Mic Drop
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Michael Hsu, acting chief of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), states that companies which issue stablecoins should come up with a common technical standard, comparable to what was done in the early days of the internet. He believes that stablecoins currently lack inter-operability and need shared standards.
Hsu at a symposium in Washington, D.C stated,
“To ensure that stablecoins are open and inclusive, I believe a standard-setting initiative similar to that undertaken by [the Internet Engineering Task Force] and [World Wide Web Consortium] needs to be established, with representatives, not just from crypto/Web 3 firms but also including academics and government,”
As a part of such an initiative, he stated that the OCC is willing to work with other government offices such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology on the matter.
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In a leaked video from Zcash Media, Edward Snowden, the famed NSA whistle-blower on government surveillance, revealed his core involvement in the launch of the privacy coin Zcash.
Snowden, under the pseudonymous John Dobbertin, joined Zcash creator Zooko Wilcox, Bitcoin core developer Peter Todd, Coin Center's Peter Van Valkenburgh and two others in launching the Zcash blockchain in 2016.
The six participants were each given a fragment of the private key needed to produce the coin in a procedure known as "trusted setup." After the launch of the blockchain, each of them destroyed their fragment of the private key in order to secure Zcash from being counterfeited in the event of a wallet breach.
Zcash is a decentralised blockchain that conducts transactions using zero-knowledge proofs. Unlike the comparatively transparent Bitcoin, ZEC transactions cannot be tracked and the amounts sent cannot be established (BTC).
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On Wednesday, Meta Platforms Inc., formerly known as Facebook, announced its first-quarter 2022 results, declaring a $2.9 billion loss in its Reality Labs division (formerly Facebook’s Oculus division). That's a 61% increase over its $1.8 billion loss in the first quarter of 2021.
The Reality Labs division has been spending increasing sums of capital on developing virtual reality and metaverse-related products. Nonetheless, Reality Labs exceeded projections in the first quarter of this year, bringing in $695 million in revenue from sales of VR headsets and Meta Portal hardware.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg remains confident about the company’s direction stating that losses are expected in the division, adding
"I recognise it’s expensive to build this, it’s something that’s never been built before. And it’s a new paradigm for computing and social connection.”
“We expect to be meaningfully better at monetisation than others in the space, and we expect that should become a sustainable advantage for our platforms as they develop.”
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Asset management behemoth BlackRock has launched its new iShares Blockchain and Tech (ILBC) exchange-traded fund (ETF). According to BlackRock, the new product seeks exposure to global companies at the forefront of blockchain and crypto technology development, innovation, and application.
Notably, the ETF will not invest in cryptocurrencies directly but rather into companies involved in the industry. Along with the launch of its ETF, BlackRock produced a paper emphasising what it sees as imminent "permanent" changes to market economies, including the proliferation of blockchain technology.
According to the report, “Digitisation has transformed nearly every facet of consumerism.”
BlackRock’s new ETF comes as Fidelity also races to introduce crypto-focused ETFs. Last week, Fidelity released ETFs for its Fidelity Crypto Industry and Digital Payments Index (FDIG), and its Fidelity Metaverse Index (FMET).
https://www.coinbureau.com/news/worlds-biggest-asset-manager-blackrock-lists-new-blockchain-etf/
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The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has announced a roundtable discussion on May 25 to deliberate on a ‘non-intermediated’ model of crypto derivatives trading. This announcement was sparked by FTX US’s recent proposal to modify its Derivatives Clearing Organisation (DCO) license.
Under the proposed ‘non-intermediated’ model, the current Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) intermediary would be eliminated, which would streamline trading by reducing the number of times assets change hands, each layer of which entails separate requirements for liquidity holding.
According to the CFTC,
“A number of registered entities have discussed with CFTC staff proposals to offer ‘non-intermediated’ or direct trading and clearing of margined products to retail customers.”
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The Central African Republic has become the first country in Africa to adopt Bitcoin as a payment currency. The National Assembly of the Central African Republic unanimously passed the bill,
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Gate Ventures, the venture arm of crypto exchange gate.io is all set to raise $200 million for its crypto fund by the end of Q3 2022. According to Kevin Yang, the managing partner of Gate Ventures, the fund will be focused on identifying and investing in alternative layer 1 and layer 2 protocols.
