposes Deployment of GHO Stablecoin on Ethereum
Aave Companies, a key contributor to the DeFi platform, is approaching the final phase of implementation of the decentralized stablecoin GHO, which is already running on the Ethereum Goerli testnet.
The final launch of the stablecoin will require two rounds of on-chain voting from the Aave community, including the first “ARFC” pre-proposal and the final Aave improvement proposal.
If these proposals are given the green light by the decentralized autonomous organization Aave, GHO will be launched on the Ethereum mainnet, available to V3 users.
If the proposal is approved by the DAO, all interest earned from the GHO loans will go to the DAO treasury as additional income.
This could potentially encourage DAO members to vote on the proposal, which would increase the financial sustainability of the project.
Tether invests in Salvadoran mining startup
Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino said the company has co-financed Salvadoran startup Max Keiser Volcano Energy. The startup is building mining facilities that are going to use the energy of local thermal springs.
Tether noted that the source of investment was income from the company's operating activities, and not reserve assets.
“Tether's investment in Volcano Energy is limited and within our own excess reserves. The USDT stablecoin insurance reserves are not affected,” the top manager assured.
Volcano Energy does not disclose the exact amount of investments transferred to Tether for the development of the project, but reports that in total the startup raised about $250 million in the first round of funding. Volcano Energy plans to attract international investments for the construction of a mining platform for a total of about $1 billion.
At the end of May, Tether announced plans to provide funding to a licensed company in Uruguay to build renewable energy sources and carbon-neutral bitcoin mining infrastructure.
Santiment analysts recorded a sharp surge in LTC transactions
On June 1, the cost of Litecoin (LTC) increased by 6.5% per day and exceeded $95.98. Santiment analysts linked this to the upcoming halving in the cryptocurrency network, which is just over two months away.
In addition, the volume of LTC transactions reached the highest level since May 13, 2021, and the current activity of large investors is at a maximum since January 26 this year.
Halving is a two-fold reduction in the reward to miners for a mined block in the blockchain embedded in the code. It is expected on the Litecoin network ~August 5, 2023 (according to Neovesting). The reward will decrease from the current 12.5 to 6.25 LTC.
It is an altcoin launched by developer Charlie Lee in October 2011. It is used to carry out small daily transactions with a low commission.
At the end of 2021, he ranked third in popularity among Russians. As of June 2, 18:00 Moscow time, it occupies the 13th place in the rating of cryptocurrencies with a capitalization of $6.8 billion and is traded on Binance at $93.83, having lost 0.53% per day.
In early May, Lee said that LTC against Bitcoin could rise by 700%, to 0.025 BTC, in the next bullish cycle. In his opinion, this will be facilitated by higher network bandwidth and scalability, as well as privacy.
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Gemini and Genesis demanded the court to dismiss the lawsuit of the US regulator SEC
Gemini and Genesis argue that the Gemini Earn program should not be classified as an offering of securities. This is a simple loan agreement, and the so-called investment contracts have not been sold on the secondary market, the creators of the project assure.
Transactions can be treated as loans, so the companies asked the court to dismiss the regulator's lawsuit or take an alternative decision - to cancel the SEC requirement for a permanent injunction on the program.
Gemini management called the SEC lawsuit ill-conceived. It is the Gemini exchange, not Genesis, that is responsible for most aspects of the Gemini Earn client program. When Genesis filed for bankruptcy in January 2023, it affected Gemini's ability to recover funds held by Earn users.
In addition, a few days ago Genesis' parent company, Digital Currency Group, was unable to complete a $630 million payment to Gemini.
Jack Baughman, founder of JFB Legal, a law firm that represents Gemini, says the SEC lawsuit makes it difficult to deal with assets that should rightfully be returned to Gemini Earn users.
At the beginning of the year, the Gemini exchange terminated the loan agreement with Genesis Global Capital, and the Gemini Earn program, which allows you to make deposits in cryptocurrencies to the Genesis service through Gemini and receive passive income, was closed.
The termination of the program is due to a lack of liquidity at Genesis, which was facilitated by the collapse of the FTX exchange. Due to numerous complaints from users, the SEC accused the Gemini exchange and Genesis lending service of an unregistered sale of securities, as well as failure to comply with disclosure requirements.
Gemini founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss recently announced that they plan to open a UK headquarters. They are ready to leave the US because of the hostile regulatory environment in the country.
