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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Adoption news
- Beginning August 3, Google advertisers offering crypto exchanges and wallets targeting the United States may advertise those products and services when they meet several requirements and are certified by Google, the company said in its updated policy. Advertisers will need to:
– Be duly registered with (a) FinCEN as a Money Services Business and with at least one state as a money transmitter; or (b) a federal or state chartered bank entity.
– Comply with relevant legal requirements, including any local legal requirements, whether at a state or federal level.
– Ensure their ads and landing pages comply with all Google Ads policies
The company noted that ads for initial coin offerings, DeFi trading protocols, or otherwise promoting the purchase, sale, or trade of cryptocurrencies or related products are not allowed. Also, ad destinations that aggregate or compare issuers of cryptocurrencies or related products are still forbidden.
- International auction house Phillips will accept bitcoin (BTC) or ethereum (ETH) for Banksy’s “Laugh now Panel A,” Asia Chairman Jonathan Crockett told Bloomberg. Potential buyers will also have the option to pay in Hong Kong Dollars.
- Perk Labs, the parent company of mobile commerce platform Perk Hero, has partnered with crypto payment service BitPay to accept cryptocurrencies as payment. The company already has a digital loyalty currency called Perk Coin, which is used to reward users for making purchases through the platform, regardless of the payment method.
- The Venezuela-based Bio Mercados chain of supermarkets has begun accepting crypto pay in-store nationwide after striking a partnership with the dash (DASH)-token affiliated Dashpay platform and the crypto exchange platform Cryptobuyer, as well as the latter’s crypto pay partner, the Caracas-based MegaSoft. According to a Dashpay tweet, the new deal will see outlets in Caracas and elsewhere in the country accept payments, enabling crypto pay for “over 500,000 shoppers” in the nation. Per El Universal, shoppers will be able to pay in bitcoin, DASH and Cryptobuyer’s own token (XPT), as well as “other cryptoassets.”
Investments news
- Banking and financial services company Standard Chartered has partnered with digital asset investment holding company BC Group to launch a digital asset brokerage and exchange platform for institutional and corporate clients in the UK and Europe. The emailed press release said that the joint venture is slated for launch in the fourth quarter of this year, pending regulatory approval.
- Decentralized finance (DeFi) privacy solution Panther Protocol said it has raised USD 8m in a private sale in which 140 investors participated. One of their goals is to provide compliance without sacrificing privacy through so-called “selective private disclosures,” such as zero-knowledge disclosures. Early investors include Rarestone Capital, Master Ventures, DeepVentures, Moonwhale, Alphabit Fund, Ex Network, and others. Panther Protocol will offer a Public Sale in Q3.
- Digital asset investment products issuer Valour Structured Products has launched its Polkadot (DOT) exchange-traded product (ETP) on the Nordic Growth Market (NGM) stock exchange. This will enable investors to gain exposure to the asset, while Valour buys or sells the equivalent amount of the traded ETP, which makes the product fully backed at all times, they claimed.
- Atlanta-based Borderless Capital is announcing the creation of the USD 25m Borderless.Miami fund, which will use the millions to seed startups using the Algorand (ALGO) blockchain, Miami Herald reported. It is also creating an Algorand Miami Accelerator in collaboration with Circle, it added.
Exchanges news
- Crypto exchange Luno might be looking to enter the Southeastern Asian market, potentially through Indonesia, Nikkei Asia reported. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s first regulated crypto exchange, TokoCrypto, will be entering the public market through an initial public offering (IPO) listing in the next few years, once the business is deemed profitable enough.
- Kraken is bringing its mobile app to the US (except New York and Washington state) that will help their clients trade more than 50 cryptoassets from their mobile phones, CNBC reported, citing Chief Product Officer Jeremy Welch. The app does not yet allow credit and debit card payments, but the company says it plans to enhance its offerings in the coming weeks and months, per the report.
CBDCs news
- Consumers and businesses in countries that don’t have their own digital currency could end up being reliant on a small number of dominant payment-service providers, including foreign tech giants, the European Central Bank said in a report today. That could affect the central bank’s ability to fulfill its mandate and act as a lender of last resort, according to them.
Mining news
- Major producer of Bitcoin mining equipment Canaan reported a total net revenue of USD 61.5m in the first quarter of this year, slightly lower than the USD 68.3m of Q1 2020, but significantly higher than the USD 38.2m of Q4 2020. Their net income was USD 200,000, whereas the company had registered losses both in Q1 and Q4 of 2020.
- The producer of low-carbon aluminum and independent hydropower En+ Group said in an email that they have issued a million International Renewable Energy (I-REC) certificates to colocation services provider BitRiver. The latter uses renewable energy to power around 90% of its colocation services that are located in Siberia, while En+ Group previously said they intend to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Legal news
- US President Joe Biden has launched “a rapid strategic review to address the increased threat of ransomware to include four lines of effort: one, distribution of ransomware infrastructure and actors working closely with the private sector; two, building an international coalition to hold countries who harbor ransom actors accountable; expanding cryptocurrency analysis to find and pursue criminal transaction; and reviewing the USG’s ransomware policies,” Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
- The Russian Central Bank has included several crypto players on its updated “illegal activities” blacklist. The 1,820 organization-strong list, the bank claims, is made up of members it suspects of conducting “pyramid scheme”-like and other irregular operations, and includes a number of possible crypto scams. Per RBC, the list includes a bogus-looking “exchange” that appears to have cloned much of its content from other websites, as well as a firm claiming to offer patrons access to “secret crypto deals.”
- The Centre for Security Studies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in cooperation with the Czech AML Academy, is set to hold the country’s first specialized training on crypto misuse and fraud for the representatives from security and judicial institutions. Per the local media, the goal is to educate the participants, in a professional and systematic manner, on the possibilities of using crypto for illicit activities and on how to fight that misuse.
Blockchain news
- Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of the Russian gas giant Gazprom, is set to expand the scope of its blockchain-powered aviation fuel platform. Per Aviation Explorer, the masterminds of the Smart Fuel platform claim they have already refueled 300 scheduled flights – mid-air – using the blockchain-powered solution. The firm said that the airlines Utair and Smartavia are using the platform at Novosibirsk International Airport (Tolmachevo), but the company is hoping to roll out Smart Fuel at a number of other Russian airports before the end of 2021. The project is also being supported by two banks: Russia’s VTB and Austria’s Raiffeisenbank.
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