The Texas-based bitcoin mining giant is entering a merger agreement with SilverSun Technologies, a publicly-traded business technology solutions provider, as Rhodium is planning to list on Nasdaq after an initial delay.
Meanwhile, the fall in the price of BTC and the ongoing crypto winter has caused bitcoin mining companies to struggle to stay afloat.
Rhodium Makes Another Shot to go Public
In an announcement on Thursday (September 29, 2022), the merger between SilverSun and Rhodium saw unanimous approval from the Board of Directors of both companies.
Part of the terms of the deal includes each SilverSun shareholder will receive a cash dividend of a minimum of $1.50 per share, approximately equal to $8.5 million. The shareholders will also get one share of a stock dividend

Uniswap Labs, which developed the Uniswap protocol, is reportedly holding talks with potential investors for a new funding round.
The potential new round would value the startup at a unicorn valuation.
According to TechCrunch on Friday (September 30, 2022), four anonymous sources revealed that Uniswap Labs is looking to raise between $100 million and $200 million in a new funding round, with a valuation of $1 billion.
The startup is reportedly speaking to participants such as Polychain, and a Singaporean foreign fund, although the terms of the deal may change as talks with potential investors is yet to reach the final stage.
Meanwhile, neither Uniswap Labs nor Polychain has issued a statement about the matter.
In August, Uniswap token holders voted in favor of launching an

Brett Harrison, President of the United States subsidiary of major cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is leaving his leadership position but will act as an advisor for the company.
Nevertheless, the exec will continue to have an advisory role.
The FTX US boss announced his resignation in a tweet thread on Tuesday (September 27, 2022) after serving as CEO of the company for nearly one and a half years.

1/ An announcement: I’m stepping down as President of @FTX_Official. Over the next few months I’ll be transferring my responsibilities and moving into an advisory role at the company.
— Brett Harrison (@BrettHarrison88) September 27, 2022

While Harrison will no longer head the US division of FTX, the former executive said:

“I’m remaining in the industry with the goal of removing

Harmony Protocol, which suffered a hack in June, has shared an update on its recovery plan for the community.
The team stated that there would be zero percent minting, at least for now.
In an amended recovery proposal published in a Medium blog post on Friday (September 23, 2022), the Harmony team said there are no plans to mint additional ONE tokens, nor would there be a hard fork.
The latest development shows a shift from an earlier recovery plan in July, which proposed a hard fork to mint billions of ONE tokens. However, the community kicked against the proposal, which caused a change in the reimbursement plan.
Harmony, in this week’s update, said the team listened to the concerns shared by the community and validators and stated plans to use the treasury for

With the much-anticipated Ethereum Merge only days away, Bobby Ong, co-founder and COO of major cryptocurrency data aggregator CoinGecko, has shared some ways on how ETH holders can best take advantage of the upcoming event.
In a tweet thread on Monday (September 5, 2022), Bobby Ong said that one of the best ways for existing ETH holders to get ETH proof-of-work (POW) airdrops will be to have their tokens in a hardware wallet.
Meanwhile, Ong noted that it would be easier for the investor if their ETH coins were held on exchanges that support the impending fork.
Other ways to ensure receipt of ETH POW tokens is to withdraw liquidity from decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, while also advising traders to borrow ether from Aave and Compound.
The CoinGecko executive also

NFT marketplace giant OpenSea announced support for the layer-2 blockchain Polygon on its new Web 3 protocol Seaport. The integration comes with an expanded list of features, including the ability for users to use Polygon’s MATIC as a payment option.
In a blog post on Tuesday (August 30, 2022), OpenSea said that the migration of Polygon to Seaport, with the blockchain formerly powered by the Ox protocol, will enable more features for a robust buying and selling experience using Polygon.
Some of the added features include bulk transfers, multiple creator fees, the absence of listing thresholds, and the ability to list and transact using Polygon’s native token, MATIC.

“As part of the shift to Seaport, OpenSea now supports using MATIC, Polygon’s native token, as a payment

Major stablecoin issuer Tether has refuted claims made in an earlier story by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), stating that the publication discredited the company’s transparency efforts and questioned Tether’s profitability.
The USDT issuer is no stranger to controversy, especially regarding questions surrounding its reserves. So far, the company has reduced its exposure to commercial paper holdings by 58%.
Tether Planning to Release an Audit Soon
In a statement released on Tuesday (August 30, 2022), Tether said that the WSJ made several “unsubstantiated conclusions” that the stablecoin issuer needed to clarify.
The Wall Street Journal, on August 27, published an article noting that Tether is yet to give an audit, expected since 2017. According to the publication, the

