Today in Crypto: 24% of New Tokens in 2022 Similar to Pump-and-Dump Schemes, Mercuryo & ConsenSys Reveal Integration within MetaMask, Unstoppable Domains & Opera Expand Partnership

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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Security news

• “Of the 40,521 tokens launched in 2022 that gained sufficient traction to be worth analyzing, 9,902, or 24%, saw a price decline in the first week indicative of possible pump and dump activity,” said a new report by blockchain analysis company Chainalysis. In total, buyers who are not believed to be associated with the tokens’ creators spent $4.6 billion worth of crypto acquiring some of the suspected pump-and-dump tokens, with the report estimating that the creators of these tokens made a total of $30 million in profits from selling off their holdings before the tokens’ value plummeted.

Payments news

• Crypto payments company Mercuryo and blockchain company ConsenSys announced an integration within MetaMask that will allow the major wallet’s users to bypass mainstream exchanges and buy crypto tokens with bank cards, Apple Pay, and various bank transfer methods directly in their wallets, said the press release. “This aims to simplify purchasing digital assets thanks to instant checkouts and easier user onboarding,” it said.

Web3 news

• Web3 domain provider Unstoppable Domains is expanding its partnership with web browser Opera, enabling Opera users to build and access Web3 websites powered by Unstoppable across all of Opera’s Web3-enabled desktop and mobile browsers—including the Opera Browser on Desktop (Windows, Mac, and Linux) and Android and the Opera Crypto Browser. Per an announcement, Opera Crypto Wallet users across mobile and Desktop can now use Unstoppable Domains to transfer crypto to and from their wallet.
• Multi-chain platform Collab.Land announced a token distribution to over two million unique members, “making it the largest ever in the history of crypto,” said a press release. The token will engage the community in multiple ways, it said: a sponsored claim will be available for verified members and Collab.Land NFT holders, while the top 100 Collab.Land communities will have the opportunity to claim tokens through a proposal process. Communities included are Parallel, Axie Infinity, Aavegotchi, World of Women, Adidas, Doodles, BanklessDAO, and more. The total retroactive distribution to NFT holders verified members and top 100 communities adds up to 25% of the token supply, it said.

Regulation news

• Russia‘s State Duma has passed a bill in the first reading that will allow financial service marketplaces to combine their operations with the activities of blockchain platforms that issue or exchange digital financial assets (DFA), Interfax reported today. “The bill expands the list of the types of activities accessible to operators of financial platforms with the activities of an operator of an information system in which DFA are issued and the activities of a DFA exchange operator. This innovation will facilitate the establishment of new business models on the financial market based on the digital transformation of financial services,” explanatory materials for the bill said.

Tax news

• Crypto tax platform CoinTracker announced its multichain expansion to provide support for Arbitrum, Optimism, and Cosmos, aiming “to streamline the digital asset tax filing process,” said an announcement. CoinTracker will provide support to these chains in the following ways: Arbitrum Automatic Sync and Optimism Automatic Sync, which automatically sync user transactions on Arbitrum / Optimism, including new transactions as they occur, and Cosmos Automatic Sync which enables users to import activity from the Cosmos Hub and tag any ATOM staking rewards.

Blockchain news

• Gaming-optimized blockchain Oasys announced that the Japan-based telecommunications operator SoftBank joined as an official validator of Oasys. “This partnership extends beyond Softbank’s role as validators, as the two companies explore potential collaboration, including the development of blockchain-based services, in the future,” it added.
• FedML, a Collaborative/Federated Machine Learning and Edge AI Platform, announced today that it would partner with media and entertainment blockchain Theta Network to enable collaborative machine learning for Generative AI and content recommendation and advertisement, powered by the Theta edge network. Per an announcement, “Theta’s Edge Network, operated by 10s of thousands of decentralized nodes worldwide, makes up the perfect base for the types of distributed computing needed for collaborative machine learning and AI use cases.”

Exchange news

• BitMEX announced its latest partnership with Onramper, a fiat-to-crypto onramp aggregator that allows users to have access to multiple fiat-to-crypto gateways via one API. Per an announcement, by integrating with Onramper, BitMEX now supports “the widest possible amount of fiat currencies, payment methods and cryptocurrencies in a single solution.” Users are able to instantly deposit funds into the exchange or swap from fiat to their token of choice, it added.

Career news

• The experimental collective unpaired. said it hired Kimberly Knoller as Chief Marketing Officer and Yoav Tchelet as Chief Growth & Innovation Officer. An announcement stated that Knoller recently worked as CMO for Pixelynx, a music metaverse project, and is a marketing and brand development executive with executive experience at Warner Records, Sony Music, and The Knoller Group agency. Tchelet recently played a major role in establishing and guiding marketing and growth at digital art marketplace SuperRare. “unpaired. will have a strong presence at NFT Paris this year as title sponsor of the conference and will be hosting the official closing party with their successful NFT Project Party Degens,” it added.