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Happy Friday everyone! Let's dive into today's edition of Cryptonews Crunch, featuring an important announcement about Ethereum's highly anticipated Merge from PoW to PoS, Latin American e-commerce giant Mercado Libre rolls out their new cryptoasset, and a Russian medical specialist was charged for running an illegal mining setup in a hospital.
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Source: CoinMarketCap.com
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- Ethereum developers firmed up September 15 as the date when the highly anticipated Merge is estimated to happen, while Aave seeks to "strongly signal" its support for the PoS chain instead of PoW. Meanwhile, crypto hedge fund manager Hal Press says the Merge is not yet priced in by the market, suggesting higher prices should be expected as the event nears.
- The Latin American e-commerce heavyweight Mercado Libre has rolled out its own cryptoasset – named Mercado Coin – in Brazil. It is an ECR20 token, built on the Ethereum blockchain. Initially, the firm appears keen to use Mercado Coin as a loyalty bonus, but the company intends to treat the coin as a fully-fledged cryptoasset, and will list it as a tradeable token on Mercado Pago. Per Bloomberg Línea and Reuters, the coin will be initially valued at USD 0.10, but will be “open to market fluctuation.”
- A Russian medical specialist could face up to two years behind bars after authorities caught him allegedly running an illegal mining setup in a facility designed to treat coronavirus patients. RBC reported that the man began mining unspecified tokens in February 2021 and managed to connect his own mining rigs to the hospital’s server. After the need for ventilators and other such equipment slowly began to subside in the city, the room used appears to have laid vacant – and the specialist appears to have taken full advantage. Investigators claimed to have found that the specialist had been “illegally using” the hospital’s electricity “for about a year,” and claimed that he had “caused material damages” to the tune of around USD 6,800.
- South Korean prosecutors are reportedly set to investigate the company behind an Ethereum-based altcoin named Kok Play (the brainchild of Kok Foundation) over allegations of fraud. Investors have made allegations about the way tokens are “mined” and “staked” on its platform. The project also operates a “tiered membership” system whereby users who refer additional members can allegedly receive higher rewards. Lawyers wrote that “due to the nature of” the Kok token’s “Ponzi”-like structure, the possible “damages” to investors could “be enormous.” They added that Kok platform users are warned that if they withdraw their funds, they will not be allowed to return – a fact that makes many “hesitate” about making withdrawals. Investors must also pay “cancellation fees” in certain cases, and investors must pay heavy penalties if they attempt to withdraw funds within a month of making their investments.
- ZDNet Korea reported that the regulatory Financial Supervisory Service has indicated that a new Digital Assets Framework Act (literal translation) will deal with matters pertaining to “non-security tokens,” while cryptoassets that are classified as securities will be subject to regulation under the terms of the existing Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act.
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- In an update on its bankruptcy case, Singapore-based crypto lender Hodlnaut said it is facing “pending proceedings” with the Singapore Attorney-General and the Singapore Police Force. Furthermore, the company said it laid off 80% of its employees, or "approximately 40 employees", "in order to reduce the company’s expenditure."
- The US Trustee is seeking to appoint an examiner in the case of Celsius' bankruptcy, MarketWatch reported, claiming Celsius repeatedly failed to provide a detailed breakdown of its mining operations. They said an examiner needs to look into the role Celsius’ management may have played in the platform’s illiquidity. The move was met with concerns by the Committee of Unsecured Creditors, arguing that the move will only rake up costs, without providing any meaningful benefit.
- The Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele said in a speech that Nigeria's central bank digital currency (CBDC), the eNaira, has been used to carry out transactions worth NGN 4bn (USD 9.4m) since its introduction in October 2021, adding that the eNaira app has been downloaded 840,000 times and currently has about 270,000 active wallets.
- Africa has gotten a live metaverse called Ubuntuland, with a 3D Virtual Reality (VR) experience in it, Africarare, said a press release shared with Cryptonews.com. Africarare has secured a 12x12 village (144 plots of virtual real estate) to establish its visibility, together with the Austrian World Data Lab, which acquired a 6x6 village. WDL said it will use this virtual real-estate to “help improve quality of life for Africans and raise awareness of key-impact topics.”
- The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) said in its new guidelines that banks in the country "may act as a conduit for funds" tied to crypto service providers and "may play a role in customers wishing to purchase" or "receive payouts in fiat currency" in their bank accounts for the sale of crypto.
- The Central Bank of the Philippines published a warning note, “strongly urging” the country's citizens not to deal with Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) that are either unregistered or domiciled abroad. There are 19 registered VASPs.
- Digivault, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)-registered crypto custodian that is a part of the EQONEX Group, has added support for Binance's BNB Chain, enabling clients to now hold assets running on BNB Chain, including BNB, BUSD, & BEP20 tokens, in their Digivault accounts.
- Singapore-based crypto exchange BHEX.SG announced that it has received the Standard Payment Institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
- One of Japan’s biggest financial services providers, SBI Holdings, said it’s shutting down its mining operations in Siberia, as the war in Ukraine is creating overall uncertainty in the market. As per a Bloomberg report, the move ties back to the sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of its western neighbor, Ukraine.
- Fintech firm Ripple has partnered with the local bank Travelex to bring its RippleNet On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) product to Brazil. This makes Travelex the first bank in Latin America to utilize Ripple’s ODL, and it is also the first bank registered and approved to operate exclusively in foreign exchange, said the press release.
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