Coinbase meet US lawmakers 🤝, Use dollar support Bitcoin 💰, First fully-licensed crypto provider 💯
Daily Crypto, Blockchain & Web3 Update 2023-07-19
CRYPTOCURRENCY
Bitcoin miners hedging with recent sell-offs: Bitfinex report (3 min read)
All-time high hash rates and mining difficulty indicate that miners are bullish on Bitcoin, while recent sell-offs could be a means to hedge positions.
Bitcoin mining companies are employing derisking strategies by offloading BTC to exchanges, according to a market report from Bitfinex.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vows to back US dollar with Bitcoin if elected president (2 min read)
Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has promised to progressively replace the United States dollar with Bitcoin if he is elected president.
RFK Jr. says he would use Bitcoin to stabilize the U.S. dollar as well as make Bitcoin profits exempt from capital gains tax.
Altcoins ‘bled’ as Bitcoin gained dominance in Q2: CoinGecko (2 min read)
Exchange, DeFi, and metaverse tokens were hit hard in the second quarter of 2023, while Bitcoin continued to make gains.
The second quarter of the year has been a solid one for Bitcoin’s performance as its market dominance gained against altcoins, which “bled” throughout the quarter, according to CoinGecko.
Centralized exchanges will become gateways for DeFi — dYdX Foundation CEO (3 min read)
CEO Charles d’Haussy doesn’t view centralized exchanges as competitors for dYdX.
The dYdX Foundation, an independent decentralized finance (DeFi) nonprofit founded to support the dYdX protocol, recently launched a public testnet for its latest version, v4. According to the foundation, this puts dYdX ahead of schedule for the impending launch of the v4 mainnet, something the foundation claims represents complete decentralization for dYdX.
BUSINESS
Manta Network developer raises $25M in Series A, launches layer 2 for ZK apps (3 min read)
The funds will be utilized to expand the network, attract more users, and explore diverse use cases for Manta Pacific.
P0x Labs, the cryptographic development team behind Manta Network, has announced that it raised $25 million in a Series A funding round, with leading contributions from Polychain Capital and Qiming Venture Partners. The funding gives the company a $500 million valuation.
Dormant pre-mined Ethereum worth $116M resurrects after 8 years (3 min read)
During the pre-mine period, the 61,216 Ether was worth roughly $20 million, but eight years later, it’s worth more than $116 million.
A wallet address containing pre-mined Ethereum worth $116 million moved its entire stash of 61,216 Ether to an address on the Kraken crypto exchange after being dormant for eight years.
Polychain Capital, Coinfund raise $350M for new crypto funds: Report (2 min read)
Polychain Capital raised $200M for its newest fund, while Coinfund raised a better-than-expected $152 million.
Over $350 million has been raised by crypto venture capital firms Polychain Capital and Coinfund, with respective reported raises of $200 million for a new investment fund and $152 million for a seed fund.
Société Générale subsidiary becomes the first fully-licensed crypto provider in France (2 min read)
Forge will have a right to custody of digital assets, to purchase and sell them for legal tender, and to trade them against each other.
Forge, a subsidiary of Société Générale, the third-largest bank in France, became the first company to obtain the highest access license for providing crypto services in the country, a prerequisite for numerous service activities (PSAN).
QUICK LINKS
Coinbase CEO will meet with US lawmakers to discuss crypto legislation: Report (2 min read)
The crypto exchange is currently involved in a legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over allegedly offering unregistered securities.
Brian Armstrong, the CEO of the United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, is reportedly planning to meet with members of Congress to discuss digital asset legislation and related issues.
Hong Kong would not go crypto without China’s approval — Animoca exec (3 min read)
China looks at Web3 as a powerful tool to challenge the United States’ technological and economic hegemony, the Animoca co-founder said.
Hong Kong’s rapid adoption of cryptocurrencies and Web3 is a sign of some “big moves” happening in mainland China, a co-founder of the local game software firm Animoca believes.
South Korean Shinhan Bank completes stablecoin remittance pilot with Asian partners (2 min read)
The bank used the Hedera network to settle payments in South Korean, Thai, and Taiwanese currencies in real-time in its second stablecoin pilot project.
South Korea’s Shinhan Bank has completed its second proof-of-concept using stablecoins for international remittances. Siam Commercial Bank’s SCB TechX unit and an unnamed Taiwanese financial institution also participated in the project.
Nasdaq halts launch of cryptocurrency custody service (1 min read)
Nasdaq said it remains committed to the development of the digital asset business and will be monitoring market events in the near future.
Nasdaq has suspended the launch of its digital asset custody business because of regulatory risks in the United States, CEO Adena Friedman announced during the Q2 results call.
AI optimizing crypto exchange functions - Bitget exec (3 min read)
Artificial intelligence tools are providing solutions to various functions and departments within major cryptocurrency exchanges.
Cryptocurrency exchanges are finding novel ways to improve internal departments and functions using artificial intelligence, according to Bitget managing director Gracy Chen.
Australia’s financial regulator cancels license for FTX’s local entity (2 min read)
ASIC had previously suspended FTX’s license to operate in Australia; now the securities regulator has canceled it entirely. The Australian financial services regulator has finally canceled the financial license of FTX Australia, the bankrupt crypto exchange’s local subsidiary.
Meta and Microsoft launch open-source AI model Llama 2 (3 min read)
Llama 2 is trained on 40% more public data and can process twice as much context as Llama 1, according to Meta.
Big Tech firms Meta and Microsoft have teamed up to launch Llama 2, an open-source large language model from Meta that will feature on Microsoft’s Windows and cloud computing platform Azure.