Tuesday August 8, 2023
◾ PayPal (PYPL) is launching a US dollar-pegged stablecoin (PYUSD). (PRnewswire)
◾ Zoom (ZM) updated its terms of service to allow the video communications platform to begin using customer data to train its AI models but clarified that it does “not use audio, video or chat content for training [AI] models without customer consent.” (CNBC)
◾ Brazil formally announced its CBDC will be named “DREX.” (Reuters)
Government & NGO Actions
◾ The Chair of the House Financial Services Committee, Patrick McHenry (R-NC) said PayPal’s (PYPL) announcement is a “clear signal that stablecoins …hold promise as a pillar of our 21st century payments system” and called on Congress to enact legislation to provide comprehensive digital asset regulation. (House.gov)
◾ Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission issued a warning that unlicensed virtual asset trading platforms are engaging in improper practices like misrepresenting that they have filed a license and are awaiting approval. (Sfc.hk)
◾ The Bank of England published responses to its 2022 consultation request stating that the government recognizes the use of stablecoins as a systematically important means of payment. (Gov.uk)
◾ Police in Kenya raided a warehouse run by the Worldcoin citing the crypto-identity company failed to disclose its true intentions during registration. (Kahawatungu)
Public Company Releases
◾ Coinbase (COIN) is commencing a cash offer to purchase up to $150 million in outstanding 3.625% senior notes due 2031. (Coinbase)
◾ Bitfarms (BITF) initiated the first phase of development for its recently acquired 150 MW hydropower contracts in Paraguay and expects to fully commission 50MW by the end of Q1’24. (Globenewswire)
◾ Palantir Technologies (PLTR) reported $533 in revenue and income from operations of $10 million in its third quarter guiding to further growth driven from its new AI platforms. (Palantir)
◾ Bitdeer Technologies (BTDR) mined 220 bitcoin (3.8 EHs) while maintaining an additional 12.7 EH/s for hosting and 1.6 EH/s in “cloud hash rate” this past month. (Globenewswire)
AI Announcements
◾ OpenAI released GPTBot, a webcrawler meant to improve future models by combing the internet. (OpenAI)
◾ Meta (META) disbanded its scientific-research AI protein team to focus efforts on building more commercial items. (FT)
Protocols, Applications & Business News
◾ European crypto exchange Bitstamp is looking to raise capital to expand its operations. (Bloomberg)
◾ North Korea’s Lazarus organization used a fake employee-job interview to hack Estonian-based payments provider CoinsPaid. (Bloomberg)
Market Data
◾ Bitcoin’s difficulty is expected to inch up 0.45% tomorrow morning continuing its fourth back and forth (negative to positive to negative to positive ) change of the bitcoin mining adjustment. (Btc.com)
◾ Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire stated that his company estimates that “70% of USDC adoption is non-US.” (X)
Exchange, Custody and Product Updates
◾ Binance released its latest proof-of-reserves report showing its reserves exceed the net balances of its bitcoin, ether, BNB, BUSD, USDC and litecoin holdings. (Binance)
◾ Blockchain.com received a major payment institution license from Singapore allowing the company to provide digital payment token services to its customers. (PRnewswire)
Thoughts on the Ecosystem
◾ ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood believes once the SEC approves a bitcoin ETF they will choose to approve multiple ETFs at the same time. (X)