SEC targets DeFi
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may be targeting DeFi, as it reopened a proposal from last year that would now explicitly target platforms for these crypto transactions as exchanges that need to be regulated. The SEC proposed expanding the definition of the word “exchange” in January 2022 to capture a broader swath of U.S. business activities. “Calling yourself a DeFi platform is no excuse for defying securities laws,” said Gary Gensler on Friday.
Arbitrage (ARB)
The Arbitrium protocol native token is up 28% over the past 24 hours and emerged as the biggest gainer among the top 50 cryptocurrencies on Friday. PocketBuff, a GameFi metaverse platform, has partnered with Arbitrum to bring video game projects to the protocol. Arbitrurm is a Layer 2 protocol built on top of Ethereum. With a high transactions per second metric, the ecosystem has quickly gained a foothold in the decentralized finance space and already has a TVL of $2.32 billion.
Elon Musk’s tweet spurs Aptos (APT) 7% price hike
Aptos (COIN:APTTUSD) surged 7.4% in less than a minute on Friday after Twitter CEO Elon Musk tweeted, “AI APT OTT!” “APT” in this context, however, was an acronym for Advanced Persistent Threats, not the aptos token, and APT scrapped the entire move after Musk deleted the tweet an hour later.
Hack and BitTrue
Hackers stole $23 million from a wallet belonging to Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitrue. “We identified a brief exploit in one of our hot wallets on April 14, 2023. We were able to resolve this issue quickly and prevented further exploitation of funds. We take this matter seriously and are currently investigating the situation,” said Bitrue. To carry out additional security checks, Bitrue will temporarily suspend all withdrawals and reopen them on April 18, he added.
Arizona Vetoes Bill That Would Eliminate Taxation on Blockchain Node Operators
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs has vetoed legislation that would bar municipalities from taxing cryptocurrency mining operations. In a letter on Wednesday, Hobbs said that the SB 1236 bill seeks to tie the hands of local stakeholders regarding cryptocurrency mining policy-making, according to CryptoNews. “The bill broadly defined “blockchain technology” and impedes local policymaking regarding an emerging and potentially energy-intensive economic activity.”
Canon USA launches NFT marketplace
Canon USA, the American arm of the camera and imaging giant, said it would launch an Ethereum non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace dedicated to photography this year. According to the website, Cadabra is a curated photography marketplace offering a selection of NFTs from innovative creators. “It aims to empower creators by connecting them with enthusiastic collectors who celebrate the art of photography through a shared appreciation for these digital masterpieces,” he added.
NovaWulf plans to tokenize shares of Celsius’ new company
Digital asset investment firm NovaWulf is about to take over all assets belonging to bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network and turn them into a new company once its creditors are paid off. NovaWulf committed $45 million to the transaction, but the Celsius assets it will manage could be worth as much as $2 billion, according to CoinDesk. The assets in question include Celsius’s mining unit, its loan book, staked cryptocurrencies and other alternative investments, according to court documents.
HashKey Group launches HashKey Wealth
HashKey Group, a Hong Kong-based digital asset company, has launched a new wealth management platform aimed at professional and institutional investors, HashKey Wealth. “Despite recent market volatility, there is significant demand from investors to access virtual assets,” he said. The company also announced an update to its Over-the-Counter (OTC) trading business, which includes “plans to expand its number of token offerings in the spot market, as well as increase its liquidity coverage to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week”.
Sweden raises taxes on its Bitcoin mining industry
Sweden, the last remaining stronghold of bitcoin miners in Europe, is abolishing tax breaks for data centers in July – potentially putting the final nail in the coffin for the industry in the region. Energy prices have started to normalize in 2023, but the next tax is likely to halt any new investment in Sweden, which is currently home to around 150 megawatts (MW) of mining. The tax will increase from SEK 0.006 (US$0.0006) to SEK 0.36 (US$0.035) per kilowatt-hour (kWh) from July this year, according to the financial budget published in November 2022.
Ripple launches liquidity hub
Fintech firm Ripple has launched its liquidity solution for businesses, Ripple Liquidity Hub, “created in response to the gap and inefficiencies associated with bridging the world of cryptocurrencies and fiat,” the press release said. The company launched “a successful pilot” last year, saying that Liquidity Hub is now publicly available to provide companies with a way to manage their crypto liquidity needs.
Zipmex waives 100% Lender Payment Commitment
The bailout investor of troubled cryptocurrency exchange Zipmex is now offering to give just 10 to 20 cents on the dollar to creditors, while initially promising to provide 100% of the payment, The Block reported. “We are instructed that as of early April 2023, Subscriber has already verbally stated that it is now only prepared to consider a commitment to creditors in the Schemes which results in a return to creditors of between 10c to 20c on the dollar of its existing debt” , the news outlet quoted a letter to the Supreme Court of Singapore allegedly filed by Zipmex lawyers Morgan Lewis Stamford.
Cardano sees gains after Aiken launch
Cardano’s native token (COIN:ADAUSD) is up more than 6% in the last 24 hours following news of Aiken Launch, an open source smart contract language and toolchain for writing smart contracts in Cardano. Aiken aims to simplify and improve smart contract development processes on the Cardano blockchain. ADA has now registered a price increase of over 15% on the weekly chart.
Curve Announces New Reward Transfer Function
Financial app Curve has announced the launch of a new function that allows its customers to transfer their crypto rewards from trading transactions to their own digital wallets. The new feature is available to Curve customers in the United States and United Kingdom.
Paxos releases whitepaper
Regulated blockchain infrastructure platform Paxos has released its whitepaper How Crypto Winter Can Help Save the Digital Asset Economy . “Bringing together insights from the Paxos leadership team and experts from cryptocurrency market data provider Kaiko,” the whitepaper “provides an under-the-hood view of the crypto industry following historic disruptions in late 2022 and early 2023,” the statement said. the press.
Nima Momeni is charged with the murder of Bob Lee
Police in San Francisco, US, have made an arrest in the murder of Bob Lee, Chief Product Officer at MobileCoin, creator of the Cash App, and former CTO of payment company Block (NYSE:SQ), saying he was killed by a person he knew, reported The Washington Post. Nine days after Lee’s fatal stabbing, authorities on Thursday announced the arrest of technology consultant Nima Momeni, 38, who has been booked into the San Francisco jail and charged with murder.
Kraken Takes Leading Position in Ethereum (ETH)
Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has taken a leading position in the Ethereum (ETH) queue following the latest Shapella update of the blockchain, with several market watchers suggesting that the exchange’s dominance in the queue could be triggered by Kraken’s recent legal troubles. Kraken accounted for approximately 63.2% of the ETH pending withdrawal, significantly outperforming its main competitors. Coinbase held a 10.8% stake, while Huobi held a 5.1% stake, according to Nansen.