The CEO of institutional crypto brokerage firm Genesis Global Trading, Michael Moro, will step down from his leadership position while the company is planning to cut off 20% of its workforce.
According to Bloomberg, on Wednesday (August 17, 2022), Genesis announced that Maro will leave his position as CEO, in line with the company’s leadership shuffle.
In the meantime, Derar Islim, chief operating officer, will take over as interim CEO, pending a permanent replacement. Genesis also added more executives to risk, compliance, and technology.
Interim CEO Islim said in a statement:

“The changes and investments we’re announcing today affirm our commitment to operational excellence as we continue to expand our services to meet the needs of our clients today and into the

Cryptocurrency exchange giant Huobi will cease offering its derivatives trading services to New Zealand customers two months after the company obtained registration from the country’s regulators.
In an announcement on Tuesday (August 16, 2022), Huobi said it would restrict users in New Zealand from accessing derivatives trading services starting from August 23, 2022.
According to Huobi, its action was in “commitment to local compliance policies.” Consequently, affected customers will not be able to use functions like coin-margined futures, options, exchange-traded products (ETPs), coin-margined swaps, and USDT-margined contracts.
The crypto exchange also said it will update its user agreement to add New Zealand as a “restricted jurisdiction,” will allow users in the

Solana mobile wallet provider Slope Finance, said to be responsible for the recent multi-million dollar incident, has admitted to a security vulnerability while adding that there is no evidence linking the security flaw to the hack.
This is despite the fact that Solana Labs researchers have fingered the wallet provider’s security lapses as the cause of the over $4 million hack that occurred earlier in August.
Slope issued a statement on Thursday (August 11, 2022), revealing details of its own investigation into the matter. This was done in collaboration with cybercrime company TRM and auditors OtterSec and SlowMist.
According to Slope, there is “no conclusive evidence” linking the vulnerability in its system to the hack. Slope stated that only 1,444 of its wallet addresses

BlackRock has followed up its Coinbase partnership with its first institutional crypto investment product: a private bitcoin trust that offers direct exposure to spot BTC price action.
BlackRock has debuted its first investment product offering direct exposure to bitcoin, according to a statement issued on Thursday (August 12, 2022).
The product is a private bitcoin trust for institutional clients based in the US that offers direct exposure to the spot price of the largest crypto by market capitalization.
According to the company, the introduction of the product offering is in response to an increased interest from its big money clients who want to access cryptocurrency. An excerpt from the announcement reads:

“Despite the steep downturn in the digital asset market, we

South Korean police are reportedly looking to freeze assets associated with the non-profit organization Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) following the eventful collapse of Terra (LUNA).
According to South Korea’s national broadcaster Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), on Monday (May 23, 2022), the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency asked several exchanges in the country to prevent LFG from withdrawing funds.
Although such platforms are not mandated by law to carry out the police request, it remains unclear if they would actually take any action.
The latest development follows the collapse of Terra’s native coin LUNA and the de-pegging of its algorithmic stablecoin UST earlier in May. The crash led to massive losses for investors, who later slammed Terra co-founder Do Kwon with a

São Paulo-based Nubank, Latin America’s largest digital bank, has signed a partnership deal with blockchain infrastructure platform Paxos to support cryptocurrency trading services within its banking app.
Nubank Supports Direct Bitcoin and Ether Trading
In a press release on Wednesday (May 11, 2022), Nubank said its customers will be able to buy, sell, and hold bitcoin and ether directly via the banking app, with crypto purchases starting from $0.20. (1 BRL). According to the announcement, Nubank’s new service seeks to offer a simple and seamless cryptocurrency experience for its users.
The co-founder and CEO of Nubank, David Vélez, said:

“There is no doubt that crypto is a growing trend in Latin America, one that we have been following closely and believe will have a

A partnership deal between Jack Henry & Associates and New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) will enable community financial institutions to offer bitcoin services following increased interest from customers.
Millions of American Customers to Trade Bitcoin
Jack Henry and Associates (JHA), a leading technology solutions provider and payment processing firm, announced the collaboration with digital asset management firm NYDIG via a press release. The partnership will allow business and consumer accounts to buy, sell, and hold bitcoin through Jack Henry’s Banno Digital Platform.
The latter was developed for community credit unions and banks in the United States and has more than 7 million American consumers. The press release also stated that the JHA PayCenter will

President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador has unveiled development plans for the country’s planned Bitcoin City shortly after the nation made its latest BTC purchase.
Bukele Moving Ahead With Bitcoin City Project
The El Salvadoran President showed pictures of the architectural model via a Twitter thread, saying, the “City is coming along beautifully.”
While details were sparse, with no mention of a completion date, the leader of the Central American country noted that the city will have lots of green trees, along with a blue sea. The scale model also showed a night view, landmarks, and airports.
Furthermore, the model showed a picture of onlookers having a view of the volcano. Bukele earlier revealed in 2021 plans to use energy from volcanoes for bitcoin mining. Later in

