Helium Mounts Unicorne, DeFi & Metaverse ETFs, Crypto Executive Order + 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.
____
Investments news
- Helium (HNT), a decentralized machine network “powered by a physical blockchain,” recently raised USD 200m in Series D funding at a USD 1.2bn valuation, Axios reported, citing no one. Tiger Global and FTX Ventures are among the new investors, it added.
- Crypto asset manager Hashdex launched a DeFi exchange-traded fund (ETF) called DEFI11 on Brazilian stock exchange B3.
- Asset manager CSOP announced the listing of their CSOP Metaverse Concept ETF on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The fund will adopt an active management strategy mainly investing in US-listed companies, relating to the metaverse business.
- Venture capital firm Cherry Ventures launched a new EUR 30m (USD 34m) crypto fund named Cherry Cars Crypto, to be used to trade in cars for crypto as its name implies. The fund consists of a Web3-focused team spanning investments, research, and portfolio support functions, they added.
- Perpetual futures decentralized exchange (DEX) Perpetual Protocol announced it has raised USD 2.68m via Initial Voucher Offering (IVO) using Convertible Vouchers, where, according to them, almost half of the USD 4m available sold out in 30 minutes. The Convertible Vouchers are a type of NFTs that give greater autonomy for protocols to raise capital for future operations without having to sell its treasury assets, they said.
Regulation news
- The US White House will be issuing an executive order as early as next week directing government agencies to study different aspects of the digital asset space with the goal of creating a comprehensive regulatory framework, Yahoo Finance reported. The directive from President Biden would order the Office of the Attorney General, the State Department, and the Treasury Department to study the potential rollout of a US-issued central bank digital currency (CBDC), it added.
- Spanish crypto exchange Bit2Me obtained approval from the Bank of Spain to be the “first provider of services for the exchange of virtual currency for fiat currency and the custody of digital wallets.”
Legal news
- A New York judge ordered blockchain company Terraform Labs and its CEO Do Kwon to comply with subpoenas the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued in its investigation of Terra’s Mirror Protocol, according to a filing. Terraform and Kwon sued the watchdog on claims that it violated its own rules and the Due Process Clause of the US Constitution in serving Kwon in September last year.
- US law enforcement agencies seized almost USD 30m worth of crypto related to NetWalker ransomware in January 2021, according to blockchain research firm Chainalysis. The amount comes from just under BTC 720 and XMR 15.7.
Mining news
- BIT Mining abandoned its Bitcoin (BTC) mining data center construction project in Kazakhstan worth almost USD 10m, citing an unstable local power supply. The termination of the data center, which was meant to reach a total power capacity of 100 megawatts (MW), will not affect their mining machines deployed in third-party data centers in the country, they added.
- The Illinois Senate Bill 3643, would, if approved, extend a data center tax incentive program to BTC and crypto miners. To qualify for the program, applicants must invest at least USD 250m, create at least 20 jobs, and have achieved carbon-neutral status or green building certification, among other requirements.
NFTs news
- The NBA Top Shot platform by Dapper Labs said it will host its first auction this month, and the 30 NFT collectibles will come with real-world perks for holders over the next five NBA All-Star Games and related events. Each single-edition NFT—one per NBA team—will grant the top bidder access to the next five annual NBA All-Star events, beginning with the 2023 event in Salt Lake City, including other benefits, they added.
- Technology company LaCollection, which provides museum-accredited NFTs, said it has reached “seven figures” sales through its partnership with the British Museum, bringing digital copies of masterpieces from the Museum’s collection to collectors across the world. The company has also raised an additional USD 10m in investment led by venture capital company Alven.
Career news
- Crypto exchange Binance.US announced the appointment of Tammy Weinrib, previously the Vice President of the Financial Crime Compliance department at major bank Societe Generale, as Chief Compliance Officer.
Stablecoins news
- Institutional lending and borrowing platform for crypto, CLST Markets, announced it has facilitated an uncollateralized multi-million USD coin (USDC) stablecoin loan executed by crypto financial services firm Amber Group. The fixed-term transaction was executed in the form of the first electronic promissory note for a stablecoin issued on the Algorand (ALGO) blockchain.
Blockchains news
- Blockchain network Crypto.org announced that its native utility token, previously known as Crypto.org Coin (CRO), has been rebranded to Cronos (CRO) as it also powers their recently launched Cronos Chain. Since its launch in November 2021, Cronos has seen more than 350,000 unique wallet addresses performing transactions and now hosts over 120 different decentralized applications (dapps), they said.
