Today in Crypto: Liechtenstein Government to Accept BTC as Payment, Everledger Enters Voluntary Administration, NY Attorney General Proposes Banning Exchanges From Trading Their Tokens

Adoption Binance Bitcoin DeFi Entertainment Exchange

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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 8, 2024 08:49 EST

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Adoption news

• Liechtenstein’s government is planning to accept Bitcoin (BTC) as payment for state services, Bloomberg reported, citing Prime Minister Daniel Risch’s statement to Handelsblatt. Any cryptocurrency received would be immediately swapped for Swiss francs, in order to avoid exchange-rate risks. The franc is the official currency and Bitcoin wouldn’t be granted equal status, Risch said. He suggested an openness to investing state reserves in cryptoassets in the future, saying: “Cryptoassets like Bitcoin are currently still too risky. But this assessment can change.”

Investment news

• Australian blockchain company Everledger entered insolvency proceedings after failing to raise new funding from an undisclosed investor – it was quietly placed into voluntary administration as it could not pay its debts, the Financial Review reported. The move came despite it securing backing from the federal government and Chinese internet giant Tencent, it said. 

Regulation news

• US, New York State Attorney General Letitia James proposed a law that would ban crypto exchanges (and people managing them) from trading their own tokens, in an effort to protect customers’ funds. The draft, titled ‘Crypto Regulation, Protection, Transparency, and Oversight (CRPTO) Act’, would prevent exchanges from holding customer funds like a bank, while brokers would not be allowed to borrow or lend customers’ digital assets.
• South Korea‘s financial watchdog reported a series of crypto transactions to local prosecutors, made by an opposition party lawmaker, CoinDesk Korea reported. Rep. Kim Nam-kuk of the Democratic Party of Korea allegedly withdrew 800,000 WEMIX tokens between late February and early March 2022. The transactions were reported to the Financial Services Commission’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which classified the withdrawals as suspicious and reported them to the prosecutor’s office, the report said.

Exchange news

• Binance has resumed BTC withdrawals again after a second pause, as the Bitcoin network suffers congestion. “To prevent a similar recurrence in the future, our fees have been adjusted. We will continue to monitor on-chain activity and adjust accordingly if needed. Our team has also been working on enabling BTC Lightning Network withdrawals, which will help in such situations,” the exchange said.

DeFi news

• MetisDAO Foundation, an organization building a decentralized layer 2 infrastructure to power Web3 enterprises, announced today that Aave Protocol V3 has been deployed on Metis Layer 2 with support from the Metis and Aave communities. By integrating the Aave V3 protocol for Metis markets, decentralized finance (DeFi) users will be able to “take advantage of the combined benefits of Metis’ network speed and security and the Aave Protocol’s industry-leading features,” while the deployment would unlock new on-chain liquidity and DeFi capabilities, said the announcement.

Gaming news

• Asset marketplace Blocktrade announced the launch of its new gamified crypto platform, Blocktrade 3.0, merging gaming with crypto investing, it said. It provides “a comprehensive gamified user experience” with the native BTEX token at its core. Equipped with 50 unique levels, leaderboards, and challenges, users advance to higher levels, passing a series of progression thresholds, and earning BTEX tokens and XP points. They can then unlock benefits and rewards as they advance to higher levels, such as trading bonuses and discount fees, it added.

Entertainment news

• Web3 platform Dirt signed with Trellis Literary Management, a full-service literary agency, to develop books “inspired by Dirt’s signature blend of digital culture and entertainment insights,” said the press release.