Bitcoin ATM operator RockItCoin has today announced the acquisition of Tao Bitcoin, a regional ATM operator that operates about 56 machines most of which are located in the United States.
According to RockItCoin, the new acquisition is part of its strategy to find value and cooperation among smaller and regional players within the Bitcoin ATMs space. After the acquisition, the ATMs operated by RockItCoin are now about 1,900 machines across 44 US states.
According to the president of RockItCoin Ben Phillips, the company is likely to acquire more players in the coming months. Ben said:
“Where costs are increasing for many of the regional players, our existing networks, relationships and operations are poised for scalability.”
The issue of additional acquisitions was also echoed by the RockItCoin CEO and founder Michael Dalesandro who said:
“We are constantly on the lookout for ways to expand our footprint while continuing to serve our customers with convenient physical locations where they can safely and efficiently buy and sell cryptocurrency.”
Tao Bitcoin ATMs to be rebranded
Following the acquisition, Tao Bitcoin’s ATM machines will be rebranded to reflect RockItCoin.
According to Tao Bitcoin founders, John Taylor and Andrew Arterburn, Tao Bitcoin analyzed several offers before settling on the RockItCoin deal. The founders said that they settled on RockItCoin because “values closely aligned with our own.”
Japan’s second-largest port city a designated National Special Strategic Zone Fukuoka city has announced its partnership with Astar Japan Lab to work on local Web3 use cases. The city wants to become a Web3 hub of Japan.
The collaboration was announced by Astar Network founder Sota Watanabe and Fukuoka Mayor Soichior Takashima at the “Myojo Waraku 2022” conference held in Fukuoka.
Astar Japan Lab
Astar Japan Lab was initiated by Japan’s number one blockchain Astar Network and it aims to develop innovative use cases on Astar.
More than 45 companies have so far partnered with Astar Labs to bring its vision to pass. These countries include Microsoft Japan, Amazon Japan, Dentsu, Hakuhodo, MUFG, SoftBank, Accenture Japan, and PwC Japan.
Following the announcement of the partnership, the founder of Astar Network Sota Watanabe said:
“We are excited to invite Fukuoka City to Astar Japan Lab. In the US, some cities like Maimi and New York have positive attitudes toward Web3 and crypto. We are going to work closely with Fukuoka City to attract more developers and more entrepreneurs on Astar Network. In addition, Fukuoka is also known as the national special strategic zone. We plan to work closely with the government and utilize Web3 use cases from Fukuoka to the entire Japan.”
Fukuoka City’s strategy to become the Web3 hub of Japan
The partnership with Astar Japan Lab puts Fukuoka City right on course to achieve its strategy of becoming Japan’s Web3 hub as well as attract globally competitive businesses.
Astar’s representatives are expected to regularly visit Fukuoka to educate the general public and identify new avenues for local businesses to expand in Astar Japan Lab. The local government of Fukuoka has also committed to supporting innovation and entrepreneurship within the emerging silicon valley of Japan.
Fukuoka City Mayor Soichior Takashima said:
“We have to do in the context of Web3 what large companies did for the world when Japan was strong. We believe it is important to move forward together with the government, Fukuoka City, and companies that represent Japan.”
The Polkadot co-founder Gavin Wood will remain as Chief Architect of Parity Technologies Ltd.
Gavin Wood, the co-founder of blockchain platform Polkadot, has stepped down as CEO of Parity Technologies Ltd.
Wood, who founded the blockchain infrastructure provider in 2015 alongside Aeron Buchanan, TJ Saw, Ken Kappler and Jutta Steiner, became CEO in late 2020.
Wood ‘never coveted’ CEO role
In the company news update published Friday, Wood said he’s exiting the position as that’s not the role in which he feels he can give his best for the company. Indeed, he has “never” coveted the CEO role.
“Anyone who has worked with me knows where my heart lies. I’m a thinker, coder, designer and architect. Like many such people, I work best asynchronously; a great day is taking 10 hours straight to think out some problem, prototype something or collapse some disparate thoughts into an article. The role of CEO has never been one which I have coveted,” he said in the blog post.
Co-founder Björn Wagner takes over as CEO, with Wood continuing as Parity’s Chief Architect – a title he says is more befitting of his “desired workload”. He is also still Parity’s largest shareholder.
“I’ll be pointing my regained focus towards exploring how we can contribute to making Polkadot and Web3 more relevant to large swathes of the population,” he noted.