Major Dubai-based real estate developer Damac Properties has revealed that it would receive payment for property in cryptocurrency.
Buy Property With Bitcoin and Ether
According to Khaleej Times, Damac said it would add payments for any of its properties that can be made in Bitcoin and Ether, the two largest crypto assets by market capitalization.
The company noted that enabling such payment will give more options and will be convenient for real estate investors. Also, the Dubai-based property developer believes that facilitating property purchases using cryptocurrency could revolutionize the real estate industry.
Damac was established in 2002 and provides residential and commercial properties in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with an international presence in Qatar,

Gibraltar, a small British overseas territory, has released a new guideline for cryptocurrency businesses operating in the region, which aims to foster market Integrity and combat market manipulation.
The Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC) published the regulatory principle on Wednesday (April 27, 2022). The new rule was drafted by a special working group comprising government officials and experts in the crypto and blockchain industry.
Governments and regulators have expressed concern about the market manipulation supposedly plaguing the crypto industry. It is one of the reasons the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gave for rejecting several spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications.
Meanwhile, the GFSC guidance is looking to tackle such

BlueSky, a project funded by Twitter to build a decentralized standard for social media, has stated that the company is not controlled by the company following Elon Musk’s purchase.
BlueSky Operates Independent of Twitter
In a tweet thread on April 25, BlueSky stated that although it was funded by Twitter, the social media platform does not hold any controlling stake in the platform. BlueSky also clarified that Twitter’s funding came with one condition, that the project carried out “research and develop technologies that enable open and decentralized public conversation.”
Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey first announced the creation of BlueSky back in December 2019, indicating that the plan was to “develop an open and decentralized standard for social media.”
Later in August

United States prosecutors have slammed charges against two Europeans for allegedly conspiring with recently sentenced Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith to help North Korea evade US sanctions with cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.
Two Suspects Tied to 2019 Pyongyang Crypto Conference
According to a Department of Justice (DoJ) press release on Monday (April 25, 2022), 47-year-old Spanish citizen Alejandro Cao de Benos and a 30-year-old British citizen, Christopher Emms, founded the Korean Friendship Association back in 2018. Later, they organized a Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), also known as North Korea.
Both Cao de Benos and Emms recruited Griffith, a U.S. citizen, to speak at the

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex, in collaboration with USDT issuer Tether, recently launched a digital asset fund and donated over $1 million in bitcoin to assist families in El Salvador affected by the ongoing gang violence in the country.
Crypto Relief Fund Initiative is Bootstrapped With 25 BTC
Bitfinex chief technology officer (CTO) Paolo Ardoino revealed that the company teamed up with Tether to support El Salvadoran families who have been hit by the violence perpetrated by “pandillas” – a Spanish word for “gangs” – in the Central American country.
Both Bitfinex and Tether created a cryptocurrency relief fund to support victims, and have also contributed 25 bitcoin (worth over $1 million at the time of writing), to bootstrap the initiative. According to Ardoino,

Australia’s financial regulators have yet to approve plans by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) to offer access to crypto products for its over 6.5 million customers.
The regulatory watchdog says the onus is on the CBA to comply with laid-down rules and regulations for financial products. Opposition from the regulator has prevented the CBA from moving beyond the pilot phase of the project.
Will CBA’s Crypto Product Be Delayed?
According to a report by Financial Review on April 6, CBA’s novel crypto product is facing launch delays due to issues raised by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC).
Announced back in November 2021, CBA plans to take a leaf from its counterparts on Wall Street and join the trend of commercial lenders offering crypto

The anonymous hacker behind the theft of over $50 million from the Solana-based stablecoin protocol Cashio has set some conditions for returning the stolen funds to affected users.
The Cashio hacker has set forth conditions for returning funds stolen from the decentralized platform. Data from Etherscan shows someone in control of the wallet linked to the exploit detailing how restitution could happen for people affected by the attack.
The hacker gave six conditions, part of which asked affected users to state the amount to be refunded, provide their ETH address as refunds will be done in Ether. They also required users to give details about the source of their money and why they needed a refund.
Furthermore, the perpetrator promised to refund affected liquidity providers

Alan Chang, the Chief Revenue Officer of Revolut, is reportedly leaving the UK fintech company with plans to raise funds in the millions of dollars for a new cryptocurrency initiative.
$100 Million in Funding for New Crypto Venture
According to Bloomberg, Chang is set to leave Revolut after working as one of the company’s executives for nearly seven years, as stated by a spokesperson of the firm. He joined Revolut in 2015 as its fifth employee.
Although the chief revenue officer is departing the fintech company, Chang is working on developing a crypto startup. As revealed by anonymous sources to Bloomberg, the executive is seeking to raise $100 million. Meanwhile, he has reportedly also invested his money, which the unmentioned sources say is in millions of dollars.
An

