News from the blockchain world | episode 41 ???
Step right up, Web3 enthusiasts! ?? It's time for another exciting edition of "News from the blockchain world"! ?? Curious about the latest happenings in the blockchain and cryptocurrency world? Don't miss out on all the juicy details, keep reading to find out what's cooking! ??
From this edition you will learn a.o.:
? Who has received approval for their algorithmic trading platform,?
? Who has released Web3 domain names for Polygon blockchain?
? Who has led the $10M funding for Chinese yuan stablecoin issuer?
? Why are tokenized diamonds becoming popular as crypto banking turmoil bites?
? Which cryptocurrency exchange will support the Filecoin (FIL) Network Upgrade?
Have fun reading - see you next week!
??? Business?
?? Spanish esports organisation Team Queso has announced a partnership with trading card game Foxtrot Command.
The Spanish organisation will create exclusive content, tournaments and team-branded events aimed at both communities. The multi-faceted deal will also feature Team Queso’s roster of streamers, with its creators streaming Foxtrot Command tournaments and providing commentary on the game. Foxtrot Command is an online trading card game that utilises NFTs. Players face off against each other using card decks, with cards bought, sold or traded on a marketplace.
?? Worldline brings global payment solutions to Web3 with Solana.
Worldline, global payment services provider, has partnered with Solana, to offer all projects building on Solana direct access to Worldline’s Payment Orchestration platform. This platform manages all payments regardless of how many providers are connected, offering one interface to combine integrated fiat and crypto payment solutions and real-time analytics.
?? Tarabut Gateway partners Rain to improve crypto payments.
UAE-based Tarabut Gateway has partnered crypto asset trading platform Rain to improve crypto payments in the MENA region. Through this partnership, Tarabut Gateway customers in Bahrain will benefit from faster, cost-effective fiat-to-crypto transactions and will be able to top-up their crypto wallets via bank transfer through the Rain app.
?? DeFiance Capital completes first close of $100 million liquid token fund.
DeFiance Capital completed the first close of a new $100 million liquid token fund. Two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said that the initial raise came in under $50 million. The fund has raised “eight figures” and began investing this month.
?? Skrill is ending its partnership with Binance. Exchange is looking for a partner to process GBP transfers.
Binance is scrambling to find a new service partner to process British pound transfers on its trading platform. Its current partner, Skrill Limited, announced it would soon cease providing services to the crypto exchange. Binance has about nine weeks to find an alternative before Skrill terminates its services.
?? South Korea Invests $18 Million in New 'Metaverse Fund'.
South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT recently announced investments in a fund dedicated to driving metaverse initiatives in the country. The government intends to assist domestic metaverse-related businesses in competing with global players.
??? Products?
?? From a napkin to the patent office, CoinRoutes algorithmic trading platform gets approval.
CoinRoutes' design was drawn up on a napkin in 2017 by CTO Ian Weisberger, Dave's son. The software will allow traders to execute trades across centralized and decentralized exchanges, including dYdX and Uniswap. CoinRoutes will have no access to users.
?? Ledger launches browser extension to improve crypto wallet connectivity.
Ledger Extension aims to improve online security and connectivity for digital assets. It is only usable on Safari, iOS and MacOS today but will roll out additional support for Windows, Chrome and Chromium-based browsers "shortly after launch".
?? Fidelity Crypto is finally opened.
Fidelity Digital Assets quietly opened access to Fidelity Crypto for the masses. Millions of users can now trade bitcoin and ether commission-free on the platform.
?? Wirex launches multi-currency card in Australia.
Crypto payments platform Wirex has launched in Australia in partnership with card issuer Novatti. Through its partnership with Novatti, Wirex will be able to directly issue cards in Australia, offering customers a higher card spend limit, up to 8% rewards, no foreign exchange or maintenance fees, international ATM withdrawals free up to AU$400 a month, and fiat-to-fiat exchanges.
?? MyntCoin ecosystem launches MyntExchange.
MyntFund, the parent company of MyntCoin, is launching MyntExchange in Q1 of 2023. This financial platform aims to revolutionize the way companies and retailers deal in crypto by merging the digital public stock markets and private purchase and dealership of shares in unlisted companies.
?? Unstoppable Domains releases Web3 domain names for Polygon blockchain.
