- Crypto Payroll Company Franklin Closes $2.9M Seed Round
Franklin, a project developed internally at Web3 marketing firm Serotonin, has raised a $2.9 million seed round. The project’s backers include crypto notable Arca, and the round was co-led by Gumi Cryptos Capital and CMT Digital.
Franklin provides a tool for firms to make payments to employees and contractors in crypto, across the world, including the U.S. The project, which is built on the Ethereum mainnet and scaling solution Polygon, offers tools to automate payroll expenses and tax filings for a selection of cryptocurrencies.
“Payroll is one of the more complex types of financial transactions to solve in a crypto-native way,” Franklin CEO Megan Knab said in the release.
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/04/04/crypto-payroll-company-franklin-closes-29m-seed-round/
- Biggest Movers: ADA Snaps Losing Streak as BCH Moves to 10-Day High
Cardano (ADA) snapped a two-day losing streak to start the week, despite the global market cap mostly consolidating on Monday.
Following a low of $0.3729 on Sunday, ADA/USD surged to an intraday high of $0.4035 earlier in today’s session.
Today’s move saw cardano near Friday’s high of $0.4093, which was its highest point since mid-February.
Looking at the chart, the climb in price coincided with the relative strength index (RSI) moving towards a ceiling of its own at 60.00.
At the time of writing, the index is tracking at 58.91, after moving away from a floor at 56.00.
Should price strength move past the upcoming ceiling at 60.00, then there is a strong chance ADA will recapture a fresh multi-month high.
https://news.bitcoin.com/biggest-movers-ada-snaps-losing-streak-as-bch-moves-to-10-day-high/
- Singapore’s Alchemy Pay Eyes South Korea Expansion With US$10 Mln Funding
South Korea’s high level of cryptocurrency acceptance provided a “robust market base” that prompted Alchemy to expand to the region, the company said in the press release.
The Singapore-based payment firm has worked with various international and local service providers such as Visa, Mastercard, Google Pay and Apple Pay. Its valuation was estimated at US$400 million during the funding phase, according to the release.
South Korea has over 6.2 million crypto users as of 2022, in a population of 51 million, according to the Financial Services Commission.
Last year, South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol said that his administration will support a safer and more stable trading environment for crypto and other digital assets, including securities tokens and non-fungible tokens.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7486886
- Bakkt completes $200M acquisition of Apex Crypto
Bakkt has completed its acquisition of Apex Crypto LLC, the blockchain technology platform announced on April 3. In November, Bakkt stated it would pay $55 million in cash, along with stock worth an estimated $145 million, for the trading platform.
Launched in 2019, Apex Crypto is an integrated platform that handles execution, clearing, custody, cost basis and tax services for its 30 clients. The firm has facilitated $12.5 billion in digital assets trades since its inception. Bakkt CEO Gavin Michael said:
“This acquisition marks an exciting new chapter for Bakkt, significantly advancing portions of our crypto roadmap, helping us tap into a universe of 5.8 million crypto-enabled accounts, and further establishing Bakkt as the B2B2C crypto provider of choice.”
https://cointelegraph.com/news/bakkt-completes-200m-acquisition-of-apex-crypto
- Bitcoin’s Correlation to Gold Tightened in March Amid TradFi Woes
Bitcoin behaved more like one of the world’s most historic currencies in March, as the largest cryptocurrency by market cap exhibited a strong correlation to gold.
The value of the two assets moved in similar directions throughout the month, edging higher as a banking crisis reared its head in the U.S. and toppled several institutions like Silicon Valley Bank—which eventually spilled over to shutter European giants like Credit Suisse.
The correlation between Bitcoin and gold currently stands around 50%, according to blockchain analytics firm Kaiko. It represents the strongest connection between the two assets in more than a year, Kaiko analyst Dessislava Aubert told Decrypt.
https://decrypt.co/125310/bitcoins-correlation-to-gold-tightened-in-march-amid-tradfi-woes
- Binance’s BNB, Bitcoin Tumble After Crypto Twitter Personality Cobie’s Wild Guess
Binance’s BNB token and bitcoin (BTC) plunged Monday as a rumor spread that the crypto exchange’s CEO faced an international law enforcement request to detain him.
