Kategorie: Crypto Markets

The world’s payment giant Mastercard announced in an interview with CNBC that it will help financial institutions including banks offer cryptocurrency trading to their clients. The payment company is determined to make it easier for banks to participate in bringing crypto to the masses.

Mastercard intends to act as a “bridge” between Paxos crypto trading platform and banks. Paxos is already being used by PayPal to offer crypto services in the UK.

Mastercard will handle security and regulatory compliance, which are the two main reasons why banks avoid getting involved in crypto.

Lots of consumers interested in crypto

Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile and there is also the current bear market that was triggered by the collapse of Terra LUNA following the de-pegging of its UST stablecoin. There has also been a string of bankruptcy filings by an array of crypto service providers like Celsius and Voyager Digital. 

However, despite all these, Mastercard still believes that there are many customers out there that are interested in cryptocurrencies.

Mastercard’s chief digital officer, Jorn Lambert, said that survey shows there is still a high demand for digital assets although about 60% of those interviewed would prefer trying out the space through established banks.

During the interview with CNBC Jorn Lambert said:

“There’s a lot of consumers out there that are really interested in this, and intrigued by crypto, but would feel a lot more confident if those services were offered by their financial institutions. It’s a little scary to some people still.”

Lambert also said:

“It would be shortsighted to think that a little bit of a crypto winter heralds the end of it — we don’t see that. As regulation comes in, there is going to be a higher degree of security available to the crypto platforms and we’ll see a lot of the current issues getting resolved in the quarters in the years to come.”

Banks have invested in crypto but avoid offering to clients

Large investment banks like Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan, have established teams to explore the crypto space but have so far avoided offering the product to clients. Just last week, the CEO of JPMorgan, Jamie Dimon, referred to cryptocurrencies as “decentralized Ponzis” during an Institute for International Finance event.

If the banks embrace Mastercard’s partnership model through Paxos, it would mean more competition for popular crypto exchanges, especially those like Coinbase that operate in the US.

Mastercard to pilot the product in Q1 of 2023

Mastercard will pilot the product that will see it handle regulation by following crypto compliance rules, verifying transactions and providing anti-money-laundering and identity monitoring services in the first quarter of 2023.

While Lambert declined to hint at which banks have been chosen for the pilot, he said that the payment giant will expand the product in more places after the pilot.

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Two of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges gained regulatory approval to operate in Singapore as Coinbase announced a major partnership with Google.

Blockchain.com and Coinbase secure Singapore licences

Earlier this week, Blockchain.com, one of the leading crypto trading platforms, announced that it had gained regulatory approval to offer its services in Singapore. The crypto exchange said it had secured approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). 

Blockchain.com explained that the in-principle approval is for the Major Payment Institution Licence for Digital Payment Token services.

US-based crypto exchange Coinbase also announced earlier this week that it had received preliminary regulatory approval from Singapore’s monetary authority (MAS) to offer crypto services in Singapore.

Coinbase and Google Cloud announced a strategic partnership

Coinbase, one of the leading crypto exchanges in the world, announced earlier this week that it had partnered with Google Cloud. According to the terms of the partnership, Google Cloud will serve as Coinbase’s strategic cloud provider to develop advanced data and exchange services.

Coinbase said it would process blockchain data using Google Cloud’s powerful computing platform. The crypto exchange would also enhance global cryptocurrency service reach using Google Cloud’s top-grade fiber optic network.

DeFi platform Mango hit by $100 million exploit

Last week it was Binance, this week, it was Mango Markets. Earlier this week, Solana-based DeFi platform Mango Markets revealed that it suffered an exploit, with the attacker carting away $100 million from the protocol. 

The attacker manipulated the oracle prices on the protocol. However, the Mango Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO) said it is now focused on preventing any further unnecessary losses on the network.

Uniswap raises $165 million in its latest funding round

Uniswap, one of the leading decentralised exchanges in the space, announced earlier this week that it had raised $165 million in a Series B funding round. 

The DEX said the investment round was led by Polychain Capital and while investors such as a16z crypto, Paradigm, SV Angel, and Variant also participated. Uniswap said it intends to use the funds to invest in its web application.

Crypto.com launches its European headquarters in France

Crypto.com, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges, announced earlier this week that it had launched its European headquarters in France.

The crypto exchange revealed that it had spent $145 million on this project, which included other strategic investments in France. Crypto.com said the investment would help ensure its long-term commitment to France as it would focus on the hiring of local talent to drive the company’s efforts across the region. 

Crypto.com added that the French office would focus on some aspects of its business, such as compliance, business development, and product.

Tron becomes the national blockchain of the Commonwealth of Dominica

To wrap up the week, Tron announced that it had become the National Blockchain of the Commonwealth of Dominica.

This means that Tron would play a vital role in the development and issuance of the Dominica Coin (DMC), a blockchain-based fan token.

The post This week in crypto: Blockchain.com and Coinbase secure Singapore licences appeared first on CoinJournal.

Uniswap wants to ‘bring Web3 to everyone’ , said founder and CEO Hayden Adams.

Uniswap Labs, the leading decentralised exchange (DEX) platform in the crypto ecosystem and which is behind the Uniswap cryptocurrency, has raised $165 million in its series B funding round as it looks to push forth with ambitions around NFTs and Web3.

