THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- Solana NFTs can now be traded on OpenSea To date, this will be the most significant utility Solana has supported in the NFT marketplace. Solana will be put to the test against Ethereum, one of its main competitors. If users begin to take note of Solana's low fees and lightning-fast speeds, it may position the cryptocurrency to return to all-time highs. If all works out, this newfound exposure should bode well for the price of Solana. Read more here.
- Bolt Financial to buy the crypto startup, Wyre, in a $1.5 billion deal. The purchase by the company would be the largest in the crypto sector that didn't involve a SPAC. Wyre offers services to exchange national currencies and cryptocurrencies between banks and crypto wallets and also offers cryptocurrency trading. Bolt has been trying to carve out a niche in the one-click checkout service for merchants.
- British Government to recognize and regulate crypto. Rishi Sunak has announced his ambition to make the UK a global hub for crypto-asset technology, in a move that’ll see some cryptocurrencies called stablecoins recognized as a valid form of payment. The country intends to legislate them within the payments regulatory perimeter, creating conditions for stablecoins issuers and service providers to operate and invest in the UK.
- U.S. arm of Binance is now valued at $4.5B. The valuation comes after completing a $200 million seed funding round. Binance.US’s first external funding round included investment from venture capital group RRE Venture and asset manager VanEck, among others. Binance plans to use the proceeds from the funding round to improve its spot trading platform, invest in marketing, and develop new products and services.
- CME offers reference rates on additional cryptocurrencies. Alongside its existing Bitcoin and Ether rates, the derivatives marketplace said its partnership with CF Benchmarks will expand to include reference rates and indices for Algorand, Bitcoin Cash, Cardano, Chainlink, Cosmos, Litecoin, Polkadot, Polygon, Solana, Stellar, and Uniswap. The additions mean more availability for traders and fund managers to evaluate portfolio risk and create structured products. Read more here.
- Crypto mortgages test home buyers’ appetite. Miami firms now offer home loans in crypto. Milo, a fintech company in the lending business, made the first crypto home loan in March when it provided a 30-year mortgage in bitcoin for a Miami duplex. XBTO, another crypto finance company with offices in Miami, said it is also gearing up to offer crypto mortgages this year. Read more here.
- FTX to launch in West Africa. The platform will be launched first in West Africa. AZA Finance, a Kenyan company that started in 2013 is partnering with FTX on the continent. The companies seek to capitalize on Africa’s population which is expected to double by 2050, as well as the already rapid adoption of digital technologies by Africans who often have little access to traditional banking services.
- Dubai lures crypto firms with virtual asset licenses. Crypto firms are rushing to set up shop in Dubai after it started to offer virtual asset licenses, making the Gulf state the latest jurisdiction to seek to become a haven for the global crypto industry. Enthusiasm for Dubai among crypto companies comes as their hopes for Singapore as a digital asset hub have faded. Read more here.
- Meta targets finance with ‘Zuck Bucks’ and creator coins. The company has drawn up plans to introduce virtual coins, tokens, and lending services to its apps. This is unlikely to be a cryptocurrency based on the blockchain. Instead, Meta is leaning towards introducing in-app tokens that would be centrally controlled by the company. Most of the efforts are in the early stages of being discussed and could change or be dropped. Read more here.
- HomeJab launches its NFT platform. It is specifically for original real estate images. It currently features images of destinations. Real estate pros can also hire photographers to capture NFTs to be shot and produced for their exclusive use, as they’ll own the image along with its NFT. It provides agents and brokers with one-of-a-kind images that only the owner can use versus licensing a repetitive stock image.
