Cryptocurrencies

Russia debuts cross-border payments in Tether stablecoin

In addition to Tether, companies transacting through the Exved system can use the U.S. dollar and the offshore ruble, the platform said.

One of Russia’s first cross-border payment platforms has officially announced its launch and says it will facilitate local legal entities to process international settlements in cryptocurrency.

Exved, a local digital settlement platform — which describes itself as a “digital counterparty search system” — announced the launch on Dec. 7, stating that Russian importers and exporters can now use its business-to-business solution to simplify the process of “foreign exchange operations and foreign economic activity.”

The Exved platform specifically allows one to proceed with cross-border transactions using the Tether (USDT) stablecoin alongside the offshore ruble and the United States dollar, the announcement reads.

Robinhood launches crypto trading services in Europe

All eligible customers in the EU region can access Robinhood for crypto trading services, with over 25 cryptocurrencies available for trade.

Trading and brokerage firm Robinhood announced the launch of its crypto services for all eligible European Union customers on Dec. 7. The platform will allow traders to buy and sell over 25 cryptocurrencies.

Robinhood’s entry into the European crypto market comes just a week after the firm launched its stock trading application in the United Kingdom.

Cointelegraph contacted Oliver McIntosh, senior product communications manager at Robinhood, to understand the firm’s crypto focus and expansion plans in Europe. Mcintosh said that the EU is the right market to anchor our international expansion plans, and Robinhood “welcomes the approach that the EU has taken in creating the world’s first comprehensive regime for crypto assets via the Market in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA).”

Canadian crypto exchanges reach $1B in assets under management

WonderFi is currently one of the largest digital asset operators in Canada.

Bitbuy and Coinsquare, two of the largest crypto exchanges domiciled in Canada, have surpassed 1 billion Canadian dollars ($736 million) in assets under management.

According to a Dec. 6 announcement by parent company WonderFi, the two entities currently hold over 1 billion CAD in clients’ cash and digital asset deposits, up from 695 million CAD ($512 million) in the third quarter.

“During the month of November, the platforms experienced a combined 16% increase in monthly active users as compared to the monthly active user count in October. The platforms also recorded a 54% increase in total trading volume,” the company wrote.

Binance suspends euro stablecoin after 200% price surge

“We will assist the AEUR project team to provide reasonable compensation to affected users” within 72 hours, the exchange said.

Crypto exchange Binance is reimbursing users and delisting the Anchored Coins Euro (AEUR) stablecoin after the token surged more than 200% in value after listing.

According to a Dec. 6 announcement, Binance will compensate users who purchased AEUR at an inflated valuation and failed to sell it after trading was halted earlier in the day. Affected users will receive a portion of the premium amount above the peg of 1 AEUR = 1.08 Tether (USDT) as a refund. The exchange wrote:

The large price volatility also affected the pricing of various AEUR trading pairs, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and the euro, which also falls within the scope of the exchange’s compensation plan. “To avoid potential losses for other investors, the resumption time of the above AEUR spot trading pairs will be notified separately,” Binance said. The coin is currently suspended for trading on the exchange.

Cathie Wood’s ARK dumps 237K Coinbase shares at $140

The latest Coinbase sale by ARK is one of its largest daily sales in 2023, third only to two massive sales in July.

ARK Invest, one of the firms hoping to launch a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in 2024, is continuing to rake in the profits made from its large stash of Coinbase stock.

On Dec. 5, ARK dumped as many as 237,572 Coinbase shares from its three funds, according to a trade notification seen by Cointelegraph. The sale came on the day the Coinbase stock closed at $140 per share, netting at least $33 million.

The trading firm offloaded 201,711 Coinbase shares from the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) alone, with an additional 28,535 and 7,326 being sold by the ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF) and the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), respectively.

New Jersey bill would make crypto sold to institutional investors a security

The bill complements one already on the governor’s desk that regulates digital assets owned by individuals.

The New Jersey General Assembly may consider a bill that would decide when a digital asset or “virtual currency’ is a security under state law.

All virtual currencies issued and sold to institutional investors would be considered securities in the U.S. state of New Jersey under the bill introduced by Democratic Assemblymember Herb Conaway, Jr. on Nov. 29. According to the short text of the bill, the legislation would supplement the New Jersey Uniform Securities Law, which currently makes no mention of virtual or digital currency or cryptocurrency.

The bill pertains only to institutional investors, which are defined as “a company or organization that invests money on behalf of other people.” It also specifies that stablecoins could be determined to be virtual currencies by the state’s Bureau of Securities.

HashKey Exchange to onboard market makers to boost liquidity

“To incentivize more users to provide liquidity, we will officially launch the market maker project starting from 2023/12/28,” the exchange wrote.

HashKey, one of the first crypto exchanges to be licensed in Hong Kong, will soon allow individual and enterprise market makers to provide liquidity on the exchange.

According to the Dec. 5 announcement, individuals and entities can apply to be market makers on HashKey, provided that they trade at least $5 million worth of cryptocurrencies per month on the exchange.

