Weekly Crypto News Recap - July 21, 2023

Federal Reserve goes live with the FedNow Service

The Federal Reserve has announced that the FedNow Service, its new system for instant payments, has gone live in the US. Banks and credit unions no matter their sizes are now enabled to sign up and leverage the tool to instantly transfer money for their customers at any time of day and year. In the initial stage, 35 early adopting banks and credit unions, together with the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service, are ready with instant payments capabilities via the FedNow Service. Additionally, 16 service providers are prepared to support payment processing for banks and credit unions.

Ethereum’s Solidity Developers Have Bridge to Solana via Solang

Crypto Briefing

Solana Labs, known for its high-speed, low-cost blockchain platform, has unveiled a new compiler, Solang, in an effort to bridge the gap between Ethereum developers and the Solana ecosystem. Solang follows Neon’s announcement earlier this week, suggesting a coordinated effort to bring the benefits of deploying Ethereum DApps directly onto the Solana network, using Solana’s technical capabilities with minimal code reconfigurations. By opening Solana to Ethereum's Solidity programming language, Solang creates a more accessible platform for Ethereum developers on Solana.

Polygon announces new governance model comprising of ‘ecosystem council’

The Block

The Polygon team has unveiled its plans to create a new governance framework, aiming for more decentralized control over its ecosystem. The development comes in response to the team's new roadmap called Polygon 2.0, developing a network of zero-knowledge-powered Layer 2 chains. The new governance model for Polygon will form “three governance pillars,” focusing on the governance of its core protocol, smart contracts, and community treasury governance. Other key features include the Polygon Improvement Proposal (PIP) framework expansion, the introduction of an “ecosystem council” for system smart contract upgrades, and two-phase community treasury governance that will fund promising ecosystem projects.

Uniswap Releases DEX Aggregator Protocol

The Defiant

Uniswap Labs, the company behind DeFi’s leading decentralized exchange, has unveiled its second major product in just over a month. The company revealed the UniswapX white paper, an aggregation protocol designed to allow third parties, called “fillers,” to compete to execute users’ trades at the best prices. The company plans to allow Uniswap’s fillers to facilitate trades across blockchains later this year. It cites protection against MEV and gas-free swaps as other benefits of UniswapX. In practice, fillers will pay gas fees and factor them into their quotes, but the upshot is that users won’t need to acquire a network’s native token to pay gas fees, improving UX. The project seemingly drew inspiration from CoW Swap and 1inch Fusion.

Chainlink launches cross-chain protocol bridging blockchain to TradFi

Cointelegraph

The development firm behind the Chainlink protocol and its native LINK token has gone live with its cross-chain protocol, aimed at providing interoperability between traditional financial firms and both public and private blockchains. Chainlink's Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) launched with early access on Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, and Avalanche. The service uses Swift's messaging infrastructure, which is used by over 11,000 banks around the globe to facilitate international payments and settlement. BNY Mellon, BNP Paribas, Citi, and various other financial institutions are reportedly exploring the use of CCIP.

Gnosis Lets Crypto Users Make Everyday Purchases From Wallets With Visa

CoinDesk

Gnosis Card, which uses the Visa payment system, will be a debit card directly connected to a user’s on-chain account, built on the Gnosis Pay decentralized payment network. Users’ wallets – in this case smart contract-based Safe wallets – will act like a bank account for the debit card, and every Gnosis Card will be connected to the user’s Safe account. Gnosis Pay will also operate as a layer 2 to the Gnosis chain, therefore enabling faster and cheaper transactions.

BITCOIN

Bitcoin Trading in Japan Rises as Yen Turns Volatile
Bitcoin Spot ETFs Could Bring $30B in New Demand, Crypto Trader NYDIG Says
Tesla’s diamond hands: EV maker's Bitcoin holdings see no change in Q2

ETHEREUM

Coinbase’s Base wants to have zk-proofs alongside optimistic rollups
Cymbal Launches 'Human Readable' Ethereum Blockchain Explorer—A Social Etherscan
Nethermind and EigenLayer team up to build on Ethereum restaking capabilities
Pre-Mining Era ETH Worth $116M Moves Wallets
Vitalik Buterin shares account abstraction challenges in Ethereum: EthCC
Ethereum Scaling Solution zkSync Unveils Latest Prover Tech ‘Boojum’