Polychain Capital led the funding round, with multiple top crypto-oriented venture firms also participating.

According to the announcement shared via Twitter and in a company blog post, participants included Andreessen Horowitz (a16z crypto), venture firm Paradigm, San Francisco-based venture fund SV Angel, and Web3 focused early stage funding platform Variant.

Uniswap founder and CEO Hayden Adams said in a company blog that the funding will help bring the platform’s services and products to more people.

“When I built the Uniswap Protocol in 2018, it was an experiment to see if I could create something that fully embodied the values of Ethereum: transparent, secure, and accessible. Since then, it has grown and evolved in ways I never imagined,” Adams wrote in the ‘Bringing Web3 to Everyone’ post.

Web app and developer tools key to Uniswap growth

Since its launch, Uniswap has supported more than $1.2 trillion in trading volume, taking the central stage as a leading DeFi player. Uniswap price hit a high of $44.92 in May 2021 as the platform saw massive trading volumes.

As the company looks to grow by leveraging the latest financing, the plan is to continue providing critical infrastructure supporting the burgeoning industry. Part of the goal will be to invest in the company’s new web app as well as developer tools.

Also in the pipeline is the launch of NFTs and an entry into mobile among other developments, according to Adams.

The recently created Uniswap Foundation will also play a huge role in the overall development of the ecosystem via $60 million in grants extended to community projects.

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Hackers have so far stolen $718 million from DeFi protocols in October, which could yet be the biggest month for hackers, Chainalysis said in a report.

Total value hacked and the number of hackings across the decentralised finance (DeFi) ecosystem has shot up over 2022, with billions stolen in what is turning out to be the biggest year for hackers in cryptocurrency.

According to blockchain security and analytics firm Chainalysis, October has seen 11 different hacks targeting DeFi protocols. As the month reaches halfway, hackers have syphoned more than $718 million through security exploits.

“After four hacks yesterday, October is now the biggest month in the biggest year ever for hacking activity, with more than half the month still to go. So far this month, $718 million has been stolen from DeFi protocols across 11 different hacks,” Chainalysis said in a report on Thursday.

Hackers now targeting DeFi protocols

The attacks have thinned across centralised exchanges, which bore the brunt of attacks in 2019. In the past two years, the attackers have shifted attention to DeFi platforms – with cross-chain bridges currently the most targeted.

Per Chainalysis, October has seen exploits at three bridges and with close to $600 million stolen from these platforms alone. The attacks account for 82% of stolen funds in the past two weeks and 64% of heist suffered in 2022.

4/ Cross-chain bridges remain a major target for hackers, with 3 bridges breached this month and nearly $600 million stolen, accounting for 82% of losses this month and 64% of losses all year. pic.twitter.com/lQySX2ljKt

— Chainalysis (@chainalysis) October 12, 2022

In terms of total value hacked in 2022, October is on track to surpass March. The number of hacks has also ticked up during the month, after declining since the March 2022 explosion.

The thefts recorded in October have helped push the amounts of crypto assets towards 2021 levels, and with more than two months to go, hackers could yet hit record levels.

“At this rate, 2022 will likely surpass 2021 as the biggest year for hacking on record. So far, hackers have grossed over $3 billion dollars across 125 hacks,” the analytics firm tweeted.

The latest attacks on Temple DAO for over $2.3 million in crypto tokens and another $100 million hack on Solana-based platform Mango, add to some of the biggest losses seen this year. These include the Wormhole and Ronin bridge exploits that resulted in $325 million and $625 million losses respectively.

As CoinJournal also recently highlighted, major crypto exchange Binance also recorded a cross-chain hack incident, pointing to the increased risk malicious actors pose to crypto and DeFi.

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The US treasury has finned Bittrex exchange $24 million for violating sanctions issued by the United States against individuals in different countries around the world. According to the US treasury, Bittrex did not stop sanctioned individuals from Cuba, Crimea, Iran, Syria, and Sudan from using the exchange.

The US Treasury fine against Bittrex is one of the biggest fines that has been issued against any entity especially for contravening sanctions.

Where it all started

1,730 individuals that fell under the list of sanctioned individuals by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) were found to have used Bittrex between March 2014 and December 2017. It is reported that these individuals conducted about 116,421 transactions involving digital assets worth about $263.4 million.

It is important to note that Bittrex operated without a sanctions compliance program until December 2015, after which customer identity verification was enacted, followed by the retainment of a third-party vendor for the sanction screening process.

But even after putting in place measures to screen sanctioned individuals, Bittrex still lacked in its efforts leading to the issuance of a subpoena against it by the OFAC. The subpoena drove Bittrex to put in place multiple measures in a bid to curtail the number of violations.

The Treasury Department has noted this by saying:

“Bittrex subsequently implemented a number of other remedial measures, including implementing new sanctions screening and blockchain tracing software, conducting additional sanctions compliance training, and hiring additional compliance staff. Once implemented, these remedial measures substantially curtailed the number of Apparent Violations.”

The $24 million fine

To settle the fines of the aforementioned violations, specifically for allowing sanctioned individuals to transact with the exchange, Bittrex agreed to remit about $24.2 million.

It is however not the first time that the US Treasury has penalized a crypto exchange for violating sanctions. In February 2021, BitPay was fined $507,000 and BitGo was fined $98,000 for sanctions violations.

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