Day: August 5, 2022

Crypto Exchange Blockchain.Com Joins Exchanges in Italy

by Blockchain News

Blockchain.com, a global cryptocurrency exchange headquartered in the UK, said on Thursday it had registered as a virtual asset service provider in Italy.

The move made the London-based full-stack crypto services platform one of the latest crypto firms to have received such a registration.

The latest approval enables its legal entity to operate in Italy issued by the Italian financial authority Organismo Agenti e Mediatori (OAM). Blockchain.com said the registration it obtained would make it accountable and minimize the prospects for money laundering.

In a statement, the firm said it can now offer its crypto and digital wallet services to Italian users and institutional investors under the financial watchdog.

“This registration strengthens our position to offer services across Europe,” Blockchain.com said.

Why Crypto Firms Are Currently Seeking Regulatory Approval in Italy

Blockchain.com is one of the digital asset providers expected to register afresh with the Organismo degli Agenti e dei Mediatori (OAM), which regulates the cryptocurrency industry in Italy.

In February, Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) published a new decree that requires cryptocurrency and digital wallet service providers who operate or intend to operate in the Italian territory to enrol in a special section of the register held by the financial regulator Organismo Agenti e Mediatori (OAM).

So far, several major exchanges, including BitGo, Binance, U.S-based Coinbase, Singapore-based Crypto.com, and Luxembourg-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp, among others, have already secured registration with the OAM.

Once the time limits set out in the new requirements have expired, only firms entered in the register will be allowed to offer such services in Italy. To be registered, cryptocurrency providers are expected to have their registered office and operational headquarters in Italy.

The announcement by OAM is part of efforts by global regulators to bring a regulatory framework to the crypto sector, which is subject to patchy rules. Financial stability threats, consumer protection, and illicit use of cryptocurrencies are issues on the agenda.

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PwC Veteran Quits Role to Establish Digital Asset Fund in Dubai

by Blockchain News

Henri Arslanian, the former Global Head of crypto at the financial advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), has launched his own crypto-dedicated venture capital firm, Nine Blocks Capital Management, and has chosen Dubai as the outfit’s base of operation.

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According to a report from the Financial Times (FT), Nine Blocks will be bootstrapped by its Hong Kong-based primary shareholder, Nine Masts Capital, with $75 million.

Nine Blocks is kickstarting its operations at a time when most firms in the digital assets ecosystem have taken a beating in recent times due to the market onslaught steered by the May collapse of Terraform Labs’ native tokens UST and LUNA. Nine Blocks has notably positioned three portfolio managers in the Cayman Islands and will seek to inject capital into firms irrespective of their geographical location.

According to Arslanian, the choice of Dubai was hinged on the city’s bullish approach to help guide the growth of the blockchain ecosystem on its shores. As disclosed to the FT, Nine Blocks has already secured the provisional regulatory approval to operate in the city.

“Hong Kong would have been a natural home for us”, said Arslanian, adding that Nine Blocks had also considered Singapore. “However, when we looked at the broader ecosystem . . . Cayman and Dubai made a natural choice.”

Arslanian said Dubai offers ease of travel and its time zone makes it easy to connect with other regions in the Middle East and Asia. 

Dubai is notably transforming itself as an emerging crypto power hub, with firms like Binance and FTX having recently received the license to operate there. The positioning of Dubai gives it a very fair advantage seeing how other major destination points for the digital currency ecosystem, including Hong Kong, Singapore, and Seoul, are gradually tightening their fists when it comes to crypto firms looking to do business there.

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UK Parliamentary Group Seeks Public Comment for Shaping Ecosystem in Crypto Sector

by Blockchain News

The United Kingdom’s Crypto and Digital Assets All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) is calling for public comments as it commences its inquiry into the emerging blockchain ecosystem in the UK. 

