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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Marketing news
Football giant Manchester United has agreed on a multi-year sponsorship of their training kit with blockchain platform Tezos (XTZ), The Athletic reported, citing no one. The deal is worth over GBP 20m (USD 27m) per year and United have already shot promotional materials at the club’s training center ahead of an announcement, it added.
Crypto platform Blockchain.com announced a multi-year partnership with esports organization Cloud9 to create a dialogue around financial literacy and cryptocurrency within the esports community. As part of the partnership, Blockchain.com receives visibility in front of Cloud9’s community, as well as logo placement on all league sanctioned team jerseys and across Cloud9’s digital channels.
Memecoin project BabyDoge (BABYDOGE) and Bundesliga football club TSG Hoffenheim announced a promotional partnership. The partnership will focus on NFTs for TSG Hoffenheim fans, as well as key promotional materials and other advertising tools, and co-branded content.
Economics news
The US economy created far more jobs than expected in January. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 467,000 jobs last month, the survey of establishments showed, Reuters reported. Data for December was revised higher to show 510,000 jobs created instead of the previously reported 199,000. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 150,000 jobs would be added in January. Estimates ranged from a decrease of 400,000 to a gain of 385,000 jobs.
Mining news
US-based Marathon Digital Holdings said it produced 462.1 self-mined bitcoin (BTC) in January, or 816% more than a year ago. Also, the company said it increased total bitcoin holdings to approximately BTC 8,595 “with a fair market value of approximately USD 330.6m.”
Data management firm Sphere 3D, which is merging with Bitcoin miner Gryphon Digital Mining in a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) transaction, signed a deal with mining computer maker NuMiner Technologies to purchase 60,000 of its NM440 machines for USD 1.7bn.
Investments news
Qredo, a layer 2 infrastructure for the custody and settlement of digital assets, said it raised USD 80m in a Series A round, led by 10T Holdings, with the participation of Coinbase Ventures, Avalanche, and Terra, among others. The Series A raise brings Qredo’s valuation to USD 460m, they added. The startup said it will use the funds for acquisitions, further development of Qredo functionality for retail users, and facilitating its geographic expansion.
Crypto forensics firm Chainalysis said it has acquired Abaxx, a government consultancy firm. The acquisition will help Chainalysis enhance its offerings to government agencies by building on Abaxx’s expertise in large scale data analytics, lead generation, and investigative services, the firm added.
Exchanges news
Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao warned that “there is a massive Phishing scam via SMS with a link to cancel withdrawals” and “it leads to a phishing website to harvest your credential.”
Coinbase is giving users the option of receiving their tax refunds in crypto through TurboTax, where users can choose to get refunds deposited into one of over 100 cryptoassets.
Bitstamp announced it is opening offices in Amsterdam in the next step of its global expansion plans. The Amsterdam hub is Bitstamp’s fourth global base, following offices in Slovenia, Luxembourg, New York and Singapore.
Luno, Africa’s major crypto exchange, is looking for a foothold in the US, per Bloomberg. The exchange is assessing regulatory regimes in all 50 states to allow for its rollout in the course of the year, it added.
Adoption news
Miami mayor Francis Suarez announced that the city has received its first crypto payout worth USD 5.25m from the CityCoins project. He added that the goal is to create resources for the city “through innovation, not taxation”.
Myanmar’s military government is planning to launch its own digital currency, a few months after the country’s shadow government started accepting tether (USDT) as its official currency, Bloomberg reported. The junta is undecided as to whether it should work with local companies to launch the digital currency, Deputy Information Minister Major General Zaw Min Tun said.
Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co. plans to launch a digital token linked to gold prices as early as this month, Nikkei Asia reported. The token, dubbed ZipangCoin (ZPG), will be sold to retail investors and will be linked to the price of gold in yen.
Regulation news
A bipartisan group of US House representatives reintroduced a bill from 2021, “to ensure digital asset reporting requirements under current law match the technology’s operation.”
CBDCs news
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and MIT university’s Digital Currency Initiative published open-source research software to support a theoretical central bank digital currency (CBDC). The published research describes a theoretical high-performance and resilient transaction processor for a CBDC.
Ecology news
Galaxy Digital announced a “sustainability program” that is aimed at improving the company’s energy use and social impact. Galaxy said the program would help the company build on its goal of an “over-80% sustainable power mix across mining operations”, which is a metric it says it achieved late last year.
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