🟢 Tether Freezes $225M Linked to Human Trafficking Syndicate Amid DOJ Investigation
Stablecoin issuer Tether has frozen $225 million worth of its own stablecoin following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) into an international human trafficking syndicate in Southeast Asia. The investigation was ongoing for months and used blockchain analysis tools provided by Chainalysis. It marks the largest-ever freeze of a stablecoin, a press release said.
The crime syndicate is related to the "pig butchering" scam, which the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said cost U.S. citizens $3.3 billion last year. The frozen tokens were being held in self-custodied wallets and did not belong to Tether customers, the press release added. "Through proactive engagement with global law enforcement agencies and our commitment to transparency, Tether aims to set a new standard for safety within the crypto space,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. Tether also froze 32 crypto addresses linked to terrorism and warfare in Ukraine and Israel last month.
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🚨 Stars Arena Incident Causing Community Disturbance Confirmed Not A Hack
The friend.tech clone project on Avalanche Stars Arena is once again facing security concerns following a recent incident that has caused damage to many users’ assets. The project has responded by announcing a key migration to enhance security measures. According to the project, a thorough investigation by its engineering team has found no evidence linking the recent claims of funds draining to an exploit affecting the wider platform.
The project’s response comes amidst growing concerns among users who have reported missing funds. On November 17, 2023, an account named “GiganticTip” shared on-chain data retrieval findings indicating that many users had their assets drained, with AVAX tokens being transferred through the FixedFloat mixer to obscure the hacker’s identity. Despite the project’s assurances and plans to continue development, the Stars Arena incident has further eroded users’ trust. The incident raises questions about the project’s security measures and the potential for further vulnerabilities. The upcoming key migration will be closely watched as the project seeks to regain user confidence and address ongoing security concerns. The attacker later returned the funds, keeping 10% as a bug bounty.
Source
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🪙 Paxos to issue new USD-backed stablecoin in Singapore
Crypto firm Paxos has formed a fresh entity in Singapore to launch a new USD-backed stablecoin in the country. Paxos Digital Singapore Pte. Ltd. received in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Paxos said late Wednesday. The new entity will issue a USD-backed stablecoin that will comply with Singapore's recently finalized stablecoin regulatory framework before the legislative amendments take effect.
In August, MAS finalized its framework for regulating stablecoins, applicable to single-currency stablecoins pegged to the Singaporean dollar or any G10 currency, including the U.S. dollar. Crypto firms aiming to recognize their stablecoins as "MAS regulated stablecoins" must comply with the framework. "Paxos is one of only two companies, alongside StraitsX, to get this approval from MAS," a Paxos spokesperson told The Block. "We will issue a new stablecoin with all new branding. That's because it is done from Singapore." Paxos does not yet have a name or specific details for the new stablecoin, aside from it being USD-backed and issued by the firm's new Singapore entity, the spokesperson said.
Source
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💰 Grayscale's Solana Trust Trades at 869% Premium as Institutions Flock to SOL
Grayscale's Solana Trust (GSOL) is trading at a premium of 869% to its underlying assets amid a surge in institutional interest in the cryptocurrency industry, CoinGlass data shows. The trust's shares are priced at $202 following a 653% rise since the start of September, while the SOL token trebled to $58 from $19. CoinGlass shows it holds 115,900 tokens ($6.78 million) on behalf of its clients. The widening premium comes after the underlying asset, SOL, surged 20% on Friday.
Positive sentiment continues to build after FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty on seven counts of fraud earlier this month. The token was dubbed one of the "Sam Coins" before the exchange's collapse because it had invested millions into the ecosystem and built Serum, a decentralized exchange, on the Solana network. Institutional interest in crypto has experienced an uptick over the past few months, with CME, the venue that is preferred by institutions, overtaking Binance in terms of derivatives market share. The increase can be attributed to optimism around the potential approval of a spot bitcoin ETF, something that the SEC has consistently denied over the past few years.
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📣 SafeMoon CEO John Karony’s bail postponed while courts assess level of flight risk
According to court documents dated Nov. 9, a judge has partially granted U.S. prosecutors’ request to counter the bail of John Karony, the CEO of crypto platform SafeMoon. A filing from New York prosecutors indicates that a Utah magistrate judge, Daphne A. Oberg, issued Karony’s release order on Nov. 8. Karony’s bail included a $500,000 bond plus conditions of house arrest and restrictions on financial activities. Prosecutors for the Eastern District of New York said the Utah judge did not consider Karony’s finances and his ability to flee.
