Happy Canada Day to the folks up north! Here's your Friday edition of Cryptonews Crunch, featuring the latest stories on how Meta launched NFT support on Facebook, FTX and Ledn bid to acquire BlockFi, and a recap of last month's coin race.
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Source: CoinMarketCap.com
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- Rebecca Rettig, the general counsel for DeFi platform Aave (AAVE) and a board director at the crypto-friendly Silvergate Bank, applauded the effort to “provide clarity in the crypto space” after the EU reached an agreement on cryptoasset regulation that sets out strict rules for all actors in the crypto market. She went on to say that given how DeFi will be on the EU’s radar next, the DeFi sector now needs to make sure policymakers understand the technology and the fact that DeFi “must be regulated differently” than centralized crypto actors.
- In June, falling prices hit Ethereum (ETH) particularly hard, as it lost almost half of its value in that month alone. However, Bitcoin (BTC) did not fare much better, dropping by close to 40% – its worst month on record. Click/tap here to check out the monthly coin race.
- The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is intensifying its pressure on virtual asset service providers (VASPs) and countries to accelerate the implementation of its rules on digital assets, as only a quarter of responding jurisdictions are currently making efforts to pass legislation to implement the organization’s key requirement.
- Meta has launched digital collectibles support on Facebook with select creators and only in the USA and has already begun a slow rollout, TechChrunch reported, citing a company spokesperson. There will reportedly be a new tab on users’ profiles, under “digital collectibles.” The spokesperson said that the sharing feature across Facebook and Instagram has not yet been launched, but that it is “coming soon.” Furthermore, the selected creators will be able to connect their crypto wallets to Facebook profiles, and turn their NFTs into posts to share on their wall or elsewhere like they would any other post.
- According to CNBC, FTX is close to finalizing a term sheet to buy BlockFi for USD 25m and a deal is expected to be signed by the end of this week. In March, the lender was valued at USD 3bn. However, Zac Prince, CEO of BlockFi, said that they "aren’t being sold for USD 25m." Meanwhile, per Bloomberg, Ledn would lead a funding round of up to USD 400m and provide a USD 50m equity contribution that would give Ledn a "significant portion of the company." Other investors would include ParaFi Capital, per the report.
- El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has announced that the country has bought the latest “dip” – splashing out on BTC 80 (USD 1.5m) at a price of USD 19,000 per bitcoin. It appears that Bukele has authorized the purchase of some BTC 2,381 to date, spending almost USD 105 million in the process.
- Zhu Su, the co-founder and CEO of Three Arrows Capital, is reportedly seeking to offload at least one of his so-called good-class bungalows in the past couple of weeks, Bloomberg reported. The house was originally purchased by Zhu and his wife late last year for SGD 48.8m (USD 35m) via a trust fund in the name of one of his children, multiple media sources have reported.
- Pure DeFi protocols have fared far better than the more centralized crypto lending and borrowing companies during this bear market. This proves that computer code and transparent standards give “a better outcome,” former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes wrote. Going into detail on the collapse of crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), as well as the issues faced by centralized lenders like Celsius (CEL), BlockFi, Babel Finance, and Voyager, Hayes argued that real DeFi platforms have escaped the market turmoil relatively unscathed.
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- Celsius Network (CEL) will “continue to take important steps” to preserve and protect assets and explore options, which include pursuing strategic transactions as well as a restructuring of liabilities, among other avenues.
- Simon Dixon, the founder of the online investment platform BnkToTheFuture, said that Celsius has reached out to him and that he is considering the best way to help. They are offering three proposals for their community, leaving them to decide on the path that the platform will take.
- VanEck filed a new application for a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), called the VanEck Bitcoin Trust, with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
- Tether (USDT) announced that it reduced its commercial paper portfolio by around 58%. It currently has USD 8.4bn of these holdings, of which USD 5bn will expire on July 31, with the goal being to bring that number to zero, said the company.
- Crypto platform Blockchain.com and crypto derivatives exchange Deribit, creditors of Three Arrows Capital (3AC), are cooperating with ongoing investigations into the troubled crypto hedge fund, per Bloomberg. Per a spokesperson at Blockchain.com, 3AC "defrauded the crypto industry" and the company has filed for the immediate liquidation of all global assets of 3AC as they intend "to hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law."
- The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charged Cornelius Johannes Steynberg and the company Mirror Trading International (MTI) with fraud and registration violations for creating and running a global foreign currency commodity pool, valued at over USD 1.7bn, that only accepted bitcoin to purchase participation.
- New York, USA, officials denied required air permit renewals to the Greenidge Generation power plant on the grounds that its bitcoin mining operations were a threat to the state’s climate goals, per the Associated Press. The company said it would continue operating under its current permit while it challenged the decision, it added.
- The Ethereum (ETH) core developers launched the Gray Glacier upgrade, once again pushing the Ice Age/Difficulty Bomb roughly 100 days, with no other changes implemented.
- DappRadar announced a cross-chain token staking mechanism for their native token RADAR, allowing users to claim their staking rewards on any blockchain.
- Coinbase denied reports that it is selling a suite of features, used to track and identify crypto users, to the US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. They stated that their Coinbase Tracer tools are designed to support compliance and help investigate financial crimes like money laundering and terrorist financing, sourcing their information from public sources, and that they do not make use of Coinbase user data.
- CoinFLEX is in talks with investors over a token sale for its Recovery Value USD token (rvUSD) and that commitments are growing, but withdrawals will remain suspended until the token sale is fully committed.
- Euro area annual inflation is expected to be 8.6% in June 2022, up from 8.1% in May, according to a flash estimate from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. A more precise number for the month is scheduled to be released on July 19.
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