In recent years, the field of cryptocurrencies has grown at an incredible rate. What was once considered a cutting-edge technology has grown into a worldwide phenomenon that companies, regulators, and investors are all interested in. With this surge in interest, the importance of cryptocurrency compliance has come to light. The lack of a unified international
Following the discovery of a serious Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability in a prior version of the iOS app, blockchain security company Certik has advised users of OKX Wallet to update.The prior version could “potentially compromise sensitive data and crypto assets,” according to Certik’s post on X. It added that OKX “responded swiftly and issued an updated version today.” It’s unknown if any money was taken from users of OKX wallets.CoinDesk reached out to OKX for comment, but they did not get back to us right away. Hackers have been targeting cryptocurrency wallets and exchanges more and more in recent months; in November, Poloniex lost $114 million in theft, and then HTX and cross-chain bridge Heco suffered a $100 million theft.Users of Atomic wallets lost $35 million in ether (ETH), bitcoin (BTC), and other tokens in June as a result of updating to a new version of the iOS app.
The Singapore branch of cryptocurrency asset manager HashKey Capital has obtained a central bank license, enabling it to offer fund management services in the nation.HashKey Capital Singapore will be able to support the regional blockchain community thanks to the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Capital Markets Services (CMS) license, according to a statement from CEO Deng Chao.In November 2022, it obtained an in-principle license. The business is in the same league as cryptocurrency exchange DigiFT, which was granted a CMS license in November, and SBI Digital Markets, a division of Japan’s largest financial services corporation SBI Holdings’ digital assets division, which was granted the license in September of last year. HashKey Capital wants to “create an environment where traditional and digital financial ecosystems harmoniously converge,” according to the statement. The company raised $500 million for its third fund in January, and it intends to invest in global Web3 and cryptocurrency projects.
Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital (MARA) announced that it will pay $178.6 million to acquire two new mining locations from Generate Capital’s subsidiaries.The business revealed on Tuesday that cash from Marathon’s financial sheet will be used to pay for the acquisition, which will add 390 megawatts of capacity.Approximately 21% of the two locations are empty and open for development, 63% are occupied by tenants mining bitcoin, and 16% are already home to Marathon.According to Marathon, the acquisitions should result in a roughly 30% decrease in the cost per coin mined. When Compute North went bankrupt in November of last year, Generate Capital paid $5 million to purchase shares in two mining locations.A 50% reduction in the rewards for creating new Bitcoin (BTC) is expected in April 2024, which is forcing mining companies to review how they handle their business.To increase the scale of their mining operations, one such method is to purchase smaller businesses.Prior to the conclusion of the month, Marathon announced that it had $800 million available. In line with its mining peers, Marathon’s Nasdaq-listed shares are currently up almost 7% on the day at $21.29.In the previous day, the price of bitcoin increased by almost 1.66%.
A bid by bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Genesis to prevent parent company Digital Currency Group (DCG) from selling or reducing its stake in the business until Chapter 11 proceedings are concluded has been successful. A recent court order reveals that Genesis attempted to obtain specific tax benefits by preventing any changes to ownership. Only if Genesis
Following the discount to net asset value decreasing and bitcoin (BTC) getting closer to $43,000, Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest kept reducing the amount of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) that it owned. ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) sold 809,441 shares of GBTC for about $28 million, according to ARK’s disclosure. After the sale, the
Blackrock (BLK) has submitted an updated proposal for an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that would track spot bitcoin (BTC) in an effort to placate regulators. This move is expected to increase the likelihood that the ETF will receive the first-ever approval in the United States. The revised proposal calls for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)-favored
The blockchain landscape is changing due to the emergence of application-specific blockchains, or AppChains. The way developers approach decentralised applications is being completely transformed by these specialised blockchain solutions. AppChains are gaining prominence quickly and have the potential to drastically alter the direction of blockchain technology in a world where the ecosystem is always changing.
