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The FedNow instant payment service, powered by the US Federal Reserve (Fed), is about to launch, offering Americans the ability to send and receive funds in real time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This initiative represents a significant development in the country’s payment system. The launch of FedNow could affect discussions around the implementation of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) in the US, but it remains unclear whether this will reduce the need for a CBDC in the future. Progress on a retail CBDC in the US has been slow, but the country is moving towards a wholesale CBDC. The launch of FedNow will reshape the US financial landscape and its relationship to emerging technologies.
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has unveiled its Digital Sandbox, a program designed to support tech startups in the early stages of product development. Starting August 1st, companies involved in financial activities such as banking, investing, lending and payments will be able to access the Digital Sandbox. This initiative will allow projects to test their products and services in a controlled environment without negative real-world impacts. The aim is to boost innovation, foster economic growth and increase international competitiveness.
The UK government has rejected a proposal to regulate retail cryptocurrency trading in the same way as gambling. The House of Commons Treasury Committee had called for similar regulation, arguing that crypto investment activity is comparable to gambling. However, the government strongly disagrees with this approach, citing the possibility of conflict with international recommendations and an overlap of financial regulators and the Gambling Commission.
Regulatory authorities in Kuwait have issued circulars banning the use and recognition of virtual assets in the country, following recommendations from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The circulars impose an absolute ban on most cryptocurrency operations, including payments, investments and mining. Authorities seek to protect users from the risks associated with virtual assets and claim that these currencies lack legal status or support. Violations of the circulars may result in penalties under the money laundering law.
More than 200 stores in Hong Kong now accept digital yuan payments, according to local banks. This initiative is part of China’s efforts to expand the use of its CBDC beyond the country’s borders. The list includes retailers that cater primarily to Chinese tourists. Additionally, mainland Chinese shoppers can receive discounts when using the digital yuan at select Hong Kong stores. Chinese banks are looking to increase international spending options for their customers, with a focus on Hong Kong and Macau.
Blockchain developer Terraform Labs (TFL) is seeking to obtain relevant documents from the bankrupt FTX to defend itself against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC sued the TFL and its former CEO in February, alleging fraudulent activities that resulted in the collapse of the Terra/LUNA tokens. The TFL claims the collapse was caused by a coordinated third-party attack. Now, they want FTX to provide documents related to transactions involving cryptocurrencies, including Terra USD (COIN:USTCUSD) and LUNA (COIN:LUNAUSD). TFL claims that this information is in the possession of FTX and is relevant to its case. In other news, as Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon faces possible extraditions, as a result, the company has appointed Chris Amani as its new CEO. Amani, who had already worked at Terra since 2021 as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, took over in April 2023. Amani stated that the company does not plan to launch new stablecoins and will focus on other products. He expressed hope that Kwon can clear the allegations as Terra continues to operate without him.
Several users of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX are being targeted by potential phishing attacks. They received a fake “password reset” email from FTX customer support. The email contained a link that directed users to a claims portal related to FTX’s bankruptcy. Cybersecurity experts believe that someone may be using a mailing list to force reset users’ credentials. If a hacker gets access to the email addresses, they can steal funds from users’ accounts. The exchange owes an estimated $8.1 billion to customers since its collapse last November.
North Korean state-backed hackers broke into U.S. software company JumpCloud to target its cryptocurrency customers, according to security researchers. The attack forced JumpCloud to reset customers’ API keys. The Lazarus hacking group, known to target cryptographic entities, was attributed to the breach. CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) and SentinelOne (NYSE:S) linked the attack to the Lazarus subgroup called “Labyrinth Chollima”. North Korea has a history of carrying out cryptocurrency theft operations to fund its nuclear program.
The Web3 bug bounty platform Immunefi has been receiving a barrage of web3 security reports generated by ChatGPT since its launch. However, the reports were deemed meaningless and did not find any real vulnerabilities. As a result, Immunefi permanently banned 21% of accounts that used the tool. While most whitehats have a positive opinion of ChatGPT, there are concerns about its limited accuracy in identifying vulnerabilities and the need for additional security measures. Immunefi has paid out over $80 million in bug bounties to date.
Kraken is expanding its institutional derivatives service with the appointment of Mark Jennings, a hedge fund veteran, as CEO of Crypto Facilities. Kraken’s acquisition of Crypto Facilities in 2019 allowed the crypto derivatives trading platform to remain regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Jennings intends to highlight Kraken’s ability to provide institutional derivatives to its clients.
Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget is planning to expand its operations to the Middle East and hire up to 60 new employees. The company has already opened an office in Dubai and is exploring opportunities in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Bitget is also seeking licenses to operate in the region. The expansion follows the company’s launch in Turkey and a partnership with Copper to offer custody services. “ We expect to rapidly scale our Middle East team to support business growth, with between 30 to 60 hires over the next two years ”, Gracy Chen, managing director, said in a statement.
Sequoia Capital underwent a reshuffle of its VC team, resulting in the departure of two crypto investors, Daniel Chen and Michelle Fradin, along with other partners, Michael Moritz, Mike Vernal and Kais Khimji. Chen and Fradin were involved in the company’s cryptocurrency investments. The decision came after the collapse of FTX in 2022, which caused significant losses for Sequoia. Michael Moritz has also stepped aside to focus on his wealth management company, Sequoia Heritage. The exits are part of the company’s restructuring strategy.
Bitmain, maker of cryptocurrency mining machines, is entering the Filecoin (COIN:FILUSD) mining industry for the first time. They are offering a new mining machine model priced at $38,888 per unit. The machines come with a high hash rate and users can host them on Antpool mining pool platform associated with Bitmain to start earning rewards immediately after purchase. Furthermore, Bitmain is also introducing a delegated staking service for Filecoin. Sales of Bitmain’s Filecoin mining machines will start on July 21st.
Chainlink recently launched an interoperability protocol between blockchains with the aim of facilitating the transfer of assets. Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov has bigger ambitions and predicts that banks and financial institutions will create their own blockchains, which will eventually connect to public blockchains like Ethereum. Nazarov believes that this fusion between public and private blockchains can add a lot of value to cryptocurrencies. Chainlink is already working with banks and financial institutions on interoperability testing and sees a bright future in this area. Chainlink tokens (COIN:LINKUSD) saw an increase of up to 19% in the last 24 hours, and an increase of 31.68% for the week.
The integration of Indian social media platform Chingari with the Aptos blockchain has resulted in a significant increase in activity. After migrating to Aptos due to Solana network issues, Chingari experienced a 900% growth in new users, totaling nearly 90,000 daily onboardings. On-chain instant features such as virtual gifts have driven this increase, along with Chingari’s new wallet, which allows users to earn tokens through engagement and content creation. Additionally, the company anticipates rapid growth in the number of users and transactions, outpacing other decentralized applications. This trend of shifting towards more efficient and usable blockchains is also seen in other industries such as gaming,
Mirela Spasova, senior engineer at Reddit, presented at the Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) the platform’s strategy to integrate millions of users with its blockchain-based digital collectibles. Collectible avatars allow users freedom of use, including the option to resell them on popular NFT marketplaces. Reddit has prioritized the user experience by developing a non-custodial wallet and facilitating quick onboarding. This initiative has already attracted more than eight million users and promoted community involvement.
Push Protocol launched Push Spaces, a decentralized, community-based streaming solution, during EthCC. The platform, similar to Twitter Spaces, allows users to interact and express their thoughts without the need for transaction subscriptions or payment of fees. Push Protocol has also strategically partnered with Unstoppable Domains and Polygon to improve adoption of decentralized messaging and deliver a new user experience. The purpose of the Push Protocol is to revolutionize the interaction of web3 users natively in the web3 environment.
The liquid staking subsector has become the largest decentralized finance (DeFi) sector in terms of Total Value Locked, according to Binance. Liquid staking surpassed decentralized exchanges (DEXs) as the top-ranked DeFi category in April 2023. The liquid staking engine played an important role before the Ethereum Shanghai upgrade, allowing users to get liquidity while earning income on Ether (COIN:ETHUSD). The report also mentioned the emergence of LSTfi protocols, where LSTs are used as collateral to create stablecoins. Despite the growth in liquid staking, the DeFi sector as a whole has underperformed the global crypto market.
Binance Labs, the venture capital division of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has invested $10 million in cross-chain lending protocol and Radiant Capital lending. Radiant is built on LayerZero, an interoperability protocol that allows communication between different blockchains. Radiant supports lending and on-chain lending, with plans to expand to more Ethereum-compatible chains. The funding round will be used to develop new products and features, including extending oracle support and deployment on the Ethereum mainnet. Radiant is already a leading lending protocol on Arbitrum (COIN:ARBUSD) and BNB Chain (COIN:BNBUSD).
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