Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
Exchanges news
- Coinbase said it is hiring more staff in Japan, in another hint that it could be set to launch a Tokyo-based trading platform in the near future. Earlier this year, the company joined the self-regulatory body Japan Crypto Asset Trading Business Association as a second-tier member. Second-tier membership is generally reserved for firms that are awaiting the issuance of a license from the financial regulator, which polices Japanese exchanges. But per a tweet from Coinbase boss Brian Armstrong, the exchange is now hiring in a “number” of roles, with nine vacancies in Japan currently listed on its website.
- Binance has announced the re-activation of the Binance Africa Affiliate Program, meant to promote brand identity and awareness of Binance. They said in an announcement that the program is open to all influencers, crypto enthusiasts, content creators, and others, across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda, while the participants will get rewarded for introducing their followers to crypto and Binance. This comes after the exchange announced last week that it was shutting down its Uganda subsidiary.
- Borussia Dortmund (BVB), a major German Bundesliga football club and Champions League participant, has announced their global, multi-year partnership with crypto derivatives exchange Bybit that aims to expand its European business. Per the press release, BVB is also further driving its international marketing and expanding its presence in Asia. Bybit will be appearing as a sponsor on BVB’s Bundesliga games, and the new partners are exploring a fan token, an emailed announcement said.
Blockchain news
- Tencent Cloud, a subsidiary of the Chinese entertainment and tech giant Tencent, will team up with Xiamen International Bank, the nation’s first Sino-foreign joint venture bank, on a deal that will see them co-build new “financial infrastructure” using blockchain technology. Per media outlet Mars Finance, the deal will see the two firms jointly creating cloud computing and blockchain-powered solutions that will be compatible with “integrated business system” models.
- China’s blockchain market will be worth USD 2.28bn by 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 51%, a study has concluded. According to 199IT, data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) also pointed to a coronavirus pandemic-spurred slowdown in corporate spending on blockchain solutions. But, it said, the pandemic has also exposed vulnerabilities in global supply chains – areas that many IT chiefs think they can plug using blockchain technology-powered solutions.
Wallet news
- Privacy-focused popular bitcoin (BTC) wallet has announced its second version, Wasabi Wallet 2.0, which it said is based on the original Wasabi Wallet and is expected to launch in some 9-14 months. The second version improves further on preserving users privacy without a trusted third party, by making bitcoin privacy faster, cheaper, and effortless, they said.
- The Foundation for Interwallet Operability (FIO), which works on enabling easier crypto services, has today announced the integration of major wallets and non-custodial service providers ShapeShift, Coinomi, ChangeNOW, and Mycelium. According to the emailed press release, this means that the use of FIO protocol will now be extended to over a million more cryptocurrency users, thus enabling people to participate in the blockchain ecosystem without needing complex public addresses, which a FIO research found to be the most common concern among users. The integration of FIO by Mycelium will only be on the testnet and will go live in November, while for ShapeShift, Coinomi, and ChangeNOW the integration is live.
DeFi news
- A user on the decentralized finance (DeFi) liquidity protocol Uniswap reportedly swapped 0.2955 wrapped ether (WETH) for 531 chi gastoken (CHI), worth nearly USD 122, but paid 23.5172 ethereum (ETH), worth USD 9,547 in transaction fees. Reddit user “ProudBitcoiner” claims it’s their address, saying that they had quoted 200,000 in the “Gas Price” input field by mistake, instead of the “Gas Limit” field, thus paying many times the current gas price.
Crime news
- The US Department of Justice has seized cryptocurrency worth an estimated USD 24m on behalf of the Brazilian government and upon their official request. According to the press release, the assistance was provided in connection with a large cryptocurrency fraud scheme in a Brazilian federal police investigation called “Operation Egypto,” in which more than USD 200m was obtained by potentially defrauding tens of thousands of Brazilians.