Kyber Network will restart farming in Elastic pools
DeFi project Kyber Network will resume the possibility of farming income using the Elastic product, which implements the concept of concentrated liquidity and auto-compounding.
According to the developers, Arbitrum-based pools will be the first to start working, where rewards will be “100% increased”.
Representatives of Kyber Network stressed that early-stage liquidity providers will benefit the most.
They also assured that smart contracts have been updated, verified and include “strengthened security measures”.
For the current phase of farming, 274,000 KNC and 152,000 ARB have been allocated to reward users.
Michael Saylor: All major banks will inevitably start providing bitcoin custody services
Michael Saylor, in an interview, expressed the opinion that when bitcoin is used on a large scale by corporations, governments, non-profit organizations and individual users, all banks will offer their custodial services to them. This will avoid the risks that arise when storing cryptocurrencies on your own.
The head of MicroStrategy is sure that some groups of people are unable to reasonably manage cryptocurrencies. Saylor cited children and elderly people with dementia who inherited bitcoins. In these cases, it is necessary to involve a trust company that will manage BTC on behalf of these people, Sailor said.
“The authorities of New York will not allow the mayor of the city to walk around with bitcoins in his custody, and it is not entirely practical for the US Department of Defense to have all the bitcoins stored by one general.
Any large institutions will need a reliable infrastructure to store crypto assets. I think bitcoin will inevitably infiltrate all traditional organizations for various reasons - economic, physical or political, ”says the businessman.
Recently, Michael Saylor stated that owning bitcoins has become a vital need for every person in the face of rising inflation and distrust of traditional banks.
Texas proposes obliging bitcoin exchanges to confirm reserves
Cryptocurrency exchanges that intend to do business in Texas will need to maintain sufficient reserves to meet all obligations to their customers. This is stated in the relevant bill.
The document passed through the local House of Representatives and the State Senate. Now it should get to the consideration of the governor.
The amendments are being made to the Texas Financial Code and affect digital asset providers that serve more than 500 customers in the state and have at least $10 million in funds.
It is expected that they will be prohibited from mixing user deposits with any other funds, capital or “other property”, as well as using them for any other purpose than client transactions.
The bill also requires exchanges to maintain sufficient reserves and report back to the local regulator. Otherwise, the company is threatened with revocation of the license.
According to the authors, the initiative will increase transparency and maintain "a light regulatory stance and a business-friendly environment."
“The passage of this law makes Texas the safest place in the country to trade cryptocurrencies. Platforms that have chosen to operate [in the state] now meet higher standards, giving investors and consumers the confidence that their money and assets are safe,” Cody Carbon, Vice President of Digital Chambers, told Decrypt.
Meta decided to shift the focus on the metaverse
Meta Platforms wants to revive interest in the metaverse by positioning the technology not as a way of entertainment, but as a tool for training employees. Bloomberg writes about this, citing recent statements by Nick Clegg, head of international relations at Meta.
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Speaking at the Future of Work summit in Washington DC, Clegg touted the Metaverse as a "transformative" technology in the job and education markets. According to him, the technology of virtual and augmented reality is best shown by the example of user training. At the same time, he acknowledged that it would take another decade before the mass use of the metaverse.
Clegg also believes that the real metaverse will not be able to exist separately from artificial intelligence (AI), since it will be responsible for the creation of virtual worlds. At the same time, Meta does not believe that the growth in popularity will hit the labor market.
According to Clegg, the metaverse tied to AI provides more conditions for hiring qualified personnel. However, the virtual worlds from the American company will not be truly free, he admitted.
According to Clegg, there were "many conversations" at the Meta about what regulation of the metaverse should look like. According to him, decoupling technology from regulation does not lead to anything good.
The limitations of Meta have already taken their toll on the metaverse. Earlier, the editors wrote that the company's moderation banned content creators in the Horizon Worlds metaverse from holding their own events. Representatives of the corporation explained that they disabled this feature because it does not meet Meta standards.
At the same time, the technical condition of the virtual world from Meta leaves much to be desired. For example, The Verge journalists tested the Quest Pro 2 virtual helmet and defeated the Meta virtual world.
They said that the device does not track the position of the eyes correctly, its charge lasts only two hours, and the technical part of the metaverse is still under development. The cost of such a helmet starts at $1499.
