On March 31, Bittrex, one of the largest and oldest US exchanges, announced the closure of its operations due to the country’s current “regulatory and economic environment.”
According to the official statement, users’ funds will remain secure and available for withdrawal at any time during the wind-down of US operations. This announcement will not affect customers outside the country using Bittrex Global.
US Regulations Created An Uneven Competitive Landscape
Bittrex co-founder Richie Lai stated that the US regulatory environment has created an uneven competitive landscape, ultimately affecting the company’s operations, despite over nine years of operation in the country.
“Nine years later, the crypto ecosystem is very different. Regulatory requirements are often unclear

Starting this weekend, the Kraken logo will be exposed to millions of users thanks to the exchange’s partnership with the famous Formula 1 racing team, Williams Racing.
On March 28th, Kraken, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges worldwide, announced the signing of a sponsorship agreement with Williams Racing, considered one of the four top Formula 1 teams, alongside Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes.
According to Kraken’s statement, this is the exchange’s first partnership within the world of Formula 1. However, they are already preparing to increase their global presence in these events starting next year.
Kraken Goes To The F1
As a result of the partnership, the Kraken logo will be seen by millions of users during the rest of the 2023 FIA Formula One World

On March 23, CNBC reported that a group of Binance angels shared techniques that allow users to bypass the platform’s KYC, residency, and verification systems.
CNBC confirmed the information by reviewing hundreds of messages posted on a Discord server and a Telegram group controlled and operated by Binance, which apparently ran from 2021 to March 2023.

Crypto is banned in China, but Binance employees and volunteers tell people how to bypass the ban https://t.co/ddssYTwimH
— CNBC (@CNBC) March 24, 2023

KYC? What KYC?
According to CNBC, a number of Binance employees and “angels” (volunteers trained by the exchange to promote its use) provided video guides and tutorials showing the steps for users to forge bank documents and provide false addresses when registering on the

The Brazilian market welcomes Coinbase, the latest global crypto exchange to enter the country, willing to compete with other established giants, such as Binance, Mercado Pago, and Nubank, which have been operating in Brazil for years and have a massive number of users. 
On March 21, Coinbase, the US-based cryptocurrency exchange, announced its expansion into Brazil through a series of updates that will streamline user transactions. 
According to the announcement, the company’s goal is to make cryptocurrencies accessible to all Brazilians while ensuring the safety of its clients’ assets. 

3/ To support the UK’s goal to become a global crypto hub, today we laid the out the key principles that we believe will help the inspiring ‘Global Britain’ ambition be realized. More

On March 14, the bank Anchorage Digital announced the layoff of 20% of its workers due to the crypto winter and regulatory uncertainty in the US.
According to the official statement, the departure of 75 of its employees (approximately 20% of its team) is necessary to focus its resources on other essential processes.
This is the latest development in a series of events that have affected both the banking and the crypto industry as a whole. 2023 has been marked by the closures of three major banks —and the second-largest bank collapse in US history— along with a continuation of the crypto winter that has brought a lot of pain in the whole blockchain ecosystem, from crypto native businesses like Dapper Labs and Huobi to real behemoths such as Meta.
Anchorage Digital is the

Former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal and professional tennis player Naomi Osaka may avoid being held accountable in the collective lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchange FTX due to a lack of notification.
As per the order issued on March 9, US District Judge Kevin Moore stated that it is unclear if O’Neal and Osaka were notified of the lawsuit. Therefore, the judge has requested that the plaintiffs explain why the sports stars should not be dismissed from the lawsuit.
What Are Shaquille O’Neal and Naomi Osaka Accused Of?
Shaquille O’Neal and Naomi Osaka, along with other sports stars and TV actors, could be accused of promoting a “fraudulent scheme” through the cryptocurrency exchange FTX to take advantage of retail investors with little knowledge about the cryptocurrency

Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce company, is reportedly preparing to enter the world of non-fungible tokens (NFT) with the launch of its own Marketplace, reportedly scheduled for April 24th.
According to Yahoo Finance, the new ‘Amazon NFT Marketplace’ or ‘Amazon Digital Marketplace’ will offer 15 NFT collections that will initially be available to customers in the United States. The company is expected to expand the service to other countries in the future.
The reports of this new interest in NFTs started circulating in January. This new development would put a date to the rumor. The idea does not seem so far-fetched, considering that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in April 2022 that the company was open to selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs) “in the distant future.”
What

A scalability solution unique to Ethereum is now compatible with Bitcoin. Rollkit allows for the storage of rollup information developed for Ethereum but on the Bitcoin network.
According to an official statement, Rollkit — a modular framework for rollups — was successfully launched on march 5, 2023. The solution could, at least in theory, help optimize the use of free space on the Bitcoin blocks, expanding the capabilities of the network:
Sovereign rollups on Bitcoin not only expand the possibilities for rollups, but also have the potential to help bootstrap a healthy blockspace fee market on Bitcoin, enabling a more sustainable security budget
A rollup is basically a way to compress or group a number of transactions into a single one, increasing privacy and making the

The cryptocurrency casino Roobet announced on March 1st its partnership with the iconic rapper Snoop Dogg in a move that aims to “reinvent” the online entertainment industry.
According to Roobet’s official site, Snoop Dogg and the casino will work together to “shake up the industry and bring players a one-of-a-kind gaming experience,” thanks to the rapper’s decades-long career in the entertainment industry. Dogg’s role in the company? Chief Ganjaroo Officer.
As Chief Ganjaroo Officer, Snoop Dogg will help Roobet achieve its expansion goals. Roobet says the partnership “will bring together Snoop’s vast global reach and industry expertise” to the table.

THA DOGG IS HOME
🐕 X 🦘 @snoopdogg x Roobet pic.twitter.com/m9ldBRbHR9
— Roobet (@Roobet) March 1, 2023

Snoop Dogg is

Despite the ups and downs of the crypto market, the Web3 and the NFT gaming industries continue to attract the attention of business leaders who are betting on technological innovation to push the whole ecosystem forward.
On February 24, Trip Hawkins, one of the founders of Electronic Arts (EA), announced he was joining the Web3 gaming startup Games for a Living (GFAL) as co-founder and chief strategist.
GFAL develops a set of tools that allow the development of Web3 games. Its main goal is to support the creation of AAA-category video games that can be easily integrated into the blockchain.
The Potential of Web3 to Transform the NFT Gaming Industry
During a press conference, Hawkins stated that “Web3 is the bridge to the metaverse,” which is why he wants to build a more

On February 17, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged NBA Hall of Famer Paul Pierce with illegally promoting the EMAX token on his social media accounts. The EMAX token was offered and sold by EthereumMax.
According to the complaint, Pierce has agreed to pay a penalty of $1,115,000, plus approximately $240,000 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest, without admitting or denying guilt, to avoid greater sanctions from regulators. He is also prohibited from promoting any crypto asset securities for three years.

Today we announced charges against former NBA player Paul Pierce for touting EMAX tokens on social media without disclosing the payment he received for the promotion and for making false and misleading promotional statements about the same crypto

On February 14, 2023, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) announced that it received the first and largest donation of NFT art ever sent to an American museum.
According to LACMA’s statement, the donation of 22 digital artworks was made by the collector Cozomo de’ Medici. The collection includes works by international artists from Brazil, Canada, China, England, Germany, Portugal, and the United States.
Some of the NFTs donated to LACMA. Image: LACMAAmong the donated NFT artworks is the CryptoPunk #3831, which in 2021 sold for more than $2 million. Additionally, the donation includes an Art Blocks NFT, a platform that generates artworks using AI through algorithms deployed on a blockchain.
Although the real identity of the donor is unknown, it is believed that it

