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Celsius and Core Scientific (COIN:IOTAUSD) have reached a $45 million settlement to end a legal dispute. According to court records released Thursday, Celsius will pay $14 million in cash and the balance in adjusted shares. The agreement still awaits approval from courts in Texas and New York. The decision will also allow Celsius to acquire a mining area in Texas called Cedarvale. This dispute arose after Core halted Celsius’ mining operations citing unpaid debts.
In July, an attack on the decentralized finance platform, Curve Finance, impacted the DeFi market. Although much of the stolen money was recovered, it was not fully returned. According to CoinDesk, Coinbase (COIN:IOTAUSD) profited about $1 million related to the incident. This profit arose when a trading robot took advantage of an arbitrage opportunity, generated by a temporary glitch in Curve’s asset pricing system. Instead of returning this windfall profit, Coinbase claimed it had no legal obligations to do so, sparking controversy in the industry. In other news, Coinbase’s Base blockchain, a layer 2 solution, broke records for daily transactions, surpassing the Arbitrum and Optimism platforms combined. However, the move was not driven by decentralized finance (DeFi) applications or NFT markets. According to IntoTheBlock, much of this volume came from the social app FriendTech, which operates on Base.
SEC has initiated proceedings against Binance.US, accusing the company of lack of cooperation in a request for information. The oversight body stated that Binance.US provided incomprehensible documents and avoided testimony from vital witnesses. SEC also questions the exchange’s relationship with offshore custodian, Ceffu, and seeks a court order to force Binance.US to hand over the necessary documents. In response, Binance.US criticizes SEC’s approach and defends its actions. Additionally, top executives at Binance.US, including the CEO, recently left the company.
Boerse Stuttgart Digital, the cryptocurrency arm of the Stuttgart Stock Exchange, plans to launch a fully insured cryptocurrency staking service next year. In collaboration, Munich Re created specialized insurance to minimize slashing risks. This movement highlights the growing integration of traditional financial institutions into the world of cryptocurrencies. Recently, Deutsche Bank (COIN:IOTAUSD) and HSBC (COIN:IOTAUSD) also began partnerships in the area of digital assets. Boerse Stuttgart Digital’s initiative is another step towards providing safe and profitable cryptocurrency services to its investors.
BitGo, a cryptocurrency custodian, and Swan, a Bitcoin financial services firm (COIN:IOTAUSD), have announced plans to establish the first U.S. trust company focused exclusively on Bitcoin. The initiative seeks to combine BitGo’s custody expertise with Swan’s expertise in integration and fraud prevention. The partnership aims to offer Bitcoin custody without exposure to other digital assets. The initiative awaits regulatory approval.
Fintech Ripple Labs, known for its payments protocol, has expanded its liquidity hub to include Brazil and Australia, while adding new features to the platform. Started in the US, this hub serves as a bridge between digital and fiat assets, helping financial companies with cryptocurrency trading. It offers assets such as BTC (COIN:IOTAUSD), ETH (COIN:IOTAUSD), and USDC (COIN:IOTAUSD), but currently excludes XRP (COIN:IOTAUSD) due to legal concerns. This service centralizes liquidity across multiple platforms, eliminating the need to pre-fund positions. New design and service agreements have also been implemented to enhance the customer experience.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (COIN:IOTAUSD) has advanced the implementation of its A$DC stablecoin, after conducting a successful test transaction using Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol. Nigel Dobson, ANZ Banking Portfolio Leader, highlighted that this was a significant milestone. He mentioned that the bank is investigating decentralized networks and sees great value in tokenizing assets such as the Australian dollar: “ Tokenized assets are already changing the way banks work, and the technology has the potential to do more – if the pieces certain ones can be united ”. ANZ launched the first A$DC stablecoin in 2022, a pioneer among Australian banks.
Crypto project IOTA, once one of the most prominent during the 2017 bull market, is gearing up for a reinvigorated rise. With the launch of the IOTA 2.0 network looking ahead, the team is focused on introducing smart contracts, exploring layer 2 blockchains and promoting DeFi applications. The project also plans to create an ecosystem fund, incentivized by the release of new MIOTA (COIN:IOTAUSD) tokens. With the arrival of the Stardust hard fork in October, a growing demand for MIOTA is expected, due to its integration into systems like Mana. This revitalization aims to recapture IOTA’s relevance in the cryptocurrency market.
