Star Trek NFT trademarks 🚀, Russia to test CBDC 🏦, France revamps crypto licensing rules 🧩
Daily Crypto, Blockchain & Web3 Update 2023-08-10
CRYPTOCURRENCY
US bank reveals $166M in crypto holdings: Q2 earnings report (2 min read)
The San Fransico-based SoFi bank holds almost $170 million in crypto on its balance sheet, according to its second quarter (Q2) earnings report. The United States bank, which serves over six million customers, has seen a significant increase in its crypto holdings compared with the previous quarter.
BNB Chain hard fork to improve security and compatibility with EVM chains (3 min read)
Binance’s BNB Chain is set to undergo two hard forks in August 2023 to reduce the possibility of a malicious blockchain reorganization and increase compatibility with other Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) blockchain networks.
Only 6 out of 45 crypto wallet brands have undergone penetration testing: Report (3 min read)
A July report from cybersecurity certification platform CER found that only six of 45 cryptocurrency wallet brands, or 13.3%, have undergone penetration testing to find security vulnerabilities. Of these, only half have performed tests on the latest versions of their products.
India plans to use crypto tokens in upcoming native web browser (2 min read)
Indian citizens might soon have the option to sign documents digitally through crypto tokens. The feature is envisaged as part of a project to develop a national web browser spearheaded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Russia to begin CBDC trials with 13 banks (3 min read)
The Bank of Russia (BoR) has revealed that it will begin testing operations for Russia’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) project with digital rubles. The test will begin on Aug. 15.
A statement released by the Bank of Russia indicates that the pilot tests will involve the participation of 13 banks and a restricted group of their clients.
BUSINESS
Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms trims Q2 loss to $27.7M (2 min read)
Riot Platforms, a Bitcoin mining company based in Colorado, reduced its net loss to $27.7 million in the second quarter. This was achieved by increasing Bitcoin production and achieving a record hash rate capacity.
NFT project y00ts to return $3M grant as it ditches Polygon for Ethereum (3 min read)
Non-fungible token project y00ts is again switching blockchain networks, only four months after bridging the majority of its NFTs from Solana to Polygon.
DeLabs, the NFT firm behind y00ts, announced via its X (Twitter) account on Aug. 9 it will soon be migrating to Ethereum in line with its DeGods NFT collection.
Aptos token rises 11.6% after Microsoft deal to marry AI with blockchain (3 min read)
Aptos, the cryptocurrency powering layer-1 blockchain Aptos Network, is up approximately 11.6% since announcing it will leverage Microsoft’s suite of artificial intelligence tools to advance Web3 adoption among banks and financial enterprises.
Bitdeer, B. Riley Financial enter into agreement for $150M share purchase (3 min read)
Bitdeer, a crypto mining firm spun off from mining manufacturer Bitmain, has entered into an agreement with the financial services firm B. Riley Financial to sell up to $150 million of its Class A ordinary shares.
QUICK LINKS
CipherTrace expert says Chainalysis data contributed to ‘wrongful arrest’ of alleged Bitcoin Fog founder (3 min read)
Jonelle Still, the director of investigations and intelligence at CipherTrace, a Mastercard company, recently submitted a report supporting the defense in United States v. Roman Sterlingov, a criminal case involving the Bitcoin Fog cryptocurrency mixing service.
BlackRock insiders say Bitcoin ETF is likely 6 months away: Novogratz (3 min read)
According to sources at BlackRock and Invesco, the United States may approve its first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) before February.
Nigeria to issue verifiable blockchain certificates for NYSC (3 min read)
Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director-general of NITDA, says blockchain technology will be used for generating and verifying NYSC certificates in Nigeria.
Fireblocks discloses massive vulnerability affecting crypto wallets (3 min read)
Over 15 widely-used crypto wallet providers and projects have gaping vulnerabilities that could potentially see millions of crypto wallets drained, according to digital asset infrastructure firm Fireblocks.
Base network has officially launched: Here’s how it can be used (5 min read)
Coinbase’s Base network has officially launched after spending a few weeks in an “open for builders only” phase. The network is now ready to onboard users, according to an Aug. 9 announcement from the team.
Apple’s 30% tax rules will stay for now, crypto and NFTs may have to wait (3 min read)
Crypto app developers hoping for a loosening of Apple’s App Store rules will have to wait longer after a United States Supreme Court held off on granting a request to let apps direct users to payments outside of Apple’s ecosystem.
France updates its crypto licensing regime to synchronize with MiCA (2 min read)
In France, amendments to the existing crypto regime will come into effect next year to align national regulations with the pan-European framework set by Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA).
Star Trek trademarks for NFTs: The final frontier (2 min read)
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has accepted CBS Studios’ application for the Star Trek name to be used in nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocollectibles connected to its Continuum series.
India proposes AI-powered conversational payments system — RBI (3 min read)
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country’s central bank, has published a press release that floated the idea of using artificial intelligence (AI) on conversational payments in the unified payments interface (UPI), which is an instant payment system developed in India.