‘Ubiquitous’ Crypto Payments, Custody Exchange Network, DCG and Huobi Get New Arms + More News
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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Adoption news
- A survey from accounting giant Deloitte showed that 85% of respondents, who are executives from various US retail organizations, expect digital currency payments to become “ubiquitous” in their respective industries in the next five years. More than 85% of respondents, which include 2,000 senior executives at US retail organizations, are giving high or very high priority to enabling cryptocurrency payments, while around 83% are doing the same for stablecoins.
- American music megastar Jay-Z and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey are funding The Bitcoin Academy, which offers free Bitcoin (BTC) education classes to residents of the Marcy Houses, a public housing complex in Brooklyn, New York, USA, where Jay-Z grew up. The courses will be available even to kids, Dorsey said, adding that they will provide devices and data plans for all who need them.
Exchanges news
- Crypto platform Anchorage Digital announced it has integrated with Binance.US and gained commitments from crypto platforms CoinList, Blockchain.com, Strix Leviathan, and Wintermute in their efforts to build a custody exchange network.
- Crypto cash exchange Coinme and the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin issuer Circle announced a collaboration to integrate USDC into Coinme’s cash onramp and offramp ecosystem. The service will begin rolling out in June 2022, they said.
Investments news
- Major crypto investment firm Digital Currency Group launched its wealth management subsidiary named HQ Digital. It will offer private investments, estate planning, risk mitigation, and insurance, among other services.
- Crypto exchange Huobi announced the launch of Ivy Blocks, their new DeFi and Web3 blockchain ecosystem investment arm. It will be rolling out with three core services, Liquidity Investment Department, an asset management platform for smart DeFi mining and income aggregation; Ivy Labs, an innovative crypto and blockchain incubator; and Ivy Research, which focuses on blockchain and cryptoasset research.
- Circle announced it agreed to buy digital asset infrastructure platform Cybavo for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition will allow Circle to offer “infrastructure as a service” for companies looking to build on Web3.
- US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that cryptoassets are a “very risky” choice to include in the retirement plans of average savers, and that it would be reasonable for Congress to address the danger, according to Bloomberg.
- Decentralized software organization PartyDAO announced it raised USD 16.4m in a round led by a16z crypto. The funds will go towards their project called PartyBid V1, a protocol for buying an NFT together as a group, they added.
- Decentralized exchange protocol Orderly Network announced the completion of a USD 20m strategic investment round. The project plans to use the funds to focus on recruitment, product development, growing their ecosystem, and establishing partnerships.
- Enterprise crypto payments startup Request Finance said it has closed a USD 5.5m seed investment round. The funds will help them keep working on their efforts to simplify enterprise payments for crypto-native companies, they said.
- Digital payments network Flexa said it intends to acquire marketing technology company Drop Party. The latter will join the suite of Flexa product offerings and in order to bolster Flexa’s commitment to merchants, they said.
Regulation news
- The Albanian parliamentary assembly has drafted a resolution to ask the Financial Supervisory Authority (AFSA) to approve regulatory acts on crypto and digital currencies within 2022, per Exit. They have called the AFSA to step up its regulation of the sector and “intensify cooperation with international regulatory authorities to obtain better experiences for this market.”
Career news
- Pierre Rochard, the product manager for Bitcoin and the Lightning Network at Kraken, announced he is retiring from the company and hinted that he’s still going to work on an unspecified BTC-related project.
- Web3 and blockchain-focused investment firm CoinFund announced the appointment of Margaret Gabriel as Head of Talent. Gabriel was previously the Head of Learning & Development at crypto exchange Gemini.
Mining news
- GEM Mining announced it produced BTC 239 in May 2022, with a hash rate of 1.92 EH/s and an active miner fleet of 19,459 for USD 7.57m in revenue. As of May 31st, GEM produced over BTC 1,160 in 2022, and the company has seen a 1,206% year-over-year increase in BTC produced.
NFTs news
- American actor Seth Green has been reunited with the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT he apparently lost in a phishing attack last month, according to BuzzFeed News. He reportedly paid ETH 165 (USD 286,000 today) for the NFT, after it was sold to a collector.
