Singapore bank DBS allows e-CNY settlements

  • The DBS bank has started an e-CNY collection platform.
  • The platform will enable automated settlement of e-CNY into businesses’ CNY bank deposit accounts.
  • The bank is participating in Project Guardian, a project for testing asset tokenization and DeFi for traditional banks.

According to a Wednesday announcement, clients of the Singaporean bank DBS can now receive payments in e-CNY, the digital currency issued by the Chinese central bank.

The new platform enables automated e-CNY settlement into business customers’ bank deposit accounts. According to DBS, at least one client has already completed a transaction using this platform.

Singapore’s Project Guardian

Besides taking part in experiments aimed at building the infrastructure required to issue a programmable digital Singapore dollar, DBS is also taking part in Project Guardian, a project launched by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to test asset tokenization and decentralized finance (DeFi) for traditional banks.

Project Guardian involved the DeFi lending platform Aave, the decentralized exchange Uniswap, and the Ethereum scaling system Polygon. The project will also involve several traditional banks including Singapore’s DBS Bank, US-based JPMorgan, and Japan’s SBI Digital in addition to Marketnode, a digital asset platform built by the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and Temasek.

The first phase of the Project Guardian testing involved trades in tokenized Singapore dollars (SGD), Japanese yen (JPY), Japanese government bonds, and Singapore government securities and was done using Polygon, Aave and Uniswap.

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Cryptocurrencies are back in fashion as the total crypto market cap keeps rising

  • The total cryptocurrency market capitalization grew by more than 50% in the last six months
  • Investors are optimistic as Bitcoin’s price holds near the yearly high
  • Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple have followed Bitcoin higher

The first half of the trading year is behind us, and one of the most notable developments is the increase in the total crypto market capitalization. Following 2022, when many crypto investors got fed up with industry scandals and left, the 2023 rally looks like the start of a new bullish market.

The performance is even more impressive, given that the US dollar is trading with a mixed tone against its fiat rivals. 

Investors’ renewed interest in cryptocurrencies led to the total market capitalization growing by more than 50% in the year’s first half. Only in the last week, the market grew by more than 3%, and investors are optimistic because Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, holds near the yearly high. 

Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple have followed Bitcoin higher

Bitcoin is the main reason why investors are optimistic about the cryptocurrency industry despite the ongoing scandals, frauds, and lawsuits. In the end, all that matters for market watchers is that Bitcoin’s price holds close to the yearly high, despite rallying in 2023 by over +85%. 

Therefore, the path of least resistance in the year’s second half seems to be the upside. 

Bitcoin chart by TradingView

Not all currencies performed like Bitcoin, though. For instance, Dogecoin is flat on the year, up by about +0.3% in the first six months of 2023. This is a huge divergence from what Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies did (e.g., Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple), and it reflects the crypto investors’ concentration in a few cryptocurrencies. 

Moving forward in the year’s second half, crypto investors might want to watch the developments in the traditional currency market. More precisely, what will the Fed do with the funds rate? 

If the US dollar loses ground against its rival fiat currencies in the next six months, Bitcoin and the other leading cryptocurrencies are well positioned to rally some more. As the Fed paused the rate hikes in June, one should embrace the possibility of the current funds rate being the terminal one for this tightening cycle. 

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Bitget debuts in lending with the launch of ‘Crypto Loans’

  • Bitget launched its native “Crypto Loans” product on Tuesday.
  • Digital lending is expected to advance at a CAGR of 20.5%.
  • Singapore and Thailand have recently banned crypto lending.

Bitget – a Seychelles-based digital assets trading platform launched “Crypto Loans” to debut in the lending space on Tuesday.

Here’s what we know so far

Its new product will cater particularly to users that are not fully satisfied with the traditional credit institutions. According to Gracy Chen – the Managing Director of Bitget:

Users now have the opportunity to stake less-demanded coins, enabling them to obtain loans in more liquid assets for investment purposes.

Each loan, as per the press release, will be coupled with a specific interest rate. Bitget did not, however, reveal the cryptocurrencies that’ll be eligible for Crypto Loans.

The news arrives only days after Bitget formally entered Turkey with a new website as part of its commitment to expand globally (find out more).

Digital lending is seeing strong demand

Digital lending is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 20.5% between 2023 and 2032 after hitting the $8.5 billion mark last year which suggests strong demand. Chen also said today in the press release:

Bitget’s new product highlights flexibility of collateralized currency usage, enhancing capital utilization. Our flexible borrowing and repayment mechanism caters to needs of all users.

