Author: Andrei Ionescu

Investors and market makers in the decentralized exchange ZKX, built on the Starknet platform, were taken by surprise by the protocol’s abrupt closure. This unexpected shutdown, which follows a recent token generation event (TGE) and significant venture capital (VC) funding, has led to allegations of a potential “rug pull” from blockchain sleuth ZachXBT and others. However, ZKX founder Eduard Jubany Tur defended the decision, citing economic impracticality as the reason for halting operations. Tur acknowledged in an initial announcement that the TGE did not meet expectations, contributing to financial difficulties. “The TGE didn’t meet expectations, and the resulting losses have…

Ripple, a prominent payments network, announced plans to allocate $10 million to a tokenized version of U.S. Treasury bills (T-bills) on the XRP Ledger, marking the first time such an offering will be available on the platform. This initiative is part of a broader fund that Ripple intends to dedicate to tokenized T-bills provided by the tokenization platform OpenEden and other issuers. According to a Thursday release, OpenEden will issue these short-term U.S. government debt instruments as TBILL tokens. The assets backing these tokens will be invested in short-dated U.S. Treasuries and reverse repurchase agreements (repos) collateralized by U.S. Treasuries.…

MicroStrategy has announced plans to sell its class A shares to raise up to $2 billion, with the intent to purchase more Bitcoin and for other general corporate purposes. The Virginia-based business intelligence firm made the disclosure in a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. However, the company did not specify a timeline for the share sales or how much of the proceeds would be allocated to buying Bitcoin. This move follows a recent fundraising effort in June, where MicroStrategy initially announced a $500 million offering of unsecured senior convertible notes to purchase additional Bitcoin. The offering…

Futu Securities International, a leading online stock broker based in Hong Kong, has launched trading for bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), according to the South China Morning Post. As part of the launch, Futu is offering shares of Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group (BABA) and AI chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) as rewards for new clients who open accounts and deposit specific amounts of money. Currently, only bitcoin and ether can be traded on the platform, but Futu has plans to expand its cryptocurrency offerings in the near future. To attract new users, the company is waiving commission fees for a limited…

Global markets faced a broad sell-off, affecting everything from U.S. stocks to Japanese indexes and seeping into the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin (BTC) saw a reversal of losses during Asian morning hours on Friday, as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and concerns about the U.S. economy contributed to market volatility. BTC fell to a low of $62,500 during late U.S. trading hours on Thursday but rebounded to trade just under $64,000 at 6:30 UTC. This placed it near its 50-day moving average, a key support level for many traders. FxPro senior market analyst Alex Kuptsikevich noted that if Bitcoin’s decline…

Worldcoin, a project aimed at providing digital identity verification, has launched its World ID system in Austria. As of July 31, residents of Vienna over the age of 18 can verify their World ID at multiple locations throughout the city, marking a significant expansion in Europe. This initiative adds Austria to a growing list of countries where Worldcoin’s technology is available, reaching over 6.3 million users worldwide. The Worldcoin Foundation announced the introduction of its World ID-issuing orb in Austria, underscoring its commitment to privacy and data security. Tools for Humanity, the Germany-based company behind Worldcoin, has ensured compliance with…

OKX Ventures, the venture capital arm of cryptocurrency exchange OKX, and the Aptos Foundation have jointly established a $10 million fund to foster the growth of the Aptos ecosystem and promote broader adoption of Web3 technologies. The fund, named Ankaa, aims to support projects built on the Aptos blockchain, according to an announcement. Ankaa will be managed by Aptos, OKX Ventures, and Alcove, the accelerator launched by Aptos last November. The fund will primarily focus on projects in decentralized finance (DeFi), real-world assets (RWA), gaming, social media, and artificial intelligence (AI). Aptos is a layer-1 blockchain that utilizes Facebook’s (META)…

Ark Invest offloaded 12,077 Coinbase shares worth $2.7 million from its Next Generation Internet exchange-traded fund (ARKW) on Wednesday. It’s the first time the Cathie Wood-led investment firm has sold Coinbase shares since it offloaded $4.3 million worth of COIN on July 19. Ark’s investment strategy generally aims to avoid individual holdings taking up more than 10% of an ETF’s portfolio. This is to maintain diversification within its funds — meaning it is likely to continue rebalancing its weightings if COIN’s value rises relative to Ark’s other holdings in the fund. According to the firm’s latest disclosures, COIN is now…

Binance Labs, the venture capital and incubation arm of Binance, has announced an investment in Particle Network, a leading Layer 1 (L1) solution designed to unify blockchain networks via Universal Accounts. This investment aims to address user and liquidity fragmentation in the Web3 space. As blockchain technology expands, the proliferation of various Layer 1 and Layer 2 chains has led to a fragmented user base and liquidity, creating challenges for both users and developers. Particle Network seeks to solve these issues with its Chain Abstraction infrastructure, which includes Universal Accounts, Universal Liquidity, Universal Gas, and the Particle L1 chain. This…

The SEC’s move to seek leave to amend the complaint means that it is requesting the court’s permission to modify its initial filing. This amendment is expected to include additional details and evidence regarding third-party crypto tokens, such as SOL, ADA, MATIC, FIL, ATOM, SAND, MANA, ALGO, AXS, and COTI, which were previously defined as securities in the lawsuit. The amendment suggests that the SEC aims to strengthen its case against Binance by providing more substantial information and arguments about these tokens. As a result, the court will not need to make a ruling on the adequacy of the SEC’s…