ALTCOINS

Former Binance.US CEO joins Hashdex board
MakerDAO Votes to Halt Lending to Tokenized Credit Pool After $2M Loan Default
Solana records 1 outage in first half of 2023, 100% uptime in Q2
DeFi liquidity protocol adds ConsenSys-developed zkEVM rollup Linea
Crypto Privacy Protocol Manta Network's Team Valued at $500M
Chainlink’s LINK Climbs as Whales Add to Holdings Following Protocol Release
Telegram Bot Tokens Surge Toward $100M Market Cap
Push Protocol announces web3 Twitter Spaces competitor ‘Push Spaces ‘
Polygon Mulls Governance Restructure in Polygon 2.0 Roadmap
BNB Chain Burns Nearly $500M Worth of BNB Tokens
Solana’s Largest Protocol, Marinade, Bets Growth on ‘Native’ SOL Staking Product
Starknet unveils ‘appchains’ framework, eyeing multi-chain ecosystem
Litecoin halving is 13 days away — So where is the LTC price rally?
XRP Futures Set Open Interest Record High for 2023
Stride Blockchain Will Move to ATOM-Powered Security Model
Crypto.com Adds Reddit’s Moons Token as Kraken Listing Rumor Fades
Arkham’s ‘Dox-to-Earn’ Platform Offers Bounty on $415 Million FTX Mystery
Synthetix is targeting a Q4 launch for Perps V3 and Infinex: Kain Warwick
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov says that he owns some toncoin
Arkham's Token Debuts at $0.75 After Being Sold for $0.05 in Binance Launchpad
Solana Opens Doors to Ethereum Developers with Neon EVM Integration
Axelar launches ‘Interchain Token Service’ to boost asset interoperability
Oasis launches Ethereum-compatible privacy blockchain Sapphire
Reddit’s MOON cryptocurrency surges 200% after platform’s terms of service tweak
Users locked $2.4 billion on Binance to participate in Arkham token public sale
Compound’s outstanding debt on Ethereum hits $1 billion
Struct Finance gains 100% in 7-day TVL, ranks first by that measure on Avalanche
Polygon Introduces New POL Token to Replace MATIC
Bridging the Gap Between Solana and Ethereum: Neon EVM Debuts on Solana Mainnet
Safe partners with Monerium for euro on- and off-chain payments
Celsius moves $59.4 million in altcoins to potentially sell for BTC, ETH
Hector Network Votes to Liquidate $16M Treasury Following Multichain, Fantom Losses
A New Uniswap Feature Aims to Eliminate DeFi Pain Points
Unstoppable Adds Support for ENS Domains
Ethereum Layer 2 Mantle Network unveils mainnet alpha at EthCC
BNB Token Is Being Heavily Shorted, Perpetual Futures Show
A16z-backed cLabs submits plan for Celo to transition into Ethereum Layer 2
‘Multichain was a big blow,’ says Andre Cronje as Fantom TVL slumps
Filecoin storage utilization surpasses 7% in Q2: Report
Crypto lender Geist Finance shuts down permanently over Multichain hack
Backlash Over Arkham’s Intelligence Platform Highlights Blockchains’ Double-Edged Sword
XRP Gets Binance.US Listing as Exchange Joins Rivals’ Embrace
Improved Security Measures Await BNB Chain Users in July Hard Fork
Sui Network hits 1M active addresses within two months of launch
Synthetix is building a perpetuals platform ‘Infinex’ to rival CEXs

STABLECOINS

Paradigm-backed Utopia Labs launches USDC bank transfers for businesses
DEXs Account For 5% Of Global Stablecoin Trading: Kaiko
Stablecoin Issuer Lybra Finance Launches Arbitrum Testnet Amid Quest to Be More DeFi-Friendly
Latin American Crypto Firm Bitso Joins Stellar Network to Boost International USDC Payments
Hedera Network Powers Shinhan Bank's Successful Test of Stablecoin Payments
Euro stablecoin market set to take off, thanks to real-world uses, regulatory clarity — Circle exec
Aave’s Dollar-Pegged GHO Stablecoin Hits $2.5M Market Cap After Just 2 Days

CRYPTO ECOSYSTEM

Wormhole Launches New Bridge Connecting to any Cosmos Appchain
MetaMask ‘Snaps’ To Launch Support For New Networks This Year
Cryptocurrency Insurer Evertas Acquires Bitcoin Mining Insurance Specialist Bitsure
FalconX and CF Benchmarks partner to provide regulated access to crypto derivative markets
Binance Abruptly Terminates Argentine Soccer Association Partnership Citing Contract Breach
Crypto Industry Turns to Customers Bank as Preferred Partner Amidst Collapse of Silvergate, Signature
Nil Foundation and Semiconductor Startup Partner to Collaborate on ZK Proofs Software, Hardware
Aave Companies Launch V2 Lens, Introducing 'Blocking' to Crypto Social App
NBA Top Shot Developer Dapper Labs Continues Layoff Trend with New Round of Job Cuts