He expects the focus on Polkadot and Web3 to start with an effort to help the community build the chain-integrated social primitives he believes are critical to the vision of delivering “a true Web3 platform.”
Wood’s footprint in the blockchain and crypto industry is massive, with him being co-founders of the world’s largest smart contracts platform Ethereum. Other than Polkadot, he also helped develop Kusama.
The cryptocurrency market has underperformed this week, with prices of most coins down by more than 1% in the last seven days.
Bitcoin, Ether, ADA, and the other leading cryptocurrencies have suffered losses this week. The total crypto market cap could drop below the $900 billion mark over the next few days.
However, here are the top losers in the crypto market in the last seven days.
Top 10 losers this week
Mdex (MDX)
MDX, the native token of the Mdex ecosystem, is the worst performer this week. It has lost more than 27% of its value in the last seven days and ends the week trading around $0.1689 per coin.
MDEX is an automated market-making (AMM) decentralised exchange (DEX) protocol.
Where to buy Mdex now
Binance
Binance is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. It is better suited to more experienced investors and it offers a large number of cryptocurrencies to choose from, at over 600. Binance is also known for having low trading fees and a multiple of trading options that its users can benefit from, such as; peer-to-peer trading, margin trading and spot trading.
Swapzone is a crypto exchange aggregator that operates as a gateway between the cryptocurrency community and exchange services. Swapzone aims to provide a convenient interface, safe user flow, and crystal-clear data for users to find the best exchange rates among the whole cryptocurrency market.
SOLO comes second on the list after losing 22% of its value since the start of the week. At press time, the native token of Sologenic is trading at $0.302.
Sologenic is a project that focuses on tokenised securities, cryptocurrency assets, and nonfungible tokens.
Where to buy Sologenic now
Swapzone
Swapzone is a crypto exchange aggregator that operates as a gateway between the cryptocurrency community and exchange services. Swapzone aims to provide a convenient interface, safe user flow, and crystal-clear data for users to find the best exchange rates among the whole cryptocurrency market.
STEPN’s GMT comes third on the list and is the worst performer amongst the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap this week. GMT has lost 19% of its value since the start of the week and is trading at $0.4788.
STEPN is a web3 app with GameFi elements on the Solana blockchain. The app combines aspects of a play-to-earn game with a fitness app to incentivise people to move.
Where to buy STEPN now
Binance
Binance is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. It is better suited to more experienced investors and it offers a large number of cryptocurrencies to choose from, at over 600. Binance is also known for having low trading fees and a multiple of trading options that its users can benefit from, such as; peer-to-peer trading, margin trading and spot trading.
Kucoin is a cryptocurrency exchange which offers over 200 cryptocurrencies. Kucoin has a wide range of services, such as; a built-in peer-to-peer exchange, spot and margin trading, bank level security and a wide range of accepted payment methods. Users can benefit from a beginner-friendly interface and relatively low fees.
Axie Infinity is another popular name on the list. AXS has lost 18% of its value this week and is now trading $9.19. Axie Infinity is one of the earliest blockchain-based trading and battling games.
Where to buy Axie Infinity 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.
Skilling is a Scandinavian based cryptocurrency broker which has a desktop website as well as apps for iOS and Android devices. It supports over 50 cryptocurrencies and it has a demo account to allow users to gain familiarity with the platform. Skilling has no hidden fees, it is an officially regulated broker and it supports a wide range of payment methods.
LUNC, the native coin of Terra Classic, is also one of the worst performers this week. The coin lost 15% of its value over the last seven days and is now trading at $0.0002406.
Terra is a blockchain protocol that leverages fiat-pegged stablecoins to power price-stable global payment systems. Its sister coin is the LUNA, and the ecosystem also has the USTC stablecoin.
Where to buy Terra Classic now
Ethereum Name Service (ENS)
The next coin on the list is Ethereum Name Service (ENS). ENS lost more than 14% of its value this week and is now trading at $16.97. Ethereum Name Service is a distributed, open, and extensible naming system located on the Ethereum network.
Where to buy Ethereum Name Service 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.
SSV joins the others on the list after losing more than 14% of its value over the last seven days. It is now trading at $9.49 as the week comes to an end.
ssv.network is a decentralised staking platform that enables the distributed operation of Ethereum validators.