Unstoppable Domains has partnered with Polygon blockchain to introduce ".polygon" domains, making it easier for users to log into Web3 applications running on the chain.
?? Carbon Browser and Presearch partner to bring increased privacy and security to web browsing on Android.
Carbon Browser and Presearch have announced a partnership that will make Presearch the default search engine for Carbon Browser users. This partnership will allow Presearch to reach a wider audience of users who are interested in owning and earning cryptocurrency, resulting in a growing user base for both projects.
?? Blur NFT marketplace drops a bunch of new features including a proper browse&purchase for mobile web
Blur now allows you to browse and buy NFTs from a mobile browser. Blur now notifies you when your NFTs sell across any marketplace and when your bids get accepted. More mobile functionality coming soon.
?? Worldcoin unveils World ID protocol and SDK
Worldcoin, the project intent on scanning peoples eyeballs to prove they are indeed people, unveiled its World ID protocol and software development kit today. Both Worldcoin and its lead software contributor, Tools For Humanity, were co-created by Sam Altman, who is also CEO of ChatGPT creator OpenAI.
?? Aztec to sunset private ZK-Rollup Connect and focus on Layer 2 chain.
Aztec Network is planning to discontinue Connect ZK-Rollup and focusing on building its next-generation privacy blockchain. Deposits into the Aztec Connect contract will be disabled from March 21, 2023. Users will still be able to withdraw their assets for up to a year.
??? Technology?
?? Coinbase to process ETH unstaking requests 24 hours after Shanghai update
Coinbase will begin to take unstaking requests around 24 hours after the Shanghai-Capella upgrade to the Ethereum network. Staking platform Lido said it will wait until mid-May to initiate staked ETH withdrawals following the completion of on-chain code audits to ensure user safety.
?? Shanghai upgrade executed on testnet but not without issues.
The Shapella hard fork has been executed on the Goerli testnet. It is the last test run before validators can withdraw Ether from the Beacon Chain. There were, however, issues with the hard fork. Several testnet validators didn't upgrade their client software before the fork. Shapella is expected to take effect on the Ethereum mainnet in early April.
??? Legal?
?? DOJ shuts down ChipMixer over $3B of cryptocurrency money laundering.
The U.S. Department of Justice has shut down the Bitcoin mixing service ChipMixer. The DOJ said that the platform has been used to launder more than $3 billion of illicit cryptocurrency transactions since August 2017.
?? Gensler suggests proof-of-stake tokens are securities.
Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler suggests tokens using staking protocols could be considered securities under U.S. law. Gensler suggested that the returns token holders see from staking indicate that those tokens are securities and would need to be registered as such under U.S. law.
?? Signature Bank faced criminal probe ahead of firm’s collapse.
US prosecutors were investigating Signature Banks work with crypto clients before regulators suddenly seized the lender this past weekend. Justice Department investigators in Washington and Manhattan were examining whether the New York bank took sufficient steps to detect potential money laundering by clients. The Securities and Exchange Commission was also taking a look.
?? Signature Bank Closure Has Nothing to Do With Crypto, Says Regulator.
The decision to close down Signature Bank had “nothing to do with crypto,” said the New York State Department of Financial Services, the regulator that took possession of the troubled bank on Sunday. The financial watchdog insisted that its decision to put Signature Bank in receivership “was based on the current status of the bank and its ability to do business in a safe and sound manner.”
??? Security?
?? British Bank Natwest Implements New Limits on Cryptocurrency Payments to Combat UK Crypto Scams.
British Bank Natwest Implements New Limits on Cryptocurrency Payments to Combat UK Crypto Scams. The limit imposed on crypto exchanges is PS1,000 daily ($1,215), with a 30-day limit of PS5,000 ($6,077) Natwest has often categorized cryptocurrency assets as "high risk" in the past.
?? A hacking victim has submitted court papers as NFTs and won the case.
A hacking victim has submitted court papers as NFTs and won the case. The ruling took place last week, where the plaintiff, who goes by the name Rangan Bandyopadhyay, lost almost $1 million in USDT in a hacking scheme back in December 2021. The perpetrators of the crime remain anonymous; however, according to the plaintiffs attorney, they are confident they will recover the lost funds.
?? PeopleDAO hacked via Google Sheets, $120,000 worth of ETH stolen.