Specifically, the firm is looking to invest in protocols that focus on cross-chain interoperability. The firm also has its eyes set on the blockchain gaming sector.
According to Kevin Yang,
“We have this vision that it will be a multi-chain and multi-layer future, with an open internet which also respects privacy,”
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/04/29/gate-ventures-on-track-to-close-200m-crypto-fund-by-q3/
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Flipkart, which is backed by Walmart, has announced the launch of its in-house innovation unit called Flipkart Labs. According to a statement by the company, Flipkart Labs will be focused on testing nonfungible tokens (NFTs), virtual immersive storefronts and play-to-earn features.
According to Naren Ravula, VP and Head of product strategy and deployment at Flipkart Labs,
“We are in the early days of a paradigm shift from Web2.0 to Web3.0 and this evolution of the web/internet built on the concepts of decentralisation, openness, and greater user utility will have a profound impact across many areas including e-commerce,"
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The Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA), Belgium's financial regulatory agency, has issued a new rule that requires crypto exchanges and custodial wallet services in the region to register by May 1st.
Existing Service providers have until June to notify the regulator about the “exercise of their activity”, under the law which was finalised in February. Furthermore, these service providers will be required to formally register as Virtual Asset Service Providers before Sept 1st.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/belgian-financial-regulator-fsma-to-regulate-crypto-exchange-services
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According to a recent post by Yuga Labs, the team has decided against going with a Dutch auction mechanism for their upcoming Metaverse land sales. Instead, the auction which is scheduled for 9 pm ET this Saturday will now follow a flat-price sale model.
Each of the land NFTs called ‘Otherdeed’ will now retail for 305 Apecoin (APE). That’s roughly around $6,900 per Otherdeed. A total of 55,000 Otherdeeds will be available for minting from wallets that have passed the KYC verification process.
According to the blog post,
“NFT ‘Dutch auctions’ are actually bull****. They do not successfully mediate demand, nor do they really negate gas wars in highly-anticipated mints.”
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According to recent reports, Binance has recently shut down accounts of many individuals with personal ties to senior Kremlin Officials.
Individuals who have been blocked by Binance include ‘Polina Kovaleva’ who is the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s stepdaughter and ‘Elizaveta Peskova’, who is the daughter of the President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.
The son of Konstantin Malofeev, a Russian oligarch who was indicted by the US Department of Justice for breaking US sanctions, has also been blocked by Binance, as the exchange continues to look for users with ties to sanctioned persons.
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Panama approved a bill regulating the use of cryptocurrencies in the country. The bill sponsored by Panamanian Congressman Gabriel Silva passed on Thursday and seeks to regulate the trading and use of crypto-assets, the issuance of digital value, tokenisation of precious metals and other assets, and payment systems among many others.
While Panama hasn’t formally recognised Bitcoin as legal tender, the new legislation allows for the free use of crypto as means of payment for any transaction. This means that businesses and individuals retain the right to accept or refuse payments in crypto.
The law also formally recognises Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) as legal entities and sets the framework for the country to issue tokenised securities and commodities, like gold and silver, via security token offerings (STOs).
The bill just needs to be signed by the country’s president before it comes into force.
https://decrypt.co/98962/panama-regulate-bitcoin-crypto-daos
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According to a recent tweet by blockchain security firm PeckShield, Deus Finance has suffered a flash loan exploit on the Fantom Network which netted the attacker roughly $13.4 million in crypto assets.
The attacker took advantage of a flash loan to fool Deus' smart contracts into reading data from the platform's liquidity pools. This allowed the attacker to raise the value of some assets artificially, borrow funds, and profit after repaying the loan. This is the second exploit faced by Deus Finance in the past two months.
Flash loans, first introduced by DeFi lending platform Aave, were intended for arbitrage trading and capital efficiency. However, hackers have taken use of them to corrupt DeFi price data feeds (oracles) and carry out exploits.
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/143969/deus-finance-flash-loan-exploit-nets-hacker-13-million/
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It seems like Wall Street gets deeper into crypto with each passing day. In what can only be deemed bullish for the ecosystem, Goldman has offered its first loan facility backed by bitcoin.
This means that crypto investors can now borrow fiat money from Goldman using their bitcoin holdings as collateral. This is the first time in Goldman Sachs' history, that such a product has been offered.
