Australia's first FX transaction 🇦🇺, Telegram camera exploit 📷, Axie Infinity on iOS
Australia's first FX transaction 🇦🇺, Telegram camera exploit 📷, Axie Infinity on iOS
Daily Crypto, Blockchain & Web3 Update 2023-05-18
CRYPTOCURRENCY
Tether to buy Bitcoin based on monthly net profits (2 min read)
Tether, the company behind the largest stablecoin Tether, is following in thefootsteps of MicroStrategy to manage its reserves. The stablecoin issuer plans to strengthen its reserves with the help of Bitcoin and move away from United States-based government debts.
In an announcement on May 17, Tether revealed that it plans to invest a portion of its profits into BTC on a monthly basis. The firm said it will “regularly allocate up to 15% of its net realized operating profits towards purchasing Bitcoin.”
Valkyrie Leveraged Bitcoin Futures ETF gets inspiration from TradFi memes (2 min read)
After being initially discussed in 2021, the investment fund is now capitalizing on the meme-worthy ticker for its new leveraged Bitcoin ETF.
In its latest futures-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) filing, Valkyrie Funds utilizes one of the popular memes from the financial Twitter community, known as “fintwit,” to capture attention and interest.
On May 16, the investment firm submitted a new application for a Bitcoin futures-based ETF to be listed on the Nasdaq with the ticker symbol “BTFD.“
China state-owned Greenland to apply for Hong Kong virtual asset trading license (2 min read)
The real estate developer’s fintech unit already has a digital banking license in Singapore; “We are ready to step into Hong Kong,” CEO says.
A Greenland Holdings subsidiary is applying for a virtual asset trading license in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post reported. It is the first state-owned Chinese company to do so.
Virtual asset trading platforms will need a license to operate or market themselves in that region under Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) rules that go into effect June 1.
Lightning Labs launches updated protocol to help solve Bitcoin’s BRC-20 issues (2 min read)
Lightning Labs has unveiled a new solution to the clunky process of minting new assets on the Bitcoin network.
In a May 16 blog post, Lightning Network infrastructure firm Lighting Labs criticized the current methods by which assets are inscribed on the Bitcoin blockchain, calling them “particularly inefficient” and pointed to cumbersome protocols that write asset metadata “directly into block space.”
BLOCKCHAIN
Australia marks first FX transaction using a CBDC as eAUD pilot continues (2 min read)
Australia has successfully made its first foreign exchange transaction using eAUD as part of a live pilot for the country’s potential central bank digital currency.
It comes amid a rising interest from countries around the world to learn about or launch central bank-issued digital currencies.
Blockchain infrastructure provider Canvas said that on May 17, crypto fund managers DigitalX and TAF Capital traded eAUD against the stablecoin USD Coin. Canvas reported the transaction was settled instantly and touted it as a success over what it called the “slow, expensive and prone to errors” traditional FX and remittance networks.
Telegram addresses camera exploit, points to Apple macOS security permissions (2 min read)
Messaging application Telegram has played down the severity of a discovered exploit that allowed researchers to gain access to camera systems of Apple macOS devices.
Software engineer Dan Revah flagged the exploit in a blog post on May 15, outlining the method allowing him to gain local privilege escalation to access a macOS user’s camera through permissions previously granted to an installed Telegram application.
By injecting a dynamic library into a user’s system, the exploit would allow recording from the device’s camera and the ability to save the file.
Bitcoin self-custody advocate explains why on-ramps are key to adoption (3 min read)
Cypherpunk Jameson Lopp highlights the need for easier-to-use, improved self-custody solutions and more on-ramp avenues to drive Bitcoin adoption.
Software developer Jameson Lopp believes improving usability and the user experience of Bitcoin self-custody solutions and making more avenues to acquire BTC will be key in the further adoption of the preeminent cryptocurrency.
BUSINESS
FTX leadership sues Sam Bankman-Fried over $220M deal made prior to bankruptcy (2 min read)
When FTX tried to sell the platform after filing for bankruptcy, the top bid was for just $1 million, representing a 99.5% decline in value.
FTX lawyers are suing former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder Zixiao Wang, and former senior executive Nishad Singh over the $220 million acquisition of stock-clearing platform Embed, alleging lack of due diligence.
According to a May 17 filing, FTX had paid $220 million to acquire Embed through its United States subsidiary after having allegedly “performed almost no due diligence” on the platform.
Binance Australia suspends AUD fiat services, citing issues with third party (2 min read)
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance Australia has informed users it has suspended Australian dollar services after its local payment services provider Zepto seemingly stopped support for the exchange.
On May 18, Binance Australia tweeted that Australian dollar PayID deposits were suspended and bank transfer withdrawals would also be impacted “due to a decision made by our third-party payment service provider."
GAMING
Apple Allows Axie Infinity Crypto Game on the App Store (3 minute read)
The game developer Sky Mavis has released a new version of Axie Infinity named 'Axie Infinity: Origins'. It's now possible to download this game on the App Store in some Latin American and Southeast Asian countries.
The fact that Apple approved this even in some jurisdictions marks a significant step towards wider adoption of web3 gaming. Apple's policy on in-app NFT purchases remains a challenge, so this version of the game equips users with non-NFT starter characters. Axie Infinity gained fame during the pandemic, amassing over 1.5 million downloads and becoming the first widely adopted web3 game in the world. The game faced a setback in 2022, however, when North Korean hackers stole over half a billion dollars from the platform. This, along with a brutal bear market, has resulted in a significant dropoff in users and activity since.
Quick Links
LayerZero partners with Immunefi to launch $15M bug bounty (2 min read)
The program offers a maximum reward of $15 million for anyone who identifies vulnerabilities classified as high severity.
Anchorage Digital opens up DeFi voting for custody clients (3 min read)
Anchorage joins AAVE, Lido and BitDAO in adopting the off-chain voting platform Snapshot.
Ripple to demonstrate tokenization in HKMA e-HKD pilot program using new CBDC platform (2 min read)
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is looking at retail CBDC use cases, such as the equity release of tokenized real estate assets with Ripple’s new CBDC product.
Australian ‘Big 4’ bank begins trial for cryptocurrency payment blocks (2 min read)
One of Australia’s Big Four banks announced efforts to combat crypto fraud activities aimed at reducing losses from scams.
Uniswap will deploy on Polkadot parachain Moonbeam (3 min read)
The decentralized exchange gets a Polkadot version via the Moonbeam network.
Grayscale and Bitwise distance themselves from Ether futures ETF plans (2 min read)
Grayscale has stopped its ETH futures ETF plans after a warning from the SEC, while Bitwise amended its SEC filing to halt any launch of Ether ETF products.
Pakistani finance minister says crypto will never be legal because of FATF (3 min read)
Pakistan was taken off the FATF gray list in October, and it has good reasons to want to stay in international good graces.