Blockchain News (Twitter hack, Chainlink and US regulation on crypto custody)

Weekly blockchain and DLT news with comments from Dappros Founder & CEO (marked as “TF”)

Was the Twitter Hack?
Was the Twitter Hack a win for Bitcoin? Check out How the assault occurred and analyze its effect.

TF: Definitely a lose for Twitter and other platforms affected, but arguably confirms bitcoin and crypto becoming a de facto standard for transactions in the digital world.

:::::Bitcoins:::::
McAfee says he never trusted Bitcoin would hit $1M and portrays it as a worthless coin.

Bank of Japan announced a new group to proceed with research on CBDC however has no plans to launch it now.

Whale Alert identifies 1.125 Million BTC, now worth an estimated $10.9 billion, as Satoshi’s Stash.

Bitcoin Suisse has raised more than CHF 45 million in its first-ever funding round. The Series A was for 16.4% of total equity and finished in four months.

Carry Minati, a popular Indian Youtube Channel with over 6M subscribers, hacked to promote Bitcoin giveaway scam.

ESPN announces a blockchain-powered gaming platform that allows Bitcoin deposits and withdrawals.

TF: Interesting development. Stay tuned for updates on an upcoming cybersports and digital assets related project from Dappros and partners!

Bitcoin has surpassed $10,000 price point, meaning it could be out of the weeds left by the pandemic.

:::::Blockchain / Decentralization:::::
Deutsche Telekom’s T-Systems is now a Chainlink Node Operator. T-Systems MMS provides real-world data to the Chainlink network and engages in generalized mining.

The People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, has issued evaluation rules for blockchain-based financial applications.

TF: Any transparent and clear roadmaps towards compliance are a welcome development.

Ant Group, the fintech arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and the parent of mobile payments company Alipay, has launched its new blockchain brand – ‘AntChain’.

Binance plans to use a bridge between the Syscoin and Ethereum blockchains to move its Binance USD stablecoin between them.

:::::Cryptos Currencies / assets:::::
Crypto entrepreneur Balaji S. Srinivasan says users should begin exiting Twitter. His proposal followed last week’s Twitter hack.

Binance ships out crypto debit cards but for now in limited quantities only.

New York Citizen, 27, was arrested and charged with defrauding investors of $4.5 million in crypto-assets.

Bitmain power struggle between the firm’s co-founders has now divided the company into two separate operations and supply chains for the production of its Antminer hardware.

Mastercard strikes a deal with London-based crypto platform Wirex, enabling Wirex to issue cards on Mastercard’s network.

Singapore regulator proposes new stricter rules for the crypto sector. The regulator currently supervises crypto firms that are located in and do business in Singapore. The new act, if passed, would also regulate Singapore crypto firms that do business overseas.

BitMEX owner leads $3.4M round for the South African Crypto Exchange.

US regulator allows banks to offer crypto custody services. Any national bank can hold onto the unique cryptographic keys for a crypto wallet, clearing the way for national banks to hold digital assets for their clients.

Russia legalizes cryptocurrencies terming them property. The new law will come into effect on January 1, 2021.  

Philippines now has 16 cryptocurrency exchanges approved by the central bank – Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Malaysia’s Securities Commission is planning a regulatory framework for wallet providers that will be built into its existing cryptocurrency legislation. Find out more about Crypto Wallets at Dappros website. 

Gemini exchange partners with Unstoppable Domains to provide custody for Crypto Domains.

Liquid, leading Japanese crypto exchange, recently unveiled a mass asset removal from its platform, which COO Seth Melamed claimed necessary for legal compliance.

:::::Digital Currency:::::
The Bank of Jamaica invites tech companies to test digital currency solutions.

:::::Others:::::
Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, denies having a beer with Satoshi Nakamoto.

The Polkadot blockchain is now fully decentralized and permissionless after a decision passed by community governance removed the admin rights enjoyed by the Web3 Foundation.

Gravity, a renowned platform designing gateways and cross-chain applications at enterprise-grade, has collaborated with Band Protocol network to curate an integrated ecosystem combining the existing blockchains and decentralized solutions. 

TikTok is launching the $200M TikTok Creator Fund to support selected content creators. To get a reward, creators and their content should meet some requirements.

Binance teams up with German financial firm CM-Equity to expand in Europe.

BTC.top, a major Chinese mining pool, launches Joint Mining Platform, pitching it as a cloud mining killer.

Gold has surpassed $1,900 for the first time in a decade and is now pretty much at an all-time high.

DeFi is continuing to grow at a rapid pace. The total value locked in the industry has just hit $4 billion.

:::::::Trading::::::
Canadian Regulator accuses Coinsquare of wash trading millions of dollars.

Binance has announced that it will be launching the ChainLink quarterly futures contract. The trading of the contract was supposed to commence from July 22nd, at 7 am UTC. Traders can use a maximum of 75x leverage.

South Korean government has finalized a new 20% tax rate for income generated from crypto trading following a Tax Development Review Committee meeting on July 22.

Coinbase clients grow to 35 million, the company plans to expand trading capabilities.