Tether Teases Swiss Bitcoin Plan, VKontakte Mulls NFTs, FTX Ups Its Game, EU Open to Crypto + More News

Adoption Bitcoin Blockchain Career Coinbase DeFi

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Sumejja Muratagić-Tadić

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Sumejja Muratagić-Tadić

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Sumejja is a freelance copywriter from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, who delights in pulling things apart to see how they work. That does not necessarily mean she puts them back together; she's...

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June 25, 2023

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Adoption news

• Stablecoin issuer Tether (USDT) announced they’re working with the city of Lugano, Switzerland, “to transform Lugano into the European bitcoin capital.” No further details were provided. Tether’s Chief Technology Officer Paolo Ardoino added that he will join the city’s mayor Michele Foletti in a live conference on March 3rd to disclose the full plan, teasing that “100% crypto will relocate to Lugano”.
• Russia’s largest social media network VKontakte is going to introduce support for blockchain and NFTs as part of its plans to monetize user content and strengthen copyright protection, Technical Director Aleksandr Tobol told Vesti.net. The platform is not planning to develop its own blockchain, per the report.
• Ethereum (ETH) native multichain network SKALE announced a USD 100m ecosystem incentive program in order to accelerate the onboarding of high-quality applications and projects onto the SKALE Network. The incentives will focus on blockchain gaming, play-to-earn, and the metaverse, they added.

Exchanges news

• FTX.US is launching its own gaming unit, aimed at encouraging more game publishers to embrace cryptocurrencies, blockchain networks, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), per Bloomberg. FTX Gaming will debut with a “crypto-as-a-service” platform through which gaming companies can launch tokens and offer support for NFTs, it added.
• Coinbase said it has rewarded a researcher, under the Twitter handle Tree of Alpha, USD 250,000 for discovering a “market-nuking” bug in their new trading feature in limited beta availability. Tree of Alpha explained that by exploiting this oversight, he was able to sell around USD 1,000 worth of BTC with only around USD 70 worth of ETH in his account.

Regulation news

• The European Union is open to cryptoassets including bitcoin but regulations must first be strengthened to prevent fraud, Bloomberg reported, citing EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson.
• The US Federal Reserve announced a new set of rules, to take effect on May 1st, that forbids their officials to trade many assets, including stocks, bonds, and cryptoassets.
• Italy published new anti-money laundering (AML) rules for crypto firms that outline registration and reporting requirements for virtual asset service providers (VASPs), according to a gazette.
• Wyoming state Senators Chris Rothfuss and Tara Nethercott with House Representatives Jared Olsen and Mike Yin introduced the Wyoming Stable Token Act, which, if passed, would authorize the treasurer to issue a US dollar-pegged stablecoin redeemable for fiat held in an account by the state.

Career news

• Crypto platform Galaxy Digital Holdings expanded its headcount by more than 200% last year to almost 285 people, not counting the staff of BitGo, the custodian firm it agreed to acquire in 2021, per Bloomberg.
• Crypto lender Celsius Network (CEL) appointed Rod Bolger as its new chief financial officer (CFO) as its previous CFO, Yaron Shalem, is being investigated in Israel over his connections to a different startup, Bloomberg reported. Bolger spent more than 10 years at the Royal Bank of Canada, Canada’s largest bank, most recently as its CFO.

Investments news

• Web3 “superapp” Jambo said it has raised USD 7.5m in a seed funding round, that was joined by Delphi Digital, Coinbase Ventures, 3 Arrows Capital, Alameda Research, and other investors. The startup claims that this year, they have signed up more than 12,000 students across 15 countries to complete a curated Web3 curriculum, both online and offline, enabling students to explore opportunities in play-to-earn gaming and DeFi.

DeFi news

• Cross-chain router protocol Multichain said it has recovered nearly 50% of the total funds stolen in an exploit, worth nearly USD 2.6m in cryptoassets. To be eligible for compensation through reimbursement of losses, Multichain has asked users to revoke their approval for the affected router contracts and submit a ticket on the website.