Monat: Februar 2023

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Sen. Warren to reintroduce AML bill extending to DeFi and DAOs

  • Senator Elizabeth Warren first introduced the AML Act of 2022 on December 15, 2022.
  • The first bill was read twice and referred to the Senate banking Committee.
  • The senator now wants to reintroduce the bill to also cover decentralized entities.

The past few weeks have seen some hostile moves by several regulatory authorities in the US including the recent $30 million imposed on Kraken forcing it to shut down its crypto-staking product. There has also been the issue of the US SEC accusing Paxos Trust of issuing unregistered security, the Binance USD (BUSD).

Going by these trends, Jake Chervinsky a lawyer and Chief Policy Officer at Blockchain Association tweeted saying that “fears of a crypto crackdown have never been higher.”

Sen. Warren’s AML bill

Just as if the recent developments are not enough, Senator Elizabeth Warren has promised to reintroduce the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2022 that she first introduced on Dec. 15, 2022. The new bill, according to the senator, will cover decentralized entities” like decentralized organizations (DAOs) and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols.

Previously during the February 14 Senate Banking Committee hearing titled ‘Crypto Crash: Why Financial System Safeguards are Needed for Digital Assets,’ Sen. Warren said that the crypto community decentralized entities that operate on code to be excused from AML requirements. She said:

“In other words, they want a giant loophole for DeFi written into the law so they can launder money whenever a drug lord or a terrorist pays them to do so.”

According to Sen. Warren, this is why she believed including DeFi and DAOs in the AML policies is important. She noted that the current AML laws do not cover the broader crypto market and it was probably the reason why the crypto exchange ShapeShift was restructured as a DeFi platform.

The post Sen. Warren to reintroduce AML bill extending to DeFi and DAOs appeared first on CoinJournal.

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Wirex partners with Visa and extends crypto card program to 40+ countries

  • The partnership agreement makes Wirex a global partner of Visa.
  • It will also allow Wirex to expand its crypto card services to more countries around the world.
  • The agreement also allows Wirex to offer crypto card services to UK and APAC markets.

London-based digital payment company Wirex has announced that it has reached a long-term service agreement with Visa. The move is a great milestone for Wirex because it will allow the company to reach customers in new markets including the UK and APAC markets.

Most importantly, Wirex offers cryptocurrency-linked card services and becoming a global partner of Visa will allow it to reach customers in more than 40 countries around the world.

Wirex was the first company to introduce crypto-card services to the mainstream audience back in 2015, at the time in partnership with Visa. In 2020 it went ahead to become a principal member of Visa in Europe.

In 2022, Wirex raised $15 million in its Series B funding round.

More payment options for Visa customers

The core objective of Visa’s partnership with Wirex is to introduce more crypto-linked payment methods for more markets around the world.

Commenting on the partnership the head of digital partnerships at Visa in the Asia Pacific region, Mat Wood, said:

“Currencies with our network of banks and merchants. We’re excited that Wirex is expanding their focus on Asia Pacific, making it easy and seamless for people to spend their crypto balance at the millions of merchants that accept Visa in the region.”

Wirex customers will be able to use their cryptocurrency assets to make payments at about 80 million locations where Visa is accepted around the world. In addition to being able to make crypto payments, the customers will receive 8% cashback instantly.

After inking this particular global partnership, Wirex now has its eyes set on finalizing another card partnership related to Australia within the next coming weeks.

The post Wirex partners with Visa and extends crypto card program to 40+ countries appeared first on CoinJournal.

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GRT rallies by 16% following The Graph’s launch on Arbitrum

  • GRT is one of the best performers amongst the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap today.

  • The coin rallied after The Graph Network launched on Arbitrum.

  • The broader crypto market has added $200 billion to its market cap in the last 24 hours.

GRT soars after The Graph’s launch on Arbitrum

GRT, the native token of The Graph Network, is one of the best performers amongst the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap today. 

The rally comes after The Graph team announced on Tuesday that The Graph Network can now be accessed via Arbitrum. 

According to the The Graph team, operating the protocol on Arbitrum One means lower gas fees, faster transactions and easier participation in The Graph Network.

This latest cryptocurrency news has led GRT, the native coin of The Graph network, to rally by 16% in the last 24 hours. At press time, the price of The Graph stands at $0.1701 and could rally higher over the next few hours.

The broader cryptocurrency market has also recovered from its earlier slump. The total cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.03 trillion, up by more than 2% in the last 24 hours.

Bitcoin and Ether are trading in the green zone once again after underperforming earlier this week.

Key levels to watch

The GRT/USD 4-hour chart has turned bullish as GRT has been performing well over the last 24 hours. The technical indicators show that GRT could rally even higher over the next few hours or days.

