Crypto News Weekly roundup July 10

TheCoinRise is back with yet another week’s summary about the launches, announcements, and developments in the crypto market.

Regulatory involvement in the crypto industry

Voyager Digital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after stopping withdrawals on its platform a few days earlier due to the growing instability in the ecosystem for digital currencies. The firm will be able to restructure its operations in an effort to offer value to all of its users, according to the filing, which was submitted to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Moreover, the executives of Voyager Digital had expressed concern over threats they had received from users who had funds on the platform before it was declared bankrupt.

A class-action lawsuit against Solana Labs was filed on July 1 in the district court for the northern district of California by Roche Freedman LLP and Schneider Wallace Cottrell Konecky LLP.

The Bank of Spain has granted Moon Tech Spain SL, a fully owned subsidiary of the Binance crypto exchange, a license to conduct business as a Virtual Assets Services Provider (VASP). The action will assist in giving it the freedom to provide crypto trading services in accordance with the Bank’s AML and CTF Rules.

Anatoly Aksakov, the chairman of the State Duma’s Committee on Financial Markets, has declared that the government is not opposed to the establishment of a cryptocurrency trading platform in Russia.

Staking software company KeyFi has accused ailing crypto lending site Celsius of fraud, improper administration of consumers’ assets, and contract breach in a complaint filed in New York.

Alder was selected by the U.K. Treasury to head the country’s financial watchdog beginning in January 2023, the U.K. Treasury stated on Friday. He will succeed Richard Lloyd, who served as the FCA’s interim chair when Charles Randell resigned in May.

In accordance with a fresh advisory note issued by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, public servants who privately own crypto will no longer be permitted to work on laws that might have an impact on the value of those specific cryptocurrencies.

In China, paying salaries and wages in Tether (USDT) is now viewed as illegal. The Chaoyang Court of China recently disallowed the use of USDT in commercial transactions in a labor dispute lawsuit. Additionally, using the digital asset as currency is now prohibited.

The Investment Association of the United Kingdom is pleading with the government to approve a new class of Funds that will use blockchain technology.

Regulators from the U.S. and South Korea have resolved to work together to gather data for managing Terra instances. The encounter between Scott Hartman, Andrea M. Griswold, and Han Dong Hoon was covered by the Yonhap News Agency, a South Korean news outlet.

The regulatory component of the US-UK Financial Innovation Partnership was held on June 29 by Her Majesty’s Treasury and the U.S. Treasury Department. Both parties agreed that cooperation was necessary to promote safe innovation and enhance regulatory outcomes for crypto across U.S. and U.K. jurisdictions.

The Central African Republic (CAR), a nation that has drawn the attention of cryptocurrency enthusiasts due to its widespread acceptance of Bitcoin, has launched its own government-backed cryptocurrency hub project called Sango.

Following the acquisition of a Money Services Business Registration (MSB) license from the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Bureau (FinCEN), HBIT Inc, a subsidiary of Huobi Technology Holdings Co, is planning to expand in the U.S.

Trading volume on the three major Indian crypto exchange platforms had fallen 72.5 percent on average since last week when a 1 percent transaction tax went into effect nationwide.

In its most recent Financial Stability report, which was published on Tuesday, the Bank of England (BoE) and its Financial Policy Committee (FPC) made a brief reference to cryptocurrencies.

Côte d’Ivoire, a nation in West Africa, appears to be delving headfirst into the cryptosphere. Alassane Dramane Ouattara, the president, met with Changpeng Zhao on Tuesday. According to reports, C.Z. suggested including cryptocurrency activity on the nation’s commercial exchanges.

Partnerships, launches, fundings, and future plans

The VanEck New Finance Income Fund, LP, one of VanEck’s products, has received a very significant investment from Fairfax County, Virginia. Fairfax County’s investment was made through its two retirement systems, namely the Fairfax County Employees’ Retirement System and the Fairfax County Police Officers Retirement System, as stated by the asset manager.

Thalex, a cryptocurrency-native derivatives trading platform, has completed a $7.64 million Series A fundraising round. Investors who took part in the round included Bitfinex, I Money Crypto, QCP, Flow Traders, Bitstamp, and Wintermute. Thalex disclosed this seed funding.

Aave, a leader in the DeFi world, has revealed plans to launch GHO, an overcollateralized stablecoin, pending the DAO’s community’s acceptance.

