Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
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Economics news
- According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the global economic growth to slow from 6.1% last year to 3.2% in 2022, 0.4 percentage points lower than in the April 2022 World Economic Outlook. With increasing prices continuing to squeeze living standards worldwide, taming inflation should be the first priority for policymakers, their report stated.
Taxes news
- US Senators Patrick Toomey and Kyrsten Sinema have teamed up to push the exemption from tax requirements for crypto users making small investments or purchases, each of up to USD 50, Coindesk reported.
Crime news
- The number of “cryptojacking” cases (hackers implanting a piece of software on a victim’s computer that mines crypto) across the financial sector has risen by 269% in the first half of 2022, according to a report by cybersecurity firm SonicWall. In previous years, government, healthcare, and education sectors were the most common targets for cryptojacking, but there has been a “dramatic reshuffling” in 2022.
Legal news
- Stockholder rights law firm Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. announced that a class action lawsuit has been filed against TerraForm Labs, Jump Crypto, Jump Trading LLC, Republic Capital, Republic Maximal LLC, Tribe Capital, DFinance Capital, DFinance Technologies, GSR/GSR Markets Limited, Three Arrows Capital, Do Kwon, and Nicholas Platias, on behalf of all persons and entities who purchased or otherwise acquired Terra Tokens, Liquidity Pool tokens, and/or Bonded Assets, between May 20, 2021, and May 25, 2022.
- Michael Alan Stollery, the CEO of Titanium Blockchain Infrastructure Services Inc. (TBIS), pleaded guilty for his role in a crypto fraud scheme involving TBIS’s initial coin offering that raised approximately USD 21m from investors in the US and overseas. He is scheduled to be sentenced on November 18 and faces up to 20 years in prison.
- Crypto businessman Moshe Hogeg was arrested for not paying his court-set bail of NIS 10m (USD 2.9m), according to the Times of Israel. Police said he would be brought for a remand hearing.
Regulation news
- Philippines’ think tank Infrawatch PH filed a twelve-page complaint calling on the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to crack down on crypto exchange Binance’s activities in the Philippines. According to the think tank, Binance has been operating in the Philippines for several years without approval by appropriate authorities.
- The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced it is setting up a new Office of Technology Innovation. “We are past the incubator stage, and digital assets and decentralized technologies have outgrown their sandboxes,” said CFTC chief Rostin Behnam.
Investments news
- Vidente, the owner of crypto exchange Bithumb, said it has held discussions about a possible sale of its stake to fellow exchange FTX, CNBC reported. The company said it is reviewing all possible options, including a full acquisition or joint management of the exchange, but no specific course of action has been decided on.
- Digital asset platform OSL announced that it received a license from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission to distribute security tokens to professional investors in Hong Kong in a private security token offering (STO).
- Multi-platform game development studio Mighty Bear Games announced a USD 10m funding round led by Framework Ventures, meant for launching its blockchain division and developing a series of immersive AAA Web3 games. The studio also announced its first Web3 game, a multiplayer third-person battle royale, slated for release later this year, titled Mighty Action Heroes.
- Blockchain project Root Labs announced USD 10m raised in seed funding, to build Root, a generalized rent-free marketplace on Beanstalk, a decentralized credit-based stablecoin protocol built on Ethereum (ETH).
Banking news
- Online bank SEBA Bank plans to increase its staffing in Asia, specifically Hong Kong and Singapore, from around 7 to 20 people and is seeking licenses in both cities, Bloomberg reported, citing Eugene Sun, the bank’s head of corporate development for Asia.
Gaming news
- Bitcoin (BTC)-centric gaming startup Zebedee and mobile games studio Viker joined forces to bring crypto rewards to three popular games, namely card game Solitaire, logic puzzle Sudoku, and word game Missing Letters.
Blockchain news
- Layer-1 blockchain platform Fantom (FTM) announced the deployment of Watchdog, a smart contract security analyzer, on Fantom Mainnet. Through a collaboration with blockchain security firm Debaub, decentralized applications (dapps) developed on the Fantom Mainnet will be automatically audited for vulnerabilities by the Watchdog system, they said.
- Blockchain and smart transaction platform Chia Network said it will replace its 7-month-old Chia Asset Tokens (CATs) with a new token to address a security vulnerability that it uncovered after an outside auditor detected potential weaknesses with the token’s standard. Chia will halt what it now is calling CAT1 on July 26 at 5 pm UTC after the block height 2,311,760 and begin supporting its re-issuance as CAT2.
