Friday August 19, 2022
◾ The US trustee overseeing the Celsius bankruptcy wants to appoint an independent examiner to look into the crypto lender’s business model as well as the actions taken by management. (Case.stretto)
◾ Canada’s Superintendent of Financial Institutions announced that banks and insurers that have crypto exposure exceeding 1% of their Tier 1 capital must notify the financial regulator. (Bloomberg)
◾ South Africa’s Reserve Bank has issued supervisory guidelines informing banks about the implementation of AML/CFT controls in relation to digital currencies and crypto asset service providers. (Resbank)
Government & NGO Actions
◾ The Central Bank of Nigeria is looking to increase adoption of the e-naira from its current 840,000 users to over 8 million within the next 12 months. (Bloomberg)
◾ Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee have asked four crypto miners (Core Scientific (CORZ), Marathon Digital (MARA), Riot Blockchain (RIOT), and Stronghold (SDIG)) to answer questions about the environmental impact of blockchain technology and the activities taken by the miners to ensure their operations do not place a strain on the grid of undermine the nation’s climate goals. (house.gov)
◾ The UN’s executive director of drugs and crime office believes regulating crypto’s use can help keep the internet safer. (Finbold)
Restructuring, Losses and Legal News
◾ Moratorium protected crypto lender Hodlnaut has laid off 80% of its employees and plans to reduce all open term interest rates to 0% APR. (Hodlnaut)
◾ A day after announcing that it was writing off its $150 million investment in Celsius, Canada's second-largest pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec said it is exploring legal options. (Reuters)
◾ Weak market conditions have forced Australian crypto exchange Swyftx to lay off 74 employees, a staff reduction of 21%. (FinancialReview)
Protocols, Applications & Business News
◾ Robinhood (HOOD) has cut the previously announced acquisition price for crypto app Ziglu by 57% due to impact of the recent crypto market sell off. (Sifted)
◾ MercadoLibre (MELI) is creating a crypto reward token that will be the equivalent of cash-back to be used for future purchases on the South American e-commerce platform. (Reuters)
◾ Tether has named BDO Italia as their new accountant to perform monthly attestations for the leading stablecoin. (Reuters)
◾ Pending regulatory approval, the CME (CME) is planning to introduce options on Ether futures on September 12th. (Cision)
◾ Japanese broker SBI Holdings will close its crypto mining operations in Russia. (Bloomberg)
◾ Ripple has partnered with Travelex Bank to launch ‘On-Demand Liquidity’ in Brazil allowing customers to instantly send money across borders without the need to hold pre-funded capital in the destination market. (Businesswire)
◾ Dapper Labs has released NFL All Day, the football version of NBA Top Shot, to the public. (NFLallday)
Metaverse Briefings & Activations
◾ Meta (META) is releasing its VR social platform Horizon Worlds across France and Spain. (Meta)
◾ The Sandbox is launching a new season on August 24th, offering 98 ‘experiences’ over 10 weeks. (SCMP)
Market Data
◾ Researchers have found that the power needs of Russian crypto miners have increased 20 fold over the past five years to reach the current 1.25 GW required to run bitcoin mining operations. (News.bitcoin)
Exchange, Custody and Product Updates
◾ Gemini is launching staking rewards across Singapore, Hong Kong and all US markets except New York. (Gemini)
Thoughts on the Ecosystem
◾ Tech investor Randi Zuckerberg says interoperability is needed to unlock the true potential of web3. (CNBC)