The group that launched layer 2 rollup Metis, the MetisDAO Foundation, announced on Monday that it has established a fund of about $100 million to spur the expansion of its ecosystem.According to a news release, the 4.6 million METIS tokens that will be distributed by the Metis Ecosystem Development Fund (Metis EDF) will be used for “sequencer mining, retroactive funding, deployment of new projects and other endeavors.” At press time, the price of METIS tokens was $22.56, indicating an 8% decrease in the previous day’s value.The funds are expected to be distributed in the first quarter of 2024, with potential recipients including those aiming to develop blockchain security, decentralized finance, smart contract development, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) inside the Metis ecosystem.A blog post states that Metis hopes to be the first rollup to decentralize its sequencer, a crucial part of a layer-2 network that gathers user transactions and forwards them to the Ethereum main chain, early in the following year. One week following the scheduled launch of the Metis decentralized sequencer, the recently announced ecosystem funding will be distributed. “So the initial incentives for the sequencer pool will come from this fund,” Jose Fabrega, head of marketing at Metis, said. One notable member of the Metis team is Natalia Ameline, mother of Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin. The team is overseen by co-founder Elena Sinelnikova. “The MEDF will progressively evolve into a community-driven fund. It will be managed by the MetisDAO Foundation and Metis token holders, who will decide on grant allocation and project deployment
The Solana (SOL) blockchain, renowned for its affordable, quick transactions and support for numerous ecosystem apps, is home to the euro-backed stablecoin EURC, according to stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Financial.Users can now transact foreign exchange, trade, borrow, and lend tokens around-the-clock thanks to the stablecoin’s new support on Solana-based decentralized finance (DeFi) apps and digital wallets, such as Jupiter Exchange, Meteora, Orca, and Phoenix.The Avalanche (AVAX), Ethereum (ETH), and Stellar (XLM) blockchains’ native implementations are followed by the expansion to Solana. “EURC is well positioned to radically enhance utility across peer-to-peer transfers and European remittance corridors,” Circle said Monday. As a vital component of the digital asset market, stablecoins, a $130 billion asset class, operate as a link between cryptocurrencies that facilitate trade and transactions on blockchain networks and government-issued fiat money.They are also being used more and more for cross-border remittances and savings in underdeveloped nations with unstable financial systems since they provide quicker and less expensive transactions than traditional banking options. Early this year, research firm Bernstein predicted that stablecoins, which facilitate value exchange on public blockchains through tokens, could become a nearly $3 trillion market in the next five years as more and more consumer and financial platforms plug into them. The second-largest stablecoin, USDC, was unveiled in June of last year by Circle, the business that created it. The euro-pegged cryptocurrency is supported by a combination of cash reserves and European government debt.With the vast majority of the $130 billion stablecoin market consisting of tokens pegged to the US dollar, euro stablecoins have had difficulty drawing in users.At the moment, EURC has a market valuation of about $55 million.This contrasts with the $24 billion held by USDC and the $90 billion held by market leader Tether (USDT). According to Circle, EURC will be a regulated e-money token under the impending MiCA legislation, which will apply to all digital assets in the European Union. “Users will be able to securely hold savings in euro without the need for a traditional bank account, offering a powerful tool for those looking to safeguard against local currency volatility or
In relation to the Celsius Network bankruptcy proceedings, the Canadian Bitcoin mining company Hut 8 has inked a provisional deal to open a new mining facility in Cedarvale, Texas.Hut 8 revealed the news on December 18 and stated that the mining operation will employ about 66,000 people and require more than 215 megawatts (MW) of energy.According to Asher Genoot, president of Hut 8, the arrangement aims to accomplish two objectives: it will increase the managed services company’s strength and foster equity among Celsius’s creditors.“We anticipate having more than 895 MW of infrastructure under our umbrella once the site is up and running,” the CEO stated. Hut 8 will offer complete development services for the Cedarvale site in accordance with the interim agreement with Celsius.Hut 8 is anticipated to offer services including design, engineering, financial modeling, budgeting, accounting, construction management, procurement, logistics, and request for proposal coordination when development gets underway in the upcoming weeks.After filing for bankruptcy in July of 2022, Celsius was one of numerous cryptocurrency lenders that failed.Charges of securities fraud, commodities fraud, and wire fraud led to the arrest of Alex Mashinsky, the company’s former CEO, in July 2023. Hut 8’s deal with Celsius debtors was reached not long after Celsius secured clearance from a bankruptcy court for its proposal to compensate consumers, which included a change to become a creditor-owned Bitcoin mining company.US Bitcoin Corp (USBTC), which successfully merged with Hut 8 in November 2023, was purportedly assigned to oversee Celsius’s mining operations upon bankruptcy.Additionally, in August 2023, USBTC and Celsius reached an agreement for the hosting of 8,500 miners at USBTC’s Alpha Site.