Specifically, they said that Karony had millions of dollars of assets that the court was not aware of, including a Utah home currently being sold for $1.5 million, various expensive items, and money in an unnamed company. The Nov. 9 filing states that Karony’s release order will be stayed (paused) until the matter is resolved. That filing is signed by District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall for the Eastern District of New York, where Karony’s criminal case is proceeding. Prosecutors noted that Karony has “shown a desire to remain abroad” since working on SafeMoon. Specifically, they said that Karony took twelve trips to Europe in just over two years. Most recently, they said, Karony was outside of the U.S. for five months before returning on Oct. 27. He planned to stay in the U.S. for just weeks.
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📊 KuCoin and Gate exchanges to list BRC-20 memecoin Sats
Crypto exchanges Gate and KuCoin are planning to list Sats — a memecoin based on the Ordinals BRC-20 token standard — on their platforms soon. Gate opened deposits for Sats at 4 a.m. EST earlier today. Meanwhile, KuCoin said will enable deposits, with trading estimated to start at 5 a.m. EST on Nov. 9, provided the token deposits meet the liquidity requirement, per its announcement. The trading pair SATS/USDT will be available on KuCoin, the exchange added.
Sats is a memecoin created on Bitcoin through the Ordinals protocol, named after ‘satoshis,’ the smallest unit of Bitcoin. The token is currently trading at $0.00000012 with a diluted market capitalization of $270 million. Unisat data indicates that Sats is held in 39,000 user wallets on the Bitcoin network. Memecoins constitute the majority of tokens created using the Ordinals protocol, and are designated as BRC-20 tokens. This term is named in analogy to the ERC-20 token standard on the Ethereum blockchain, although their mechanisms differ. Introduced by developer Casey Rodarmor in early 2023, the Ordinals protocol allows developers to assign a distinct identity or file onto every satoshi within the Bitcoin network, a process called inscription.
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🪙 Evmos plans to deprecate Cosmos transactions, signals Ethereum alignment
The core team at Layer 1 blockchain Evmos, which facilitates the integration of Ethereum smart contracts within the Cosmos network, is planning to discontinue support for Cosmos transactions to focus exclusively on Ethereum-based transactions. This means the core network will support only Ethereum-based wallets and tools instead of those designed for Cosmos. The transition to a single transaction format is expected to streamline the development workflow and improve the efficiency of Ethereum wallets on the network.
Evmos’ team has grappled with the dual challenge of maintaining compatibility for both Cosmos and Ethereum clients, according to the team. The network currently supports distinct transaction hashes for each ecosystem, a complexity the team plans to eliminate. The strategic move to an EVM-centric transaction approach will allow the Evmos team to focus on simplification. The change is also anticipated to ease the workload for developers of wallets and blockchain explorers by removing the necessity to support two transaction formats. While Cosmos transactions cater to essential network operations like staking and governance, Ethereum transactions facilitate interactions with dApps via the Ethereum Virtual Machine on Evmos.
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📣 Lido Finances approves proposal to enable Obol decentralized staking module
Liquid staking protocol Lido Finance voted to approve a proposal incorporating Simple Distributed Validator Technology from the Obol Network. "DVT represents the fastest way to add many new Node Operators to the Lido Node Operator set with a more diverse profile of solo and community staker participants while benefiting from the technology's inherent benefits such as increased resilience, distribution, and security," a Lido member wrote in the proposal.
"The Simple DVT module is intended to demonstrate that utilizing DVT on mainnet is possible, while furthering the diversification of the Lido Node Operator set on Ethereum and potentially setting the stage for more scalable and permissionless DVT-based modules in the near future." "This vote signifies support for the advancement of this new module. This will be Lido's first module to use Obol DVs on Ethereum mainnet," Obol Labs, the firm building the Obol network, wrote on social media. "This module represents a significant step towards strong diversification and decentralization of the Lido Node Operator set."The Obol Network, developed by Obol Labs, allows individuals to take part in an ecosystem of distributed staking validators.
