Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
Exchanges news
- Japan’s Monex Group has launched crypto contract for difference (CFD) products for bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), XRP and bitcoin cash (BCH) – making it the first Japanese brokerage to do so, reported Coin Post. Recent amendments to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act effectively legalized CDF offerings in the country. Monex also owns the Coincheck crypto exchange.
- Kraken has announced a new USD funding option for US residents (domestic wire) through MVB Bank. Per the announcement, the exchange now offers 7 different USD funding options in every US state that Kraken operates in, except for Texas.
Defi news
- Crypto lender Nexo (NEXO) and Chainlink (LINK) have partnered in order to integrate Chainlink into Nexo’s lending and trading operations. Chainlink will contribute to the decentralization of Nexo’s lending, OTC, and institutional capabilities as Nexo builds out a complete prime brokerage product suite.
- Lending protocol Aave has partnered with blockchain-based protocol for the creation and execution of legal agreements OpenLaw, launching a new service on Ethereum, a native Credit Delegation (CD), that enables users to take out loans without depositing collateral. According to the tweets by founder and CEO Stani Kulechov, this is a new service for unsecured peer-to-peer loans, which allows people who deposit an asset on Aave to “delegate” a credit line to another person.
Bitcoin news
- When it comes to BTC’s next move, volatility contraction often comes before expansion, which eventually leads to a breakout or breakdown, said Binance in their June trading report. The reduced volatility could be connected with increased hodling, given that traders do not feel incentivized to sell BTC. The team noted that they observed open interest growth in June, which might suggest that traders are positioned for a big move. Furthermore, “recent price action looks promising,” but bitcoin needs “considerable volume to breakthrough and if successful, this will be a good indication of positive confidence going into the rest of this week,” they said.
Blockchain news
- China’s Heilongjiang Province is the latest region on the Chinese mainland to begin operating a blockchain-powered cross-border financial services pilot platform. Per Shanghai Securities News, the pilot has the backing of some 23 banks in the province, most of which are regional branches of large, state-run banks. The platform will, operators said, help SME exporters in the province speed up and simplify trade financing and loan deal applications.
- Chinese steel firm Nanjing Iron & Steel said it has completed its first-ever blockchain-powered iron ore trade, and has sealed a USD 17 million deal for the shipment with an arm of Australian mining firm Rio Tinto. The Chinese firm said it will buy 170,000 tonnes of Pilbara iron ore fines and lump from the Rio Tinto-run Hope Downs firm, per Reuters.
- Hyundai’s blockchain subsidiary Hdac has revealed details about a new crypto brand and a new blockchain mainnet, reported Digital Today. The conglomerate’s IT services arm filed trademark registrations for three new business brands last month, but has now announced that the new Atolo brand will deal with “digital assets.” Hdac has already launched a token and a mainnet through a Europe-based subsidiary, but said that scalability issues have forced it to plan for a second mainnet launch.
Crypto adoption news
- Publisher of mobile games Animoca Brands has reported its total cash and cryptocurrency on hand of AUD 8.7 million (USD 6 million) for the first four months of 2020 (ended April 30). This includes AUD 1.1 million (USD 765,000) in BTC and ETH, AUD 1.6 million (USD 1.1 million) in other cryptocurrencies, and AUD 6 million (USD 4.2 million) in cash. The increase in BTC and ETH holdings, the announcement said, came from growth in the company’s blockchain gaming activities, involving various sales of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) including LAND for The Sandbox, racecar and crate sales for F1 Delta Time, and collectible hero cards for Crazy Defense Heroes. Animoca Brands also highlighted a record total unaudited revenues of AUD 10.5 million (USD 7.3 million), an increase of 44% over the same quarter last year.
Investment news
- Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has raised USD 13 million, expanding its Series B funding to USD 49 million with investments from Ribbit Capital and Sound Ventures, said the press release. The company will use the funding to add software engineers, government sales, and other business roles, so to boost its government relationships and work on uniting the private and public sectors, in order to fuel the cryptocurrency industry’s growth, they said.
Career news
- Sigal Mandelker, the former Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence under President Trump, has joined Chainalysis as an advisor, the press release added. She also previously joined venture capital firm, Ribbit Capital, as General Partner. She said she’d work with the Chainalysis team to help develop public-private partnerships, improve technologies in financial services, and root out illicit networks.