- Crypto Exchange Bit2Me Acquires Software Development Company Dekalabs
Spanish cryptocurrency exchange Bit2Me said it bought blockchain and crypto-focused software development company Dekalabs for an undisclosed amount.
The acquisition will enhance Bit2Me’s position in helping companies and institutions build tools on cryptocurrency and blockchain protocols such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, the firm said in a Monday email.
Bit2Me did not say how much it paid for the company and had not responded to CoinDesk’s request for details by press time.
Bit2Me, the first firm to be licensed by the Bank of Spain as a provider of crypto services, said in July that it had reached agreements on three acquisitions, including a 90% stake in a Latin American exchange and the purchase of a fintech company and software developer, the identifies of which were not disclosed.
- Russian Parliament Rejects Mining Bill Allowing Crypto Payments, Expects New Draft
This week, the State Duma of the Russian Federal Assembly voted to reject a draft law on cryptocurrency mining. The bill “On Mining in the Russian Federation,” was submitted earlier by members of the liberal New People faction.
Lawmakers criticized the sponsors for failing to properly formulate regulatory principles for the activity as well as requirements for data centers and mining operators and suggest a procedure for the taxation of mining companies.
Representatives of the parliamentary committees that reviewed the legislation also described it as fragmented and ambiguous, the Russian crypto news outlet Bits.media reported. They highlighted it doesn’t specify how miners and their equipment would be registered or how those who mine as individual entrepreneurs would be identified.
- Dogecoin Layer 2 Dogechain Up 228% for the Week
Dogechain, launched earlier this year to bring smart contract capabilities to the Dogecoin community, saw its trading value jump over 200% in the past week and more than 70 percent within the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko. The high also represents a 75 percent premium over a month ago.
From $0.0004 on Friday, Dogechain’s price climbed as high as $0.00176 on Sunday, notching a 228% gain over seven days at a price point not seen since Sept. 12.
The spike in value is notable, as Dogechain (DC) had lost 90 percent of its value since its all time high at the end of August. Dogechain had declined steadily over those two months from $0.004 to $0.0004.
https://decrypt.co/112684/dogecoin-layer-2-dogechain-up-228-for-the-week
- Azukis Gold Skateboard Release Yields Record Breaking 1,800 ETH
Who said Azukis were dead? The legacy NFT project has had it’s quiet periods, but has found a new wind this past week catering to some of it’s most loyal and dedicated audience. Azuki whales stepped up and showed out with the projects latest auction, ‘Proof of Skate.’ Eight ‘gold skateboard’ NFTs – sold as an Azuki NFT with a physical pairing – sold at over 200 ETH each.
Let’s dive into the details around eight of the most expensive skateboards in history that were sold over the weekend.
Azukis Eight Gold Skateboard NFTs
Price tags ranged between 200 ETH and 309 ETH for the eight winning skateboards, with bidding wrapping up over the weekend through a 24 hour auction. Azukis posted a recap of the winners and shared that the skateboards would be rolling out next month:
The results of the Azuki Golden Skateboard auction are in.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7247200
- S. Korean watchdog goes after crypto whales to ensure AML compliance
South Korea’s financial watchdog, The Financial Service Commission (FSC), would monitor crypto whales with assets of over 100 million won ($70,000) to prevent money laundering efforts using digital assets.
The FSC noted that the greater the proportion of virtual assets and stablecoins, the higher the money laundering risk. Thus, special focus should be placed on monitoring crypto whales with significant digital asset and stablecoin holdings under the new anti-money laundering guidelines, reported local media.
The report also drew attention to the use of stablecoins in money laundering and noted that stablecoins, especially those that are commonly used by the public, are more likely to be used as a means of crime.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/s-korean-watchdog-goes-after-crypto-whales-to-ensure-aml-compliance
- Crypto Staking Platform Freeway Halts Withdrawals, Citing Market Volatility
Freeway, a crypto staking platform, announced late Sunday that it had paused withdrawal services, citing volatility in the crypto and forex markets and sending its token into a free-fall.
The Freeway (FWT) token is down roughly 80% in the hours since the announcement.
Freeway was not a significant or well-known project, with a market cap of less than $70 million before the crash and now $10 million at current trading prices.
Freeway claimed it had $160 million in total value locked via a figure published on its website.
On-chain data suggests that the majority of the largest of the 4,342 token holders received it during an airdrop and were otherwise idle.
The largest whales on the platform lost just over $16,500, using pricing data from just before Sunday’s market crash.
- Santander Proposes Project to Tokenize and Trade Properties With the Brazilian CBDC
Santander, one of the largest banking institutions with a presence all over the world, has presented a proposal to enhance the use case of the proposed central bank digital currency (CDBC), the digital real, in Brazil. Santander is using technology coming from another company, Parfin, to tokenize the property rights of the assets in a transaction, and at the same time manage the exchange of the currency, in this case, the digital real, for the property.
The objective of this project is to streamline the processes of transacting with different kinds of property through the platform. About this, Jayme Chataque, Executive Superintendent of Open Finance of Santander, stated:
The idea is that, through tokenization, Brazilians can safely negotiate the sale of vehicles or real estate through smart contracts, on permissioned blockchain networks.
- Pigeon, Eagle, Phoenix: How Maker Will Use US Treasuries to Buy Ethereum and Boost DAI
Maker, the project underpinning the market’s largest decentralized stablecoin DAI, is taking big strides into the world of centralized finance.
Maker is tying up with firms like Coinbase, Gemini, and Coinshares, and even buying up U.S. treasuries and corporate bonds from BlackRock (yes, that BlackRock).
For example, Coinbase Prime offered to pay the protocol 1.5% on a massive chunk of USDC that is currently being used as collateral behind DAI.
Similarly, Gemini said it would pay out another 1.25% for any GUSD (Gemini’s stablecoin) that existed in Maker’s Peg Stability Module (PSM). The PSM is one of the tools used to keep DAI pegged to the dollar. (More on that shortly.)
- Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Has Risen By 3.4%
The rise was minor compared to the 13% increase earlier this month.
For every 2016 blocks, the mining difficulty is automatically adjusted, which happens around every two weeks. The challenge is ensuring that transactions proceed at a consistent rate regardless of how high or low the network hash rate is at any particular time.
This month, the Bitcoin mining hash rate reached an all-time high of 266 EH/s. As of Sunday, the network hash rate was around 261.35 EH/s.
According to Coin Metrics data, miners have generated roughly $420 million in revenue thus far this month.
At the time of writing, BTC is trading at $19,367.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7247103
- How CZ built Binance and became the richest person in crypto
Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the founder and CEO of global cryptocurrency exchange Binance, is one of the most influential crypto personalities today, but his story is a true rags-to-riches one.
CZ was born in a village in Jiangsu, Shanghai, and his family migrated to Vancouver, Canada, in the 1980s when he was 12. He studied computer science engineering in college and spent the next few years building trading systems for popular exchanges such as the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Bloomberg Tradebook.
CZ left his lucrative job in 2005 to start his own venture and moved back to Shanghai. In 2013, after eight years of building his company, CZ finally came across Bitcoin (BTC tickers down $19,413) — which changed everything for him.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/how-cz-built-binance-and-became-the-richest-person-in-crypto