A financial company from the European Union (E.U.), Banking Circle, has said that it has included the USDC stablecoin into its payment rails. The startup claims that using USDC, which now includes a Euro-backed version, will link conventional banking institutions with the rapidly expanding digital currency environment and aid in democratizing global finance.

Elon Musk’s The Boring Company (TBC) is on schedule to start taking Dogecoin payments (DOGE). According to CNN, the business now accepts Dogecoin as a form of payment in addition to credit and debit cards.

A blockchain-based investment startup called Konvoy Ventures has announced the opening of a $150 million gaming platform and technology fund called the Konvoy Fund III.

Web3.0 infrastructure service provider Planetarium Labs has raised $32 million in a Series A fundraising round that was spearheaded by Animoca Brands. The investment round, which included participation from companies like Samsung Next and the startup’s partners like Krust Universe, was an equity round.

Polkadot is going to introduce Gov2, the next generation of governance for the DOT ecosystem. Gavin Wood, the company’s founder, reportedly unveiled Gov2 and stated that the proposal would be made for the Polkadot network to vote on only after v2 testing on Kasuma was complete.

Circle, a financial technology business, has revealed that it has chosen New York Community Bank, a bank subsidiary of New York Community Bancorp, to serve as its custodian for USDC reserves.

Sberbank, a leading Russian bank and provider of financial services, is said to have completed its first transaction involving a digital asset on its platform. Along with its offshoot, the bank executed a 1 billion ruble (about $15.7 million) offering.

H2O Securities, a Blockchain infrastructure company based in South Africa, has sold the H2ON token to raise $150 million from the Bahamas-based investment company GEM Digital.

Meta Platforms Inc. has officially declared that the Novi Wallet platform would be shut down by September 1 after nearly eight months since it began conducting testing on the device. Users of the platform in the U.S. and Guatemala have been urged to withdraw all of their funds before the deadline, according to Information on the Novi wallet’s renamed website.

Jason Fung, the former leader of TikTok’s gaming division, has declared his intention to launch Meta0, a blockchain-based video game firm.

According to reports, Sequoia Capital’s Chinese unit has plans to raise $9 billion for four new funds. The Information reported that the corporation would utilize this money to support the growth of fintech and cryptocurrency startups in China.

The $50 million add-on lending arrangement that the Bitcoin mining startup TeraWulf had previously announced has been closed. The company plans to use the funds to finish building the data center infrastructure at its facilities in Pennsylvania (Nautilus Cryptomine) and New York (Lake Mariner).

Crypto exchange news

The leading crypto exchange, FTX, has “a few billion” in hand to help struggling businesses that might further destabilize the cryptocurrency market. Sam Bankman-Fried, the company’s CEO, has disclosed that there are still funds available for the company to support businesses experiencing severe liquidity issues. Moreover, the founder has recently denied that he has any plans to rescue some struggling crypto mining companies.

FTX has received almost 25,000 Wrapped Bitcoin, or wBTC, via the cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network. The $528.9 million transaction raises doubts in the cryptocurrency industry about whether a dump would shortly follow.

The world’s largest crypto exchange platform, Binance, has announced that starting on July 8, trading fees for 13 spot Bitcoin trading pairs would be eliminated. The move was made to commemorate its 5th birthday and to distinguish it as the actual leader in pricing among the current crop of rival digital currency trading businesses.

Notably, C.Z. later pointed out several inherent risks associated with no fees, but the users are voting in favor of zero fees on Twitter.

Crypto exchange Bullish.com has joined a long list of crypto companies that have reduced their workforces in order to weather the severe market downturn as the heat of the protracted crypto winter persists. At least 30 of the trading platform’s 390 employees have been let go, TheCoinRise reports. This amounts to around 7% of its employees.

Crypto exchange platform BitMex has restricted access to its site for Russians living in the E.U. According to a report, Russians will no longer be permitted to use BitMex’s services going forward. Users won’t be able to access their accounts or make withdrawals or deposits unless permission is given. The sanction goes into effect in full on Monday, July 11.

Binance.US is taking no chances in preparation for its anticipated IPO and has hired Jasmine Lee as its new CFO. Jasmine will be in charge of the IPO efforts, which are not anticipated to begin perhaps within 2 to 3 years. She will bring with her a vast amount of experience from important firms she has previously worked for.