NFTS / GAMING / METAVERSE

OpenSea Makes ‘Deals,’ Launches Peer-to-Peer NFT Swaps
Dota 2, Rocket League pros ‘want to explore’ Web3 and blockchain gaming
Moonbirds Mythics NFTs Begin Reveal That Will Last at Least 200 Days
Neopets Abandons NFT Game Plans After Raising $4M
Floor App Reveals Ethereum NFT Art Drops Exclusively on iOS and Android
Ferrari worth $2.5 million is now a Polygon NFT
Doodles Launching Real World Play Experience in Chicago With Camp
'Assassin's Creed' Creator Ubisoft Throws Weight Behind Cronos Blockchain
Historic Vitalik Buterin portrait from 2014 being auctioned as NFT
OpenSea halts trading of staked-ether NFTs as creator calls marketplace ‘unlicensed casino’
Opepen PFPs Are Taking Over NFT Twitter—Here's What's Going On
Digital Art Platform Prohibition Taps Arbitrum to Democratize Generative Art
Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes Launching New NFT Collection
Jay-Z's Roc Nation and Puma Collaborate on NFT-Enhanced Sneakers
Spanish National Museum Thyssen to Mint Exclusive Collection of Van Gogh NFTs
Gucci's Iconic Fashion Is Reimagined in Christie's NFT Art Auction

MINING

Bitcoin Miner Hive Is Using Old Ethereum Rigs and AI to Make Ordinals Art
Bitmain launches Filecoin mining machines with a $38,888 price tag
Bitcoin Miner Bitfarms Expands Operations in Paraguay After Securing 2 Hydropower Contracts
TeraWulf to increase bitcoin mining capacity with new Bitmain hardware
Marathon shareholders file lawsuit against company’s top management
Bitcoin miner revenue stabilizes as Inscriptions demand wanes

EXCHANGES

Indonesia launches national cryptocurrency exchange amid 69% drop in transaction volume
Bitget growing Middle East footprint as it pursues larger market share globally
Crypto Exchange Binance Hits Pause on Certain Employee Perks, Cites Decline in Profits: Report
Kraken share of US spot trading volumes reaches 18-month high
Binance completes Bitcoin Lightning Network integration
3AC co-founders’ OPNX exchange onboards FTX, Celsius bankruptcy claims
Binance Slashes Staff But Says Reports of Thousands Being Cut Are 'Way Off'
Crypto trading volume down 23% in Q2 as Binance dominance declines
Bitget Crypto Exchange Announces Debt-Free Status and $1.44 Billion Reserves in July Report

CAPITAL RAISES

Nomura's Laser Digital Injects Fresh Funds Into Web3 Incubator Supported by Alan Howard
Polygon and Solana Foundation lead $30 million seed round in crypto startup
Arkham Token Public Sale on Binance Attracts 100,000 Participants, $2.5 Million Raised
Polychain Capital Co-Leads $25M Fundraise for Manta Network Developer
Blockchain Capital Leads $40M Round for Crypto Firm RISC Zero
DeFi mortgage startup PWN raises $2 million in funding
Dragonfly, Arthur Hayes Back $6M Round for New Stablecoin, Ethena
Kalima Secures $10 Million Investment Commitment and Announces Private Sale and DEX Listing
Silent Protocol ushers in a new era of DeFi privacy as Sora Ventures leads $5M round

INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

Crypto investors depart Sequoia Capital in VC team reshuffle: Bloomberg
Multiple spot crypto ETF applications go to Federal Register in step toward SEC approval
Ex-FTX COO Constance Wang Joins Crypto Fund Sino Global
Bitcoin ETPs Witness Record-Breaking Monthly Inflows: K33 Research
Polychain Capital, Coinfund raise $350M for new crypto funds: Report
Coinfund Raises $158 Million to Boost Early-Stage Crypto, AI Startups
Deadlines for U.S. Spot Bitcoin ETF Approvals Come Into Sight
The US SEC Accepts Valkyrie’s Spot Bitcoin ETF Proposal, Following BlackRock
Paradigm hires DC lobbyist to aid its push for clearer crypto regulation
The last month was the second highest monthly influx into Bitcoin ETPs: K33
SEC Launches Review of Latest Bitcoin ETF Applications
GBTC volumes surge to yearly high
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Highlights Rising Crypto Demand from Gold Investors
Trader who lost over 90% of net worth on FTX raises $450,000 for new fund
First Aussie Spot Bitcoin ETF Application Under New Rules

TRADFI / TECH

Cerebras Systems secures $100M AI supercomputer deal with UAE’s G42
Nasdaq Abandons Crypto Custody Service Amid U.S. Regulatory Challenges
ChatGPT's Performance Is Slipping, New Study Says
Google Play Store officially allows NFT games, but no gambling: Nifty Newsletter, July 12–18
Deltec Bank's Funds Seized by U.S. Secret Service in Money Laundering and Fraud Probe
Société Générale subsidiary becomes the first fully-licensed crypto provider in France
Meta and Microsoft launch open-source AI model Llama 2