Coin Cloud, one of the largest Bitcoin ATM operators in the US and Brazil, filed for bankruptcy this January 8, leaving nearly $500 million in liabilities. The crypto winter and the collapse of major companies like FTX, Alameda Research, and Blockfi, among others, has left Coin Cloud suffering from its aftermath.
According to Coin Cloud’s filings, its largest creditor would be Genesis Global Trading, a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, to whom the company owes more than $100 million for an uncollateralized loan. On the other hand, its second-largest creditor, Cole Kepro, is owed approximately $8.5 million, a far cry from the debt owed to Genesis. According to Coin Cloud, the company has between $50 million and $100 million in assets from about 10,000 creditors.
The

John J Ray III has earned $690K for two months as CEO of FTX. This might be a dream for the average person, but he swears this has been his worst nightmare.
The new CEO of FTX, John Ray III, recently appeared before the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware to share his actions as the CEO of the now-defunct crypto exchange. In his testimony, he revealed the difficulties he faced after taking on the role of CEO.
According to Ray, he has been through chaotic experiences unlike any he has encountered in his previous positions, including the bankruptcy proceedings of Enron and other major corporations. On his first day as interim CEO, he had to deal with the theft of $650 million from FTX’s wallets through unauthorized transfers.
“From my first day on the

On January 30, Sorare, a Paris-based startup specializing in blockchain-based fantasy football games, announced its partnership with the Premier League, the top tier of English football leagues. The collaboration will launch digital cards featuring Premier League players for the Sorare game.
Sorare’s fantasy football game is currently valued at $4.3 billion, and the terms of the multi-year agreement with the Premier League have not been disclosed. However, it is estimated to be worth more than the initial £30 million deal that was announced in October 2022.
Sorare – Premier League Announcement. Image: TwitterBesides football, Sorare also offers NFT trading cards for basketball and baseball fans thanks to its partnerships with the NBA and the MLB, respectively. Both options

The Biden Administration announced on January 27th that it will launch a new legal framework for cryptocurrencies in the coming months to combat the multiple cryptocurrency scams that impacted the crypto market last year, causing multi-million dollar losses.
According to a statement published by the White House, “2022 was a tough year for cryptocurrencies.” Hence, this new regulatory framework aims to ensure that cryptocurrencies cannot undermine the financial stability of the United States.
The Government Wants to Prevent Crypto-related Risks
Among the measures that the U.S. Congress may take to “redouble its security efforts” through the new cryptocurrency regulatory framework are: expanding the powers of regulators to prevent the misuse of assets; strengthening

Amazon is reportedly working on a digital assets company that will power an NFT marketplace this spring.
According to sources interviewed by the media outlet Blockworks, the retail giant has been buying digital collectibles companies from various players in the crypto ecosystem to power its new venture.
So far, Amazon has invested in layer-1 blockchains and crypto gaming companies and has hired developers from NFT companies and cryptocurrency exchanges for its own blockchain unit.
Amazon Bets On Crypto Gaming Industry
According to one source, Amazon is preparing to launch a series of crypto games that would allow its customers to claim free NFTs. This move would be significant for the crypto gaming industry, which has seen a decline in players due to the multiple project

Tesla, the electric car company led by Elon Musk, did not sell the remaining of its Bitcoin stash, as it was supposed to do during the 4th quarter of 2022, according to a filing published by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Tesla’s BTC holdings should be priced at around $245 million, which would be the last 25% of all the Bitcoin purchased by the company during the Crypto Bullrun of 2021.
Despite the crypto market crash of the following year and the negative news that darkened the crypto ecosystem, such as the bankruptcy of major firms in the industry, Tesla kept “hodling” part of its crypto fortune, according to its Q4 and FY 2022 Update.
Musk Invests in Opportunities
During the first quarter of 2021, Tesla purchased 43,200 BTC for $1.5 billion. The company

Blockstream, a leading bitcoin infrastructure provider, announced on January 24 that it had raised $125 million in funding to expand its institutional bitcoin mining services.
This fundraising round was led by Kingsway Capital, a UK-based private equity fund, and included participation from other investors such as Fulgur Ventures and Cohen & Company Capital Markets.
This is the first fundraising for Blockstream since its 2021 Series B round, where the company raised $210 million to accelerate the construction of enterprise-class mining facilities with hosting capabilities for institutional clients. Following that round of financing, Blockstream reached a $3.2 billion valuation.
Blockstream Points to Institutional Bitcoin Mining Services.
The company has seen increased