Source
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🇬🇧 PayPal UK registers with FCA for crypto services but faces stringent restrictions
PayPal UK has registered with the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to offer crypto asset activities within the country. The registration was effective from Oct. 31, according to the UK financial regulator's website. However, a notice on the FCA's website stated that PayPal UK will be subject to specific restrictions that apply unless the FCA has granted otherwise. The restrictions mean that PayPal UK will not be able to bring on new customers and existing customers will only be able to hold or sell tokens.
Beyond this, the FCA outlined a list of prohibited services, including facilitating peer-to-peer transactions, getting involved with initial coin offerings, providing staking services and participating in DeFi activities such as crypto asset lending and borrowing. In August, PayPal paused the ability to make crypto purchases in the UK due to the FCA's rules. This will continue until 2024. PayPal’s crypto registration comes as the UK Treasury released its final proposals for future regulation of crypto asset activity on Monday. The proposals outline the UK government's intention to bring several crypto asset activities into the regulatory perimeter for financial services for the first time. Companies offering crypto services in the UK must be approved for registration and comply with the FCA's anti-money laundering rules.
Source
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🇸🇻 Bitcoin-friendly El Salvador can become ‘Singapore of the Americas’ — VanEck adviser
El Salvador can follow Singapore’s lead and become a financial center in the Americas, according to Gabor Gurbacs, strategy adviser of investment management firm VanEck. “I say often to portfolio managers and asset allocators that El Salvador has the potential to become the Singapore of the Americas,” Gurbacs explained in an Oct. 28 X (formerly Twitter) post. Gurbacs expects new capital investment and immigration to be the main drivers behind El Salvador’s increased economic growth over the next few years.
Oct. 28 post by United States broadcaster and Bitcoiner Max Keiser, which was captioned “Move to #ElSalvador, The New Land of the Free.” Keiser, who now lives in El Salvador, listed Bitcoin and the U.S. dollar’s legal tender status, a clean-up of Salvadoran crime, great beaches and great coffee as some of the main reasons the Central American country should be on everyone’s radar. El Salvador’s status as an emerging economy became more prominent when Nayib Bukele was elected as the country’s president in June 2019. El Salvador’s sovereign bonds have outperformed many other emerging markets this year, yielding an eye-popping 70% return by August. It even caught the attention of JPMorgan and other large investment banks. Bukele and the El Salvador government made Bitcoin legal tender in September 2021.
Source
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🔵 Arbitrum Foundation Says 'Orbit' for Layer-3 Networks Now Ready for Mainnet
The Arbitrum Foundation said new "layer-3" networks created via the project's "Orbit" program can now settle to the Arbitrum main network. The foundation, an organization that says it's dedicated to the decentralization of Arbitrum, which is the biggest layer-2 network atop the Ethereum blockchain, made the announcement Thursday on X (formerly Twitter). The Orbit program was one of the first announcements by the foundation when it was formed in March in an effort to decentralize Arbitrum. In June, Offchain Labs released Orbit documentation for developer-only networks or "devnets."
Orbit is a program started earlier this year that blockchain developers can use to spin up their own layer-2 or layer-3 networks, using Arbitrum's technology. Previously, these new layer-3 networks were only settling on an Arbitrum test network, according to Steven Goldfeder, CEO of Offchain Labs, the primary developer behind Arbitrum. According to Offchain Labs, Orbit lets developers “create your own dedicated chain that settles to one of Arbitrum's layer 2 or L2 chains,” on Arbitrum One, Arbitrum Nova, Arbitrum Goerli and Arbitrum Sepolia. The move comes as the biggest developers of Ethereum layer-2 networks, including not just Arbitrum but OP Labs (behind Optimism), Polygon and Matter Labs (behind zkSync), are making their technology available to builders to clone or modify for their own use.
Source
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📣 Philippines-based exchange Coins.ph appears to have lost 12.2 million XRP in possible exploit
The Philippines-based crypto exchange Coins.ph appears to have experienced an exploit on Tuesday that resulted in the loss of more than 12 million XRP tokens ($6 million). Within about 30 minutes, a supposed hacker exchanged 999,999.999 XRP lots 13 times, in addition to another lot of 200,000 XRP, according to the blockchain explorer XRP scan. After gaining nearly 12.2 million XRP tokens, the hacker then sent the coins through the crypto exchange OKX, the European crypto-to-fiat exchange WhiteBIT, the cross-blockchain exchange OrbitBridge.
