Kategorie: Crypto Business

Daily headlines and news about crypto business.

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Binance terminates wallet services to WazirX

  • Binance says WazirX has till 3 February 2023 at 23:59 UTC to withdraw assets from its accounts.
  • According to Binance, Zanmai Labs, the company behind WazirX, has failed to retract misleading public statements about their relationship.
  • Changpeng Zhao said in August 2022 that Binance never acquired WazirX and that it only offered wallet services to the exchange.

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, has terminated wallet services it has been offering to Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX.

An announcement Binance published on Friday, 3 February 2023, notes that the decision to halt the wallet service relates to Zanmai Labs, the company that operates WazirX. As explained in the blog post, Zanmai has severally put forth misleading claims about its relationship with Binance.

In particular, claims that Binance had control over WazirX user funds and exchange operations is a misleading narrative that Zanmai has continued to perpetuate.

Binance halts wallet services to WazirX operator

Due to all the false claims, Binance says it gave Zanmai the opportunity to retract the misrepresentations if they wanted to still benefit from the wallet services. That hasn’t happened and it’s the reason for the move.

According to Binance, the relationship between it and Zanmai has only been around the provision of wallet services. These, the exchange added, are offered “as a tech solution” to help power WazirX’s exchange operations and that this isn’t unique to Zanmai. 

The wallet service is similarly offered to other companies that leverage the technology and infrastructure to run their own businesses.

“On 26 January 2023, we offered Zanmai a choice between retracting the false public statements (and continuing to use our services) or terminating the use of our wallet service. Since Zanmai has refused to clarify their misleading statements, Zanmai has till 3 February 2023 (23:59 UTC) to remove the funds from the accounts that they used for WazirX’s operations,” Binance wrote.

Reportedly, Zanmai is ready to withdraw all WazirX assets from Binance accounts. Binance is also offering to allow the withdrawals to extend beyond 3 February. The process will not impact Binance users, the exchange noted.

In August last year, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao explained that although his company had announced its acquisition of WazirX in 2019, the deal never materialized. Zhao’s comments came as the Indian government froze WazirX accounts amid investigations into a money laundering scheme.

The post Binance terminates wallet services to WazirX appeared first on CoinJournal.

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Oracle platform Pyth Network expands features to Arbitrum

  • Pyth Network’s price feeds are now available on Arbitrum.
  • Builders within the Ethereum scaling solution’s ecosystem can now tap into over 200 price feeds across crypto, equities and commodities.
  • The Pyth technology is already powering CAP Finance and Perpy Finance on Arbitrum.

Pyth Network, an oracle solution provider that’s mainly integrated across the Solana ecosystem, has announced expansion onto layer-2 blockchain protocol Arbitrum.

What this means is that the Pyth price feeds are now live on Arbitrum, a scaling solution developedby OffChain Labs for the Ethereum ecosystem. The Pyth team noted in a blog release on Tuesday that integration will support the decentralised finance (DeFi) community on Arbitrum.

Pyth to power Arbitrum dApps

Arbitrum already integrates with Chainlink price feeds. Basically, developers and other Arbitrum users now also have access a new oracle network with over 200 price feeds, covering major data needs across cryptocurrency, equities, FX pairs and commodities.

Mike Cahill, the Director of the Pyth Data Association, said that the integration with Arbitrum is significant. One of the reasons, he noted in a statement, is down to the fact that Pyth’s technology now powers decentralised applications (dApps) in the Ethereum ecosystem – the most prominent smart contracts blockchains today.

 “We’re excited to continue our expansion in the Ethereum world, and specifically the Arbitrum ecosystem as we continue to equip developers with high-quality data and enable a wide range of new dApps that are powered by Pyth,” Cahill added.

By bringing off-chain data in real time onto Arbitrum, Pyth is helping unlock previously inaccessible financial data for developers in this ecosystem.

As announced on Tuesday, Pyth’s price feeds already power Arbitrum-based perpetual DEX platform CAP Finance and decentralised copy trading protocol Perpy Finance.

The post Oracle platform Pyth Network expands features to Arbitrum appeared first on CoinJournal.

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Premier League inks major NFT partnership with Sorare

  • Premier League and Sorare announced the four-year deal on Monday.
  • The licensing deal is worth £120 million (about $150 million).
  • Premier League fans will be able to buy, trade and sell digital collectibles of their favourite teams and players while playing Sorare Manager.

The English Premier League has sealed a four-year licensing deal with Sorare, a French-based fantasy game and digital trading marketplace.

According to a report by CityAM, the deal is worth £120 million ($150 million).

Premier League expanding fans’ NFT experience

The partnership will allow football fans, especially of the English Premier League, from across the world to build teams and compete for huge rewards. Fans looking to become Sorare Managers can take part in the Ethereum-based non-fungible token (NFT) platform’s Premier League fantasy competition.