A press release on Monday stated that Fairshake, a super political action committee (PAC), has raised $78 million to support candidates who support blockchain and cryptocurrency in the upcoming U.S. presidential election. The group has backing from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Ark, and cryptocurrency companies Circle, Ripple, Coinbase (COIN), and more. To raise
Following the theft of nearly $3 million worth of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from the trading platform NFT Trader, Nansen’s NFT-500 and Blue-Chip-10 indexes remained stable. When expressed in ether (ETH), the Nansen NFT-500 index is down 0.88%, while the Blue Chip 10 index is down 0.51%. The hack resulted in the theft of NFTs valued
Sales of Solana’s Saga phone may have just rebounded thanks to a meme token with a dog theme; some are currently selling for as much as $5,000, despite the device’s creators having previously labelled it a “failure.” According to site data, a number of Saga phones have sold for as much as $2,000 each on
The second stage of Palau Stablecoin’s (PSC) initiative was formally launched by the country’s Ministry of Finance.The program’s second phase debut was verified on December 15 in a post on X (previously Twitter) by Jay Hunter Anson, a cybersecurity specialist in Palau and advisor to the Ministry of Finance.Phase two of Palau’s cooperation with Ripple, according to Anson, is intended to enable the PSC team to take advantage of Ripple’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) platform and technical know-how.Pegged to the US dollar, PSC is a digital currency that utilizes Ripple’s XRP Ledger. Anson further emphasized that the PSC pilot program’s second phase will concentrate on forming new partnerships for marketing and sustainable development objectives.Along with increasing user interaction and the creation of a digital ecosystem, phase two of the PSC program will place a strong emphasis on regulatory compliance. The PSC pilot program’s phase two launch was also discussed by Anthony Welfare, a strategic adviser for CBDC at Ripple.Benefits including lower transaction costs and the ability to manage the environmental impact of money circulation were highlighted by Welfare while highlighting the advantages of blockchain-based digital currency.A few particular issues that the Ripple advisor brought up included the difficulty of transferring conventional currency throughout Palau’s 340 islands.He also mentioned how expensive cellphone data is in the nation. Welfare stated that even in the event of a power outage, people in Palau can carry out offline transactions with a blockchain-based digital money like PSC.On December 7, the Ministry of Finance in Palau declared the first phase of the PSC program to be successful.168 government employees volunteered for the three-month first phase.Each of the selected volunteers was given 100 PSC to spend at nearby shops taking part in the initiative.By scanning a QR code with their smartphones, participants paid using their phones.Positive comments regarding their experiences using the digital currency were given by the volunteers and participating retailers.
The business behind the USDT stablecoin, Tether, has made public letters it wrote to the US House Financial Services Committee and US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, highlighting its commitment to security and close collaboration with law enforcement.Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, who took over the company’s leadership lately, highlighted in one of the company’s recent letters its decision to disable Tether tokens kept in wallets linked to the Office of Foreign Assets and Controls (OFAC) sanction list.Tether says it helped the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Secret Service, and Department of Justice freeze 326 wallets that held 435 million USDT in total. Nevertheless, it appears that the most recent frozen wallets hold fewer tokens than the previously reported amount.Additionally, Ardoino revealed that Tether has just welcomed the US Secret Service and is in the process of doing the same for the FBI on its platform.These alliances demonstrate Tether’s dedication to working with law enforcement organizations to protect the security and integrity of its business operations. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a prominent cryptocurrency supporter in the Senate, was the intended recipient of the letters, which were also forwarded to the ranking members and chairs of the committees stated above.Through its engagement with law enforcement and its efforts to adhere to regulatory requirements, Tether hopes to provide transparency in its communications with lawmakers.