According to a spokesperson from Goldman, the most interesting part of the facility was its structure and round the clock 24-7-365-day risk management system.
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The Digital Commodity Exchange Act of 2022 (DCEA) proposed by a bipartisan group of US lawmakers aims to grant the Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) greater influence and control over the crypto spot market.
The bill would define "digital commodity" and empower the CFTC to regulate corporations that issue or allow consumers to trade these sorts of tokens, while the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would continue to regulate tokens that are subject to US securities regulations.
According to the bill,
"The term 'digital commodity' means any form of fungible intangible personal property that can be exclusively possessed and transferred person to person without necessary reliance on an intermediary,"
These digital commodities can only be traded on CFTC-registered exchanges. Equity, debt interests, and securities are expressly excluded from being included within the definition of a digital commodity.
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Evmos (formerly Ethermint), a proof-of-stake EVM compatible blockchain built using the Cosmos SDK is finally live on the Cosmos Network after nearly 6 years of development.
Evmos first went live in late March, but it quickly ran into a number of issues, including difficulties claiming airdrops. The development team recovered confidence after tidying things up and adding a few features, including the establishment of a new dashboard to assist with staking, governance, and claiming airdrops.
According to Evmos founder Federico Kunze Küllmer,
“We decided as a community of validators and on the core team to just take a step back and try it again once we have everything sorted out.”
https://www.coinbureau.com/news/cosmos-evmos-goes-live-on-ethereum-network/
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According to an announcement by ‘The Open Network’ (TON), a decentralised blockchain initially designed by Telegram and abandoned by the platform in mid-2020, users of the messaging app can now send each other crypto via a new telegram wallet bot.
The "wallet" bot's initial release would allow users to send and receive Toncoins with no transaction costs, according to the developers. Users can also use their bank cards to buy Bitcoin and Toncoins through the wallet. They can then transmit Bitcoin (BTC) or Toncoin to other users by clicking on the "Wallet" symbol in direct messaging.
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That being said... NATO isn't 100% clean here either:
They acted shady, but no written accord was broken. I'll quote a good article from Spiegel:
In doing so, the West didn’t break any treaties, but some participants were concerned nevertheless. Years later, Genscher[former Vice-Chancellor of West-Germany] said that the expansion was just fine from a formally legal point of view. But it was impossible to deny, he said, that it was counter to the spirit of the understandings reached in 1990.
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This is really sad, but to be honest Ukraine didn’t have a choice. The government really wanted to hold onto the nuclear bombs, but they wouldn’t receive western funding unless they got rid of them, which is what they really needed as a country that just emerged from the rubbles of the Soviet Union. Belarus and Kazakhstan were also potential nuclear powers, but they immediately gave up their bombs. Plus the bombs were too expensive to properly maintain so there wasn’t much use of them anyways.
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This happened when Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan signed The Budapest Memorandum, which brought Ukraine into the global Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Russia, the US and Britain also signed this document which promised none of these countries would invade Ukraine and respect its sovereignties and existing borders while also giving them political independence.
The Memorandum stated: “Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm their obligation to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine.”
The document added that Russia, the US and Britain also wouldn’t use economic coercion tactics against Ukraine either.
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Sunday is expected to be the hottest day with temperatures close to or above 50° Celsius. That’s 122 F for us Americans.
Dragonfly Capital Raises $650M for Third Crypto Fund
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Posted
Dragonfly Capital, a well-known crypto venture capital firm founded in 2018 by Bo Feng and Alexander Pack, has announced its third fundraising round valued at $650 million. Tiger Global, KKR, Sequoia China, and Invesco were among the investors in the $650 million round
According to Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly, the new fund will focus on the new wave of crypto entrepreneurs who are forming in web3 and other more fledgling areas of the market. Qureshi believes that most web3 entrepreneurs need investors and their guidance to participate in token economics, go-to-market, product strategy, and hiring.
According to Qureshi,
“That's why Dragonfly is often the first port of call for these entrepreneurs—unlike many of the generalist VCs, we've been doing this for many years now, we've backed many of the generational protocols and companies in this space, and we've seen the whole journey from seed to multi-billion dollar outcomes,
Dragonfly has invested in a wide range of companies, including blockchains like Terra and Near and financial services like Matrixport and Paradigm.
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/143633/multiple-ivy-league-universities-kkr-back-dragonflys-new-650-million-fund/