After gaining nearly 12.2 million XRP tokens, the hacker then sent the coins through the crypto exchange OKX, the European crypto-to-fiat exchange WhiteBIT, the cross-blockchain exchange OrbitBridge, the crypto exchange SimpleSwap, two non-custodial exchange ChangeNOW and Fixed Float, as well as other destinations. "WhiteBIT, as soon as received a request from the Philippines-based exchange Coins, promptly reacted and blocked 445,000 Ripple," a WhiteBIT spokesperson said in an email to The Block. "In addition, WhiteBIT has reached out to Cristal and Chainalysis, requesting to flag addresses associated with stolen cryptocurrencies." Coins.ph did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Block.
Source
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💰 Polygon proposes 13-member 'protocol council' to supervise smart contract upgrades
Polygon Labs has introduced a new governance improvement proposal, designated as PIP-29, which seeks to form a Protocol Council to steer changes made to its core smart contracts. The Protocol Council is set to consist of 13 members charged with supervising modifications to Polygon’s system-level smart contracts. The proposal identifies several influential individuals and organizations slated to join the Protocol Council.
Given the importance of upgradeability in smart contracts for Polygon’s system architecture, the Protocol Council is expected to play a crucial role in ensuring both security and the ability for smooth transitions to updated versions. A regular change to Polygon’s smart contracts will require 7/13 consensus signatures from the Protocol Council members with a 10-day timelock. This consensus will be used for all ordinary configuration changes in the contract. In case of an emergency, a change would require a 10/13 consensus from the Protocol Council but with no timelock, according to the proposal. The council will supervise time-locked alterations to these smart contracts on the Ethereum network, pertinent to both current and future Polygon 2.0 protocols.
Source
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📣 TrueCoin Alerts TUSD Team of Urgent Vendor Security Breach
TUSD team received a concerning notification from TrueCoin alert , indicating a security breach detected by a third-party vendor. Specifically, the vendor’s Security Team uncovered an anomalous account change within TrueCoin’s organization, attributed to a compromised support vendor. While the internal systems of TrueCoin alert remained secure, the incident has raised concerns regarding the potential exposure of certain user data, including KYC and transaction history, as TrueCoin alert was actively operating TUSD until July 13, 2023.
TUSD system itself remains secure and unharmed, reassuring users that their data and assets within the TUSD system remain unaffected by the security breach. TrueCoin alert has swiftly taken action to address the situation and mitigate any potential risks arising from the compromised support vendor’s unauthorized access. The team is working diligently to strengthen their security measures, aiming to prevent similar incidents in the future and ensure the continued safety of user data and assets. While the security breach has caused some concern within the TUSD community, the prompt response from TrueCoin, coupled with the unaffected status of the TUSD system and reserves, provides reassurance to users and stakeholders regarding the overall security and integrity of the TUSD platform.
Source
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💰 Sam Altman Invited To Cardano Partnerchain LLM After Being Fired By OpenAI’s Board
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson invites ousted OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to join the Cardano partnerchain LLM. OpenAI’s board announced that Sam was fired for not being “consistently candid in his communications with the board.”. Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has invited Sam Altman, the former CEO of OpenAI, to participate in a decentralized large language model (LLM) project related to the Cardano partnerchain.
The invitation of Charles Hoskinson comes after OpenAI’s board fired Sam Altman, as per Reuters. OpenAI’s Chief Technology Officer, Mira Murati, will serve as the interim CEO while the company searches for a permanent replacement. Altman’s departure followed a review process by the board, citing a lack of consistent communication hindering their responsibilities. Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president and co-founder, resigned from the company in response to Altman’s firing. The sudden management changes surprised many employees, including Altman and Brockman themselves, who learned of the decision shortly before the public announcement.
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💰 Fake filing for BlackRock XRP Trust caused brief price spike
A fake filing that was designed to look like BlackRock was setting the stage for an XRP ETF caused a temporary pump in the price of XRP. The filing was submitted to the Delaware Divisions of Corporations and published on its website. It contained details matching similar BlackRock filings, including the name and address of its registered agent. It was similar to previous filings for bitcoin and ether, but naming XRP. This means BlackRock is not currently preparing to launch a spot XRP ETF.
The price of XRP rallied briefly on the fake news of a potential Blackrock XRP ETF on Monday.The firm denied the authenticity of the Delaware entity filing that caused a fuss. Yet a BlackRock spokesperson confirmed to The Block that the filing has no relation to the asset manager. This means BlackRock is not currently preparing to launch a spot XRP ETF. The filing, first spotted by users on X, was followed by a 12% hike in the price of XRP over the next 30 minutes after the first posts. It was similar to previous filings for bitcoin and ether, but naming XRP. Once it was reported that the filing was fake, the price returned closer to the previous level of 66 cents per token, according to Coingecko.