The top crypto derivatives platform is entering the crypto lending sector at a time when multiple countries, including Singapore and Thailand, have banned crypto companies from issuing loans.

Bitget did not state in its press release whether the new service will be available in the United States.

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Cardano price retests key resistance as DeFi TVL hits record

  • Cardano price retested the key resistance level at $0.2972 on Tuesday. 

  • DeFi TVL in Cardano’s ecosystem jumped to a record high.

Cardano price has moved sideways in the past few weeks even as other coins like Bitcoin, AAVE, and Compound surged. ADA token was trading at $0.2972, where it has been for a while. This price is about 27% above the lowest level in June and 37% below the highest point in May this year.

DeFi TVL hits record

Cardano has become one of the most underperforming large-cap cryptocurrencies in the past few weeks. This performance is mostly because of the recent decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to label it a security.

In the aftermath, Robinhood, one of the biggest companies in the financial services industry, decided to delist the coin. If the SEC’s lawsuit against the two exchanges prevails, it means that Americans will not have access to Cardano.

The daily volume of Cardano traded in centralized exchanges has been falling in the past few weeks. It stood at $171 million on Tuesday, down from a peak of over $1 billion in June.

Despite this performance, Cardano’s ecosystem is doing well. Data shows that the total value locked (TVL) in its DeFi ecosystem soared to over 702 million ADA tokens, a record high. The figure started the year at around 265 million ADA. In dollar terms, Cardano has a TVL of over $202 million. 

The biggest DeFi dApps in Cardano’s ecosystem are Minswap, Indigo, Liquid, and VyFinance among others. TVL is an important metric that measures the value of digital assets locked in a blockchain. 

At the same time, Cardano’s NFT ecosystem is not doing all that well. Total Cardano NFT sales came in at over $8.6 million in June from the previous $8.23 million. While these numbers are good, sales stood at $10 million in March and $23 million in October last year.

Cardano price prediction

The daily chart shows that the ADA price has been in a strong bearish trend for a while. This decline saw it retreat below the important support $0.2972, the lowest level in March this year. It has now retested this level, making a bearish break and retest pattern. Cardano remains below the 25-day and 50-day moving averages.

It has also formed a head and shoulders and a bearish pennant patterns. Therefore, the coin will likely have a bearish breakout in the coming days. If this happens, the next level to watch will be last month’s low of $0.23277

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Voyager Digital creditors’ lawyers to pocket $16.48M after the recent invoice

  • In the third and final bill lawyers representing Voyager Digital creditors have billed $5.1 million.
  • When all the invoices are fully paid, Voyager Digital creditors will have paid a total of $16.48 million to the lawyers.
  • The legal charges will top the firm’s bankruptcy budget by $5.28 million from the initial $11.2 million.

In the recent court filing, the creditors of bankrupt cryptocurrency brokerage company Voyager Digital have been billed $5.1 million by New York-based law firm McDermott Will & Emery. The firm is billing for services offered between March 1 and May 13, 2023.

The law firm submitted a court filing on July 3 billing the legal costs to the “Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors.” According to the filing, the law firm billed for its services at an hourly rate of $1,026.76.

In total, the law firm is charging for 5,332.6 hours of professional, semi-professional, and non-professional services, including advising the unsecured Voyager creditors committee. It also wants to be reimbursed $151,221 for its expenses.

How much have Voyager Digital creditors paid so far?         

McDermott Will & Emery law firm submitted its third and final bill, bringing its total compensation between July 5, 2022, and May 19, 2023, to $16.48 million, of which $8.97 million has already been paid by the creditors.

McDermott Will & Emery isn’t the only law firm that is willing to help Voyager, though. Legal counsel Kirkland & Ellis also sent Voyager a bill for $1.1 million in legal costs for the month of April on June 28.

Voyager Digital woes

Voyager Digital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2022, after the massive crypto meltdown that resulted from the collapse of Terra Luna. At the time, Voyager owed $620 million to the currently bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.

The bankruptcy court has since ordered Voyager to pay interim reimbursement to the professionals including its lawyers.

Voyager had agreed to FTX’s bid for its assets just before FTX went down and also filed for bankruptcy meaning the deal did not go through.

Voyager then agreed to sell its assets to Binance.US but Binance.US pulled out of the deal triggering the liquidation of Voyager. Binance.US has also been locked in a legal battle with the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) which recently sued it for violating the country’s securities laws.

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