Crypto News Summary: Roche Freedman Dismissed as Lead Counsel in Tether/Bitfinex Lawsuit, Binance Pool Launches $500M Fund for Loans to Bitcoin Miners

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Sead Fadilpašić

Journalist

Sead Fadilpašić

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Sead specializes in writing factual and informative articles to help the public navigate the ever-changing world of crypto. He has extensive experience in the blockchain industry, where he has served...

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Last updated: 

January 9, 2024

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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 Judge has ordered that law firm Roche Freedman step down as lead counsel in a class action lawsuit against the USDT stablecoin issuer Tether and its sister company, the Bitfinex exchange. Bloomberg reported that the judge dismissed the firm following the August leaks involving the firm’s founding partner and crypto lawyer Kyle Roche boasting about the firm’s alleged relationship with the crypto startup Ava Labs. “We are pleased with the Court’s thorough and well-reasoned decision to remove Roche Freedman LLP as interim class counsel,” Tether said today.

Exchange news

• Binance Pool has launched a $500 million fund to provide loans to Bitcoin (BTC) miners struggling amid the market downturn, as well as digital infrastructure providers. Per the announcement, this project was designed to provide secure debt financing services to both public and private blue-chip Bitcoin mining and digital asset infrastructure companies globally. Binance Pool also intends to launch cloud mining products, it added.
• Crypto exchange Kraken hired the Gemini exchange’s former head of the UK, Blair Halliday, to run its UK operations as the new managing director. Halliday will focus on expanding Kraken’s reach in this vital region.

Regulation news

• Crypto wallet provider Blockchain.com will reportedly stop providing services to Russian nationals following the latest sanctions by the European Union. Per RBC, the company notified its users that it’s going to shut down accounts in two weeks and told them to withdraw their funds until October 27.

Bitcoin news

• ZEBEDEE, a FinTech and next-generation payment processor for the gaming industry, today announced a new initiative that contributes open source code and products to the Bitcoin Lightning space, said a press release. The new not-for-profit initiative NBD (No Big Deal) has already resulted in several products and code repositories, they added. “NBD does not sell anything, it does not offer services, it does not support products. It just writes code and gives it to the world to do with it as they will,” said Andre Neves, co-founder and CTO of ZEBEDEE.

Investment news

• Web3 infrastructure company MoonPay and the AAX exchange announced they’re partnering to allow users to purchase crypto in their wallet without leaving the exchange. Per a press release shared with Cryptonews.com, AAX users will be able to purchase crypto using debit and credit cards, bank transfers, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and more, directly on the exchange.
• The US-based Celo Foundation, the team supporting the Celo platform, announced the launch of its “2% for Web3 Impact” pledge at the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) Investor Forum in The Hague. It aims to bring $20 billion in Impact investing funds to Web3 by 2025, and the pledge is kicking off by actively helping onboard 100+ impact investors to Web3 and make their first investment in the space or provide liquidity, for example, to impact lending protocols, said the press release.
• Borrowing/lending protocol Interest Protocol is officially joining the Chainlink BUILD Program. BUILD helps empower Interest Protocol to accelerate the adoption of their protocol on Ethereum with enhanced support from Chainlink while the team provides network fees and other benefits to the Chainlink ecosystem, said the press release.
• Trading and investment platform Centurion Invest announced a strategic partnership with Muhsin Bayrak, a billionaire real estate tycoon, and through his corporate holding and Investment Group, will soon operate a crypto exchange in the region. The platform said that it acquired a majority stake in ABStocks, a regulated Turkish exchange that is part of the AB Group Holding. This partnership will provide a $40 million new innovation fund for a technology-based project in Bodrum to expand Centurion Invest to this region that is experiencing an increase in crypto interest, it said.

Web3 news

• Eco-friendly, open source, and noncustodial crypto wallet Earth Wallet and private membership community Humans I Trust say they harness regenerative Web3 technology to present an NFT auction and tree planting ceremony in London for the 2022 Climate Change Forum. Per a press release, the auction will take place on October 18^th, and a tree-planting ceremony will follow on October 20^th at the House of Lords, allowing members and guests to start the planting of NFTrees.