Crypto diversification signs, Exchanges Secure Banking Contracts + 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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Investments news
Last week was the quietest trading week since October 2020 as digital asset investment products saw minor outflows, totaling USD 4m, and led by bitcoin (BTC), per CoinShares data. “While the inflows remain relatively small in comparison to bitcoin and ethereum (ETH), the data does imply that investors are increasingly looking to diversify their digital asset holdings,” their report said, adding that, in recent weeks, North American providers are seeing consistent BTC inflows, while Europeans have continued to see outflows.
MTD – month-to-date; YTD – year-to-date; AUM – assets under management. Source: CoinShares - Financial services company Capital International invested more than half a billion dollars into business intelligence firm MicroStrategy stock, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Exchanges news
- Three South Korean banks have decided to extend the nation’s “big four” crypto exchanges’ real-name banking contracts until September 24, the day when the grace period for exchange regulations to be finalized officially ends, per the news agency Yonhap and the media outlet NoCut News. Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit were hoping to renew their existing six-month contracts with the banks (Shinhan, NongHyup and K-Bank) possibly as early as this month. But it appears that banks have instead decided to defer their decisions on contract renewals to the last possible moment as the regulatory landscape continues to shift.
- UK-headquartered payments solution provider Clear Junction confirmed it will no longer be facilitating payments related to Binance due to Financial Conduct Authority’s recent announcement that the exchange is not permitted to undertake any regulated activity in the UK. “We have decided to suspend both GBP and EUR payments and will no longer be facilitating deposits or withdrawals in favor of or on behalf of the crypto trading platform,” the company said.
- The US Federal Court has permanently banned trading platform PaxForex from trading, solicitation, and registration, as well as requiring the defendant to pay a civil monetary penalty of USD 374,864, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The exchange was charged with engaging in illegal, off-exchange transactions in ETH, litecoin (LTC), and BTC, in addition to precious metals and foreign currency, with retail customers on a leveraged, margined, or financed basis.
CBDCs news
- The Ukrainian central bank has spoken out on its central bank digital currency (CBDC) progress. The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) stated that it had completed a survey of stakeholders aimed at determining which CBDC model it should pursue, adding that it was “ahead of most of the rest of the world” in its digital fiat plans. The NBU survey found that most respondents favored the development of an e-hryvnia that could “potentially be used to make retail non-cash payments” – including financial transfers between private individuals, as well as e-commerce transactions.
- The First Deputy Governor of Bank of Ghana (BoG), Maxwell Opoku-Afari, has said the central bank is in the advanced stages of piloting a digital currency, and that barring unforeseen circumstances it should be piloted from September this year, according to Modern Ghana.
Adoption news
- South Korean banking group Woori Financial Group is going to set up a digital asset custody joint venture (JV) with crypto solutions provider Coinplug Inc., according to the Korea Economic Daily. Citing unnamed sources, they added that the JV will be incorporated by next week at the earliest.
- A gigantic 100-carat diamond was sold for more than USD 12.2m in an unspecified cryptoasset at auction house Sotheby’s, according to the New York Post. The diamond was previously estimated to be worth between USD 10m and USD 15m, and the auction house stated they were accepting both BTC and ETH as payment options.
Altcoins news
- Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano (ADA) and cofounder of Ethereum, has joined the Board of the ETC Cooperative, the entity tasked with the development and growth of the Ethereum Classic (ETC) protocol. He joins Chair of the Board Craig Salm, as well as Barry Silbert, Cody Burns, Elaine Ou, and Roy Zou in this position.
NFTs news
- A non-fungible token (NFT) Meebits was sold on the OpenSea marketplace for ETH 1,000 (USD 2.1m). This made it the most expensive NFT in the Meebits collection.
- Italian national football team captain Giorgio Chiellini has launched an NFT collection, exclusively on Blockasset, Football Italia reported. The NFTs reflect the Italy and Juventus captain’s “gladiatorial spirit,” with the chance to meet him and receive a match-worn shirt of his from UEFA EURO 2020, it said.
Mining news
- Mawson Infrastructure Group, an Australian digital infrastructure provider, said it has increased its ownership in Luna Squares from 50% to 90%, with the remaining 10% subject to performance hurdles. This acquisition “cements Mawson’s ownership of this high-quality hosting and proprietary bitcoin mining facility in Georgia, USA,” the company said, without providing any other details about the deal.
- Police in Vinnytsia, in Western-Central Ukraine, say they have unearthed a large illegal mining operation that made extensive use of gaming consoles. The Ukrainian security services said they found a facility in the town fitted with 50 processors, a number of laptops, 500 graphics cards and 3,800 PlayStation 4 consoles, all of which were confiscated in a major raid. The miners had set up shop in an abandoned warehouse, but officers believe the miners were using electricity from the local grid to power their operations. A number of arrests have been made and cases have already been sent to prosecutors.
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(Updated at 16:33 UTC with an announcement by Clear Junction.)
