Liminal Newsletter: January Edition

With the kickstart of a new reckoning year, we saw a mix of some of the biggest revelations for the digital asset market and an immediate downward trend in the market activity pertaining to the continued volatile nature of assets, fired by continuous polarising views from governments either banning or shunning down international business and service providers. In the midst of celebrating Bitcoin’s birthday and the Spit ETF launches, the overall market sentiment grew and fell back all in a month, showcasing a perfect crypto month and a great start to much-awaited significant events in the industry.?

SEC Approves All Spot Bitcoin ETFs

The whole of Web3 was eagerly awaiting a decision on Spot Bitcoin ETFs, with the likes of BlackRock, Grayscale, and Valkyrie pushing the SEC to make a decision fast. Finally, just ten days into 2024, the SEC approved all the filed Spot Bitcoin ETFs, creating a massive milestone for themselves and cryptocurrencies. This was a win not just for the asset management firms but for all those who believe in the vision of a regulated and secure digital assets market.?

India Banned Foreign Crypto Platforms

India intensified its efforts to curb crypto tax evasion, taking measures to block foreign crypto platforms. This move involved restricting access to the web platforms of foreign cryptocurrency exchanges, including major players like Binance, Kucoin, and OKX. The ban is attributed to alleged money laundering activities on these platforms, prompting the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to recommend the ban until compliance with India’s crypto laws is ensured.?

Chainanysis Reports Crypto Crime Amounted to Over $24B in 2023

In 2023, illicit cryptocurrency transactions amounted to over $24 billion, constituting 0.34% of total transaction volume, per Chainalysis’ annual crypto crime trends report. Although a 40% decrease from 2022, the $24.2 billion figure is provisional and likely to rise. Crypto scams and hacks decreased significantly, while ransomware and dark net activities increased in 2023. This underscores the evolving and nuanced nature of crypto’s role in illicit activities, presenting challenges for regulatory and law enforcement efforts.

EU draft rules to favour local firms and ban non-EU solicitation

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has released two draft guidelines addressing competition and asset coverage in the context of the forthcoming Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). The first guideline proposes a de facto ban on solicitation by non-EU firms for EU crypto service providers (CASPs), targeting advertisements, sponsorships, and influencer endorsements. This measure aims to protect investors and local CASPs from unfair competition, ensuring full MiCA-backed protections and maintaining regulatory standards.

Alright, now, it’s time to take a break from the news around the world and give you a sneak peek into what has happened at Liminal over the past month.

Liminal Partnered With Encryptus To Offer Off-Ramp Functionality

In our pursuit of building a fully regulated digital asset custody platform, we prioritise secure storage for crypto and fiat assets. To enhance the transition between digital assets and fiat currency, we partnered with Encryptus, integrating compliant off-ramp solutions for our institutional clients. This collaboration aims to reduce friction, enhance efficiency, optimise value preservation, and simplify compliance processes in fiat-crypto conversion. The integration allows partners to access treasury management and facilitate business payments in 54 countries and individual payments in over 80 countries.?

Read More: Media Announcement

Liminal Integrates XRPL Blockchain?

Our emphasis on a robust blockchain ecosystem for secure digital asset custody has pushed us to build an interoperable ecosystem for our custody and wallet services. Following this trend, we integrated Ripple’s native chain XRP Ledger (XRPL). This integration will enable secure custody of various XRP-powered assets, promoting granular control, multi-signature wallet governance, real-time compliance monitoring, and DeFi connectivity. Liminal’s XRPL integration offers streamlined workflows, enhanced liquidity, and scalable solutions.?

Read More: Media Announcement

Telos Signed Up For Liminal’s Cold Wallet Solution

We have worked extensively on mastering cold wallet security enhancing operational efficiency and liquidity for institutions. Our advanced cold wallet infrastructure, employing multi-party computation (MPC) technology, offers custom workflows, compliance monitoring, and faster transaction processing. Telos , a leading Layer-1 EVM chain, joined our ecosystem to take advantage of our infrastructure, particularly cold wallets, ensuring Fort Knox-level security, automated risk and compliance management, seamless staking, governance facilitation, and frictionless asset movement. This collaboration exemplifies the evolution of cold storage solutions, emphasising heightened security, operational flexibility, and transparency.

Read More: Media Announcement

Liminal Onboarded New CEO For Middle East & Principal Scientist for MPC Technology

We proudly welcomed Dr. Sharmila S as Principal Scientist, leveraging her 18+ years of expertise in cryptography, cloud, and blockchain security to enhance their solutions. We also welcomed Amir Tabch as the new CEO for Liminal Custody Solutions in the Middle East, signifying a strategic expansion, bringing over two decades of experience in scaling businesses across traditional and digital asset markets. These additions are expected to propel Liminal to new heights in the Middle East market and in our MPC technology insurgence.?

Explore current openings at Liminal here.

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