Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
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Investments news
- Major asset manager BlackRock has partnered with crypto exchange Coinbase to enable the former’s institutional clients who also own digital assets on Coinbase to use Aladdin, the asset manager’s suite of software tools, to manage their portfolios and conduct risk analysis on investment decisions, the exchange said. For now, the partnership applies only to bitcoin (BTC). “Our institutional clients are increasingly interested in gaining exposure to digital asset markets and are focused on how to efficiently manage the operational lifecycle of these assets,” Joseph Chalom, Global Head of Strategic Ecosystem Partnerships at BlackRock, was quoted as saying in the announcement.
- Cryptoasset trading platform CoinSmart Financial Inc. is looking for deals in Canada, Europe, and the US as turmoil in the crypto industry creates opportunities, Bloomberg reported, citing Chief Executive Officer Justin Hartzman. The company is sifting through distressed assets, custodial-services firms, and other exchanges and payment platforms, it added.
- Revolut said it launched a new crypto service in Singapore, enabling customers to trade more than 80 tokens. The firm also plans to provide educational features in the coming months to help customers “better understand the trends and risks associated with cryptocurrency.”
- PwC’s global crypto leader Henri Arslanian has left his role at the company to set up a digital assets fund, Nine Blocks Capital Management, in Dubai, the Financial Times reported. The fund will receive USD 75m from its chief backer and main shareholder Nine Masts Capital, a Hong Kong-based hedge fund.
NFTs news
- Meta said that it’s rolling out digital collectibles on Instagram to 100 more countries in Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and the Americas. Additionally, they now support wallet connections with the Coinbase Wallet and Dapper Wallet (coming soon), as well as the ability to post digital collectibles minted on the Flow blockchain.
Crime news
- Blockchain analytics company Chainalysis claims that USD 2bn worth of crypto has been stolen from cross-chain bridges just this year across 13 separate hacks, which includes this week’s USD 190m Nomad bridge exploit. In their report, Chainalysis estimated that this type of hack accounts for 69% of all stolen crypto funds this year.
Regulation news
- The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the UK Crypto and Digital Assets sector announced an inquiry into the UK’s growing cryptoasset industry. The inquiry will focus on key policy issues in relation to the UK crypto and digital asset sector, and as a part of it, the APPG is inviting views from across the sector and has said it wants to hear from crypto operators, regulators, industry experts, and Government on the need for regulation of the sector, they said.
- Legislation introduced Wednesday by a mix of US Republicans and Democrats, including Senators Pat Toomey, Cynthia Lummis, Rob Portman, Kyrsten Sinema, and Mark Warner, would exempt crypto miners and software developers from being considered crypto “brokers,” according to Bloomberg. The US Treasury Department has said that it supports not classifying miners, developers, and other “ancillary parties” as brokers, thus sparing them from the effort aimed at boosting tax compliance.
Legal news
- Coinbase Global asked the US Supreme Court to halt two lawsuits by its users, both of which seek class-action status, while the company presses appeals that seek to send the cases to arbitration, Bloomberg reported. Federal trial judges in both cases rejected Coinbase’s bid to send the cases to arbitration, which the company says is required under its user agreements.
- Victorian Police in Australia will be granted new powers to seize crypto and digital assets from criminals and to compel platforms to hand over information about suspects, per a statement released by Victorian premier Daniel Andrews.
Mining news
- US-based Bitcoin miner CleanSpark, in an unaudited update for the calendar year-to-date (YTD) ending July 31, reported: BTC 384 mined in July, BTC 2,247 mined YTD, BTC 519 in total holdings, BTC 426 converted for operations and growth in July, and a currently deployed fleet of approximately 30,450 latest-generation bitcoin miners with a total hashrate of 2.9 EH/s. The company fully funded growth and operations through the sale of BTC 426 at an average of approximately USD 20,768 per BTC, with sales equating to proceeds of some USD 8.8m.
Gaming news
- Crypto gaming guild Yield Guild Games (YGG) said that, by the end of Q2 2022, there were 21,739 active YGG Guild Badge (a non-transferable NFT that gives you access to the YGG website and its features) holders. Also, last quarter, YGG signed 5 new game partnerships. In total, YGG said it has 72 partnerships spanning across games, guilds, and play-to-earn infrastructure valued at USD 39.4m.
Economics news
- In an attempt to fight inflation in the UK, the Bank of England increased its rate by 0.5 percentage points, to 1.75%. Inflation is expected to rise more than forecast in the May Report, from 9.4% in June to just over 13% in 2022 Q4, and to remain at very elevated levels throughout much of 2023, before falling to the 2% target two years ahead, the bank said.
Career news
- Major crypto exchange Binance announced the appointment of its Co-Founder Yi He as the new head of its venture capital arm and incubator, Binance Labs. Yi will lead global strategy and the day-to-day operations at Binance Labs.