Source
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💰 Solana's Rally Hits 184% Gain in 30 Days as $19M in SOL Shorts Liquidate in 24 Hours
Among the leading ten crypto assets by market value, solana (SOL) has outperformed its peers this week. Currently, SOL boasts a 45.2% increase over the last week and has vaulted by 184% against the U.S. dollar in the last 30 days. On Saturday, November 11, trading prices for SOL ranged from $53.59 to $63.44 per coin. With around $4.41 billion in global trade volume over the past day, SOL ranks as the fifth most traded cryptocurrency in terms of trading activity.
The recent uptick in solana’s value has resulted in a significant number of short positions wagering on the digital currency’s decline being liquidated. Data from Coinglass reveals that solana tops today’s chart with short position liquidations amounting to $19.28 million. Concurrently, conversations about SOL’s rise are peppered across social media networks, including X. Data from Cryptocompare indicates that on Saturday, SOL’s primary trading pair is tether (USDT), capturing 52% of the activity, with trades against the U.S. dollar ranking second at 17.83%. The Korean won is responsible for a significant 16.27% slice of all SOL trades, while BTC claims 5.83% of the market share.
Source
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💰 Bitcoin Fees Climb 150% in 3 Days as Block Space Grows More Expensive
The demand for space in Bitcoin’s ledger has witnessed a sharp rise, compelling miners to face a daunting 429 megabytes of data backlog, equivalent to approximately 229 blocks. At block height 815,999, there is a logjam of around 201,646 transactions awaiting confirmation by miners. Only three days ago, the fee to expedite a transaction with high priority was pegged at $3.38; since then, it has soared over 150% to its present price of $8.46 per transaction. This is in the wake of a staggering 4,000% hike in BTC fees the previous month.
Archived data from mempool.space shows that sending a bitcoin transaction without priority costs $0.74, while a low-priority transaction comes with a $6.51 fee. Medium priority transactions stand at approximately $7.56 as of Thursday. Bitinfocharts.com reports that the average bitcoin transaction fee is 0.00019 BTC, or $7.17, with the median fee at 0.00011 BTC, or $4.34 per transaction. The spike in costs for block space can be attributed to the recent surge in bitcoin’s value, which approached $38,000 around 9:50 a.m. Eastern Time on November 9. contribute to the growing backlog and the escalating fee market
Source
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👀 FTT rallies over 80% after Gary Gensler's nod to possible FTX reboot
The token associated with the defunct FTX cryptocurrency exchange has experienced a price surge of over 80% in the past 24 hours. The rally comes after U.S. Securities Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler hinted that he would be open to a rebooted FTX — as long as its done "within the law." FTT is now changing hands for $2.27, gaining over 80% in the past 24 hours, as of 6.55 a.m. ET, according to CoinGecko.
The news comes after it was reported that Gensler said FTX could be revived under new leadership. According to CNBC on Wednesday the SEC Chair gave his views on reports that Tom Farley, a former president of the New York Stock Exchange, is among a short list of bidders attempting to buy the bankrupt FTX exchange. "If Tom or anybody else wanted to be in this field, I would say, 'Do it within the law,'" Gensler said at DC Fintech Week. "Build the trust of investors in what you’re doing and ensure that you’re doing the proper disclosures, and also that you’re not commingling all these functions, trading against your customers. Or using their crypto assets for your own purposes," Gensler added.
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💰 Ripple (XRP) Dominates Ethereum (ETH) in Interest in Almost Every US State
Google Trends data shows that XRP is more popular than Ethereum in 47 US states, with the highest interest coming from Delaware, Nevada, Louisiana, Arizona, and Hawaii. Forecasting the future value of XRP varies greatly among analysts, with estimates ranging from a moderate increase to $0.90 by next summer to an extreme prediction of $500, which would require a market capitalization far exceeding the current total crypto market cap. with Ripple’s partial wins in court contributing to a positive trend.