Depending on monthly rankings or trading volume, users and firms will receive between 0.005% and 0.015% of transaction value as commission.

Hong Kong-regulated exchanges have expanded service offerings and partnerships since the first licenses were granted in August. OSL, another Hong Kong licensed exchange, signed a partnership with Interactive Brokers on Nov. 28 to enable Hong Kong clients to purchase Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) using Interactive Brokers’ investment accounts. 30, the firm onboarded Victory Securities, the first regulated broker in Hong Kong to obtain approval for virtual asset dealings, for crypto trading services on OSL’s platform.

Meanwhile, HashKey has been expanding its altcoin offerings, though they remain available only to accredited investors meeting a $1-million portfolio requirement.

Bitcoin custodian Nostr Assets pauses deposits after reaching 'maximum capacity'

“Please refrain from deposits at the moment. Inbound at max capacity,” wrote one community manager.

Bitcoin infrastructure developer Nostr Assets has paused deposits following record-high user activity.

According to a Dec. 5 announcement posted on Telegram, Nostr Assets developers warned, “Please await further announcements and do not attempt to deposit into NostrAssets for the time being.” The service, which allows users to transact Satoshis, or or 1/100 millionth of a Bitcoin (BTC), through the Lightning and Taproot Networks, claims to have onboarded over 70,000 new users since Oct.

*An explanation of the incident on Nostr Assets’ official Telegram*

On Dec. 4, Fiatjaf, the creator of the Nostr protocol, which allows users to interchange their social profiles and their followers on different platforms, alleged that the Nostr Asset team was operating under an affinity scam.

Nostr Assets developers dismissed the allegations as “unfounded,” writing:

“NostrAssets utilizes Nostr, Taproot Assets, and Lightning in its construction, making it pertinent to Nostr. However, it’s crucial to emphasize that Nostr is a decentralised, open-sourced and censorship-resistant relay network that anyone can build on.”

1/ This thread is aimed at addressing the unfounded claims made by @fiatjaf. https://t.co/mcceRECEWL

— Nostr Assets Protocol (@NostrAssets) December 3, 2023

The following day, the total volume of non-fungible token (NFT) sales on the Bitcoin network surpassed $1 billion.

Bitcoin Ordinals is a numbering system that assigns a unique number to each individual satoshi, enabling their tracking and transfer.

Bitcoin custodian Nostr Assets pauses deposits after reaching ‘maximum capacity’

“Please refrain from deposits at the moment. Inbound at max capacity,” wrote one community manager.

Bitcoin infrastructure developer Nostr Assets has paused deposits following record-high user activity.

In a Dec. 5 announcement posted on Telegram, the Nostr Assets team warned users to “await further announcements and do not attempt to deposit into NostrAssets for the time being.” The service — which allows users to transact satoshis, or 1/100 millionth of a Bitcoin (BTC), through the Lightning and Taproot networks — claims to have onboarded over 70,000 new users and attracted 280 BTC ($11.8 million) in new deposits since Oct.

On Dec. 4, Fiatjaf, the creator of the Nostr protocol — which allows users to interchange their social profiles and followers on different platforms — alleged that the Nostr Asset team was operating as an affinity scam.

Nostr Assets dismissed the allegations as “unfounded,” writing:

“NostrAssets utilizes Nostr, Taproot Assets, and Lightning in its construction, making it pertinent to Nostr. However, it’s crucial to emphasize that Nostr is a decentralised, open-sourced and censorship-resistant relay network that anyone can build on.”

1/ This thread is aimed at addressing the unfounded claims made by @fiatjaf. https://t.co/mcceRECEWL

— Nostr Assets Protocol (@NostrAssets) December 3, 2023

Meanwhile, the total volume of nonfungible token sales on the Bitcoin network has now surpassed $1 billion.

Bitcoin Ordinals is a numbering system that assigns a unique number to each individual satoshi, enabling their tracking and transfer.

Swiss city Lugano accepts Bitcoin and Tether for municipal taxes

The Swiss city of Lugano officially announced that it has started accepting BTC and USDT as payment for taxes and all other community fees.

The Swiss city of Lugano is enhancing the local adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) by enabling citizens and companies to pay for municipal services and taxes with cryptocurrency.

The city of Lugano officially announced on Dec.

Starting immediately, Lugano will accept Bitcoin and major stablecoin Tether (USDT) as a means of payment in an automated process through the Swiss institutional-grade cryptocurrency platform Bitcoin Suisse.

According to the announcement, Lugano citizens and companies will be able to pay all local invoices — regardless of the nature of the service or the amount invoiced — with Bitcoin.

Residents of Lugano are able to pay taxes or services with Bitcoin through the Swiss QR-bill by scanning the code on the invoice and paying with their preferred mobile wallet and the selected cryptocurrency.

Lugano’s latest crypto move is part of Plan B, a collaborative effort with Tether to use Bitcoin technology as the foundation for transforming the city’s financial system.

As previously reported, Lugano started adopting cryptocurrencies for tax payments as part of a collaboration with Tether in March 2022.