CBDC

China's Digital Yuan Hits $250 Billion Transaction Volume, Central Bank Governor Reports
China Targets Travelers With Digital Yuan as Tourist Season Looms
Wholesale CBDC Would Improve Cross-Border Payments, French Central Bank Tests Show
FedNow Service has no relation with CBDCs, Federal Reserve clarifies
South Korean central bank charts out future course of payment systems, CBDC
China’s Changzhou to Give Away Digital Yuan Tokens, Coupons Worth $700k
Ron DeSantis vows to ban CDBCs in the US if elected president

REGULATORY / COUNTRIES

DoJ Accuses SBF of Leaking Caroline Ellison's Diary to 'Discredit a Witness' in FTX Trial
Coin Center Blasts 'Messy and Unconstitutional' Senate DeFi Bill
US Justice Department to double its crypto team, target ransomware crimes
UK financial watchdog announces launch of permanent Digital Sandbox in August
UK government rejects lawmaker’s call to treat crypto like gambling
Kuwait Regulator Issues “Absolute Prohibition” on All Crypto-Related Operations
SEC’s Stuttering Litigation Strategy Draws Comment From France
Myanmar’s shadow government backs launch of crypto-based bank
Berenberg: Coinbase Earn Faces Significant Regulatory Challenges, Security Classification Risk
New U.S. Senate Bill Wants to Regulate DeFi Like a Bank
G20 Urges Global Crypto Rules To Put End to Regulatory Arbitrage: Reuters
ASIC cancels FTX Australia’s license amid escalating crypto regulation
Nevada court orders Prime Trust into temporary receivership
Congressman Torres Tells SEC Chairman to End Crypto ‘Crusade’ After Ripple Ruling
U.S. Secret Service Seizes Funds From Bahamian Bank Deltec Amid Fraud Investigation
Unpacking the Latest Lummis-Gillibrand Bill Draft
FCA warns crypto memes could breach financial promotion rules
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong to hold meeting with House Democrats: Bloomberg
Chair Gensler says SEC reaction to Ripple decision is mixed, still under consideration
Judge in Coinbase Case Expresses ‘Skepticism’ Over SEC's Prior S-1 Approval
Senator Lummis urges clear crypto regulations after XRP ruling

ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, GOVERNANCE

'Unsubstantiated': Expert Refutes Greenpeace Bitcoin Mining Pollution Claims

SURVEYS, HACKS, MISC

Curve omnipool platform Conic Finance hacked for $3.2 million in ETH
Move Over Shiba Inu: Crypto Community Flirts With Hamster Race Betting
Canadian Police Alert High-Value Crypto Investors Being Subject to Burglaries
Binance CEO’s warns of phishing scams after Uniswap founder’s Twitter breach
FTX Leadership Seeks Return of Over $1B in Cash, Stocks From Former Executives
Bankrupt FTX sues Sam Bankman-Fried for $71M to recover ‘political capital’ payments
Argentinian Football Association Slams Binance over Sponsorship Termination
Chinese Police Arrest 21 in $54M USDT Money Laundering Probe
RFK Jr. pledges that he would exempt bitcoin profits from capital gains tax
Ben McKenzie, the Hollywood Hypocrite Crypto Critic
Celsius reaches $25 million settlement over GK8 sale
Malicious ChatGPT Clone WormGPT Used to Launch Email Attacks
AnubisDAO’s rug-pulled 13.5K ETH washes away on Tornado Cash

View Weekly Crypto News PDF

This material is provided by GSR (the “Firm”) solely for informational purposes, is intended only for sophisticated, institutional investors and does not constitute an offer or commitment, a solicitation of an offer or commitment, or any advice or recommendation, to enter into or conclude any transaction (whether on the terms shown or otherwise), or to provide investment services in any state or country where such an offer or solicitation or provision would be illegal. The Firm is not and does not act as an advisor or fiduciary in providing this material.

This material is not a research report, and not subject to any of the independence and disclosure standards applicable to research reports prepared pursuant to FINRA or CFTC research rules. This material is not independent of the Firm’s proprietary interests, which may conflict with the interests of any counterparty of the Firm. The Firm trades instruments discussed in this material for its own account, may trade contrary to the views expressed in this material, and may have positions in other related instruments.

Information contained herein is based on sources considered to be reliable, but is not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. Any opinions or estimates expressed herein reflect a judgment made by the author(s) as of the date of publication, and are subject to change without notice. Trading and investing in digital assets involves significant risks including price volatility and illiquidity and may not be suitable for all investors. The Firm is not liable whatsoever for any direct or consequential loss arising from the use of this material. Copyright of this material belongs to GSR. Neither this material nor any copy thereof may be taken, reproduced or redistributed, directly or indirectly, without prior written permission of GSR.