EU Stablecoin, Binance Card, And More

The crypto market appears to be recovering, and the gradual upward movement has increased investors’ hopes. Let’s find out more. 

Bitcoin 

In a recent SEC filing, the electric vehicle manufacturing company reported a loss of $140 million on its net Bitcoin holdings. 

Bitcoin-based payments network and financial application Strike has announced that it is expanding its Bitcoin Lightning Network-powered money transfer services to the Philippines. 

As Bitcoin looked to be running out of puff after a 44% pump since the first of January, many investors may have been taking profits in BTC. 

Ethereum

Ethereum Layer-2 scaling solution Optimism has announced plans to issue a major upgrade to enhance network performance, which is scheduled for March. 

Ethereum’s scheduled Shanghai hard fork is going forward, and details for a public testnet dubbed Zhejiang have been released.

Altcoins

The Cardano-based Djed stablecoin (DJED) has attracted over 27 million ADA tokens as reserves less than a day after its launch. 

Binance’s BUSD stablecoin has seen a sharp fall in market capitalization, as its circulating supply dropped to $15.4 billion on Wednesday. 

Technology

Helsinki-based fintech company Membrane Finance launched Europe’s first fully-reserved, EU-regulated stablecoin, and payments network, EUROe. 

The Kin Foundation announced the launch of Kinetic, its flagship middleware (integration ramp/tool) built off of the Solana ecosystem.

Business

The bankrupt cryptocurrency lender BlockFi has obtained approval to sell its crypto mining equipment as it tries to repay its creditors.

The prepaid Binance Card is currently in beta testing and is being launched in Brazil by a Binance-Mastercard partnership. 

Regulation

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced the possibility of another couple of rate rises before pausing for the rest of 2023. 

The United States Department of Justice has launched a probe into Silvergate Capital Corp. and its dealings with bankrupt crypto firm FTX and its sister concern Alameda Research. 

A lawsuit against Coinbase and its CEO, Brian Armstrong, was dismissed on Wednesday as the judge exposed a flaw in the plaintiffs’ claim.

The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) are calling for lawmakers and regulators to rein in the cryptocurrency industry. 

Hong Kong remains steadfast in its pursuit of becoming Asia’s digital-asset hub despite the catastrophic fallout from the collapsed crypto exchange FTX.

The judge presiding over the SEC’s case against the decentralized publishing platform LBRY has ruled that the secondary sales of LBC do not qualify as the sale of securities. 

The United Kingdom has opened a consultation on new rules for regulating the crypto sector, similar to traditional finance (TradFi).

India’s annual Economic Survey has been published, and crypto concerns have been extensively discussed.

NFT

YouTuber Logan Paul has been named in a class-action lawsuit against his project CryptoZoo, which has been accused of fraudulently stealing millions from investors. 

Mastercard’s former NFT product lead alleged workplace mistreatment and sold his resignation letter as an NFT. 

Despite the market downturn, the Premier League has finalized a deal with French fantasy sports platform Sorare to launch NFT collections. 

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.