Bitcoin (BTC) saw a minor slide to $41,978 when the cryptocurrency market began trading anew this week, falling by about 50% on Sunday.Concurrent with this action is a substantial transfer of Bitcoin to exchanges totaling over $860 million, which may be a warning of an impending large sell-off.Coinbase is scheduled to go up against the SEC in court after its request for unambiguous cryptocurrency regulations was turned down, which is likely to inflame already high levels of anxiety among investors. Noting the increasing attention and scrutiny in the market, Blackrock has conversed with the SEC four times in relation to its application for a spot bitcoin ETF. In order to present its idea for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), BlackRock, the biggest asset manager in the world, has met with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) four times.Nasdaq’s proposed rule change to allow for the listing and trading of shares of the iShares Bitcoin Trust was the main topic of discussion.Concerning their applications for spot Bitcoin ETFs, Grayscale Investments, Fidelity, Hashdex, and Franklin Templeton have recently held negotiations with the SEC. Notably, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler announced that, in light of recent court rulings, the regulatory agency is reevaluating spot Bitcoin ETF filings.This has raised hopes that spot Bitcoin ETFs will be approved by the SEC, which will raise the price of bitcoin.Analysts at Bloomberg estimate that by January 10, there is a 90% likelihood that the idea will be passed.An clearance of this kind may raise investor confidence and possibly enhance demand for Bitcoin.
VeeFriends and World of Women tokens were taken, along with at least 13 Mutant Ape Yacht Club and 37 Bored Ape tokens. Nearly $3 million has been lost. On December 16, a security breach occurred on the peer-to-peer trading platform NFT Trader, which gave hackers access to millions of dollars’ worth of nonfungible tokens (NFTs).
It was discovered in a recent study that ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, has limitations when it comes to offering locally relevant information on environmental justice issues. Virginia Tech, an American university, released a report detailing possible biases in ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that suggests different results for environmental justice issues in
A conversion table will be used to evaluate cryptocurrency claims made by customers, with the petition date serving as the basis for valuation, according to a revised Chapter 11 plan of reorganisation from FTX debtors. As per the recently submitted amended Chapter 11 plan of reorganisation, the debtors of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange have declared
In light of false claims circulating regarding adverse tax effects, Grayscale is assessing the potential tax ramifications related to spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF).Grayscale clarified in a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) that retail investors in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) shouldn’t worry about tax ramifications when the fund sells Bitcoin to raise money to pay for share redemptions. “As we work to obtain the appropriate regulatory approvals to uplist $GBTC to NYSE Arca, we’re considering the potential tax implications for spot Bitcoin ETFs needing to sell $BTC holdings for cash to fulfill share redemptions. Here’s why we’re talking about this now. (1/7) — Grayscale (@Grayscale) December 15, 2023.” According to Grayscale, this is because the GBTC is set up as a grantor trust, which implies that for income and tax reasons, the organization creating the trust is the owner of the assets, in this case, the underlying Bitcoin. “Cash redemptions of
The highly publicized case alleging a sexual harassment culture at Activision Blizzard has been settled by a California regulator.According to a news statement from California’s Civil Rights Department (CRD), the gaming corporation, which is now owned by Microsoft, will pay roughly $54 million as part of the settlement. The complaint was brought in July 2021 by the CRD, which was formerly known as the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, or DFEH. The lawsuit claimed that Activision Blizzard maintained a “frat boy” culture in which women were harassed sexually and discriminated against based on their gender.Following the lawsuit, staff members departed, executives—including Blizzard president J. Allen Brack and the company’s former SVP of HR—left, and The Wall Street Journal revealed months later that CEO Bobby Kotick had been aware of complaints of sexual misconduct for years. As part of the settlement deal, the CRD did, however, state that there was no proof of Kotick’s misconduct and that “no court or any independent investigation has substantiated any allegations” of sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard, according to TNY.(The business informed the SEC that there was “no evidence to suggest” that senior officials disregarded complaints of gender harassment, according to an internal probe.)On Friday, the WSJ published a piece regarding the litigation. If a court approves the settlement, Activision Blizzard will pay about $54,875,000 to “cover direct relief to workers and litigation costs,” with $45,750,000 of that going to “a settlement fund dedicated to compensating workers,” the CRD says. Microsoft declared its intention to buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion a few months after California filed a lawsuit.That purchase eventually concluded in October after encountering many regulatory obstacles.Activision Blizzard will retain Kotick through the end of the year.Activision Blizzard and the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reached a $18 million settlement in 2022 after a different complaint claimed the corporation engaged in sexual harassment and discrimination. The settlement was authorized by a judge.