Where to buy SSV Network now
Immutable X (IMX)
Immutable X might be one of the leading web3 networks, but it didn’t perform well this week. IMX lost 13.5% of its value this week and is now trading at $0.5558 per coin. Immutable X is known as a layer-two scaling solution for NFTs and web3 on the Ethereum blockchain.
Where to buy Immutable X now
Huobi
Start Your Cryptocurrency Journey Today. Huobi Global has a variety of features that make it an ideal place to buy and sell digital asset.
LUNA, the native coin of Terra, is also one of the worst performers this week. The coin lost 13% of its value over the last seven days and is now trading at $2.35.
Terra (LUNA) is a public blockchain protocol that was created from Terra Classic. Its sister coin is the LUNC, and the ecosystem also has the USTC stablecoin.
Where to buy Terra 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.
Binance is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. It is better suited to more experienced investors and it offers a large number of cryptocurrencies to choose from, at over 600. Binance is also known for having low trading fees and a multiple of trading options that its users can benefit from, such as; peer-to-peer trading, margin trading and spot trading.
The Kusama token didn’t fare well this week, as it lost 12.9% of its value over the last few days. KSM is now trading at $34.76 per coin.
Described as Polkadot’s cousin, Kusama is an experimental blockchain platform designed to provide developers with a massively interoperable and scalable framework.
Where to buy Kusama now
Capital.com
Capital.com is a global broker which offers over 200 cryptocurrencies for its users. It comes with a range of features such as; great security, 24/7 support, demo accounts and a wide variety of assets. On top of that, it also has no inactivity, withdrawal or deposit fees, which makes it stand out from other crypto brands.
Binance is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. It is better suited to more experienced investors and it offers a large number of cryptocurrencies to choose from, at over 600. Binance is also known for having low trading fees and a multiple of trading options that its users can benefit from, such as; peer-to-peer trading, margin trading and spot trading.
Aptos launched its blockchain on Monday, with its native coin going live on several cryptocurrency exchanges later in the week.
Aptos is now live
Aptos Labs blockchain went live on Monday, in the process, became the first of the Facebook spin-off networks to launch. After raising millions of dollars in VC funding, blockchain developers now have a chance to see how it performs compared to the other popular networks like Solana, Cardano, and Ethereum
The native APT coin also went live on numerous cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, FTX, Coinbase, KuCoin, and Houbi Global. The APT coin went live after the team airdropped 20 million tokens to its early testnet users.
Binance receives a licence to operate
Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance is on a streak. The exchange gained regulatory approval to offer its services in Cyprus, making it the third country it has achieved this feat within the space of one month.
Binance gained similar licences in Kazakhstan and New Zealand a few weeks ago. In Cyprus, Binance was granted Class 3 registration as a Crypto Asset Services Provider (CASP) by Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commision (CySEC).
Digital bank N26 launches cryptocurrency trading services
The cryptocurrency market continues to grow despite the ongoing bear market. Earlier this week, N26, Europe’s first regulated mobile bank, announced that it would launch its cryptocurrency trading services in Austria.
N26 Crypto will go live over the next few weeks, offering users access to 100 cryptocurrencies. The team said it would add more tokens on its platform once it launches.
N26’s entry into the cryptocurrency space will see it compete with other leading fintech companies, including Robinhood, PayPal, and Revolut.
Telegram to auction off usernames via the TON blockchain
Leading messaging platform Telegram announced earlier this week that it would launch a username auction platform.
Telegram revealed that it would launch the platform on the Open Network (TON) blockchain. With a user base of over 700 million users, Telegram said it anticipates massive growth for its upcoming platform.
Another DeFi platform losses funds to hackers
DeFi platforms have been the subject of numerous attacks since the start of the year. Earlier this week, an attacker drained 30,437 OHM tokens (roughly $300,000) from one of Olympus DAO’s smart contracts on the Ethereum network.
Security firm PeckShield reported that the attack happened because a contract failed to properly validate the attacker’s malicious fund transfer request.
Peckshield added that the smart contract lacked a validation input in the “redeem() function,” enabling the hacker to trick input values to redeem funds.
Fidelity Digital Assets will begin offering ETH to institutions soon
Fidelity Digital Assets announced earlier this week that it would start offering Ether to institutional investors before the end of the month.
The firm informed its users via an email that they would soon be able to buy, sell and transfer ether, accessing the same operational excellence, robust security, and dedicated client service model provided for bitcoin investments on its platform.