SEC: 'Laws to regulate cryptocurrencies will take years to develop'
This is the first time that an American regulator has clearly stated that it is fine with “regulating the cryptocurrency industry with penalties.”
Coinbase has previously filed a lawsuit with the SEC demanding clear rules for regulating the industry. The American court upheld the exchange and urged the regulator to respond to the company's claims.
However, SEC representatives said that the Commission is not required to comply with the requirements set out in the petition, and emphasized that Coinbase demanded the development of a comprehensive set of laws and reforms in an extremely short time frame.
As noted by Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal, this is the first time the SEC has explained its plans to regulate the cryptocurrency industry. He also stressed that there are still many questions that need to be clarified:
“The SEC has said it could take years to create laws and they are in no hurry. And she stressed that she would continue to use fines and penalties as a substitute for regulation for the foreseeable future, but someday there would be a law.”
The US Chamber of Commerce recently criticized the SEC for being unfair to crypto companies.
Bakkt platform announces mass delisting of tokens
The list of tokens that will no longer be represented on the platform includes large and popular assets.
Among them are Aave (AAVE), Avalanche (AVAX), Bancor Network Token (BNT), Basic Attention Token (BAT), Chainlink (LINK), Chiliz (CHZ), Compound Token (COMP), Cosmos (ATOM), Curve DAO (CRV), Enjin Coin (ENJ), Fantom (FTM), Filecoin (FIL), GALA (GALA), The Graph (GRT), Internet Computer (ICP), Loopring (LRC), Maker DAO (MKR), Republic ( REN), Stellar (XLM), Sushiswap (SUSHI), Synthetix (SNX), Texos (XTZ) and Uniswap (UNI).
“Following the completion of our acquisition of Apex Crypto and as part of our regulatory process to review the list of coins on the platform, we have made the decision to delist a number of tokens and coins from our platform.
The interests of our clients and their consumers are our top priority and as part of the coin list revision, we try to ensure that these interests are best served. We take into account the latest recommendations from regulators and the latest industry developments,” said a company representative.
It should be noted that while the platform is not particularly popular - for the last quarter, Bakkt's revenues amounted to $ 13 million. In February, Bakkt decided to suspend the application for retail users and refocus the business on corporate clients.
Argentina tightens controls on crypto transactions
In particular, registered payment service providers, known locally as PSPCPs, cannot perform or facilitate digital asset transactions that are not regulated or authorized by a central bank.
The May 4 notice states that providers will not be able to conduct transactions themselves or initiate them in their applications or web platforms.
Companies officially registered with the central bank as payment service providers include major players in the field such as MercadoLibre, Bind Pago, Mobbex, Nubi and Pomelo.
The rules seem to target "auto-buy buttons" and interested users who wish to conduct such transactions "should do so of their own free will."
The central bank said the new measure aims to "reduce the risks that transactions in these assets could create for users of financial services and the national payment system."
Cryptocurrency usage is on the rise in the country, especially as Argentines rush to protect their savings in the face of annual inflation above 100%, multiple exchange rates and capital controls.
However, widespread adoption has faced hurdles, especially due to fear of volatility and widespread skepticism about potential scams.
Bitcoin Argentina, a non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting the use of cryptocurrencies and decentralized technologies in the country, called the measure unexpected and arbitrary.
“It is not clear what purpose the central bank is pursuing by banning activities that fully satisfy and benefit local exchange customers,” the emailed statement said. "This will immediately make it harder for Argentine workers and savers to access alternative savings that protect them from inflation."
The NGO also said it would promote informal solutions "where the risks and costs for the contributor are much higher."
Marcos Socaro, an accountant and spokesperson for the group, said the central bank's actions are reminiscent of actions it took last year to ban cryptocurrency transactions after the local bank began offering retail customers the ability to buy crypto from a third party on its platform.
“Less than 48 years after that, rules came out that banned Argentine banks from facilitating the purchase of cryptocurrencies,” he said, adding that registered payment companies now face the same restriction. Of that group, Zocaro said MercadoLibre's MercadoPago service was by far the largest in the country.
“However, the rules are very gray,” he said, noting that there are still different interpretations of the extent to which payment service providers will be able to work with crypto exchanges. He said they would presumably prevent MercadoPago from offering more expensive crypto services in Argentina, as they do in Brazil.