PeopleDAO, a group formed to buy a copy of the U.S. Constitution, has lost 76.5 ETH ($120,000) to a social engineering hack on March 6 that targeted the project’s monthly contributor payout form on Google Sheets.
??? Investments?
?? German fintech, Heartstocks, completes EUR 5 million financing round.
Heartstocks, a German fintech startup, has raised €5 million in its second round of financing. The investment will be used to fill key positions, expand its technical infrastructure, and establish itself as a provider of fully regulated shares on the blockchain in the European Economic Area.
?? TeleportDAO Raises US$2.5M in Seed Funding.
TeleportDAO is a Vancouver-based startup that provides decentralized infrastructure for secure cross-chain interactions between blockchains. TeleportDAO's products include teleBTC, a decentralized Bitcoin wrapper on Polygon, and TeleSwap, a service that allows users to wrap, unwrap and trade between Bitcoin and Polygon without third-party involvement.
?? Digital FashionPlatform DressX Raises $15M.
DressX has raised $15 million in a Series A round led by European crypto investment firm Greenfield Capital. The virtual garment platform announced that it will use the funds raised to expand on the interoperability of its digital fashion assets. Since its official launch back in August 2020, the retailer has developed and co-created over 3,500 products.
?? GigaStar Closes $4.8M Seed Funding.
Chicago-based company GigaStar has raised $4.8 million in seed funding from investors including DV Crypto VC, Tomsic Holdings. GigaStar offers YouTube creators a chance to monetize their future capital by allowing fans to invest in their channels through Channel Revenue Tokens (CRTs), which represent a percentage of a channel's potential future revenue. The company plans to use the funding to expand its operations and business reach.
领英推荐
?? Web3 information platform, Foresight News Raises, $2M in Seed Funding
Foresight News, a Singapore-based news outlets covering the world of Blockchain and Web3, raised $2m in seed funding round. The round was led by Foresight Ventures, with participation from several prominent investors such as Hashkey and Arcane Group. The company intends to use the funds to to continue to improve its AI technology, hire new talent, and expand its offerings.
?? Ark raises $16.3 million for new crypto fund amid buying spree.
Ark Invest has raised $16.3 million for a crypto fund split across versions in the U.S. and the Cayman Islands. Filings were released days after Ark added roughly $30 million in Coinbase shares to its funds over the last month, and roughly $20 million in Block shares in the last week.
?? Ibanera, a web3 payments company, raises $18.5 million.
Ibanera, a digital banking and payments company with a focus on embedded payments for Web3 platforms on Friday (March 10) finalized an $18.5 million funding round for themselves. Ibanera uses blockchain technologies to automate fiat ramping for web3.
?? KuCoin leads $10M funding for Chinese yuan stablecoin issuer.
KuCoin Ventures has led a $10 million investment into stablecoin issuer and payment service provider known as CNHC. The investment reflects KuCoin Ventures' strategy of backing the Web3 infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region.
?? Payments platform Tilia has raised $22 million and named a new chief executive.
Tilia, payment platform intended for gaming platforms, virtual world publishers, mobile application developers and NFT providers, secured strategic investment from J.P. Morgan Payments and Dunamu, a Seoul-based operator of crypto exchange Upbit. The firm also named executive chairman Brad Oberwager as CEO.
?? Framework and Bitkraft invest $6M into gaming studio Jungle.
Jungle is a Brazil-based web3 gaming studio. It has raised a $6 million seed funding round. The funding will be used to build out its team, marketing, and distribution. Jungle's first game, a web3 shooter, will be released this year on mobile devices.
?? Violet Raises $15M in Funding.
Violet, a provider of privacy-protective compliance and identity infrastructure for DeFi, raised $15M in funding. Founded in 2021 in Berlin, Violet has launched Mauve, a compliant DEX purpose-built to offer the best of both DeFi and Traditional Finance (TradFi) to the crypto markets.
?? Security-focused Web3 dev tool startup Cubist raises $7M.
Cubist Inc., a provider of security-focused Web3 developer tools, raised $7 million in seed funding to help developers build decentralized apps faster and more safely while backed by industry best practices. Cubist’s flagship offering is a newly released software development kit that provides developers with a way to build and test decentralized apps for multiple and cross-blockchain environments.
?? Tonstarter fundraising platform Closes $1.5M Seed Funding.