Ripple’s native token – XRP – seems to be a highly intriguing topic for many Americans. According to Google Trends data, the residents of 47 states have displayed higher interest in the asset than Ethereum (ETH). Delaware, Nevada, Louisiana, Arizona, and Hawaii are the regions where XRP is the most popular. On the other hand, Vermont, New York, Oregon, and the District of Columbia are the only areas where Ethereum has surpassed Ripple’s coin. The outcome of the legal battle, which has been ongoing since December 2020, is expected to be revealed in the spring of 2024 during a grand trial. Multiple analysts and experts have predicted that a decisive win for Ripple could propel a further jump for XRP.
Source
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💰 'Santa Rally' Could Propel Bitcoin to $56K by Year-End, Matrixport Says
One of the most famous sayings on Wall Street is that a bull market tends to stay in motion unless an external force acts upon it. Bitcoin (BTC) has historically lived up to the adage modeled along Sir Isaac Newton’s third law of motion and could do so again, rising as high as $56,000 by the end of the year, according to crypto services provider Matrixport. “If bitcoin is up at least +100% by this time of the year, then there is a +71% chance or five in seven that bitcoin would finish the year higher with average year-end rallies of +65%,".
Bitcoin is trading above $35,000, representing a 114% on a year-to-date basis. The impressive gain could be attributed to several reasons, including spot ETF optimism, speculation the Federal Reserve’s liquidity tightening cycle has peaked and haven demand. The expected 65% price rise means bitcoin could trade above $65,000 by the year-end. The chart shows the historical performance of bitcoin in the first ten months and the final two months of the year from 2010-2022. “When bitcoin is up at least +50% by the end of October, there is, on average, a 78% chance that bitcoin will advance even more into year-end. Bitcoin rallied another +68% until year-end on seven of nine previous occasions. This analysis is based on thirteen years of bitcoin history,” Thielen noted.
Source
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📣 LastPass Hack Victims Lose $4.4M in a Single Day
Hackers siphoned a total of $4.4 million worth of crypto from at least 25 LastPass users on Oct. 25, according to blockchain analyst ZachXBT. LastPass is a platform that stores and encrypts password information for users. Its cloud-based storage service was breached in an attack last year that involved targeting an employee and stealing their credentials. ZachXBT and MetaMask developer Taylor Monahan have tracked at least 80 crypto wallets that have been compromised in relation to the hack.
Funds have been stolen from the Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, Arbitrum, Solana and Polygon blockchains, according to a list published by Monahan. "Cannot stress this enough, if you believe you may have ever stored your seed phrase or keys in LastPass migrate your crypto assets immediately," ZachXBT wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Cryptocurrency wallets are often targeted by hackers because a common attack vector is obtaining a private key, which gives the hacker complete access to funds. In July more than $300 million was stolen from crypto users in a string of hacks and exploits. Cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs reported that more than $35 million worth of crypto had been stolen in relation to the LastPass breach.
Source
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📊 Stablecoins need to be regulated, says Federal Reserve's Barr
Stablecoins need to be regulated, top Federal Reserve official Michael Barr said on Friday in prepared remarks. When an asset is pegged to a government-issued currency and also used as a means of payment and a store of value, it "borrows the trust of the central bank," the vice chair of supervision said at a conference in Washington D.C. "So, the Federal Reserve has a strong interest in ensuring that any stablecoin offerings operate within an appropriate federal prudential oversight framework, so they do not threaten financial stability or payments system integrity," Barr said.
The central bank has increased its focus on stablecoins and in August announced new guardrails to strengthen its supervision of banks involved in stablecoin activity. Barr said he was "deeply concerned" about issuing stablecoins without strong federal oversight, in remarks last month. Meanwhile, in Congress, lawmakers have battled over how stablecoins should be regulated in an effort to create a federal framework. The House Financial Services Committee made some progress when it advanced a stablecoin bill, though at the time Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif, criticized the bill over a provision that would allow state regulators to approve stablecoin issuance without Federal Reserve input. Waters told Politico this week that she expects talks on that stablecoin bill to start back up.
Source
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🔵 Arbitrum to integrate its Orbit stack with Celestia for data availability
The Arbitrum Foundation announced that Celestia is the first modular data availability network to be integrated into Arbitrum’s software stacks known as Orbit and Nitro. The move implies that Celestia's data availability proofs are slated to be incorporated into Arbitrum's current Layer 2 ecosystem, a leading Layer 2 scaling solution on Ethereum by total value locked that functions as a rollup solution designed to enhance the throughput and efficiency of Ethereum-based applications.
