Category: Crypto News

Operators of crypto ATMs in Singapore are shutting down the service as they move to comply with a recent directive issued by the country’s central bank. 

Reuters reports today that Daenerys & Co and Deodi Pte are among the firms that have taken their crypto ATM services offline. 

Daenerys & Co, the biggest crypto ATM operator in Singapore, noted that the recent clampdown on cryptocurrencies by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is surprising because it has already filed for a license with the regulators to offer Digital Payment Token (DPT) services. 

However, following the directive that crypto businesses should stop promoting their services in Singapore, Daenerys & Co said its crypto ATMs have been taken offline. 

“To comply with this sudden announcement, we have ceased to offer buy or sell services via our five ATMs while seeking further clarification from the MAS,” Daenerys said. 

In a similar development, Deodi Pte, in an announcement on its website, said it had also shut down its public Bitcoin ATM in compliance with the MAS directive. 

“Pursuant to MAS ‘notice, we regret to inform you that we have to shut down our public bitcoin machine with immediate effect,” Deodi Pte said in a statement on its website. 

MAS Crackdown on Crypto Ads

Recall that on Monday, the MAS warned cryptocurrency businesses to stop promoting their services to the general public. 

The regulator expressed its eagerness to curtail crypto adverts in the country is as a result of the risks associated with trading the asset class, which include massive price swings among others.  

Singapore is not the only country against crypto ads. The United Kingdom and Spain also moved recently to put cryptocurrency influencers in check. 

Growth in Bitcoin ATMs

Cryptocurrency ATMs have grown in popularity since 2017, with several machines installed across different strategic points globally. 

Several traders prefer using the service to buy and sell cryptocurrencies for fiat, and vice versa, as it eliminates the need for a third party, thus making trading fast and easy. 

As the interest in the service surges, which has seen the number of machines installed globally reach 34,798 units, the global crypto ATM market is expected to reach $1.88 billion by 2028. 

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has partnered with popular payment provider Mastercard to simplify the process of purchasing non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and to enable more people to join the NFT space. 

According to a blog post published by the San Francisco-based exchange, through the partnership, NFTs will be classified as digital goods, and customers will be allowed to pay for these digital collectibles using their Mastercard cards in the future. 

“We applaud Mastercard’s leadership on this issue to make it as easy as possible to buy an NFT and make sure it’s the best consumer experience. The NFT revolution is just beginning,” excerpts of the announcement read.   

The move comes months after the cryptocurrency exchange announced that it will be launching an NFT marketplace, dubbed Coinbase NFT, a platform that will allow people to mint, trade, and collect various NFTs.  

Following its partnership with Mastercard, the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange noted that it will provide a better customer experience on Coinbase NFT.  

Coinbase added that it is working on ways to bring NFT opportunities to the broader crypto ecosystem through Mastercard’s scale and global network. 

Rising Interests in NFTs

The non-fungible token space is currently one of the biggest aspects of the cryptocurrency industry. Several reports have emerged about how investors have recorded major returns a few weeks after investing in the asset class. 

The sector gained traction last year, with several people flooding various marketplaces, including OpenSea, in a bid to get a piece of the action. 

Monthly, billions of dollars worth of ETH have been traded across various NFT marketplaces. According to data on Dune Analytics, a popular NFT marketplace, OpenSea monthly trade volume in ETH surpassed $3.7 billion for the first time. 

Despite the groundbreaking volumes, only a fraction of cryptocurrency investors is still able to trade digital collectibles, as the process seems complex to several others. 

Interestingly, Coinbase believes its partnership with Mastercard will help streamline the process of getting started with NFT trading. 

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has recently completed another quarterly burn of its native token, Binance Coin (BNB). As noted in the company’s roadmap, Binance burned 20% of the profit realized in the just concluded 18th quarter.

Per the announcement, approximately 1.7 million BNB (worth about $797 million at press time) were removed from circulation this quarter, with an additional 6,296 BNB (worth $2.95 million as of press time) also burned via the Pioneer Burn Program.

The value of coins that were burned suggests that the exchange made a total of $4 billion in profit within the last quarter. Impressively, it means the latest quarter recorded a significant increase of about $800 million as against last quarter’s profit of $3.2 billion.

