- House Republicans Demand SEC Explain What’s Up With Crypto Platform Prometheum
As Prometheum Inc. nears an unprecedented moment in U.S. crypto history by beginning a custody operation that intends to hold customers’ Ethereum tokens (ETH), the industry’s friends in Congress are demanding the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) explain what it means to do about this first U.S. special purpose broker-dealer (SPBD) for digital assets.
“We are faced with an alarming scenario in which a SPBD has announced that it intends to offer custodial services for ETH under a regime that does not permit such activity,” the Republican chairmen of the House Financial Services and Agriculture committees wrote in a letter to SEC Chair Gary Gensler, also signed by 46 other members of Congress. “This action, if allowed to proceed, could have irreparable consequences for the digital asset markets.”
- Tether looks to ‘build the next generation of open AI models’ with new data division
Tether now joins an AI hiring market that is being increasingly picked over by tech firms looking to capitalize on the AI craze. Meta has responded to the competition by extended job offers without interviews and sending personalized recruiting emails from CEO Mark Zuckerberg, The Information reported.
It’s the latest new business vertical for Tether, which also boasts energy and education divisions.
Its main business, issuing stablecoins, has grown increasingly dominant in recent months. Tether’s USDT currently accounts for around 70% of all stablecoins, a figure that’s held mostly steady since November, according to DeFiLlama. Mainly from interest on its reserves, Tether reported $2.85 billion in net profit during last year’s Q4.
In a blog post announcing Tether data, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino pointed to the company’s investment in Northern Data Group as being part of its AI vision.
https://blockworks.co/news/tether-hiring-ai-division-jobs
- TKuCoin sees nearly $800 million in net outflow following DOJ indictment
KuCoin saw a net outflow of over $780 million across multiple chains over the past 24 hours after the U.S. Department of Justice lodged charges against it on Tuesday, according to on-chain data.
Data from crypto analytics firm Nansen showed that KuCoin experienced a total outflow of $882 million in the last 24 hours as of Wednesday noon in Asia on several networks and inflow of $99 million, with a net outflow of $783 million. The data set covers flows on Ethereum, BNB Chain, Avalanche, Fantom, and Polygon chains.
- Decrypt Newsletter Service Hacked—Don’t Click Those Links!
The newsletter service Decrypt uses to send email updates to its beloved and loyal readers and was compromised overnight, with a phishing email scam sent to all subscribers on Tuesday morning claiming to offer access to a $DECRYPT token airdrop. To be clear, there is no such airdrop, the links lead to fake sites, and we urge recipients to delete the message with prejudice.
As soon as we were able to regain access to our newsletter account, we sent out a message disavowing the scam email. While we are grateful that an infinitesimal number of recipients engaged with the message, one victim is one too many.
https://decrypt.co/223623/decrypt-newsletter-service-hack-phishing-scam-decrypt-airdrop
- Ying Universe Approves $100 Million Budget for Cryptocurrency Purchases
According to Foresight News, interactive social platform Ying Universe (03700.HK) announced that its board of directors has approved a $100 million budget for purchasing cryptocurrencies on any regulated and licensed trading platforms over the next five years. The funds for these purchases will come from the company’s existing cash reserves. As of the announcement, Ying Universe Group has not yet bought any cryptocurrencies.
- Badgerdao Introduces a New Ether-Backed Synthetic Bitcoin Token
Badgerdao, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) committed to integrating bitcoin (BTC) into defi, has announced the launch of eBTC in collaboration with the liquid staking platform Lido. The new token allows users to leverage staked or non-staked collateral to borrow synthetic bitcoin without any upfront fees or interest.
The token eBTC is soft pegged to the price of bitcoin (BTC) and built on the Ethereum network, utilizing Lido’s staked Ether (STETH) as its sole collateral. “By using reward-generating STETH as collateral, eBTC provides the most transparent, secure, and capital-efficient method for borrowing BTC,” the team remarked on X.
https://news.bitcoin.com/badgerdao-introduces-a-new-ether-backed-synthetic-bitcoin-token/
- OKX Quietly Settled Regulatory ‘Failings’ With Malta Financial Services Authority
Last month, OKX, the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, reached a little-noticed 304,000 euro ($329,000) settlement with the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) for certain “failings” related to its Okcoin Europe subsidiary.
The Malta regulator’s investigation found failings with respect to Article 41 of the MFSA Virtual Financial Assets Act, according to a filing. The article, while vague, seems to say that a regulated financial services or digital asset firm must follow the Maltese government’s directives or risk a fine or being booted from the country.
- Blast-Based NFT Game Munchables Loses $62 Million in Exploit
Munchables, a non-fungible token (NFT) game built on Ethereum layer 2 network Blast, suffered a multi-million dollar exploit on Tuesday, with blockchain sleuths raising questions about the authenticity of the protocol.
The team behind the project confirmed that the protocol has been compromised in an X post, saying that they were tracking the exploiter’s movements and attempting to block the transactions.
Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT responded to Munchables’ X post with a link to the exploiter’s wallet address, which received a transfer of 17,413 ether (ETH), according to data from block explorer Blastscan. At current prices, the value of the stolen funds amounted to $62.6 million.
- UK Treasury publishes new report on fund tokenization
The Technology Working Group of the UK’s Treasury, the government’s economic and finance ministry, has published a new report on the potential use cases of fund tokenization.
The report explored the use of tokens as collateral for money market funds and the role tokenized funds could play in the onchain investment market.
The report outlined how the UK funds industry can effectively leverage tokenization’s potential for the asset management sector and detailed how firms operating wi
https://www.theblock.co/post/284792/uk-treasury-publishes-new-report-on-fund-tokenization
- US Bitcoin miner Giga Energy to launch facility in Argentina
Texas-based Bitcoin $70,230 miner Giga Energy has expanded its operations into Argentina as part of a move to utilize wasted energy from “natural gas flaring” on the South American nation’s oil fields.
Giga co-founder Brent Whitehead described the expansion as a “significant milestone” for his firm in a March 26 post on LinkedIn.
“This move not only broadens our operational landscape but also aligns with our vision to mitigate flaring globally.”
Gas flaring is the burning of the natural gas associated with oil extraction. Methane is released as part of the process, which Giga then converts into electricity to power its Bitcoin mining rigs..
https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-miner-giga-energy-launches-argentina-facility-gas-flaring