Turns out, the catalyst for all this was an encrypted message contained in a tweet that was apparently not meant for the public’s eyes – at least not yet – and that might’ve just been a wild guess.
“Interpol Red Notice for CZ,” read the tweet from @cobie, who is well-followed by the crypto community. Not only is that account private, the text of the message was actually a garble of letters and numbers. It had been encrypted using the SHA-256 hash function, the same cryptography that secures many cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin.
- Alleged Kenyan Bill Proposes Widening Definition of Securities to Include Crypto Assets
According to Amboko Julians, a Kenyan economist and blogger, the East African nation’s parliament is set to debate a bill that proposes to place blockchain technology and digital currencies under the purview of Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA). Besides seeking to incorporate the definitions of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, Julians claimed that the bill also proposes “to widen the meaning of ‘securities’ to capture digital currencies.”
In his March 28 Twitter thread, Julians shared the supposed screenshots of the bill that is being sponsored by the Kenyan legislator Abraham Kipsang Kirwa. As shown in the screenshots, Kirwa’s bill proposes that persons seeking to introduce a cryptocurrency must first obtain a license from the capital markets regulator.
“A person who intends to introduce a new cryptocurrency product shall make an application to the Authority in the prescribed form for a licence,” reads the alleged bill.
- Cerus Markets Launches Revolutionary Platform for Crypto Derivatives Trading
On 4th April 2023, Cerus Markets announced the launch of its new platform for easy, safe, and innovative crypto derivatives trading. Founded by industry veterans, Cerus Markets plans to revolutionize the way people trade cryptocurrencies.
The Next Evolution in Crypto
Cerus Markets is proud to introduce Non-Deliverable Crypto contracts (NDC’s) as the most advantageous and innovative way to trade cryptocurrencies. For the first time ever, traders can now invest in cryptocurrencies versus the world’s largest companies such as TSLA, AAPL, GOOG, equity indexes like the DOW and DAX, and even versus commodities including Gold, Silver, and Crude Oil- all with zero fees. NDCs also provide investors with up to 100:1 leverage and the ability to go long and short any cryptocurrency.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7486840
- KuCoin Wallet spins off from KuCoin exchange, rebrands as Halo Wallet
Decentralized wallet KuCoin Wallet announced on April 3 that it has rebranded as Halo Wallet and launched a new SocialFi ecosystem. According to the announcement, the newly independent Halo Wallet received a fresh round of financing from several investors, including KuCoin Ventures, IDG, HashKey Capital, and other Web3 strategic partners.
The rebranding exercise aims to expand Halo Wallet’s focus from being a Web3 wallet to supporting a broader SocialFi ecosystem. The wallet seeks to integrate a variety of on-chain and off-chain social media protocols, such as Lens and Twitter, to create a Web3 decentralized identifier (DID) system and engage with popular influencers..
The FSA issued a formal warning letter to Bybit for operating without necessary permissions back in 2021.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/kucoin-wallet-spins-off-from-kucoin-exchange-renames-as-halo-wallet
- Dogecoin Surges 20% as Doge Replaces Bird Logo on Twitter
The price of Dogecoin rallied on Monday after the token’s mascot was included in a peculiar reference on Twitter.
Users visiting the website were greeted with the Shiba Inu internet meme that the token is based around, instead of the social media website’s typical blue bird logo.
The inclusion of Dogecoin’s mascot caused the token’s price to surge as people became aware of the reference. Dogecoin rose over 20% to around $0.092 on Monday in less than an hour, notching its highest price in over a month, according to CoinGecko. The price has nudged even higher since, currently sitting around $0.095.
https://decrypt.co/125299/dogecoin-surges-doge-replaces-bird-logo-twitter
