News Summary: Indian CBDC Pilot to Launch Within a Month, Three Arrested for Major Crypto-related Crimes, EQONEX Files for Debt Restructuring
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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CBDC news
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is in the final stages of the rollout of the retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) that will be interoperable with the present forms of payment systems, The Economic Times reported, citing “people aware of the developments”. The pilot should launch within a month. The participating banks will test the CBDC among 10,000 to 50,000 users.
Legal news
- Two Estonian citizens were arrested in Tallinn, Estonia, on an 18-count indictment for their alleged involvement in a $575 million cryptocurrency fraud and money laundering conspiracy. Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turõgin allegedly defrauded hundreds of thousands of victims through a multi-faceted scheme, said a US Department of Justice press release. The FBI is investigating the case.
- A man in the Netherlands was arrested for allegedly laundering money using bitcoin (BTC), with prosecutors claiming that there were links to trading on the dark web, according to a statement from the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service.
Investment news
- USA-listed crypto financial services company EQONEX Group has filed for debt restructuring. Per the letter to shareholders, the company filed a voluntary application with the High Court of the Republic of Singapore to place the company into judicial management. The Hong Kong-based legal entity Diginex Limited was placed into creditors’ voluntary liquidation, as was Eqonex Capital.
Exchange news
- FTX, the parents of its founder Sam Bankman-Fried, and the firm’s senior executives bought at least 19 properties worth about $121 million in the Bahamas over the past two years, Reuters reported, citing official property records. 15 properties worth about $100 million were bought by FTX Property Holdings in 2021 and 2022.
- Bitfinex Turkiye has launched a standalone Turkish language mobile app, said a press release. The app provides customers in Turkey with the ability to execute spot transactions on the platform.
- Bitpanda has received its Crypto Custody and Proprietary Trading licence from the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). The announcement said that this makes the fintech the first European retail investment platform to meet BaFin’s regulatory requirements. The licence will allow Bitpanda to independently offer crypto custody and proprietary trading to German residents, as well as maintain an order book and directly market crypto services.
- Bitget has registered in Seychelles to aid global expansion, it said in an announcement. The exchange has also updated its recruitment plan with a new target of 1,200 headcount by the first quarter of 2023, increasing its workforce by another 50% from its existing size.
DeFi news
- Curve.Finance, a major decentralized exchange (DEX) and automated market maker (AMM), deployed on Celo, an EVM-compatible layer-1 blockchain, said a press release. Curve’s deployment allows for the movement of stable assets on- and off-chain via Wormhole’s Portal token bridge, it said.
Gaming news
- Payment processor for the gaming industry ZEBEDEE and global vendor for gift cards and mobile top-ups Bitrefill announced a partnership to integrate the ZEBEDEE app with Bitrefill’s services and allow users to spend the BTC they earn playing games on more than 5,000 gift cards without having to leave the app, creating a circular economy within ZEBEDEE, said a press release.
NFT news
- British auction house Phillips announced Portraiture by Seneca, the latest body of work by visual artist All Seeing Seneca featuring three 1:1 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and her first painting to be offered at auction, said the announcement. The NFTs will be minted through the crypto payments infrastructure provider MoonPay’s new self-service platform HyperMint. Portraiture is produced in association with United Talent Agency.
- An interactive exhibition built on the Tezos blockchain, displayed in collaboration with the generative art platform fxhash, will be on public view in December at the Miami Convention Center. Per the press release, Performance in Code: Deciphering Value in Generative Art will explore mathematical probability and its effect on rarity and perceived value in generative art. The experience will enable visitors to mint and claim a featured generative art NFT in real time.