The integration with Celestia, a modular consensus and data network, aims to diversify developer tooling when it comes to reducing data costs for apps. Recently, Celestia Labs introduced Blobstream, which has the ability to "stream" or expand Celestia's data availability layer to Ethereum, helping deliver the data throughput required for a large number of rollups without sacrificing security for end-users. The integration of Celestia also marks the first external contribution to the Arbitrum Orbit protocol layer. Celestia is approaching the launch of its mainnet in the coming weeks. Furthermore, the Celestia Foundation recently announced an airdrop of 60 million of its native token, named Tia, to 7,579 developers and over half a million on-chain addresses on Ethereum rollups, Cosmos Hub and Osmosis.
Source
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💰 Global Bitcoin ATM Numbers Sink to Lowest Level Since 2021
The number of bitcoin ATMs installed worldwide sank to a two-year low this month, according to data from AltIndex. Since the end of last year, the number installed has dropped 7,000, or 17%, to 32,500, AltIndex said on Wednesday. That follows an increase from 34,500 at end-2021. The U.S., which hosts the largest number of machines, saw the biggest drop. There are now about 26,700 machines in the country. Still, the world's largest economy still has almost 18 times the number installed across the whole of Europe, which hosts some 1,500.
Since the end of last year, the number installed worldwide has dropped 7,000, or 17%. AltIndex attributes the decline to controversies about their potentially criminal use. For example, scammers may advertise goods for sale on sites like eBay, ask buyers to deposit funds into a specific bitcoin wallet through ATM, and then vanish. Brandon Mintz, the CEO and founder of publicly traded bitcoin ATM operator Bitcoin Depot (BTM) said the trend is due to some operators turning off unprofitable ATMs or going out of business altogether. "This creates an opportunity for us that allows us to further increase market share through acquisitions and organic kiosk growth in additional retail locations,” he told CoinDesk in an emailed statement.
Source
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🇬🇧 Leading the European Crypto Charge: LCX Set to Become First MiCA Ready Exchange in Liechtenstein
LCX.com, the Liechtenstein Cryptoassets Exchange, has announced its readiness to adapt to the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations. This forward movement by LCX is in line with the Liechtenstein government's recent initiatives to adapt its local blockchain laws, reinforcing the nation's position as a crypto-friendly jurisdiction. The Liechtenstein government has made proactive amendments to its blockchain act, which has been in full force since January 2020.
LCX, as a regulated fintech platform and next generation crypto exchange, plans to capitalize on this and submit its application for the MiCA license promptly. LCX holds 9 blockchain registrations including Exchange Service Provider, Token Custody, Physical Validator, operates a centralized spot exchange and facilitates registered initial token sales on behalf of projects on their Launchpad. LCX was also the first worldwide to launch a regulatory endorsed tokenized bond denominated in Bitcoin and Ethereum offering a fixed yield, named LCX Earn. Monty Metzger, the former VC, serial entrepreneur and visionary founder of LCX, mentioned on X, "Being at the forefront of crypto regulations, we aim to ensure that LCX becomes the leading MiCA-regulated cryptocurrency exchange in Europe.
Source
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🚘 Ferrari to accept crypto for luxury car purchases: Reuters
Ferrari will accept cryptocurrency as a payment method for its luxury cars in the U.S., according to a Reuters report. The company intends to expand this payment option to Europe in the near future. The decision to embrace cryptocurrency was made in response to requests from the market and dealers. Many of Ferrari’s clients have invested in cryptocurrencies, the firm said. “This will help us connect to people who are not necessarily our clients but might afford a Ferrari,” the company's chief marketing and commercial officer Enrico Galliera told Reuters.
For its U.S. operations, the company has partnered with BitPay, a notable cryptocurrency payment processor. Payments in bitcoin, ether, and the stablecoin USDC will be accepted and promptly converted into fiat currencies to safeguard dealers from crypto price volatility. Countries with cryptocurrency restrictions, such as China, will not be included in Ferrari’s cryptocurrency payment expansion strategy. Galliera stated that Ferrari’s order portfolio is fully booked until 2025. However, the company is experimenting with this payment method to potentially attract new customers. In 2021, electric car manufacturer Tesla initiated the acceptance of payments in bitcoin. However, CEO Elon Musk subsequently suspended accepting crypto payments for car purchases due to environmental concerns.
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