EigenLabs, creator of the EigenLayer protocol, is preparing the launch of EigenDA, a solution aimed at reducing data storage costs in Layer 2 Ethereum rollups, scheduled for 2023. This service has attracted attention from projects such as Celo and Mantle, which consider its integration. EigenDA, being the first service actively validated on EigenLayer, uses a re-staking system, obtaining authentication from EigenLayer. This mechanism aims to distribute data between nodes, optimizing storage. The initiative responds to data availability challenges, seeking to reduce costs and improve scalability of decentralized applications, while similar solutions are developed, such as Ethereum’s EIP 4844.
As the search for blockchain scalability solutions persists, Quai stands out as the first protocol that is simultaneously decentralized, anti-censorship and highly scalable. This network works through multiple interconnected blockchains, relying on a new consensus mechanism called “proof of minimum entropy (PoEM)”. Solar Dex, initially a US decentralized exchange on Solana, now has plans to adopt Quai as one of its main DEXs, adapting to changes in the DeFi landscape and aiming to capitalize on Quai’s efficiency. Collaborations are ongoing, with new features and user incentives expected in the near future.
Nil Foundation and Taceo are jointly developing software aimed at validating machine learning (ML) models on the Ethereum blockchain using zero-knowledge techniques. The main purpose of the partnership is to ensure that ML models can be authenticated on Ethereum, thus allowing ML operations to be incorporated into smart contracts without relying on intermediaries. Nil Foundation’s zkLLVM technology, which enables this validation, will be central to the project.
Johnny Ng, representative of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, reacted to the comments of Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, inviting him to learn about the city’s reality. According to Ng, Buterin may not be fully informed about the situation in Hong Kong, reinforcing that local policies are stable and enjoy broad social consensus. Buterin, at a recent conference in Singapore, had questioned the durability of Hong Kong’s friendship with crypto projects. Ng emphasized that Hong Kong has legislative autonomy under the “one country, two systems” principle and is open to global crypto companies.
The Japanese government intends to allow startups to raise investments by issuing crypto assets instead of traditional shares, mainly for Investment Business Limited Partnerships (LPS). Although Japan has been slow to embrace digital assets, this stance has changed. In August, the Financial Services Agency revised the tax code, proposing tax exemptions for unrealized gains in cryptocurrencies. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed support for the Web3 industry, while Binance, after acquiring Sakura Exchange, resumed operations in Japan in August.
Friend.tech’s main key has appreciated to 40% of the price of the featured NFT collection, Bored Ape Yacht Club. Reaching a value of 8.9 ETH ($14,500), the key has seen an 800% increase since the platform launched in August. Compared to Ethereum and Tron, Friend.tech showed greater gains in a 24-hour period. This social app, which runs on Coinbase’s Layer 2, has seen a resurgence in activity, reaching spikes in trading volume, fees, and total value locked. Friend.tech, which attracts 21,600 daily active users, also received an investment from venture firm Paradigm.
GameOn and renowned Spanish football league LALIGA have teamed up to bring innovative Web3 games to US and Canadian audiences. This collaboration will allow fans to enjoy an immersive football experience, including a collection of playable avatars and multiple game modes. LALIGA will promote games across multiple platforms, while GameOn plans to further expand its partnerships. Fans will also be able to win exclusive prizes, from autographed merchandise to real money.
On September 14, the Remitano exchange suffered an unexpected withdrawal of around US$2.7 million, raising suspicions of a security breach. Cyvers, a blockchain analysis firm, identified unusual movements of Remitano’s hot wallet to an unknown address. Tether quickly intervened by freezing the address in question. However, the following day, another $2.7 million was extracted from Remitano’s Ethereum and TRON wallets. In 2023, there was a growing wave of attacks on crypto exchanges, with the North Korean-linked Lazarus Group being the main suspect. This group is accused of stealing more than US$200 million, with attacks on platforms such as Stake, CoinEx, Alphapo, CoinsPaid and Atomic Wallet.
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