Retik Finance (RETIK) raised an astounding $1 million in a frenetic nine days, making it one of the year’s most successful presales.This incredible ascent is evidence of the project’s capacity to win over investors all around the world and its ground-breaking ambition for revolutionizing DeFi. Designed to improve accessibility and usability of decentralized finance (DeFi) services, Retik Finance is a groundbreaking effort in the DeFi space.Retik Finance is a unique platform that integrates the advantages of DeFi into regular financial transactions. It was founded with the goal of bridging the gap between ordinary fiat currencies and cryptocurrency. Innovative solutions—which center on DeFi Debit Cards and a secure wallet system in particular—help to simplify this integration.The $RETIK token, which has several functions within the ecosystem, is the fundamental component that powers Retik Finance.This include participating in governance, enabling transactions, and providing incentives for different platform activities.By making financial services more approachable for the general public, the project aims to revolutionize the DeFi sector. With the DeFi Debit Card, customers may spend their cryptocurrency holdings with the same ease as they would with fiat money, making it one of Retik Finance’s standout features.Providing a level of simplicity never seen in the DeFi market, this innovation represents a huge step towards the general use of cryptocurrencies.Security is a key component in the digital finance industry, and Retik Finance emphasizes it as well.With cutting-edge security measures in place, users’ assets are safeguarded against possible attacks thanks to the wallet system.Wider use of DeFi platforms is encouraged by this dedication to security, which increases reliability and confidence. Apart from its pragmatic uses, Retik Finance is dedicated to promoting community advancement and cultivating a cooperative ecosystem.Its governance architecture, which gives $RETIK token holders a voice in the platform’s future evolution, makes this clear.Retik Finance, taken as a whole, signifies a change toward financial services that are more useful, approachable, and user-focused.Retik Finance is an intriguing and promising project in the DeFi landscape because of its creative solutions and emphasis on linking the traditional and digital finance sectors. It is well-positioned to influence the future of decentralized financial services.
