Schlagwort: crypto market news

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has said that the global cryptocurrency exchange “never completed” the purchase of Indian crypto exchange WazirX.

Zhao’s comments come after India’s financial crime watchdog announced it had frozen WazirX assets worth over 646 million rupees (about $8 million, £6.7 million). The freeze, India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) said in a Friday announcement, followed an investigation around money laundering, and which involved 16 fintech companies.

In its press release, the ED says:

“Zanmai Labs Pvt Ltd – the company owning WazirX Crypto Exchange – has created a web of agreements with — Crowdfire Inc. USA, Binance (Cayman Islands), Zettai Pte Ltd Singapore — to obscure the ownership of the crypto exchange.”

Binance CEO Zhao said in a tweet:

“On 21 Nov 2019, Binance published a blog post that it had “acquired” WazirX. This transaction was never completed. Binance has never – at any point – owned any shares of Zanmai Labs, the entity operating WazirX.”

2/ On 21 Nov 2019, Binance published a blog post that it had “acquired” WazirX. This transaction was never completed. Binance has never – at any point – owned any shares of Zanmai Labs, the entity operating WazirX.

— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) August 5, 2022

According to CZ, as the Binance chief is popularly known around the crypto ecosystem, his platform “only provides wallet services for WazirX.” 

This, he noted, is only offered as a technological solution and that the Mumbai-based company handles all other exchange aspects, including user registration, Know Your Customer (KYC) and trading among others.

“Recent allegations about the operation of WazirX and how the platform is managed by Zanmai Labs are of deep concern to Binance. Binance collaborates with law enforcement agencies all around the world. We would be happy to work with ED in any way possible,” CZ added.

ED said its investigations into WazirX started in 2021 and the platform has not cooperated with the agency.

The post Binance never completed the WazirX acquisition, CZ says appeared first on CoinJournal.

Immerse play-and-earn MMORPG games platform, Mummy.io has announced a partnership with Polygon Studios to scale its metaverse and allow its community to access more opportunities.

The partnership will help Mummy to introduce new NFT collections and in-game utility integrations to enhance the experience of players of the P&E game. Polygon Studios is an ecosystem that hosts a myriad of Web3 companies including lending dApps, decentralized exchanges, sports betting, play-to-earn games, NFTs, and DAOs.

Over the past 7 months, Polygon has grown tremendously seeing over 19,000 dApps joining the platform.

First airdrop of Stelae NFTs

Along with announcing the partnership, Mummy.io also announced the launch of its first airdrop of Stelae NFTs, which is the first artifact of a Series of 3 with a Demo Chapter 1: Battle of Ankhahur the Fallen in summer 2022.

The airdrop offers special utilities and features to encourage gamers and NFT collectors.

Mummy.io said that the airdropped NFTs will be minted on Polygon, something that would make Mummy.io benefit from low gas fees, high speeds, and reduced latency. Mummy also aims at leveraging the flexibility, sovereignty, and scalability of Polygon while at the same time ensuring interoperability, security, and structural benefits in a competitive manner.

The MMORPG games

MMORPG is a more complex game genre than other video game genres and Mummy’s team has come out clearly to point out the challenges it faces when developing its games. According to the developers, MMORPG requires specialized software and secure integration of blockchain technology.

The team is hoping to combat these challenges with the onboarding of Polygon and also boost their go-to-market strategy and the process of game development.

With the Polygon partnership, Mummy aims to reach out to 3D gamers around the globe and bring AAA gaming standards to the next level.

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Mark Zuckerberg’s company, Meta, has begun its non-fungible token expansion across 100 countries in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Middle-East, and Africa with Instagram NFT integration.

Meta, which registered a sharp loss in its Q2 earnings report, unveiled its digital asset expansion plan on May 10 this year and Instagram and Facebook, which is a sister social media platform to Instagram, had started by experimenting with Ethereum and Polygon-based NFTs.The pilot phase, however, was only restricted to US users. 

Today’s announcement marks the beginning of expanding Meta’s digital plan across the world with a target of over 100 countries.

In addition to the NFT integration that will give users the ability to post digital collectibles minted on the Flow blockchain, Instagram will also add support for Coinbase Wallet and Dapper Wallet.  

Instagram was selected as the starting point primarily because of its popularity around the world.

Posting NFTs on Instagram

Following the announcement, one simply needs to connect a digital wallet to his Instagram account to post an NFT minted on Ethereum, Polygon, or Flow.

Instgaram is also working on integradting Solana based NFTs.

Some of the third-party wallet integrations that Instagram users will be able to link to include Rainbow, Trust Wallet, Coinbase Wallet, MetaMask, and Dapper Wallet. 