The brains behind Meta’s former Diem project have unveiled plans to launch the blockchain network as a separate protocol with support for other web3 solutions. Also, the announcement includes a name change to Aptos.
Former Diem Developers to Relaunch Protocol
Some members of the now-defunct Diem blockchain project have teamed up and announced plans to proceed with the network’s development and deployment. The news was shared via a medium blog post published on Thursday (February 24, 2022).
According to the statement, the new team called Aptos Labs has assembled experts, including original creators, researchers, designers, and builders of Diem. The effort is geared towards creating a new, independent project focused on delivering the safest and most production-ready layer 1

Popular crypto exchange FTX has plans to launch a gaming unit to offer mainstream gaming publishers support for non-fungible token (NFT) integration and other blockchain-powered collectibles.
FTX to Provide Web3 Operability for Game Studios
Bloomberg reported that the company will launch its gaming outfit in the coming months. The so-called FTX Gaming unit is set to function as a “crypto-as-a-service” platform for mainstream game studios. Also, the service will offer support for NFTs and allow companies to launch digital tokens for gamers.
According to the report, the foray into gaming marks a strategic move for the exchange in its bid to incentivize the adoption of blockchain technology and digital assets by game publishers. The Bahamian-based firm believes decentralized

Well-known cryptocurrency advocates worldwide have called out Canadian authorities for seizing millions in bitcoin and other digital currencies amid the ongoing protests against COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine policies.
Court Signs Order to Seize Bitcoin and Monitor Crypto Wallet
The Toronto Star reported that a court order had been issued to freeze bank accounts and digital wallets involved in fundraising efforts geared towards aiding “Freedom Convoy” protesters in Canada.According to the coverage, Superior Court Justice Calum MacLeod signed the order late on Thursday (February 17, 2022) and instructed financial service providers to halt all transactions connected to the protest’s efforts.Sources confirmed that money service businesses, banks, fundraising platforms,

Digital asset platform Bakkt Holdings has teamed up with Valliant Bank, an institution that provides financial services, to bring a seamless crypto experience to the bank’s customers.
According to a press release on Monday (February 14, 2022), Valliant Bank would enable customers to easily buy, sell, and hold bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), and other altcoins within the bank’s digital banking infrastructure via the Bakkt crypto connect solution.
Bakkt’s program, which is scheduled to launch in Q2 2022, is an early adopter solution that seeks to lower the barrier to entry for new cryptocurrency participants.
The President and COO of Valliance Bank, Alicia Wade, said that there has been an increasing number of clients who have shown interest in cryptocurrency. Wade also said

One River Digital Asset Management has teamed up with the US cryptocurrency exchange giant Coinbase to offer a separately managed account (SMA) platform for wealth management firms.
ONE Digital SMA for Crypto Exposure
In a press release published on Friday (February 11, 2022), One River Digital launched the ONE Digital SMA for clients of Coinbase Prime. The new offering will enable users with a Coinbase Prime account to maintain ownership of their digital assets while also accessing an institutional index and active strategies via ONE Digital SMA.
According to the announcement, there has been an increased interest from private wealth platforms and registered investment advisors seeking to offer better crypto exposure and investment opportunities for their clients.

Popular Canadian rapper Aubrey Drake Graham, also known mononymously as Drake, made a massive bitcoin bet on Sunday’s Super Bowl Game between the Los Angeles Rams (LA Rams) and the Cincinnati Bengals.
Drake took a snapshot of his bet and posted it on Instagram for his over 100 million followers, with the caption “All bets are in on the family.” The rapper’s wager was a total of $1.26 million in bitcoin, which was made via Stake, a cryptocurrency sports betting platform.
Drake placed a bitcoin bet worth CA$600,000 ($472,476) for the LA Rams to win against the Bengals. The rapper also seemed to be behind Odell Beckham Jr, the LA Rams’ wide receiver, betting CA$500,000 ($393,825) on the footballer to have over 62.5 receiving yards.
The Canadian celebrity staked another

Bitstamp has struck a three-year partnership deal with U.S. professional esports organization Immortals to be the official cryptocurrency exchange of the gaming company.
Bitstamp Collaborates With Immortals
Immortals announced the news of the collaboration via a press release on Wednesday (February 9, 2022). According to the statement, the deal will also make Bitstamp a founding member of the esports organization.
The partnership aims to educate the Immortals community about the crypto industry while also creating incentives for fans. This is Bitstamp’s second collaboration with an esports brand, the first being with the London-based Guild Esports, in a sponsorship deal worth £4.5 million ($6 million).
Meanwhile, Bitstamp and Immortals will be jointly involved in various