Tuesday August 30, 2022
◾ The Federal Reserve plans to launch its instant payments platform, FedNow, between May and July of 2023. (FederalReserve)
◾ The Constitutional Court in the Central African Republic ruled that the ability to purchase land and e-residency-citizenship using the local CBDC sango coin is unconstitutional. (Reuters)
◾ The Bank of Korea said implementation of its Digital Assets Framework Act may allow for initial coin offerings. (Cointelegraph)
Government & NGO Actions
◾ The Central Bank of Iran has reached an agreement with the Ministry of Industry to allow for all imports, including the import of foreign cars, to be paid using digital currencies. (Tasnimnews)
◾ The Bank of Russia is easing restrictions on selling US dollars and euros to the public in an effort that could negatively impact domestic crypto markets. (News.bitcoin)
◾ China’s Energy Administration is working to develop a blockchain-based platform to trade energy between self-contained power generation units and state and national networks. (Finbold)
◾ Brazil’s Central Bank is accelerating efforts to develop and test blockchain and digital currency platforms and introduced a project with Brazil’s largest private bank to allow currency trading and investments, and custody services to be managed using smart contracts. (Brazilian.report)
◾ The FBI issued a warning that “cyber criminal are increasingly exploiting vulnerabilities in decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms to steal [cryptocurrencies}.” (ic3.gov)
Public Company Releases
◾ TAAL Distributed Information Technologies (TAAL) announced its transition to a Metanet Service Provider. (Newswire)
◾ DMG Blockchain Solutions reported revenue of CAD $1.7 million for the three-month period ending June 30, 2021 with an operating loss of CAD $3.3 million. (DMG)
◾ CME Group (CME) launched Bitcoin Euro and Ether Euro futures. (CME)
Restructuring, Losses and Legal News
◾ Crypto exchange and lender Hodlnaut has been placed under interim judicial management by the Singapore High Court. (Hodlnaut)
Protocols, Applications & Business News
◾ Attorney Kyle Roche responded to this weekend’s reports of a special agreement between his firm and Avalance saying the statements made in the “highly edited video clips” were” false, and were obtained through deceptive means, including a deliberate scheme to intoxicate, and … exploit [him]. (Medium)
◾ FTX’s CEO tweeted that his firm is not planning to acquire Huobi. (Twitter)
◾ Indonesia’s largest tech firm Goto is buying local crypto exchange PT Kripto Maksima Koin for $8.3 million as part of its effort to become "a diverse money management hub." (Reuters)
◾ Virtuzone, the UAE’s leading provider of business formation and corporate activities has partnered with Binance to accept crypto payments for its services. (Cision)
◾ Meta (META) has expanded its NFT program to allow users on Facebook to post and share digital collectables. (Meta)
Market Data
◾ Bitcoin’s difficulty is expect to increase early tomorrow morning between 7.4% and 9.4%, signifying its highest jump since January 20th. (BTC.com)
Thoughts on the Ecosystem
◾ The General Counsel for Ripple Labs issued an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal saying efforts by SEC Chair Gary Gensler to impose his agency as the “cop on the beat” are front running the President’s Executive Order and his “shakedown” tactics are not protecting investors across crypto markets but instead leaving them “holding the bag.” (WSJ)