Monat: Januar 2025

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Circle Launches Paymaster to Pay Gas Fees in USDC

  • Circle launched a new on-chain utility that allows users to pay for gas fees with USDC on Arbitrum and Base.
  • Developers can use Paymaster to streamline gas payments within their applications.
  • Paymaster charges 10% of the gas fee but is free until June 30 2025.

Circle announced the launch of a new permissionless service, called Paymaster, that allows users to pay transaction fees in USDC for applications on the Arbitrum and Base networks.

Paymaster allows developers to integrate its features into their applications to provide a smooth process for users.

How Paymaster works

According to Circle’s blogpost, Paymaster maintains balances of native coins used for gas (presently ETH on Arbitrum and Base), accepts USDC payments, and then pays using the native gas coin on the backend.

The application then rebalances its reserve of native gas coins.

While the service’s availability is currently limited to accounts controlled by smart contracts, Circle plans to expand to externally owned accounts (accounts owned by private keys) after the Ethereum Pectra upgrade.

Circle also plans to expand Paymaster to the Ethereum main net, Polygon, and Solana networks. This will enable users to pay transaction fees on multiple blockchains from a single blockchain.

The post Circle Launches Paymaster to Pay Gas Fees in USDC appeared first on CoinJournal.

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OKX receives MiCA pre-authorization nod

  • OKX will use the license to offer localized crypto products and services across the European Economic Area.
  • The MiCA pre-authorization was secured from the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA).

Crypto exchange OKX has received pre-authorization as a Virtual Financial Assets (VFA) exchange under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation.

On Jan. 23, the exchange announced it secured pre-authorization from the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA).

The milestone comes ahead of an anticipated approval for a full MiCA license. Once the firm secures the full license, it will roll out its suite of crypto products and services – all localized and accessible to millions of people across the European Economic Area (EEA).

OKX will use the MiCA license to passport its services from the Malta hub, targeting the EEA region’s 30 member states.

“Securing pre-authorization for the MiCA license is a major milestone that further validates OKX’s mission to lead and build responsibly in the global crypto space. OKX will be the go-to digital asset platform for both retail and institutional customers in Europe for any digital asset offering under a fully regulated framework,” said OKX Europe chief executive officer Erald Ghoos.

The license will allow the exchange to expand access to its regulated crypto products, with customers benefiting from features such as spot trading, bot trading and OTC trading. OKX offers more than 240 cryptocurrencies and over 260 trading pairs.

Several exchanges and platforms have sought MiCA registration to continue offering services in the EU. This includes Crypto.com, which received an in-principle license earlier this month.

Meanwhile, some providers have announced delistings or temporary exits after the comprehensive regulations came into full effect at the end of December 2024.

The post OKX receives MiCA pre-authorization nod appeared first on CoinJournal.

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Upbit and Bithumb to compensate investors for the 2024 martial law outage

  • The declaration of Martial law in South Korea on December 3, 2024, caused chaos for crypto exchanges like Upbit and Bithumb.
  • The crypto exchanges experienced downtimes as investors rushed to manage their assets.
  • Upbit and Bithumb have agreed to compensate for service disruptions.

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law on December 3, 2024, led to significant disruptions across various sectors, including the cryptocurrency market.

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s televised announcement was a response to escalating political tensions, causing widespread panic among the populace. This fear translated into a massive surge in trading activity on local cryptocurrency exchanges, as investors scrambled to manage their assets amidst the uncertainty.

This sudden spike in trading volume overwhelmed the servers of key cryptocurrency platforms like Upbit and Bithumb.

Upbit, which typically manages around 100,000 concurrent users, found itself catering to an unprecedented 1.1 million users. Similarly, Bithumb and another exchange, Coinone, also saw their user numbers balloon to over 500,000 each, pushing their systems beyond capacity.

The result was significant service outages. Upbit experienced nearly two hours of downtime, while Bithumb managed slightly over an hour, and Coinone faced about 40 minutes of disruption.

These outages left investors unable to access their funds or execute trades at a critical time, leading to considerable inconvenience and potential financial loss.

Upbit and Bithumb has committed $2.5M for compensation

Recognizing the impact on their users, Upbit and Bithumb have now committed to compensating those affected.

Upbit has agreed to pay out 3.14 billion South Korean won, approximately $2.1 million, to address 596 cases related to the service interruption.

Bithumb, on the other hand, will distribute 377.5 million won, or about $262,000, to deal with 124 cases.

These compensations mark one of the largest payouts by cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea’s history, reflecting the severity of the situation.

The aftermath of the martial law outages has prompted South Korea’s financial regulators to take action. On-site inspections have resumed to ensure that exchanges are improving their infrastructure. Measures like server expansion, transitioning to cloud services, and refining emergency response plans are now priorities to prevent future service disruptions.

The post Upbit and Bithumb to compensate investors for the 2024 martial law outage appeared first on CoinJournal.