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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Metaverse news
- Nike Inc. wants to trademark its brand for various virtual goods in the US, including shoes and clothing, filing four requests with the US Patent and Trademark Office to protect its marks in categories including “downloadable virtual goods” and related services for retail stores and entertainment, Bloomberg reported. The giant has also posted a job listing for a Virtual Material Designer position, who will have to “create and visualize the most sophisticated and innovative virtual material concepts in the world.”
- Microsoft is testing a new version of its Teams chat and conferencing program that features digital avatars, Bloomberg reported, adding that the new product will be available in the first half of 2022. Customers will be able to share Office files and features, like PowerPoint decks, in the virtual world, per the report.
Exchanges news
- The Siam Commercial Bank Public Company Limited said that the board of directors of SCB Securities Co. approved the acquisition of a 51% stake in Bitkub Online Co., a Thailand-focused crypto exchange, for THB 17.85bn (USD 537m). “For the period of Jan – Sep 2021, Bitkub reported a total trading volume of the digital assets of approximately THB 1.03trn to the SEC, representing a market share of approximately 92%. For the same period, Bitkub had total revenue of THB 3,279m and net profit of THB 1,533m,” the bank said, adding that it expects to close the deal by the first quarter of 2022.
- Coinbase is the best-positioned crypto-related company to benefit from the industry’s soaring growth with the possibility of reaching USD 49.2bn in revenue exiting 2025, Hayden Capital said in a memo. Under a more conservative crypto market capitalization estimate of USD 3.4trn, the firm would more than double revenues to USD 21.3bn by 2025.
- KuCoin announced the launch of KuCoin Fiat Account, granting global users the access to deposit USD to KuCoin using a credit or debit credit and purchase major cryptoassets. The account will add support for other fiat currencies in the future, they said.
- BitMEX announced they have now offset emissions caused by all bitcoin (BTC) transactions to and from their platform. This was done by purchasing 7,110 tonnes of CO2 credits, worth USD 100,000, which should cover their emissions from their servers for next year as well. they added.
Investments news
- Derivatives marketplace CME Group announced it will expand its crypto derivatives offerings with the introduction of Micro Ether futures on December 6, pending regulatory review. The instrument will be the size of one-tenth of ethereurm (ETH) and will be cash-settled.
- The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has delayed its decision on approving Valkyrie’s proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund for January 7th, 2022. They cited the need for “sufficient time to consider the proposed rule change and the issues raised in the comment letters that have been submitted” as the reason for the delay.
- Non-fungible token (NFT) metaverse platform The Sandbox announced it has raised USD 93m in its Series B fundraising round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. The investment will fund their expansion beyond gaming into other ecosystems, they added.
Adoption news
- Customers Bank, the USD 19.1bn subsidiary of Customers Bancorp, said it released a partial list of inaugural institutional crypto clients, such as Genesis Global Trading, Blockfills, GSR, and SFOX.
- Aaron Rodgers, quarterback of American football team Green Bay Packers, said that he is teaming up with Cash App to convert a portion of his salary into bitcoin. He also said he is giving out a total of USD 1m in tokens to make bitcoin more accessible to his fans.
Mining news
- Bitcoin mining company Genesis Digital Assets has announced a new self-hosted industrial-scale Bitcoin mining data center in West Texas, with a capacity of 300 megawatts and energy being sourced from ERCOT. As of October 2021, Genesis Digital Assets’ data center capacity is at over 170 megawatts, translating into a total hashrate exceeding 3.8 exahashes (EH/s).
- Compass Mining, a US-based online marketplace for Bitcoin mining hardware and hosting, announced an agreement with Red Jar Digital Infrastructure, a hosting infrastructure company founded and managed by energy and infrastructure veterans, for a new Canada-based hosting facility powered by 95% clean energy. The Ontario facility will be jointly managed by Compass and RJDI and will feature up to 140 MW of additional capacity for Compass’ userbase, an increase over the Company’s current 30 MW of total capacity, the company said.
CBDCs news
- The wallet for the Nigerian central bank digital currency (CBDC), the e-Naira, has disappeared around 48 hours after its launch and after being downloaded by more than 100,000 users, The Nation reported. However, a spokesman of the country’s central bank said that the app was removed from the platform to facilitate its upgrade, per the report.
Altcoins news
- The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) announced that it will launch a governance token and accept delegate applications. The governance token will be used to vote on decisions, either by delegating governance tokens to oneself for voting rights, or by delegating tokens to more active project members, and the token claim process will be opened on Monday, November 8th.
Career news
- West Realm Shires Services Inc., the operator of the FTX US crypto exchange, announced that former US Commodity Futures Trading Commission commissioner Mark Wetjen has joined the company to lead its public affairs efforts as Head of Policy and Regulatory Strategy.
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