Signum Digital, a joint venture of Coinstreet and Somerley, has announced that it has received an approval-in-principle from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) for its security token offering (STO) and subscription platform. Security tokens are a new category of digital assets built on blockchain technology representing ownership of tangible assets, such as
An investigation into digital asset exchanges in the Russian capital has established that some of them are ready to buy digital coins and deliver paper money in the U.K. The transfer of funds does not usually involve the identification of the clients, Transparency International Russia reveals in a report. Russia-based Cryptocurrency Exchanges Swap Stablecoins for
Bitcoin (BTC) software firm Lightning Labs and blockchain startup Tari Labs have agreed to convert a court-ordered temporary restraining order that halts the development of Lightning’s Taro protocol. In a March 15 filing, lawyers for both Lightning and Tari proposed converting the restraining order to a preliminary injunction — a temporary order that prevents a
Ten separate audits conducted over a two-year period of the Ethereum-based lending protocol Euler Finance deemed it to be “nothing higher than low risk” and having “no outstanding issues” prior to it suffering from a $196 million attack. In a series of tweets on March 17 Euler Labs CEO, Michael Bentley described the “hardest days”
College students wishing to intern for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are in luck — the regulator has opened applications for its Scholars Program for Fall 2023. The SEC is after “student trainees” for its business and legal programs, with the business program paying between $15.09 to $28.83 per hour for the
In 2023, Bitcoin (BTC) and Cathie Wood’s Coinbase (COIN) investment are finally outperforming Warren Buffett’s popular “crypto bet” in Brazil’s fintech giant Nubank (NU). Bitcoin vs. crypto-exposure stocks NU, COIN As of March 17, Bitcoin’s price is up nearly 55% year-to-date (YTD). In comparison, Nubank has risen by only 26%. Meanwhile, another crypto-exposure asset, namely Coinbase stock (COIN), has
The Ethereum layer two (L2) scaling solution Arbitrum has launched a native governance token named ARB and a self-executing decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) governance model. The ARB token will have an initial supply of 10 billion, and coins will be airdropped to the Arbitrum DAO treasury, Offchain Labs (the company behind Arbitrum), Offchain Labs investors,
Nonfungible token (NFT) trading volumes took a massive beating following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) last week as traders fled the markets fearing the repercussions of a major United States bank going under. According to a March 16 report from data aggregation platform DappRadar, NFT trading volumes were hovering between $68 million to
The National Institute of Statistics and Census of Argentina released February’s numbers for the consumer price index (CPI), registering an increase of 6.6%, a consequence of the rises in prices of food and beverages principally. The number is among the highest in the history of Argentina, reaching more than 100% growth year-on-year (YoY), something that
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren alleges that Signature Bank failed because it “bought into its get-rich-quick narrative” and “embraced crypto customers with insufficient safeguards.” Emphasizing that the bank took “excessive risk,” the senator demanded answers from the CEO of Signature Bank regarding “the economically disastrous outcomes you created.” Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Letter to Signature Bank’s CEO
The decentralized autonomous organization (DAO)-operated golf startup, LinksDAO is primed to become the new owner of the Spey Bay Golf Club in Scotland after successfully winning a bid to buy the course initially listed for just over $900,000. After winning the bid, the DAO has entered into an exclusivity agreement with the vendor and will
Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) collapse has had a “limited impact” on the European Union but authorities must still “stay alert” to events as they unfold, European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness has said. Despite McGuinness’ reassuring remarks, stocks of Europe’s largest banks still plunged by as much as 10% on March 15. Silicon Valley Bank’s ‘Limited’ EU
Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industry’s most important developments. Chinese billionaire arrested in U.S. for $1B financial fraud According to an announcement published by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Mar. 15, Chinese billonaire Ho Wan Kwok (aka Miles Guo and more commonly as Guo Wengui), has been arrested
Michael Bennet, a United States senator representing the state of Colorado, has suggested that banks associated with crypto firms did not make “prudentially sound” decisions. Speaking at a March 16 hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, Bennet brought up the recent closure of the crypto-friendly Signature Bank with lawmakers and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in
On Wednesday, Tom Emmer, the U.S. Republican congressman from Minnesota, revealed he sent a letter to Martin Gruenberg, the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), regarding reports that the FDIC is “weaponizing recent instability” in the U.S. banking industry to “purge legal crypto activity” from the United States. Specifically, Emmer asked Gruenberg if
The Solana-based decentralized exchange (DEX) Orca will block all United States users from trading using its web interface beginning March 31, according to a March 16 notice posted to its official website. The exchange did over $634 million worth of trading volume in February and has over $46 million total value locked in Solana smart
The rejection that followed Bitcoin’s (BTC) rally to $26,500 may appear to be a victory for bears, but $24,750 on March 14 was the highest daily close in nine months. Furthermore, Bitcoin has gained 26.5% since March 10, when the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation shut down Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). The recent
The target date for the highly anticipated Shanghai hard fork on Ethereum has now been set: April 12. Ethereum core developers approved the target deadline during the All Core Developers Execution Layer #157 call on March 16. The Shanghai mainnet upgrade features five Ethereum Improvement Proposals, including EIP-4985, which will enable staked Ether (ETH) withdrawals
During the Execution Layer Meeting streamed on March 16, 2023, Ethereum developers announced that the blockchain is scheduled to upgrade on April 12, in 27 days. The upgrade, known as the Shanghai-Capella upgrade or Shapella, will include the implementation of Beacon chain push withdrawals. This will enable Ethereum network validators to support withdrawal operations following
The U.S. government and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) are auctioning off two failed American financial institutions, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank (SNBY), this week, with bids due by March 17. However, sources familiar with the matter said the qualifications to purchase the banks are stringent, and reportedly, the purchasers cannot deal