Author: The Block
Metaverse avatar platform Ready Player Me is releasing a collection of 10,000 unique 3D avatars geared toward CryptoPunks NFT owners, with the idea of giving them a new level of utility. The Ready Player Me avatars, called Ready Player Me Punks, can be used on various virtual worlds and will grant owners access to 1,000 companies integrating their avatars into apps and games, including VRChat, Somnium Space, TCL and Hiberworld. The company first teased the launch in late December; as noted at the time, the project has no official affiliation with Larva Labs, which created CryptoPunks. The avatars will possess attributes of the…
One member of Congress has noted a major outlier among stablecoins, a topic that’s top of mind on Capitol Hill these days. “Tether, for example, is a time bomb,” said Warren Davidson (R-OH), speaking to The Block on the financial risks posed by stablecoins. “There isn’t transparency or disclosure there. They acknowledge that they have commercial paper, but they don’t disclose what exactly that is. That’s where I think that a framework that compels disclosure does provide investor protection.” Referring to a controversial Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement action, Davidson said: “Regulators ought to get their arms around Tether. There’s, frankly,…
The US Treasury Department’s proposal for new stablecoin law is dead in the water if today’s hearing before Congress is any indication. On February 8, the House Financial Services Committee hosted Nellie Liang, the Treasury’s undersecretary for domestic finance and the driving force behind a November report on stablecoins from the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets. The Block previously noted Liang’s unique role and expected pitch to limit stablecoin issuance to insured depository institutions, or IDIs. IDIs are institutions that possess FDIC insurance, which for the most part encompasses banks. Given its origins with the financial collapse and bank runs that heralded the…
Aave’s long-in-the-making protocol for a decentralized social media ecosystem was unveiled on Monday. Dubbed Lens Protocol, the project is described as “[a] permissionless, composable, & decentralized social graph that makes building a Web3 social platform easy.” The Block profiled Aave’s efforts on this protocol in a feature last summer. As noted at the time, Aave, the team behind the decentralized finance lending protocol, has dedicated significant resources to the social media project since the beginning of 2021. A tweet from January 20 teased Monday’s debut. Originally pitched as a way to create a kind of Twitter-on-Ethereum, the project now known as Lens has since grown…
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has included evaluating crypto-asset risks on its list of priorities for the year. Acting Chairman Martin Gruenberg announced the regulator’s 2022 priorities in a statement, saying each will require close collaboration among the federal banking agencies. The priorities include strengthening the Community Reinvestment Act, addressing financial risks posed by climate change, reviewing the bank merger process and finalizing the Basel III Capital Rule in addition to evaluating risks related to crypto. The rapid integration of digital assets with the current financial system could pose significant risks to its safety and soundness, according to the FDIC. “To…
Kazakh authorities have floated tighter regulatory conditions for bitcoin miners in recent days — a state of affairs that could spur some operations to leave the country for friendlier shores. As local news outlet Kazinform reported on February 4, Kazakh authorities are looking into increasing the tax on electricity for cryptocurrency miners from one tenge to five tenge (USD$0.0023 to $0.012). Marat Sultangaziev, Kazakhstan’s first vice-minister of finance, further suggested requiring crypto miners to pay a monthly tax on equipment, whether or not they earn block rewards or even turn the ASICs on. The vice-minister compared the idea to a similar tax…
A crypto project, known as VanityBlocks, has started turning whole Ethereum transaction blocks into non-fungible tokens (NFTs) — preventing anyone else from having space in that block. The first Genesis NFT was created on January 16. It was in block 14017777 and the transaction to create the NFT took up the entire block, costing about 5.31 ETH ($16,600 USD). A more recent mint on January 31 for block 14114114 cost over 3.42 ETH ($10,700 USD) in transaction fees. As of publication, VanityBlocks has minted only these two blocks. The second NFT minted has already been sold to an interested buyer. It was sold for 7…
Valkyrie’s bitcoin mining exchange-traded fund is slated to list on Nasdaq at tomorrow’s opening bell, according to a spokesperson for the issuer. Valkyrie filed a post-effective amendment for the Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF on January 26, and then sought immediate acceleration of its effective date. Nasdaq joined the request today since the exchange approved the fund to list. It will begin trading tomorrow at the open under the ticker “WGMI.” The fund will invest in public companies in the bitcoin mining industry. It doesn’t hold bitcoin directly, but rather invests in firms like Argo, Bitfarms, Hive and Marathon among others. It may…
Professional services firm KPMG in Canada is allocating bitcoin and ether (ETH) to its corporate treasury, according to a Monday announcement. “Cryptoassets are a maturing asset class,” Benjie Thomas, the firm’s Canadian managing partner for advisory services said in a statement. “This investment reflects our belief that institutional adoption of cryptoassets and blockchain technology will continue to grow and become a regular part of the asset mix,” he said. KPMG acquired Bitcoin and Ethereum on its balance sheet through Gemini, with the two companies exchanging a brief interaction on Twitter this morning. The firm is also adding carbon offsets to maintain a net-zero carbon…
Embedded finance company DriveWealth on Monday said it would roll out a crypto trading offering to its partners and their retail investors. DriveWealth offers infrastructure that allows other fintechs such as Revolut, MoneyLion and Block’s Cash App to support fractional stock trading. It says it has more than 100 partners globally. The move comes through the launch of two subsidiaries, DriveLiquidity and DriveDigital which will handle and execute trades, and follows the completed acquisition of Crypto-Systems. “Creating DriveWealth’s crypto vertical strengthens our ability to empower retail investors to enter these markets, while also equipping our partners with the end-to-end technology they need to…