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
- Deutsche Telekom subsidiary T-Systems MMS will use its infrastructure to participate in the public blockchain network Polkadot as a validator. The company has acquired DOT tokens, and added that it supports interoperability between decentralized blockchain networks.
- Web 3.0 software development company Parity Technologies and decarbonized energy grid non-profit Energy Web jointly announced their plans to launch an Energy Web Consortia Relay Chain connecting Energy Web to the broader Substrate, Polkadot, and Kusama (KSM) ecosystem. The new Chain will enable energy sector enterprises to run sovereign, customizable blockchains of their own or in partnership with other energy market participants.
- Mexican retailer Grupo Elektra will accept bitcoin (BTC) as payment for purchases, per Reuters. The chain is offering a 20% discount on purchases with bitcoin
Staking news
- IOTA (MIOTA) announced the start of staking with the release of update Firefly 1.3.0, where MIOTA holders can stake their coins in return for SMR, the native token of the Shimmer network, and ASMB, the native token of the Assembly network. Staking will begin with a seven-day pre-staking period, starting December 21.
Regulation news
- US President Joe Biden’s USD 1.75trn tax and spending plan hit a wall Sunday when moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin announced his opposition after months of negotiations between lawmakers and the White House, per Bloomberg.
Legal news
- Terraform Labs and its CEO, Do Kwon, are challenging the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), claiming the regulator improperly served Kwon subpoenas at the Mainnet 2021 conference despite not having jurisdiction over Kwon or his company, and asking a New York court to dismiss the subpoenas. Because the SEC’s lawyers did not get permission from the Commissioners to subpoena Kwon, which must be done in cases where the subpoenaed party is represented by lawyers, Kwon’s attorneys say he was improperly served, rendering the subpoenas invalid.
- Brian Armstrong, the CEO of major crypto exchange Coinbase, stole the work of a blockchain startup called MouseBelt Labs for a rival project under the guise of a potential investment, according to a lawsuit. Like Knowledgr, MouseBelt’s project, Armstrong’s ResearchHub would reward participants with tokens, similar to bitcoin, according to the lawsuit.
Exchanges news
- Binance signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Dubai World Trade Centre Authority (DWTCA) to “outline the vision of accelerating the set-up of a new industry hub for Global Virtual Assets.” This follows a previous report of the exchange being in talks with regulators across the United Arab Emirates.
- Crypto.com has announced alignment with National Women’s Soccer League expansion team Angel City Football Club (ACFC) as a founding partner and the team’s official crypto and non-fungible token (NFT) partner.
Investments news
- Binance Labs, the venture capital and incubation arm of Binance, led the recent USD 6m financing round for cross-chain protoco Multichain, formerly known as Anyswap. The total value locked (TVL) on Multichain, whose number of users reportedly exceeds 300,000, is more than USD 5bn, with over 1,000 crypto assets circulating among different mainnets.
NFTs news
- Blockchain infrastructure company Flare announced a new partnership with Fan Controlled Football (FCF) to power the league’s collectible non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and set the stage for a DAO voting platform which would create the first professional sports team controlled by a DAO on a blockchain. Each NFT will encapsulate a video clip of a key moment from FCF’s Season v1.0.
- Cross-blockchain decentralized storage and computing network Aleph.im has been selected as the technology partner, offering decentralized storage for dynamic NFTs on Ubisoft’s new blockchain-powered platform Ubisoft Quartz. Players will be able to acquire dynamic NFTs called Digits on Quartz that will be used in Ubisoft’s AAA game, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint.
DeFi news
- Decentralized financial (DeFi) infrastructure provider Swarm Markets has announced it will launch a peer-to-peer contract for highigh-valueh value transactions in Q1 2022. The so-called dOTC service empowers institutions and professional investors to use the first regulated crypto block-trade smart contract in place of traditional over-the-counter (OTC) trading.
- Decentralized crypto exchange (DEX) IDEX has announced that its v3 Hybrid Liquidity DEX generated more than USD 100m in trade volume in its first two weeks. At the time of writing, over 30,000 unique wallets have already traded on the DEX since its launch on December 1, 2021.
Career news
- Elad Roisman, one of two Republican commissioners on the US SEC, announced his resignation from the agency, effective at the end of January. He had previously often sided with Hester Peirce, known as Crypto Mom, on matters regarding cryptoassets
- Eqonex Ltd., a digital-asset financial-services firm whose stock has plunged almost 90% this year, has replaced its CEO with Chief Operating Officer Andrew Eldon on an interim basis, according to Bloomberg. The board is engaged in strategic discussions with third parties, including evaluating merger or takeover options, it added.
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