Most importantly, users will not be charged anything for posting or sharing digital collectibles on Instagram.

Besides Meta, Flow enjoys several other notable partners including Animoca Brands, Warner Music, Ubisoft, National Basketball Association, Ubisoft, Ubisoft, Circle, Binance, and OpenSea.

Flow’s integration with Instagram shows Meta has a lot of confidence in the blockchain, which is a major boost for the FLOW token.

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Today the price of FLOW has been rising and rising. It surged by about 45% in the morning to set a new two-month high of $2.7681 before slightly pulling back to its current price of $2.58.

At the time of writing, FLOW was still green and showing a lot of bullish momentum. But why did the FLOW token register surge a huge pump today? What is happening to Flow blockchain?

Here is a comprehensive dive into the forces behind today’s FLOW token pump.

Why FLOW price pumped suddenly today

Today morning, Meta (formerly Facebook) announced that it had started the Instagram NFT integration and it was going to add support for NFTs created on the Flow blockchain.

On May 10, Meta announced that Instagram would integrate NFT collectibles starting with Ethereum and Polygon-based NFTs. The addition of Flow into the list almost came as a surprise and it could explain the sudden surge in the price of the FLOW token.

Ethereum is the leading blockchain network for NFTs while Polygon is an Ethereum Layer-2 solution that allows for faster, cheaper, and more efficient transactions. Flow, therefore, becomes the only other Layer-1 blockchain that Instagram has integrated so far after Ethereum

Instagram also plans to add support for Solana NFTs.

Facebook, which is a sister social media platform form to Instagram, began testing the support for Polygon and Ethereum in June and has also revealed plans to add Solana and FLOW.

By adding support for NFTs minted on the Flow blockchain, Instagram users will be able to link digital wallets and showcase their verified Flow NFTs. The initiative was first launched in the US but today’s announcement marks the beginning of its expansion to over 100 countries across Africa, the Americas, the Middle East, and the Asia Pacific.

Besides adding support for Flow NFTs, Meta also announced that it has also added support for Dapper Wallet and Coinbase Wallet. Both Dapper Wallet and Flow are products of the same firm called Dapper Labs, which is also best known for its own sports NFT projects that include the NBA Top Shot, NFL All Day, and UFC Strike.

Meta is pushing hard on its metaverse plan since it rebranded from Facebook last fall. It recently revealed its grand vision for a next-generation internet navigated with avatars in immersive 3B space.

The post FLOW token price is up by over 35% today: here’s why appeared first on CoinJournal.

Pictet Group’s Asia division CEO Tee Fong Seng said at a summit that while the crypto asset class continues to mature, now might not be the time for private bankers to invest in the sector.

Crypto is an industry that is here to stay, even as part of its growing pains remains glaringly scary for some players. Matters are indeed not helped by the recent events that have seen several crypto companies go bankrupt, and wild volatility does not help either.

Because of such concerns, Swiss wealth manager the Pictet Group is warning that this might not be the time to dive into crypto – at least not for now.

Crypto asset class can’t be ignored – but,

In remarks made at a panel on the sidelines of a Bloomberg summit in Asia, an executive of Swiss firm Pictet highlighted why the asset manager is not keen on getting into crypto.

According to Tee Fong Seng, the CEO of Pictet’s Asia subsidiary, crypto’s growth as an asset class cannot be undone nor can it be “ignored” going forward. However, the company believes that crypto as it is – with some of the concerns above- does not have ‘a place’ in the private banking sector.

“Crypto will be an asset class that we cannot ignore, but today I don’t think there is a place for private bankers and for private bank portfolios,” he said.

But despite this outlook, the firm, like many others, appears to be keenly monitoring developments in the crypto market. For clients, this means looking at when to start offering services such as trading.

He notes that a look at the crypto market’s performance over the past two years shows it’s possible to “make a lot of money.” But at the same time, with the huge volatility, it’s also very easy to “lose a lot of money,” he observed.

“The question is, when do we bring the clients into the picture,” he posed as he pointed out that the Geneva-based asset manager had a team on the lookout for opportunities.

Concerns aside, mainstream companies push into crypto

A few years back, the best that came from financial institutions and other major mainstream companies was a blatant dismissal of crypto.

Many continue to sit on the fence, but many more have made a move – more so amid crypto’s last bull market. Today, global giants such as Fidelity Investments, BlackRock, Charles Schwab and Julius Baer Group have ventured into digital asset products – including crypto-focused exchange-traded funds, custody services and even trading to their clients.

The partnership between Coinbase and BlackRock announced today, and which targets institutional clients, is a good example of the increased interest for crypto exposure.

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