NFT and Metaverse

Reddit, a popular online community for sharing and discussing content, has launched a brand-new NFT-based avatar marketplace on Thursday. According to Techcrunch, the new function will let users purchase blockchain-based profile images for a set amount.

Liquidity Crisis

Vauld, a Singapore-based crypto trading and lending platform, recently said that it is limiting withdrawals for consumers under adverse market conditions. The business has “made the difficult decision to suspend all withdrawals, trading, and deposits on the Vauld platform with immediate effect,” according to a recent statement from the company. The leading cryptocurrency lender Nexo has made an extraordinary move to buy up to 100% of the smaller cryptocurrency lender Vauld Group.

As per a report from Calcalist, the troubled crypto lending platform Celsius Network has reduced its current liabilities by firing up to 150 employees globally. After halting withdrawals last month and claiming extreme market conditions as the reason, the action appears to be one of its most blatant reactions. Additionally, Celsius Network paid out $120 million of its debt to the Ethereum-based DeFi lending system Maker in three transactions over the course of a single day.

According to a recent study by the blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, Celsius Network gave a director of an asset $530 million in corporate funds to use high-risk leveraged trading tactics. There was a $350 million apparent loss as a result of these extremely risky trading techniques.

To “balance the flows of funds and prevent liquidity-related interruptions” during the winter season in the crypto market, lending platform CoinLoan has announced changes to its withdrawal limitations for consumers.

The cryptocurrency trading company Blockchain.com is on the verge of losing $270 million to struggling cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC).

Some pieces from the Bitcoin mining sector

Northern Data, the biggest Bitcoin mining operation in Europe, just released a report on its operations until June 2022. According to the study, the company sold 1,591 Bitcoin and 48,616 Ethereum in total between May and June at rates significantly higher than the market price, with an average price of EUR 28,682 ($30,403 per BTC) and EUR 1,646 ($1,745 per ETH), respectively.

The cryptocurrency community has received details on Bitcoin production and mining operations for June 2022 from the bitcoin mining company Marathon Digital Holdings. In the second quarter of 2022, the company produced 707 self-mined BTC, an increase of 8% from the 654 BTC mined in the corresponding quarter of 2021

The bitcoin mining company, Compass has announced that it will lay off 15% of its workforce in addition to drastically cutting salaries and operating expenses for the rest of its workforce.

Core Scientific, a top blockchain data center and bitcoin miner, sold 7,202 bitcoins in June at an average price of over $23,000 each. The company that mines bitcoins received about $167 million in total from the sale.

Uprise lost almost everything in LUNA/UST disaster

According to recent sources, the South Korean company Uprise, which invested in digital assets, has lost nearly all of its assets, totaling $20 million. This significant loss was caused by it being liquidated and shorting the LUNA token. Heybit’s trading desk employs an A.I. trading system with the goal of lowering the risks connected to leveraged trading.

Porter Finance shuts down its bond issuance service

Porter Finance, a DeFi protocol based on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, said that it is shutting down its just-launched platform for bond issuance. The company is not optimistic about the demand for fixed-income DeFi projects like the one it provides from the crypto lending market.

The world’s first female Bitcoin core maintainer

By becoming the first female Bitcoin core maintainer in the 13-year history of Bitcoin, developer Gloria Zhao is all over the news. Zhao’s entry lines up with Core maintainer Pieter Wuille’s departure.

Elon Musk is not buying Twitter

CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk, has decided to back out of his agreement to purchase Twitter for $44 million. Musk said that Twitter had not upheld its contractual duties in a recent filing he submitted to the SEC.

Statements by big players

During a recent interview with Altcoin Daily, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor discussed the potential of Ethereum as a security by stating that it is classified as a security. He said that investing in Ethereum represents an investment in the underlying platform and protocol.

Jordan Belfort, a well-known public figure in the financial markets and a former stockbroker, has recommended crypto enthusiasts invest in Bitcoin with an eye toward their long-term objectives. Belfort asserts that those who hold BTC for more than three years will almost certainly make significant profits.

Exclusive reviews and announcements

Dekaron Online: It is a PC MMORPG genre game that allows players to explore the world, defeat monsters, and, most importantly collect tokens. 

KUY Token: It is a utility token that offers blockchain technology and system solutions to the gaming and creative industries.

TheCoinRise will come back with another week of crypto roundup next Weekend.