The TON Foundation, a non-profit association based in Dubai, announced that Tonstarter, the primary fundraising platform on TON, has raised $1.5 million in a seed round led by Kingsway Capital, Gate.io, and DWF Labs. The funds will be used to support various projects across the TON ecosystem, including DeFi, DEXs, non-custodial wallets, lending and borrowing protocols, gaming, and the metaverse.
??? Others?
?? Cardano's $ADA Sees Growing Institutional Investor and Whale Interest.
The volume of large transactions exceeding $100,000 on the Cardano ($ADA) network is on the rise. This trend indicates institutional investors' and $ADA whales' increasing engagement, shedding light on their investment strategies. The total value locked on Cardano has recently hit a new all-time high of 361.8 million ADA tokens.
?? USDC Survives Silicon Valley Bank Collapse and Clears Backlog.
Circle, the issuer of USDC, has announced that they have cleared all the backlog of minting and redemption following the depegging of the stablecoin over the weekend. Circle said they had redeemed $3.8 billion USDC and minted $0.8 billion USDC since Monday. They have also changed their banking partner after the Silicon Valley Bank collapse.
?? Tokenized diamonds popular as crypto banking turmoil bites.
As the crypto banking crisis unfolds, investors are increasingly drawn to tokenized diamonds, a stable and tangible alternative asset class that could offer protection amid market uncertainty. The growing demand for tokenized diamonds has spurred the development of various platforms and marketplaces focused on facilitating trade in these assets.
?? Mastercard charts a path to becoming the metaverse's default payment processor.
Mastercard has partnered with Xsolla, a video game commerce company, and Immersve, a web3 payment platform. The goal is to make Mastercard the default payment processor for the metaverse, addressing pain points such as the difficulty of gifting in-game currency, lack of parental controls, and the risk of fraud or cyberattacks.
?? Arbitrum To Airdrop Long-Awaited ARB Token On March 23.
Arbitrum's founding team will relinquish control of the Layer 2 blockchain next week with an airdrop that will distribute billions of newly minted governance tokens among users, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), investors, and the team that built the protocol. The launch of Arbitrums ARB token on March 23 is one of the most anticipated in recent memory.
?? OKX Hackathon Offers $600K+ in Prizes for Innovative dApps on OKX Chain.
Google Cloud to co-host the competition, held March 24 to 26 in Santa Clara, CA Participants will be challenged to build utility-focused dApps for a mainstream audience. Participants will work with a team to conceptualize and build a project covering various topics related to Web3 development, such as smart contract programming, decentralized storage, identity, and governance.
?? Uniswap has officially launched on BNB Chain.
Uniswap, the world's largest decentralized exchange protocol by trade volume, has launched on BNB Chain. With this expansion, users will be able to leverage BNBChain's low transaction fees. Currently the leading decentralized exchange on BNB Chain is PancakeSwap.
?? Tokenized mortgages can prevent another housing bubble crisis.
Ralf Kubli is a board member of the Casper Association, a nonprofit promoting the blockchain network. He believes that tokenization of mortgages could allow them to become "observable, verifiable and enforceable" on a public blockchain.
?? What Is Stacks? Features and Tokenomics.
Stacks is an open-source blockchain with security based on the Bitcoin network. Stacks enables the deployment of DApps and smart contracts secured by Bitcoin. Its native STX token is used to process transactions and execute smart contracts. The Stacks blockchain is secured by a mining consensus mechanism called Proof of Transfer (PoX). Unlike proof-of-work, PoX does not require an energy-intensive mining process.
?? National Australia Bank makes first-ever cross-border stablecoin transaction.
NAB says it has executed the first-ever cross-border stablecoin transfer by a major financial institution on a layer 1 public blockchain. The intrabank transfer used the banks fully backed AUDN stablecoin, which is tied to the Australian dollar.
?? What executives at Blur, OpenSea and Orange Comet think of Amazon's NFT marketplace.
There is speculation that Amazon may enter the NFT market, and many top industry players are curious to see how the company will handle its expansion into web3 and blockchain technology. Some executives are optimistic, believing that Amazon's entry could help legitimize the digital asset industry and attract more people new to blockchain. Others are more skeptical, wondering if an established web2 company will do anything attractive in web3.
?? Metamask sees swaps volume hit all time high over weekend.
