Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
Exchanges news
- Major decentralized exchange Uniswap (UNI) announced Uniswap v3 that is scheduled to be launched on Ethereum mainnet on May 5. Among other features, it introduces “concentrated liquidity, giving individual [liquidity providers] granular control over what price ranges their capital is allocated to,” and “multiple fee tiers, allowing [liquidity providers] to be appropriately compensated for taking on varying degrees of risk.” UNI, ranked 8th by market capitalization, rallied on the news before correcting lower again. At 17:46 UTC it trades at USD 34.38 and is unchanged in a day.
- OKEx will close its South Korean OKEx Korea branch after conceding defeat in the race to implement exhaustive banking, anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing protocols in time for this Thursday’s regulatory deadline. Per Digital Today, the company confirmed that it will end all deposit and withdrawal services on April 7. The exchange had failed to close the gap on bigger domestic players, and according to market data is currently only the 39th largest in the nation in terms of trading volume. The regulatory Financial Services Commission was quoted as warning that “there is a possibility that some existing [crypto exchange] operators will close for business without notice.”
- Bitfinex and and digital asset infrastructure provider Copper have announced the integration of ClearLoop, Copper’s instant off-exchange settlement and clearing network. The solution removes the need for institutional customers to move digital tokens from a cold wallet into an exchange’s hot wallet, while the integration will facilitate “the full spectrum of trading strategies” among Bitfinex’s customers from the institutional space, they added.
- The South Korean crypto exchange Korbit said it managed to intervene and foil a crypto-related voice phishing scam that threatened to rob a customer of USD 36,000 worth of crypto. Per Newspim, the scam involved an individual calling the Korbit customer center earlier this month claiming to be a customer who wanted to increase their withdrawal limit. The individual said that this would allow them to make a crypto transfer to a third-party wallet to pay for a real estate deal. Korbit stated that its suspicions arose when the “customer” requested a crypto transfer, rather than a fiat withdrawal. The claim turned out to be bogus, and the exchange said that on the same day, it also fended off a fake “prosecutor” who had posed as a government official trying to gain access to one of its customers’ accounts.
Investing news
- The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published research findings, after surveying 517 self-directed investors, according to which there is a new, younger, and more diverse group of consumers getting involved in higher-risk investments, like cryptocurrencies and foreign exchange, potentially partly prompted by the new investment apps’ accessibility. Investors often have high confidence and claimed knowledge, but showed a lack of awareness and/or belief in the risks of investing, with over 4 in 10 not viewing ‘losing some money’ as one of the risks of investing – even though their whole capital is at risk. These high-risk products may not always be suitable for these consumer’’ needs, warns the FCA, as nearly two-thirds – or 59% – claim that a significant investment loss would have a fundamental impact on their current or future lifestyle.
- Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci’s SkyBridge Capital and investment firm First Trust Advisors have filed to launch a bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF). According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the “First Trust SkyBridge Bitcoin ETF Trust” will seek to buy and sell bitcoin “so that the total value of the bitcoin held by the Trust is as close to 100% of the net assets of the Trust as is reasonably practicable to achieve.” The ETF will seek to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange Arca, which specializes in exchange-traded listings.
- The IOTA Foundation’s Chairman and Co-Founder, Dominik Schiener, has invested in credX and now holds a 10% stake in the fintech startup. Per the press release, German-based credX builds digital platforms for B2B commercial financing. “With Schiener on board, the start-up will apply innovative digital technologies – distributed ledgers, Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI) – toward broadening its base of B2B financing use cases,” it said. credX will use the new investment to build a bridge between traditional finance and a more decentralized future, said the accompanying email, while the addition of digital assets and smart contracts will allow it to “deliver a new level of sophistication in business finance.”
- Crypto platform Abra launched Abra Borrow, a cryptocurrency lending and borrowing service. It is available on Abra Mobile App globally and in 35 US states, with rollout to additional states expected in the near future, they said.
Gaming news
- Tech giant Microsoft has apparently been considering adding BTC payments for its Xbox gaming console’s online store. According to a post on subreddit r/XboxSeriesX, the company asked its users “Which of these other payment methods would you like to use on Xbox,” providing as an option “Pay with Bitcoin.” Meanwhile, as reported in February, Microsoft had no imminent plans to invest its corporate assets in bitcoin despite the recent surge in similar investments, according to Brad Smith, the company’s president.
Mining news
- Major American Bitcoin miner Hut 8 Mining Corp. and Foundry Digital LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG) focused on digital asset mining and staking, have announced that Hut 8 is now mining on Foundry USA Pool. According to the press release, the miner has added a portion of its total fleet, 14,400 bitcoin mining machines, and over 0.81 exahashes of computing power to Foundry USA Pool. They also plan to deploy additional 5,000 machines by August 2021, meaning Hut 8’s compute power generated on Foundry USA Pool would amount to over 1.20 exahashes by that month.
- Japan’s DeCurret crypto exchange is to launch a rewards program for miners. The company has recently begun selling mining hardware to small-scale crypto mining operators. The trading platform said that the rewards program was “Japanese first” and would see customers recommending the service to friends who became DeCurret mining customers receive 20% rebates on their operating costs – with the pay-outs to be made in BTC.
Career news
- A new job posting from Time magazine shows the publication looking for a Chief Financial Officer familiar with cryptocurrencies. Per the posting, the person needs to have more than seven years of experience in executive leadership positions, as well as “comfort with Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.” The listing said that “the media industry is undergoing a rapid evolution and TIME is seeking a Chief Financial Officer who can help guide its transformation.” The position will be based in the magazine’s corporate offices in New York City.
Legal news
- Tokyo prosecutors have released a 30-year-old man who was arrested by the capital’s Metropolitan Police force on suspicions of stealing USD 98,000 worth of bitcoin. The man, a former employee of a crypto industry-related “system development company” was released without charge, reported the media outlet Jiji. He had been accused of diverting funds from the company into his own private BTC wallet.
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(Updated at 17:50 UTC with an announcement from Uniswap.)
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