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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Economics news
US consumer prices increased by the most in 13 years in June amid supply constraints and a continued rebound in the costs of travel-related services from pandemic-depressed levels as the economic recovery gathered momentum, Reuters reported. The consumer price index increased 0.9% last month, the largest gain since June 2008, after advancing 0.6% in May. In the 12 months through June, the CPI jumped 5.4% and was the largest gain since August 2008 and followed a 5.0% increase in May, per the report. (Learn more: Inflation Watch: Four Facts about Soaring Food Prices)
And this is more-so an American phenomenon and not really about the broad developed world.
Since the US did more fiscal stimulus, we are growing/recovering faster, but running into higher inflation as well. https://t.co/nGs8X8W1mc
— Lyn Alden (@LynAldenContact) July 13, 2021
Regulation news
The recent regulatory scrutiny on crypto is “very healthy” for the sector, Wu Jihan, Co-founder and Chairman of digital asset financial services platform Matrixport, and former CEO of Bitcoin mining giant Bitmain, told CNBC.
Exchanges news
- Binance has told UK customers that bank withdrawals via the Faster Payments network have been “temporarily suspended” again, reported the Financial News. The company hasn’t provided further details on the change, stating that they are working to resume the service. Users have been reporting receiving emails stating the same as well.
- Crypto derivatives volumes surpassed those of spot for the first time this year, with 54% market share, compared to 49% in May, said the June report by provider of the crypto market data CryptoCompare. Derivatives volumes decreased by 41% in June to USD 3.2trn, while total spot volumes decreased by 43% to USD 2.7trn. The top spot exchanges by volume were Binance with USD 668bn (down 56%), followed by Huobi Global with USD 162bn (down 40%), and OKEx with USD 141bn (down 42%). The top derivatives exchanges included Binance with USD 1.73trn (down 30%), OKEx with USD 508bn (down 49%), and ByBit with USD 360bn (down 37%).
- Crypto derivatives exchange FTX is joining Copper.co’s ClearLoop settlement trading network, which will allow it to gain new access to institutional funds, Bloomberg reported, adding that Copper serves more than 300 institutional asset managers.
Investments news
- Major index provider S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) announced the launch of its latest cryptocurrency indices, including the new S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Market (BDM) Index, which provides a wide performance snapshot of the cryptocurrency market and includes more than 240 coins at launch. Other new indices being added include S&P Cryptocurrency LargeCap Index, S&P Cryptocurrency BDM Ex-MegaCap Index, S&P Cryptocurrency BDM Ex-LargeCap Index, S&P Cryptocurrency LargeCap Ex-MegaCap Index, S&P Bitcoin Index, S&P Ethereum Index, and S&P Cryptocurrency MegaCap Index.
- Blockchain gaming company Gala Games has received funding from the BinanceSmart Chain (BSC)’s USD 100m Accelerator Fund, per Bloomberg. Gala, founded by co-founder of game developer Zynga Inc, Eric Schiermeyer, will use BSC to offer players a “wide variety” of choices for management of their assets, it said.
- Decentralized exchanges (DEX) builder Shipyard Software announced it has raised USD 21m for Clipper, a next-generation DEX that caters to retail traders. A USD 4m equity round was led by Polychain Capital, while another USD 17m were pledged by liquidity providers for Clipper’s pool.
- As interest in cryptoassets and related services from institutional investors, banks, and key payment system operators is growing, it could increase the interlinkages between cryptoassets and other systemic financial markets and institutions, the Bank of England said in its Financial Stability Report, adding that, this time, spillovers to broader financial markets from a recent selloff in the crypto market were limited.
Banking news
- US-based major crypto investment company Grayscale Investments announced that they have selected investment banking services company BNY Mellon as an asset servicing provider for Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, providing it with fund accounting and administration from October 1st, 2021. Additionally, it is anticipated that BNY Mellon will provide transfer agency and exchange-traded funds (ETF) services for the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust upon its conversion to an ETF.
- South Korea’s Woori Bank – one of the nation’s biggest commercial banks – has said that it wants to launch a crypto custody business with the domestic blockchain player Coinplug. Per Money S, the bank is hoping to follow suit after rivals Kookmin, Shinhan and Nonghyup launched their own crypto custody initiatives in recent months. The two firms will form a new joint venture company, with Coinplug as the majority shareholder. The bank stated that the move would help it better “understand current market trends.”
- India’s largest private bank ICICI told customers remitting funds to invest abroad to confirm that the money will not be invested in cryptoassets, The Economic Times reported.
CBDCs news
- The UAE Central Bank’s priorities for 2023 to 2026 include launching a digital currency, among other things that are all part of their goal to be among the top 10 central banks in the world, according to Gulf News. The strategy will also see technology used across inspection, monitoring, and insurance systems, in addition to utilizing the UAE’s digital ID infrastructure to bolster financial inclusion.
DeFi news
- Cross-chain data oracle Band Protocol has launched BandChain Phase 2, the data oracle network that allows institutions to permissionlessly provide data to the decentralized economy. It will allow traditional data providers to provide data in a way that is simple and does not impact the permissionless and trustless nature of decentralized finance (DeFi) or decentralized applications (dapps), they said.
- Decentralized capital market AllianceBlock announced the mainnet launch of AllianceBridge, their blockchain-agnostic product for increasing interoperability and usability industry-wide. It is launching with support for Ethereum (ETH), Binance Smart Chain, Avalanche (AVAX), and Polygon (MATIC), and with plans to extend to EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine)-compatible blockchains and non-EVM networks.
Mining news
- Bitcoin mining company Bit Digital announced that they own 32,500 miners as of June 30, 2021, with a maximum total hash rate of 1.92 EH/s. The company purchased 3,515 miners on the spot market during the second quarter, and expects to make additional miner purchases subsequent to quarter end, while they’re migrating to North America from China due to the regulatory crackdown.
- Internet company The9 Limited announced that it has signed a cryptocurrency mining hosting agreement with Russian company BitRiver. BitRiver will reserve 15MW of electric capacity for The9’s Bitcoin mining machine deployment for an initial term of 2 years.
Advertising news
- Popular social networking platform TikTok has prohibited paid crypto promotions. “All financial services and products are prohibited, including but not limited to lending and management of money assets, loans and credit cards, buy now pay later (BNPL) services, trading platforms, cryptocurrency, foreign exchange, debit and pre-payment cards, forex trading,” and others, says its Branded Content Policy.
Legal news
- Four people have been arrested in Japan over an alleged AI-powered crypto trading “scam,” reported the Asahi Shimbun. A 59-year-old man is thought to have masterminded the alleged scheme, which police fear may have seen 20,000 people nationwide invest a total of over USD 53m. Three accomplices aged 61, 46, and 52 were also arrested by officers investigating a company called OZ Project. The masterminds allegedly promised investors gains of 2.5 times their stakes over the course of just four months using AI bots that carry out crypto trades. Investors have also filed civil lawsuits against the firm in Nagoya and Tokyo, the newspaper reported.
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