Craig Wright & Deadlock, Randi Zuckerberg Gets a Crypto Task + More News
Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
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Legal news
- A US federal judge has ordered the deadlocked jurors to continue deliberating in the multinational-dollar case involving the controversial Australian computer scientist Craig Wright, who fails to prove that he is the Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto, and the estate of computer forensics expert David Kleiman – over whether the two had a business partnership to mine Bitcoin, Law 360 reported. The judge Beth Bloom issued an Allen charge – an instruction to encourage the jurors to come to an agreement. “I suggest that you now carefully re-examine and reconsider all the evidence in light of the court’s instructions on the law,” Bloom was quoted as saying.
Adoption news
- OKCoin said it will dedicate USD 1m to bring more women into the cryptocurrency market with the goal of reaching 50% female cryptocurrency customers by 2025. In doing so, the company has appointed the CEO of Zuckerberg Media and the Zuckerberg Institute Randi Zuckerberg, a sister of Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg, to be an inaugural brand advisory council member, VentureBeat reported.
Watch Randi Zuckerberg explaining gas fees:
Investments news
- Swiss bank SEBA Bank announced the launch of a platform providing next-generation actively managed investment certificates (AMCs) that allow “easier access” to digital assets for investors. The platform enables Swiss asset managers to originate a Swiss-compliant AMC with Swiss international securities identification number (ISIN) and make unlimited use of SEBA Bank’s portfolio management services.
- WisdomTree, the exchange-traded fund (ETF) and exchange-traded product (ETP) sponsor, has listed the first cryptocurrency basket ETP on Euronext exchanges in Paris and Amsterdam, called the WisdomTree Crypto Mega Cap Equal Weight (MEGA). They have recently listed this product, as well as two more, on the Swiss SIX exchange.
- Bitcoin Capital, a subsidiary of Swiss-based crypto investment management boutique FiCAS AG, announced that it has listed two new crypto ETPs on the SIX Swiss Exchange: 1 FiCAS Active Bitcoin ETP and 1 FiCAS Active Ethereum ETP. With active management, the products aim to counter negative price fluctuations and outperform the two largest cryptoassets by capitalization, they said.
- Crypto lending and investing platform Structure has raised USD 20m in capital from investors and from a private sale of its digital currency STXR led by Polychain Capital, per Reuters. The platform aims to offer decentralized finance (DeFi), as well as investing in tokenized assets, digital versions of assets such as stocks and real estate.
- Play-to-earn (P2E) game company AAG Ventures (AAGV) has raised USD 12.5m in a private funding round led by Shima Capital, Tribe Capital, and Tess Ventures. The funding should help AAGV launch its P2E platform supporting external gaming guilds, as well as a new learn-to-earn platform that AAGV says is the first of its kind.
- Metaverse platform Solice has announced it has raised USD 4.36m in a seed funding round led by Three Arrows Capital, Animoca Brands, and DeFiance Capital. The company is looking to expand its team and is aiming for a soft launch in Q1 2022.
- DeFi-focused crypto wallet Ambire has raised USD 2.5m in a funding round led by LAUNCHHub Ventures. Ambire Wallet says it enables users to invest funds in multiple DeFi protocols with one click, helping them save time and reduce gas fees.
Regulation news
- The top executives of major crypto firms, such as Coinbase, Circle, FTX, Paxos, the Stellar Development Foundation, and Bitfury will testify before the US House Financial Services Committee on December 8th. The hearing will focus on the challenges and benefits of financial innovation.
Exchanges news
- Digital investment platform Bitpanda has launched its services in Denmark, soon to be followed by Sweden and Norway. The company will also open up an office in Copenhagen and is currently hiring a Country Manager to build the local team and lead the company’s growth efforts in the region.
NFTs news
- FTX.US has opened trading for some of the Ethereum (ETH) network’s top non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Among the NFTs now offered are Bored Ape Yacht Club, Meebits, Doodles, Decentraland, CryptoKitties, and others.
- First ETF focused on NFTs are set to be listed in the US on the NYSE, introduced by Defiance ETFs. Per the press release, ‘NFTZ’ offers investors thematic exposure to a wide range of NFT, blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystems (including NFT marketplaces and issuers such as Coinbase and Playboy).
Mining news
- Bitcoin (BTC) mining company Riot Blockchain has announced it is buying electrical equipment provider ESS Metron for USD 50m, consisting of up to 715,41 Riot shares and USD 25m in cash. Riot said the acquisition will help ensure the timely installation of its new miners as ESS Metron provides critical infrastructure.
