Today in Crypto: Sinapore’s Banking Giant DBS Unveils Its Metaverse Concept, UK Explores ‘Best Way’ to Ban Cold Calling for All Financial Products Including Crypto, SBF’s Layers Can ‘Make Unlimited

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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Metaverse news

• Singapore’s biggest bank, DBS, unveiled its metaverse concept for DBS BetterWorld, “a gamified adventure to demonstrate how the metaverse can be leveraged as a force for good,” said the press release. The virtual experience highlights the global food waste challenge and what Businesses for Impact supported by the DBS Foundation are doing to address the issue. As part of the experience, players must complete a series of activities. Karen Ngui, Head of Group Strategic Marketing and Communications, said that “we have chosen to delve into the challenges of food waste and food resilience […] in a unique and engaging way. As metaverse technologies mature, we hope to create mechanisms for communities and businesses to translate the outcomes of their virtual initiatives to real world impact.” 

Regulation news

• The UK government is exploring “the best way” to design and implement a blanket ban on cold calling for all consumer financial services and products, including “any product or service of a banking or payment nature, including electronic money and cryptoassets.” Unsolicited calls are one of the most common tactics used by fraudsters to dupe people into buying fake investments or financial products, said the HM Treasury paper. “Cold calling for financial services and products has long been used by fraudsters to manipulate and trick members of the public into scams,” it said. “The government will not tolerate this behaviour.” The consultation will close on September 27.

Legal news

• A US federal judge granted permission to the layers of the former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to meet him in prison and “make unlimited advantage of the legal visitation hours,” CoinDesk reported, citing an order issued on Wednesday. To prepare for the trial, Bankman-Fried will have “frequent access” to a computer to review discovery materials, and he can request “selected materials” to be uploaded onto hard drives so he can view them.

NFT news

• Dutch F1 Grand Prix is issuing ticket-linked digital collectibles for all 100,000 attendees, representing unique parts of the historic racing track, said the press release. 75 race fans will receive an additional 1/1 collectible immortalizing the 75th year of the track. Collectibles can be claimed directly in the Dutch GP app by logging in with email and password, as all custodial wallets are provided behind the scenes via GET Protocol. “This means that the entire 100k+ crowd of ticket holders can be onboarded into Web3 with the click of a button, accessing the benefits of NFT collectibles and Web3 access with the user experience of native Web2 mobile apps,” it said. The F1 racing weekend at the CM.com Circuit Zandvoort will last from August 25 through August 27.

Web3 news

• Push Protocol, a Web3 communication network enabling cross-chain notifications and services, is starting its Pan-Indian Tour, called ‘Billions Reasons to Build’, in collaboration with 12 Web3 partners, including the Ethereum Foundation, ETHGlobal, Polygon, Filecoin, The Graph, Aragon, Alchemy, and more. Each of the 13 companies is sponsoring a bounty for a total of $50,000 in prizes available to participating developers. The three-month tour will span 18 cities across India, aiming to create awareness among the country’s developers, showcase the Push Protocol communication stack, and foster engagement through workshops and events, the press release said.

Exchange news

• Luxembourg-based Bitstamp will reportedly shut down its ethereum (ETH) staking service in the USA in September due to the regulatory environment in the country. It said that its customers will continue earning staking rewards up until September 25, when all staked assets will be unstaked. All other services will remain unaffected.