Crypto Weekly Roundup: Bitfinex Hackers Arrested, Russia To Legalize Crypto, Binance Invests In Forbes, Sequoia Invests In Polygon, And More

It has been an exciting week in crypto. A comedy-rapper and her husband have been arrested in New York over money laundering charges in connection to the 2016 Bitfinex hack, where around 120,000 BTCs were stolen. On the other end of the world, Russia’s new financial policy might give legal tender status to all cryptocurrencies. Keep reading to find out more.  

Bitcoin

Valkyrie Investments launched a “green” Bitcoin Mining ETF on February 8, focused on bitcoin mining operators. 

Ethereum 

Ethereum scaling startup Optimism announced that it had identified and patched a critical bug earlier this month. 

DeFi

After months of teasing, Aave has moved on from decentralized finance and finally launched the social media ecosystem Lens on Monday. 

Open-source blockchain computing platform Avalanche has surpassed $10 billion in total value locked (TVL).

Altcoins

Hit rapper Gunna has vehemently denied any involvement in the Pushin Peth crypto scam by claiming that his Twitter account was hacked to promote the fraud. 

In its latest venture financing round, the Ethereum scaling platform, Polygon has raised a total of $450 million, led by Sequoia Capital. 

Technology

Billionaire investor Kevin O’Leary has pointed out the opportunities in the crypto sector, especially in bitcoin mining and in the Metaverse. 

Korean electronics firm Samsung has unveiled the latest feature of its flagship smartphone line, releasing crypto functionalities for its new Galaxy S22 series.

UN experts have claimed that North Korea has stolen millions of dollars of cryptocurrencies from exchanges to fund its missile program. 

Google Cloud launched a threat detection service for its clients who run virtual machines to allow them to detect crypto-mining malware on virtual machine environments in the cloud.

Business

The Major Leagues Baseball team, Washington Nationals, has announced its partnership with Terra, one of the largest decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) in the blockchain industry.

Binance is making a $200 million strategic investment into the digital publisher Forbes, allowing Forbes to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker FRBS.

Crypto.com has been announced as the title sponsor for Formula 1’s Miami Grand Prix, which will see the platform and the racing world championship join for a nine-year deal.

Blackrock is reportedly making plans to offer clients crypto trading services, through its Aladdin Investment platform. 

A New York-based comedy rapper and her husband were arrested on charges of money laundering and theft over the 2016 hack of the crypto exchange Bitfinex, where around $4.5 billion were stolen. 

Accounting giant KPMG Canada has joined a growing list of institutions that have invested in cryptocurrency after the company invested in Bitcoin and Ethereum. 

Regulation

Two bills were introduced by a Tennessee lawmaker on February 2 that could allow the state to invest in crypto and form a committee dedicated to studying the crypto industry. 

Russia, one of the world’s most powerful economies, is setting up a financial policy that, when implemented, will recognize digital assets, including crypto, as a form of currency alongside fiat.

NFT

In a bid to allow creators to monetize their content, YouTube is launching new tools that will let them mint their videos as NFTs. 

NFT creator Pak is joining forces with Wikileaks to release an NFT collection, the proceeds from which will go towards Julian Assange’s defense funds. 

The latest model from Alfa Romeo, the Tonale SUV, will give owners a chance to dabble in NFTs, by including a non-fungible token in the sale of each car. 

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.