BNB Auto-Burn Protocol

Worth noting, however, is that unlike previous quarterly burns, which were based on revenue generated from the Binance Centralized Exchange, the latest BNB burn was processed differently.

Binance recently adopted a new program termed BNB Auto-Burn, which as the name implies, would automatically calculate the number of tokens that would be burned per quarter-end.

Under the program, the number of tokens to be burned is arrived at using a formula based on BNB’s price, which reflects supply and demand, and the number of blocks produced for that quarter.

The latest development by the exchange opens a new record of being the first-ever auto-burn in Binance’s history.

Commenting on the newly introduced procedure, Changpeng Zhao, co-founder of Binance, said, “The implementation of the BNB auto-burn is a natural next step in BNB’s journey and would help the BNB community grow through providing greater autonomy, transparency and predictability.”

BNB Unaffected by Burn

The latest development by Binance does not seem to be having any significant impact on BNB. 

In fact, on the 17th of January, a day after the company announced the burn, BNB traded between $473.85 and $483.65. According to data from cryptocurrenciestowatch.com, the token was trading at $464.82, as of press time, representing a 4% decrease within the past 24 hours.

The Government of the United Kingdom (UK) has revealed its intention to strengthen regulatory guidelines for crypto advertisements.

According to a report published on Tuesday, a new regulatory framework will be set for crypto advertisements in a bid to protect investors against risks associated with investing in digital assets.

As per the proposed guidelines, the government plans to toughen its stance on misleading digital asset promotions, it will be placing crypto ads in the same category as other financial businesses – banks, investment companies – advertisements. In addition, the new rule will enhance investors protection while boosting innovation.

“The consultation response, published today, sets out the government’s plan to bring the promotion of cryptoassets within the scope of financial promotions legislation. This means the promotion of qualifying cryptoassets will be subject to FCA rules in line with the same high standards that other financial promotions such as stocks, shares, and insurance products are held to,” the report stated.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, added that the government is making sure that investors are protected while still encouraging innovation in the crypto space.

The government stated that the new rule is introduced to reduce investment risk and to make sure investors have the right knowledge about digital assets before investing in them.

The new policy will be carried out through secondary legislation to amend the financial promotion rule which states that before financial promotions will be approved by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), they must be fair, clear and not misleading.

Meanwhile, most regulators around the world have largely criticized Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.

There have been using strict measures in regulating crypto space. However, that has not stopped growing interest in digital assets by individuals and financial institutions.

For instance, just last month, business intelligence firm MicroStrategy announced the acquisition of 1,900 bitcoins bringing its Bitcoin holdings to a total of 124,391 bitcoins which is worth $3.75 billion.

BXM Operations AG, a company related to the BitMEX crypto exchange, through an official blog post has recently announced its plans to buy one of the oldest banks in Germany, Bankhaus von der Heydt.

The bank, which is located in Munich, Germany, has been in operation since 1754. 

The two companies are making arrangements to ensure the success of the partnership deal, which is expected to be completed in mid-2022.  BXM Operations AG and Bankhaus von der Heydt’s current owner, Dietrich von Boetticher, have signed a purchase agreement. 

However, the conclusion of the deal depends on the approval from the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), the German financial services regulatory authority. 

BXM Operations AG was founded by Alexander Höptner and Stephan Lutz, who are currently the CEO and CFO of the company respectively.

According to the company, the purpose of the partnership is to ensure that regulated and approved crypto products are made available in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, to advance to its goal of becoming a leading crypto player and service provider in the European market.

The two parties involved after revealing their intentions to merge also included that at the end of the transaction, Bankhaus von der Heydt will be operating as an independent business unit where the founders of BXM Operations AG, who are both German business veterans, will join its supervisory board.

With regards to some details of the transactions, the companies agreed to keep them away from the public ear. The amount at which BitMEX Group purchased the bank was not disclosed along with other financial details of the transaction. 

Commenting on the intending partnership, Alexander Höptner said: “Through combining the regulated digital assets expertise of Bankhaus von der Heydt with the crypto innovation and scale of BitMEX, I believe we can create a regulated crypto products powerhouse in the heart of Europe.” 

