Blockchain This Week - Sep 30
SEC and Crypto Spot ETFs, Walmart and Pudgy Penguins, Binance, Coinbase, Kraken
Pudgy Penguins in Walmart
Walmart, the world's largest retailer, is diving into the world of NFTs by selling the Pudgy Penguins toy line. Buyers get access to the digital world of Pudgy World, a multiplayer social platform built on Ethereum's zkSync Era Layer 2 blockchain. The Pudgy toys, priced between $2.99 and $11.97, will be available in Walmart's 2,000 U.S. stores. These toys give customers the chance to engage with their "Forever Pudgy" characters and participate in various activities on Pudgy World.
SEC Delays Crypto Spot ETFs
The US SEC has, once again, delayed its decision on several bitcoin spot ETFs -- from Ark, BlackRock, Bitwise, Invesco Galaxy Digital, Valkyrie, WisdomTree, VanEck, and Fidelity. The date is now pushed to early 2024. It has also pushed back the date for deciding on ether spot ETFs from Ark Invest and VanEck to Dec 26, 2023. The SEC's decision follows the possible government shutdown in Oct 2023.
Bitwise Response to the SEC
In response to the US SEC's oft cited excuse, "inconclusive academic record," for delaying or rejecting spot bitcoin ETFs, crypto asset manager Bitwise has provided the SEC with a detailed review of the academic record. The amendment to its current application has this assessment of bitcoin futures markets and its relationship to spot pricing.
Policy Lab
Crypto VC Paradigm has set up Paradigm Policy Lab. The lab will bring together academics and policy and legal experts to study regulatory equivalence. The Policy Lab will also host a Research Hub to address specific policy questions related to the future of the crypto ecosystem.
Taiwan Crypto Rules
Taiwan's financial watchdog announced new guidelines for digital assets service providers. The rules emphasize customer protection and require offshore exchanges to register. The crypto service providers are also mandated to separate their customer and company assets. The crypto platforms in Taiwan plan to form an industry association and self supervise based on the guidelines.
Project Mariana
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has successfully concluded its Project Mariana CBDC pilot. It determined that there is potential in DeFi, specifically Automated Market Makers (AMMs). BIS deems AMMs as the foundation for the new generation of market infrastructure.
Binance Back in Belgium
After a forced hiatus that lasted for three months, Binance has reopened its crypto exchange in Belgium. The company said it is now compliant with the requisite regulations to operate in the country. To meet the compliance needs, it has tapped its Polish unit to serve its Belgian customers.
Binance Exits Russia
Meanwhile, Binance is entirely exiting Russia. The increased legal risks involved with operating in the country led to its decision to sell its Russia business to crypto exchange CommEX.
Coinbase in Spain
Coinbase has secured registration as a crypto exchange with the Bank of Spain. It is now a custodian wallet provider for Spain's central bank. Coinbase will also offer its entire suite of products and services to retail and institutional users in Spain.
Kraken in Ireland and Spain
Crypto exchange Kraken has received regulatory approval to grow its services in Ireland and Spain. In Ireland, Kraken is issued an E-Money Institution license. As a result, it can work with European banks to expand its EUR fiat services to EU and EEA clients. Meanwhile, in Spain, Kraken has secured a Virtual Asset Service Provider registration. It allows Kraken to offer crypto exchange and custody services to Spain users.
Mixin Network Exploit
DeFi wallet service Mixin Network suspended deposit and withdrawal services following a hack that saw over $200 million leave the network. Feng Xiaodong, the founder of Mixin, could guarantee the safety of only half of the users' assets. Meanwhile, Mixin Network also offered a $20 million bug bounty reward to the exploiters.
HTX Hack
As per HTX's advisor Justin Sun, HTX suffered a hack in which the exchange lost 5000 ether worth over $7.9 million. He alleviated customers' worries by stating that HTX had fully covered the losses from the attack.
Chase Blocks Crypto
Chase UK will ban crypto related payments through debit cards or outgoing bank transfers for its clients starting Oct 16. It has cited concerns about fraudsters using crypto to steal money as the reason behind its decision.
Invalid Transaction
Marathon Digital mined an invalid block on the Bitcoin mainnet due to a transaction ordering issue. A transaction was trying to spend the output of another transaction that was later in sequence in the block mined. The rest of the network, though, rejected this invalid block.
Cryptoverse
Web3 infra firm Alchemy acquired blockchain data indexing platform Satsuma for an undisclosed sum. As a result, Satsuma will merge with Alchemy to become Alchemy Subgraphs.
Immunefi launched Safe based on chain vaults system as a first step toward decentralizing its bug bounty platform.
Ripple has abandoned its plans to acquire Fortress Trust but intends to remain an investor.
A majority of Celsius creditors voted in favor of the plan where debtors would distribute close to $2 billion in bitcoin and ether among them and give equity in the new company.
MicroStrategy has added 5,445 more bitcoins to its burgeoning bitcoin treasury. The company now holds over 158,245 bitcoins worth over $4.1 billion.
UpBit crypto exchange temporarily suspended Aptos deposits and withdrawals after a scam token was flagged as legitimate by its system. But it has since resumed normal operations.
OpenSea recommended its users to rotate their API keys after disclosing a security incident reported by a third party vendor that might have exposed users' API keys.
To enable Base developers to build cross chain services, Chainlink has deployed its Cross Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) on Coinbase's layer 2 Base network.
Circle's euro backed stablecoin EURC is now available on Stellar, expanding its reach to three networks.
Blockchain data startup Blocknative has shut down its MEV Boost Relay and associated Ethereum Block Builders. It cited economic and strategic reasons for its decision.
One of the founders of the defunct crypto hedge fund 3AC, Su Zhu, was arrested in a Singapore airport while he tried to travel out of the country. He was also sentenced to four months in prison.
Green Eco
HBAR Foundation and ALLCOT are partnering to onboard 500 million metric tonnes of carbon credit onto the Hedera Network, using RWA (Real World Assets) and Guardian. It helps promote transparency and accountability in the carbon markets. This effort also paves the way for the implementation of dMRV (digitized Measurement, Reporting, and Verification).
Synergists
Wire service provider MoneyGram is introducing its non custodial digital wallet in Q1 2024. It will enable users to convert between fiat and crypto using stablecoin technology.
VanEck plans to donate 10% of its Ethereum Strategy ETF to The Protocol Guild, a collective of 152 Ethereum core protocol contributors, for a minimum of 10 years.
Policy
Crypto market maker Keyrock has received regulatory approval from the Swiss Financial Services Standards Association (VQF). Hence, it is expanding its fiat on/off ramp services through its OTC trading desk.
Coinbase secured approval from the Bermuda Monetary Authority to offer perpetual futures trading to retail customers outside the US.
Funds and Investments
Web3 startup IYK, which helps brands bridge their physical and digital worlds, raised $16.8 million in a seed funding round led by A16z Crypto.
Privacy focused blockchain network Fhenix secured $7 million in a seed round led by Multicoin Capital and Collider Ventures.
Aptos Foundation and Thala Labs have jointly formed a $1 million fund to promote creating Aptos native DeFi protocols. They plan to scale the fund to $5 million as adoption grows.
With plans to expand into other blockchains, Ethereum Explorer Rated Labs has raised $12.888 million in Series A round led by Archetype.DeFi portfolio management company Bril Finance raised $3 million in a seed funding round from backers, including FalconX and Algorand Foundation. It also launched its flagship product on the Sei Network blockchain.