According to reports, a number of Taiwanese citizens were using Polymarket, a decentralised betting platform that experienced historically high trading volumes during the 2020 US presidential election. Taiwanese citizens have allegedly been advised against using cryptocurrency betting platforms to place bets on the results of the upcoming presidential election scheduled for January 13, 2024. This
John Deaton, the attorney for XRP holders, said that the SEC’s position in the Coinbase rulemaking dispute runs counter to what the SEC Chairman said in his earlier this year congressional testimony. John Deaton, the attorney for the XRP holder in the ongoing legal battle between Coinbase Global Inc. and the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Stuart Alderoty projects that US lawmakers will eventually agree that crypto regulations are necessary and that Ripple’s SEC lawsuit may be resolved. Stuart Alderoty, the chief legal officer of Ripple, has offered predictions about the state of cryptocurrencies in 2024. He talked about expectations regarding Ripple’s lawsuit against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC),
With the official approval of the ERC-3643 Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) by the Ethereum community, it is now accepted as a standard for the compliant tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs).The proposal acquired its final status on December 15, according to an announcement made by the Ethereum community. This means that it has undergone formal examination, discussion, and agreement.That’s akin to the previous methods used to create ERC-20 and other widely used standards. The ERC-3643 standard is used by payment networks, loyalty schemes, RWAs, and securities tokenization.The proposal’s sponsoring organization clarified that it uses a self-sovereign identification (SSI) framework to verify users’ eligibility for tokens while offering anonymous yet authentic credentials.To improve security and compliance, the accepted standard—which was proposed in 2021—incorporates two separate authorization levels on top of ERC-20. The first layer focuses on the recipient of the transaction’s identity and eligibility, using the ERC 734/735 standards to confirm that the required claims are present on the identification and have been verified by reliable claim issuers.To provide controlled and regulated token circulation, the second layer imposes global constraints on the token itself, such as daily volume limits and a maximum number of token holders.The process of turning a digital or physical asset’s value into a digital token for use on a distributed ledger or blockchain is known as asset tokenization.Increased liquidity, quicker settlements, greater accessibility to a variety of marketplaces, and transparency are among potential advantages of asset tokenization.Applications in the real world include making it possible to trade intellectual property, financial assets, art, and real estate fractionally. Asset tokenization is expected to reach a market value of $10 trillion by 2030, according to management consulting firm Roland Berger. This is a substantial increase from the current market value of about $300 billion. Many traditional and crypto-native organizations view asset tokenization as one of the major developments in the financial industry.Well-known businesses investigating the technology include Société Générale, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs.Despite the challenges facing the cryptocurrency industry, according to data from VanEck Research, the overall market value of RWAs hit $342 billion in September.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) denied U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase’s request on Friday to encourage the creation of a system of specialized regulations for digital assets.The refusal was accompanied by a statement from Chair Gary Gensler stating, “The current securities regime appropriately governs crypto asset securities.”In addition to asserting that the SEC’s current legislative jurisdiction is adequate, he claimed the industry watchdog has been actively proposing rules to directly supervise cryptocurrency businesses and that its enforcement division has been able to deal with misconduct. Gensler made a third argument, too, that “it is important to maintain commission discretion in setting its own rulemaking priorities.” Prior to being sued by the SEC for operating an unregistered securities exchange, Coinbase has already implemented this formal pressure in 2022.The agency’s response, which has already been received, was demanded by the company earlier this year from a federal court. “The commission disagrees with the petition’s assertion that application of existing securities statutes and regulations to crypto asset securities, issuers of those securities, and intermediaries in the trading, settlement, and custody of those
Governor of the Bank of Korea Rhee Chang-yong stated on Friday that central banks face difficulties due to the rise of stablecoins like tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC), since despite their name, they frequently lack stability. This was reported by Yonhap News. “This underscores the urgency for central banks to consider introducing central bank digital currencies (CBDC), whether retail or wholesale,” Rhee said at the Digital Money: Navigating a Changing Financial Landscape conference. “Their widespread adoption could diminish the role of central bank money and impair the effectiveness of monetary policies.” This week, attention has been drawn to stablecoins’ capacity to maintain their pegs—cryptocurrencies whose value is correlated with a fiat currency like the dollar or euro.Tether, the biggest stablecoin by market value, was ranked just one spot above the bottom on the five-point scale by ratings firm S&P, which unveiled a mechanism for assessing just that feature on Wednesday.Out of the eight coins analyzed, none deserved the highest scores. Rhee further stated that the Bank of Korea is investigating the tokenization of real-world assets and developing a wholesale CBDC pilot, according to Yonhap.As previously announced, the bank intends to launch a retail trial program with 100,000 participants in 2019.
Browser-based mining uses scripting language to mine cryptocurrencies right within a web browser. This strategy differs from the more widely used file-based method of mining cryptocurrencies, which requires downloading and running a specific executable file. With the launch of BitcoinPlus.com’s groundbreaking service in 2011, browser-based cryptocurrency mining initially became visible. It suddenly came back to