Recognizing the potential in digital assets, BitMEX Group had earlier launched BitMEX Link in Europe, an innovative brokerage service based in Switzerland that facilitates trading in digital assets. Now they plan to merge with the German bank to increase crypto expansion in the EU.

To benefit from the crypto space as well, Alexander Pankin, the Deputy Minister for the Russian Federation, revealed that Russia might likely adopt digital assets over the U.S. dollar in its foreign reserves.

Crypto exchange platform Crypto.com lost $15 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) to hackers a day after users complained of suspicious activities on their accounts.

According to findings by blockchain security firm, PeckShield, hackers have stolen $15 million worth of ETH from crypto.com users’ accounts in which 50% of the fund is currently being washed via Tornado Cash – a non-custodial privacy solution built on Ethereum.

The security firm revealed its discoveries via a tweet earlier today.

However, Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek still maintains the exchange’s earlier stance on the matter noting that users’ funds were not lost and a full report will be given after carrying out a proper investigation.

“Some thoughts from me on the last 24 hours: no customer funds were lost, thee downtime of withdrawal infra was ~14 hours, our team has hardened the infrastructure in response to the incident. We will share a full post mortem after the internal investigation is completed,” he tweeted.

Recall that yesterday Crypto.com announced it will be halting withdrawals on its platform – which lasted for 14 hours – to carry out an investigation of potential hacks after customers reported suspicious activities on their account.

Some users reported that large amounts of funds were being moved from their accounts while crypto enthusiast Ben Baller said that he has lost $14,000 worth of ETH.

Meanwhile, Crypto.com has in recent times been contributing largely to bringing crypto to a larger audience and driving it closer to mainstream adoption via sporting deals.

In November, the exchange struck one of the biggest naming rights deals in the history of the United States, with Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) to get Staples center – home to the Los Angeles Lakers renamed as Crypto.com.

In another development just a few days ago, Crypto.com entered a 5-year partnership deal with the Australian Football League (AFL).

Leading cryptocurrency trading platform and custodian, Rain Financial, has recently completed its Series B funding round where it raised $110 million from several notable investors.

According to a Tuesday press release, the latest fundraiser was co-led by the popular crypto derivatives firm, Paradigm, and the American venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins, and is reportedly one of the biggest investment deals for any startup in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

The Bahrain-based crypto exchange revealed that it plans to use the funds to enhance its tech with a cutting-edge trading platform, expand its team, and pursue licensing in other countries as it intends to move into new markets.

Speaking on the fundraiser, the co-founding team said,  “We are very excited about this funding opportunity as it allows us to continue conversations with regulators across the MENA region, Turkey, and Pakistan about the benefits and potential of cryptocurrency.  It will also support our overarching mission of providing education and access to cryptocurrency to all of our supported markets… We are humbled to work with some of the highest quality global investors, like Paradigm, Kleiner Perkins, and Coinbase Ventures, who share a unified goal of a more open and inclusive financial system.”

The Series B funding round also saw notable investment from Coinbase Ventures, Global Founders Capital, MEVP, Cadenza Ventures, JIMCO, and CMT Digital.

Founded in 2017, Rain has established itself in several Middle Eastern markets including Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, and others. It was the first licensed crypto-asset service provider in the MENA region.

The startup allows users to buy and sell several top crypto coins, amassing over 185,000 users who had processed over $1.9 billion worth of transactions to date.

Rain also currently has 400 employees and intends to double this number before 2022 runs out.

Casey Caruso, Investment Partner at Paradigm said, “We believe Rain is a crucial piece of the puzzle for bringing the Middle East deeper into the new crypto economy. Their emphasis on supporting and educating those new to crypto alongside strong banking and regulatory relationships has helped them build a service people trust. This is just the beginning for Rain, and we’re honored to support their growth.”

This latest funding round comes just a year after Rain raised $6 million from investors in a Series A investment round led by MEVP. 

Additionally, Rain revealed that while pushing ahead with its expansion plans, it also intends to provide regular educational opportunities for individuals who are interested in learning more about cryptocurrencies.

In another similar but unrelated news, blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs raised $60 million from several notable investors in a Series B funding round.