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
- The US economy’s rebound from the pandemic is driving the biggest surge in inflation in nearly 13 years, with consumer prices rising in May by 5% from a year ago, the Wall Street Journal reported. The core-price index, which excludes the often-volatile categories of food and energy, jumped 3.8% in May from the year before—the largest increase for that reading since June 1992, it added.
Investments news
- US-based financial giant State Street Corporation said it has launched the State Street Digital division that will build on State Street’s current digital capabilities and will expand to include crypto, central bank digital currency, blockchain, and tokenization. “The objective is to evolve the platform into a multi-asset platform to support crypto assets among other asset classes. The aim will also be to support our peer-to-peer ambitions by creating new liquidity venues for our clients and investors worldwide,” they added.
- BlockFi said it has launched BlockFi Prime, an integrated crypto trading platform for institutional and other sophisticated investors such as asset managers, family offices, high-net-worth individuals, hedge funds, private equity firms, and corporate entities. BlockFi expects in the coming months to add tools to BlockFi Prime focused on margin trading, derivatives, and automated margin lending.
- Arrington Capital, a digital asset management firm in blockchain-based capital markets, today announced it has launched a new USD 100m fund to support initiatives building on Algorand (ALGO). The Arrington Algo Growth Fund will invest in Algorand-focused projects, including liquid and illiquid coins, to empower projects that are creating new financial applications in the Algorand ecosystem, they said in an emailed announcement.
- Blockchain company Luxor Technology Corporation announced that they have raised USD 5m in a Series A funding round led by crypto financial services firm NYDIG. With the two companies combining forces, Luxor and NYDIG aim to improve the mining solution and help grow the North American mining industry.
- Ken Moelis, the founder of Moelis & Company, an investment banking firm, has compared bitcoin (BTC) to the gold rush, saying that he’s watching the space for new business opportunities, per Bloomberg. He stated that there is a lot of capital in the space, as well as a lot of projects, but added that they’re still staying cautious.
- Major crypto lender Nexo said it has commissioned US accounting firm Armanino LLP to provide real-time attestations over the company’s custodial holdings. Investors, customers, and regulators will be able to access industry-standard attest reporting and a snapshot of Nexo’s total assets and liabilities, updated daily, according to an emailed press release.
- Payments company Square said it has allocated the remaining USD 25m of their USD 100m investment in support of minority and underserved communities, including USD 5m in bitcoin as part of their newly launched Bitcoin Endowment focused on financial education and access. The first recipient of the Bitcoin Endowment is a crypto community club called Black Bitcoin Billionaire.
Exchanges news
- Kraken said it will no longer offer margin trading for US clients who do not meet certain, publicly unspecified requirements. The company promised to email more details directly to clients. “Kraken is making these changes in light of regulatory guidance about leveraged digital asset transactions,” they said.
- Bitstamp said it has onboarded Thomas Hook, former vice president of risk and compliance at payment solution BlueSnap, to be their US Chief Compliance Officer.
- London-headquartered crypto platform Luno said it added one million cryptoasset wallets in 12 weeks, reaching the 8 million wallets milestone.
CBDCs news
- The BIS Innovation Hub, the Bank of France, and the Swiss National Bank today announced their intention to experiment with a wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC) for cross-border settlement in a partnership with consulting company Accenture. The consortium will also include companies like Credit Suisse, Natixis, R3, SIX Digital Exchange, and UBS, but as the experiment only serves as an investigation, it should not be taken as an indication that the banks plan to issue wCBDCs, said the press release.
Crime news
- Global food company JBS USA Holdings Inc has paid over USD 11m in BTC in a recent ransomware attack that temporarily shut down their meat processing plants, according to the Wall Street Journal. The payment was made after most of the plants were already up and running again, in a decision to limit the potential impact on restaurants, grocery stores, and farmers that rely on JBS.
Mining news
- Hut 8 Mining Corp. said that the company’s common shares have been approved for listing on The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “HUT”. The company will retain its listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol “HUT”.
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