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With the regulation of the cryptocurrency industry among the primary clamour for financial market regulators in recent times, many groups have taken it upon themselves to contribute to the effort. The APPG inquiry will focus on crucial aspects of consideration by the UK government, including the plans to regulate the industry and make Britain a highly reckoned crypto hub.

The APPG’s public inquiry will also shine its radar to know the roles of key government agencies, including the Bank of England, the FCA, and the ASA, as it concerns the regulation of the crypto ecosystem.

“The UK Crypto sector has seen increased interest from consumers and regulators as the number of people who now own some form of cryptocurrency or digital asset has grown in recent years. We are at a crucial time for the sector as global policymakers are also now reviewing their approach to crypto and how it should be regulated,” said Lisa Cameron MP, Chair of the Crypto and Digital Assets APPG.

As a part of the inquiry, the APPG calls for views and comments from the industry veterans and stakeholders in general. It has open access for the comments until September 5, and the group said it would be holding many evidence sections over the coming months.

The findings from this inquiry will be turned into a report, and the recommendations will be shared with the “Government for consideration as well as with the Treasury Select Committee in Parliament,” the non-partisan group said.

The UK has been doubling down on its move to tame key innovations in the digital currency ecosystem, including stablecoins and investor-targeted advertising.

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BlackRock to Boost Crypto Access Points through Partnership with Coinbase

by Blockchain News

BlackRock, the globe’s largest asset manager, has teamed up with crypto exchange Coinbase to provide institutional investors with new crypto access points.

Through the strategic partnership, BlackRock’s Aladdin will be connected with Coinbase Prime to provide institutional investors with direct and seamless access to crypto, beginning with Bitcoin (BTC).

Joseph Chalom, the global head of strategic ecosystem partnerships at BlackRock, pointed out:

“Our institutional clients are increasingly interested in gaining exposure to digital asset markets and are focused on how to efficiently manage the operational lifecycle of these assets.”

With assets under management clocking $10 trillion by the end of last year, BlackRock  has emerged as a significant global player to the extent that it has been dubbed the “fourth branch of government.”

Therefore, Aladdin, the end-to-end investment management platform of BlackRock, seeks to boost crypto adoption among institutional investors. Chalom added:

“This connectivity with Aladdin will allow clients to manage their bitcoin exposures directly in their existing portfolio management and trading workflows for a whole portfolio view of risk across asset classes.”

Coinbase prime is the institutional prime broker arm of crypto exchange Coinbase, and it integrates prime financing, advanced agency trading, staking infrastructure, and reporting needed for the entire transaction lifecycle. Supporting more than 13,000 institutional clients, Coinbase Prime will render crypto trading, prime brokerage, reporting capabilities, and custody through the deal. 

As institutional crypto adoption continues to tick, the BlackRock-Coinbase partnership seeks to be a stepping stone toward developing new access points. 

A recent study by the leading investment bank Goldman Sachs showed that 51% of its institutional clients had crypto exposure.

The findings revealed that institutional interest in cryptocurrencies was witnessing strong growth because crypto exposure rose from 40% in 2021 to 51% in 2022, Blockchain.News reported.

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Binance Launches Crypto Prepaid Card in Argentina through Partnership with Mastercard

by Blockchain News

Binance, a major global cryptocurrency exchange, announced on Thursday the launch of a crypto prepaid card in Argentina through a partnership with Mastercard to bridge the gap between cryptocurrencies and daily purchases.

Argentina is the first country in Latin America to experience the use of this product. The launch of the Binance Card is part of the exchange’s continuous efforts further to develop global cryptocurrency adoption in a tangible manner. The product is in the beta phase and will be widely available in the next few weeks.

According to the announcement, all customers in Argentina with a valid ID will be allowed to access the Binance Card to make purchases and pay bills with cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and BNB, at over 90 million Mastercard merchants globally, physical and online.

Cryptocurrencies will be converted to fiat currency in real-time at the point of purchase, and customers earn up to 8% in crypto cashback.