GRT/USD Chart By TradingView

 

The MACD line crossed into the positive zone a few hours ago, indicating a strong bullish momentum for GRT. the 14-day relative strength index of 63.77 also shows that GRT could be heading into the overbought region in the near term.

If the positive momentum is maintained, GRT could rally toward the first major resistance level at $0.18875 before the end of the day. 

However, GRT would need the support of the broader crypto market to cross the $0.20 resistance level for the second time this month. 

Where to buy The Graph now

eToro

eToro is a global social investment brokerage company which offers over 75 cryptocurrencies to invest in. It offers crypto trading commission-free and users on the platform have the option to manually invest or socially invest. eToro even has a unique CopyTrader system which allows users to automatically copy the trades of popular investors.

Buy GRT with eToro today

Bitstamp

Bitstamp is a leading cryptocurrency exchange which offers trading in fiat currencies or popular cryptocurrencies. Bitstamp is a fully regulated company which offers users an intuitive interface, a high degree of security for your digital assets, excellent customer support and multiple withdrawal methods.

Buy GRT with Bitstamp today

The post GRT rallies by 16% following The Graph’s launch on Arbitrum appeared first on CoinJournal.

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Interactive Brokers just launched crypto trading in Hong Kong

  • IBKR partnered with OSL to launch crypto trading in Hong Kong.
  • Hong Kong is committed to expanding in the crypto space.
  • Interactive Brokers shares are currently up over 20% for the year.

Interactive Brokers Group Inc is in the green this morning after revealing plans of launching crypto trading in Hong Kong.

Interactive Brokers partnered with OSL Digital Securities

Residents of Hong Kong with more than $1.0 million in investable assets if they’re individuals, and over $6.0 million in investable assets if they’re institutions, will now be able to trade cryptocurrency on the IBKR platform.

The Nasdaq-listed firm partnered with OSL Digital Securities to extend its crypto trading services to Hong Kong. In the press release, David Friedland – Head of Asia-Pacific at Interactive Brokers said:

Investor demand for digital assets continues to grow in Hong Kong and we’re pleased to introduce cryptocurrency to address the trading objectives of clients in this important market.

Last month, Interactive Brokers reported record profit for its fourth financial quarter. Shares of the global brokerage are up more than 20% for the year at writing.

Hong Kong is committed to expanding in the crypto space

The announcement creates a unified platform for investors to trade cryptocurrency and a multitude of other assets, including stocks, futures, options, ETFs, bonds, mutual funds, and event contracts.

They will no longer have to switch between different platforms and exchanges to overview the full breadth of their investment portfolio.

Eligible clients will benefit from our low costs and the ability to trade crypto alongside many other global products from a single unified platform.

The crypto news arrives only a month after the Financial Secretary of Hong Kong – Paul Chan said the local government was open to collaborating with crypto and fintech startups this year. In December, Hong Kong passed legislation to license virtual asset service providers as well.

The post Interactive Brokers just launched crypto trading in Hong Kong appeared first on CoinJournal.

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Polygon announces zkEVM mainnet beta will go live next month

  • Polygon zkEVM supports Ethereum tooling for frictionless scaling.
  • The Polygon Labs team expects the layer-2 scaling solution to go live on mainnet on 27 March.
  • zkEVM has been thoroughly tested and audited, passing “100% of Ethereum test vectors.”

Polygon Labs has announced the launch of the public mainnet beta release for the Polygon zkEVM will go live on 27 March, 2023. 

Polygon zkEVM mainnet beta release next month

The Polygon zkEVM is coming to the public after a long winding roadmap, the team helping develop the Polygon (MATIC) protocol said in a blog post published on Tuesday. The news did not impact the price of MATIC that much as the broader crypto market reacted to US inflation data.

According to details shared in the blog release, Polygon zkEVM has hit multiple key milestones along this journey, including seeing zkEVM wallets top 84,000, with more than 75,000 zero knowledge proofs generated and more than 5,000 smart contracts deployed.

The layer-2 scaling solution seeks to bring even faster and cheaper transactions to the Ethereum network. And according to the Polygon Labs team, the zkEVM has gone through two public audits and “passed 100% of Ethereum test vectors that apply to a zkEVM.”

“Security is the highest priority, which is why Polygon zkEVM has been run through a gauntlet of tests and audits,” Polygon Labs wrote, adding that the community will get access to more details about the highly anticipated beta launch within coming weeks. Users and developers will also have full transparency regarding security measures.

Polygon zkEVM supports EVM-equivalence for frictionless scaling, with developers able to build apps on Polygon using the same code on Ethereum.

The post Polygon announces zkEVM mainnet beta will go live next month appeared first on CoinJournal.