Fans can now tap into the NFT experience, enjoying their favourite sport via digital cards, Sorare noted in a blog post. Notably, fans will be able to collect, buy and trade licensed digital collectibles featuring players from the 20 Premier League clubs.

“The team and I at Sorare are beyond excited to announce an exclusive, deep partnership with the Premier League. What a crazy ride to get there, from our club deal with West Ham in 2019 to onboarding the 20 clubs of the football heavy-weight, watched by 800m+ in the world,” Nicholas Julia, co-founder and CEO of Sorare tweeted.

Richard Masters, the Premier League chief executive, said that fans’ support of teams and players has and continues to evolve. The goal is thus to look for more ways to engage the supporters, which this deal with Sorare offers.

“Sorare’s digital cards and innovative online game represent a new way for them to feel closer to the Premier League whether they are watching in the stadium or from around the world. We believe that Sorare are the ideal partner for the Premier League and we look forward to working closely together,” Masters added.

With this partnership, the PL becomes the latest to join a portfolio that includes top European leagues LaLiga, Bundesliga and Serie A. Sorare also has similar partnerships with the NBA and MLB. Sorare also has sports deals with over 300 clubs. 

Sorare credits these partnerships to the input of world-class athletes,including Serena Willians, Kylian Mbappe and Rudy Gobert among others. 

The post Premier League inks major NFT partnership with Sorare appeared first on CoinJournal.

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Crypto casino Stake partners with Alfa Romeo F1 Team

  • The partnership sees Stake become a co-title sponsor for the 2023 F1 season and beyond.
  • The Alfa Romeo F1 Team will take on a new identity as Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake.
  • Stake co-founder Bijan Tehrani said the crypto casino will use the partnership to bring more people to the digital space.

Stake.com, a leading online casino and betting platform, has sealed a multi-million dollar sponsorship deal with the Alfa Romeo F1 Team.

According to a press release from the Formula One team, Stake has agreed to be the official co-title partner in a multi-year partnership that will help Stake increase its fan base across the world. The partnership will increase the crypto gambling platform’s brand recognition as it makes entry into a new market with diverse users.

Stake in ground-breaking partnership

Ahead of the 2023 Formula One season, the partnership will see Alfa Romeo’s team identity changed to Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake. Meanwhile, Stake will use the partnership to bring more people to the digital space, the platform’s co-founder Bijan Tehrani said in a statement.

“We could not be more thrilled to join a legendary F1 team that shares with us the same ambitions of growth and success,” he noted.

The two companies will work together to expand the online casino’s opportunities, with fan engagement programs initiated alongside the Formula One calendar. The firms hope to make race weekends even more engaging and eventful for fans, with brand recognition enhanced via visibility on the Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake.

The crypto gambling platform, founded in 2017, will also benefit from the Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake’s partnership with live streaming platform Kick.com. The community-driven platform will further increase Stake’s visibility to a global audience.

With this deal, Stake’s portfolio now includes some of the best in the global sports and entertainment industry, including music, soccer and mixed martial arts. Two of the biggest names in the world of sports and entertainment who have deals with Stake are Canadian superstar Drake and Argentinian footballer legend Sergio Aguero.

The post Crypto casino Stake partners with Alfa Romeo F1 Team appeared first on CoinJournal.

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QuickNode raises $60M in Series B to advance blockchain adoption

  • QuickNode is a Web3 platform developing tools and software solutions designed to accelerate blockchain adoption.
  • The company raised its $60 million series B in a round led by 10T Holdings.
  • QuickNode plans to use the funds to grow its team and scale its activities and tools.

QuickNode, a blockchain infrastructure provider helping to power the Web3 ecosystem, has raised $60 million in a Series B round.

10T Holdings, a digital assets-focused mid to late-stage equity fund, led the round, according to details in a blog post published on Tuesday. 

The funding round also attracted participated from Seven Seven Six, a venture capital fund co-founded in 2020 by Alex Ohanian. Other investors who have backed QuickNode’s latest round include Tiger Global and QED Investors.

The mission is to power Web3 growth

Per QuickNode, the funding will help spearhead further adoption of the blockchain technology across the Web3 industry.

“With this funding, we will further solidify ourselves as the most performant blockchain development platform and accelerate our mission to support Web3 developers in building the foundation for a decentralized, globally connected future,” the QuickNode team noted.

QuickNode, founded in 2017, continued to see growth in 2022 despite the broader crypto market downturn that resulted in the collapse of some leading crypto-focused companies.

After raising $35 million in its series A round in October 2021, the blockchain platform grew its team by 300% while the user base expanded 400% in 2022. The company plans to use the capital injection to grow its team further and make inroads across new markets around the world.

“The Series B round, led by 10T, provides our tree with sufficient nutrients, allowing us the ideal opportunity to continue building and shipping useful, meaningful & innovative products which will power the Internet for decades to come,” Dmitry Shklovsky, co-founder of QuickNode said in a statement.

The post QuickNode raises $60M in Series B to advance blockchain adoption appeared first on CoinJournal.