Maximiliano Hinz, the General Director of Binance in Latin America, talked about the development: “Payments is one of the first and most obvious use cases for crypto, yet adoption has a lot of room to grow. By using the Binance Card, merchants continue to receive fiat, and the users pay in the cryptocurrency they choose. We believe the Binance Card is a significant step in encouraging wider crypto use and global adoption, and now it is available for users from Argentina.”

Binance plans to expand in new markets and offer support for additional cryptocurrencies.

Inflation Driving Crypto Credit Cards Booming

The timing of Binance’s launching such crypto prepaid cards in Argentina is crucial, which becomes a competitive location for the crypto-card segment.

In Argentina, people seek to access cryptocurrency as they refuse to use devalued or unstable traditional currencies.

As of the moment, the country relies on crypto credit cards to reduce the impact of the rising inflation rate on its economy.

In November last year, crypto exchange Lemon Cash, an Argentine fintech, was the first firm that launched its new crypto credit cards to allow cryptocurrency payments.

Lemon partnered with Visa to facilitate the release of its Bitcoin cards’ rewards in Argentina after the Latin American country’s annual inflation rate rose by more than 50%. 

The release was a good achievement, and Lemon recently promised to roll out over 3 million crypto credit cards before this year ends to help Argentina reduce its rising inflation rate.

Since the inflation rate in Argentina appears to worsen, other companies have come in to help the South American nation.

Other crypto exchange providers such as Ripio and Universal Exchange recently started offering crypto credit cards to help Argentina implement the service similar to Lemon.

Efforts made by these firms appear to be helping to attract more consumers to invest in the blockchain industry in Argentina.

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Meta Instagram Embraces NFT, Expanding Footprints to 100 Countries

by Blockchain News

Months after it integrated Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) into Instagram for American users, Meta Platforms announced the expansion of the allowance to as many as 100 other countries.

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The test launch for the NFTs on Instagram was made announced in May to select creators in the U.S.

The functionality will now let users in other continents, including the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific. With the enhanced allowance, users will now be able to upload their NFTs as profile pictures and even in their stories. The Meta Platforms functionalities for the NFTs on Instagram will permit users to input the description for the digital collectable as well.

The authenticity of the uploaded NFT can easily be verified, and users can always tag the digital collectable’s page and creator for additional proof of claim.

In addition to the expansion announcement, Meta Platforms also revealed that it has increased the number of compatible blockchain networks to include Flow from Dapper Labs. Based on this, investors can now upload their NFTs from Ethereum, Polygon, and Flow, respectively. 

The company also aims to make global access to its NFT functionality on Instagram a seamless one and has also added support for Coinbase and Dapper Wallets in a bid to complement Rainbow, MetaMask, and Trust Wallet, which it integrated earlier.

Meta Platforms is taking its Web3.0 and Metaverse drive seriously as the company is nurturing a future that is bound to dominate social media interactions. While the entire concept of the metaverse is still relatively vague, companies like Meta Platforms are notably developing innovations within the confines of trademark applications they have applied for.

Besides Instagram, NFT testing for Facebook is also gaining momentum, with trials launched in early July this year. Besides Meta, other social media platforms, including Twitter and Reddit, are also taking their NFT drives to new heights.

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Revolut Launches Cryptocurrency Exchange Services in Singapore

by Blockchain News

British Fintech firm, Revolut has launched a digital currency trading service in Singapore.

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As reported by the Business Times of Singapore, the platform’s users will now be able to buy, sell and hold as many as 80 different digital currencies.

The launch of the digital currency trading services comes following the in-principle approval the London-based fintech firms received from the Monetary Authority of Singapore back in April. According to the report, Revolut will let its users change 27 different fiat currencies, gold and silver, into digital currencies of their choice without attracting foreign exchange fees.