Metamask saw a record volume of swaps over the weekend as the demise of Silvergate, SVB and Signature unfolded. People were likely speculating over where to keep their funds safely, Metamask group manager Dan Finlay says on an upcoming episode of The Scoop.
?? Binance Blocks Russians from Trading EUR and USD, Bans Ruble in P2P.
Binance bans Russian customers from P2P trading In Euros and Dollars. European Union customers wont be able to trade Rubles peer-to-peer. The restrictions come as the EU enforces its 10th sanction package on Russia. In contrast, Ukrainian pharmacies recently integrated Binance Pay for faster medical goods arrival.
?? The Pokémon Company is hiring someone with ‘deep knowledge’ of NFTs and the metaverse.
The Pokemon Company International has posted a new job listing looking for someone with blockchain, NFT and metaverse expertise. The role’s duties include “leading the identification, assessment, and execution of investments, strategic projects, and partnerships” to support the company’s long-term growth, and “monitoring and assessing technology and market players and trends in gaming, media and entertainment”.
?? Meta bids farewell to NFTs on Facebook, Instagram amid crypto slump.
Meta Platforms Inc, the social media giant formerly known as Facebook, is pulling the plug on digital collectibles or non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on its platforms less than a year after launching it. “We're winding down digital collectibles (NFTs) for now to focus on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses,” tweeted Stephane Kasriel, Meta’s fintech head.
?? KuCoin Will Support the Filecoin (FIL) Network Upgrade.
KuCoin will support the Filecoin (FIL) network upgrade. The upgrade and a hard fork will take place at epoch 2,683,348, or approximately at 15:14:00 on March 14, 2023 (UTC) We strongly recommend not to deposit and withdraw until the upgrade is completed. For further information, please refer to: Filecoin v18 Shark Network Upgrade.
?? Signature Bank Board Member Says Shutdown Was Political.
Crypto venture capitalist Nic Carter affirms claims by Signature Board member that the bank was shut down for political reasons rather than actual insolvency. Carter alleged that Senator Elizabeth Warren and others encouraged bank runs on the recently-collapsed Silvergate Bank and Signature Bank to advocate tightening the rules.
?? Signature Bank Collapse: Coinbase and Paxos Disclose Massive Exposure
Signature Bank became the third US bank institution to collapse in the span of four days. New York state regulator, the Department of Financial Services, shuttered Signature Bank on Sunday "to protect depositors" The bank had total assets of about $110.36 billion and total deposits of around $88.59 billion. Almost a quarter of its savings came from the cryptocurrency industry.
?? Moonbirds whale sells almost 500 NFTs on Blur for significant losses.
One address liquidated almost 500 Moonbirds NFTs for significant losses. Selling in batches, the address realized losses between 9% and 33%. Moonbirds made headlines last April when, within a week of its launch, one sold for 350 ether -- worth about $1 million at the time.
?? Binance converting $1 billion in BUSD to bitcoin, ether and BNB.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announced on Twitter that the foremost crypto exchange would convert the approximately $1 billion remaining from its Industry Recovery Initiative funds to BTC, ETH and BNB. The announcement is related to the banking crisis taking place in the US.
?? Nissan files 4 new web3 trademarks.
Nissan has filed four new Web3-related trademarks in the United States. The filings cover its Infiniti, Nismo and Nissan brands. Nissan also previously filed five trademark applications in October 2022 for some of its more prominent car models. The filings reveal Nissan's plans to create virtual clothes, cars, headgear, trading cards, toys, tickets, and an NFT marketplace.
?? USDC Stablecoin Nears Parity With USD After Fed's Bailout Announcement.
The stablecoin USDC has nearly regained parity with the U.S. dollar after rising just above $0.99 on March 12, 2023, at 7:20 p.m. Eastern Time. The stablecoin jumped back to the $0.99 range after the U.S. Federal Reserve revealed it would bail out depositors of California’s Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and New York’s Signature Bank.
?? US Fed announces $25B in funding to backstop banks.
The Federal Reserve Board has announced $25 billion worth of funding aimed at backstopping banks and other depository firms. The funds would ensure that eligible banks would have enough liquidity to cover the needs of their customers during times of turmoil. It comes as Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) announced on Mar. 8 a significant sale of assets and stocks aimed at raising additional capital, which panicked depositors.