The American state of Mississippi is one step closer to protecting the rights of cryptocurrency miners after the state senate passed the Mississippi Digital Asset Mining Act on Feb. 8. There is a companion bill under consideration in the state house of representatives. The senate bill, authored by state Sen. Josh Harkins, legalizes home digital asset mining and the operation…
A crypto exchange project initially proposed by 3AC and Coinflex has now launched an official website and waitlist as of Feb. 9. Called “Open Exchange (OPNX)”, the new project alleges that it will be “the world’s first public marketplace for crypto claims trading and derivatives,” according to a tweet from the project’s official Twitter account. 1/ Introducing Open Exchange. Open…
Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industry’s most important developments. China airdrops 180 million digital yuan to celebrate Lunar New Year According to state-owned media Global Times, Chinese cities airdropped a total of 180 million digital yuan (e-CNY) worth $26.6 million to boost consumption during the Lunar New Year celebrations between Jan. 22 and Feb. 5.…
Kraken, a U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, has agreed to wind down its cryptocurrency staking program as part of an arrangement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to settle for the unregistered offer of its staking services. The exchange will also pay $30 million in disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties, as indicated by the regulator. Kraken To Pay $30…
According to data from DefiLlama, Ethereum staking service Rocket Pool reached $1 billion in total value locked (TVL) on Feb. 9. The move comes less than two years after the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol launched its mainnet on Nov. 9, 2021. Dubbed a liquid staking solution for Ethereum, Rocket Pool allows users to join an Ethereum decentralized node operator or…
A survey of 81 nonfungible token (NFT) collections on the Ethereum blockchain showed a sharp overall loss in market capitalization in 2022, according to a report from DappRadar released Feb. 9. Losses were not even distributed, however. The Ethereum NFT market was worth $9.3 billion at the beginning of 2022, according to DappRadar’s valuation, and that figure dropped to $3.7…
Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has reached an agreement with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to stop offering staking services or programs. In a Feb. 9 announcement, the SEC said it had charged Kraken with “failing to register the offer and sale of their crypto asset staking-as-a-service program,” which the commission claims qualified as securities under its purview. The crypto…
Former Coinbase employee Ishan Wahi pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud Tuesday in connection to an insider-trading scheme at the exchange. But while the Department of Justice got its desired verdict, Wahi still faces charges brought against him by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). And its potential consequences extend far beyond just him. The…
While Su Zhu, a co-founder of bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), announced Thursday that a waitlist is live for Open Exchange (OPNX), the new exchange may not be as open as its name implies. The newly announced venture caters to those who’d like to trade bankruptcy claims—in cases from FTX to Blockfi—but stipulates on its homepage that…
According to Lynette Zang, chief market analyst at ITM Trading, U.S. banks have the legal authority to confiscate people’s funds due to legislation passed by Congress. In a recent interview, Zang discussed how the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar has dwindled to “roughly three cents,” her belief that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) will reinforce a “surveillance economy,” and…