Fees, however, will be incurred in general for core transactions and will be charged based on the tier level of the customer. As pointed out, customers with standard tiers will pay 2.5% in fees, while premium and metal customers will pay 1.5% in fees.

“We plan to provide educational features in the coming months to help customers better understand the trends and risks associated with cryptocurrency,” said Deepak Khanna, head of wealth and trading at Revolut Singapore, “We believe the regulatory strengths in Singapore and proactive industry engagement are key to serving clients with the highest standards.”

Revolut comes off as one of the few outfits that have permission to operate crypto exchange-related services in the country as the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is becoming more strict with crypto-hinged regulations. The collapse of Terraform Labs, Vauld Group, and Three Arrows Capital, all of which have ties to Singapore, has even made the MAS more cautious in a bid to protect consumers.

Known for its customer-centric offerings, Revolut said its presence in Singapore is growing across the board, with its customer base growing by as much as six-fold since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The fintech company also revealed that its revenue run rate has more than doubled in the past 12 months, a situation that serves as a very good ground for its business in both the country and globally.

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CME Group to Launch Euro-Denominated Bitcoin, Ether Futures on August 29

by Blockchain News

CME Group, the US leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, announced on Thursday that it will launch Bitcoin Euro and Ether Euro futures on August 29. The move is part of CME’s efforts to expand its cryptocurrency derivatives offering services.

The financial derivatives exchange termed the launch as important as enabling Bitcoin users to trade Euro-dominated Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) futures contracts on the regulated exchange.

Tim McCourt, Global Head of Equity and FX Products, CME Group, talked about the development: “Ongoing uncertainty in cryptocurrency markets, along with the robust growth and deep liquidity of our existing Bitcoin and Ether futures, is creating an increased demand for risk management solutions by institutional investors outside the U.S. Our Bitcoin Euro and Ether Euro futures contracts will provide clients with more precise tools to trade and hedge exposure to the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap.”

CME will unveil Euro-denominated Bitcoin and Ether futures to help meet the rising demand for regulated and expanding, non-USD crypto derivatives.

According to CME, offerings of Euro-denominated Bitcoin and Ether futures contracts could accelerate increasing demand for crypto products from institutional investors.

The products will provide crypto derivative alternatives because the euro, the official currency of 19 out of 27 EU member countries, is the second-most-desired currency in global currency reserves.

CME designed the Bitcoin Euro and Ether Euro futures contracts to match their U.S. dollar-denominated counterparts.

The derivative exchange stated that it will size Bitcoin Euro and Ether Euro futures at five Bitcoins and 50 Ethers per contract. Such new contracts will be cash-settled, based on the CME CF Bitcoin-Euro Reference Rate and CME CF Ether-Euro Reference Rate, which serve as once-a-day reference rates of the euro-denominated price of Bitcoin and Ether.

Rising Infrastructure for The Crypto Investor

CME’s Bitcoin Euro and Ether Euro futures are the latest investment products to be launched tied to a cryptocurrency.

In March, CME launched Bitcoin and Ether options on the micro futures contracts of the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization: Bitcoin (BTCUSD) and Ether (ETHUSD).

Last year, the exchange witnessed interest in crypto assets from retail investors, especially Millennials and Gen Zs, reaching new heights.

That was the part of the reason that led CME, in March this year, to launch micro futures to offer more affordable options for investors seeking to gain exposure to Bitcoin and Ether derivative products.

And so far, the company has continued to expand its suite of cryptocurrency derivatives offerings further.

In October last year, the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), the first ETF linked to Bitcoin, started trading, providing investors with the opportunity to gain exposure to Bitcoin returns in a convenient, liquid and transparent manner.

Shortly afterwards, several similar Bitcoin ETFs unveiled their trading services which track the future price of the coin.

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Bitcoin (BTC) $ 27,692.42 1.37%
Ethereum (ETH) $ 1,643.84 0.42%
Litecoin (LTC) $ 64.24 1.78%
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 231.59 0.28%