On January 23, South Africa’s Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) introduced new cryptocurrency-focused rules into the nation’s advertising code to protect consumers from misleading advertising.
The new guidelines aim to ensure that cryptocurrency advertisements accurately state the risks involved with all cryptocurrency investments, making it clear to consumers that they stand to lose their capital due to market volatility.
“Advertisements must expressly and clearly state that investing in crypto assets may result in the loss of capital as the value is variable and can go up as well as down,” the ARB stated. In addition, they warned that the overall message of the advertisement must not contradict the warnings about potential money losses set out above.
Ads must rigorously

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The crypto industry has seen a significant surge in the number of developers working on various projects, according to a new report by Electric Capital. The firm, which has invested in several early-stage Layer-1 platforms and crypto startups —like Bitwise, Gitcoin, dYdX Near Protocol, and Inmunefi— found that the number of developers in the crypto industry has doubled over the past two years.
Electric Capital obtained its data by identifying 250 million code commits across open-source repositories, which shows exponential growth in the number of developers joining the crypto ecosystem as time goes by. Despite the harsh crypto winter of 2022, the numbers didn’t stop growing.
The Number Of Crypto Developers Has Doubled Since 2020
According to Electric Capital, the number of

On November 13, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) announced that it had successfully cracked down on a criminal network engaged in online scams through call centers. The network was spread all around Europe.
According to Europol, the operation was carried out on January 11, 2023, following an investigation that began in June 2022 at the request of the German authorities. In conjunction with the national authorities of the other countries, Europol conducted raids in 22 different locations between Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Serbia. This resulted in the arrest of 15 individuals, 14 of whom were in Serbia and one in Germany.
Europol Seizes $1 Million In Cryptocurrencies In Physical Wallets
In addition to the arrests, authorities also seized 3

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a complaint against Genesis Global Capital and Gemini Trust Company for allegedly selling unregistered securities to retail investors in the US. The SEC is seeking permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, plus front-end interest and civil penalties.
Both companies raised billions of dollars by offering and selling securities to US investors through the Gemini Earn crypto asset lending program.
Gemini and Genesis: A Brief Story
Gemini, a US cryptocurrency exchange, and Genesis, a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, teamed up in December 2020 to offer cryptocurrency lending services. The SEC says that Gemini charged a fee for its services that sometimes amounted to 4.29% of the returns paid by

On January 9, Crypto.com announced the delisting of USDT —the most important stablecoin in the crypto ecosystem— in Canada to comply with the country’s regulations.
Several users on Reddit and Twitter reported that Crypto.com sent an email informing Canadian users of the decision.
Source: RedditCanadians Must Get Rid of Their USDT Before January 31
According to the statement, users will have until January 31 to withdraw or exchange USDT for any other currency. Failure to do so will result in all USDT balances automatically converting to Circle’s USDC stablecoin.
Reddit user zoomercoomer9000 confirmed that Canadian regulators issued a statement in late December informing that cryptocurrency platforms that are registered or in the process of registering were prohibited from

On January 9, reports circulated that the cryptocurrency exchange Huobi Korea announced plans to sever its relationship with its parent company Huobi Global.
According to the statement shared by News1, Huobi Korea will change its name to divorce itself from Huobi Global, as they have been facing a lot of problems due to domestic regulations.
Huobi Global is a cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2013 by Du Jun and Leon Li, the company’s current CEO. At the time, Huobi was one of the largest exchanges in the world, competing head-to-head with Binance and Coinbase. It currently ranks 16th among the top exchanges, according to CoinMarketCap.
Huobi Korea To Buy All Shares Held By Huobi Global
According to News1, Cho Kook-bong, the current chairman of Huobi Korea, is making all

Coinweb, a layer-2 cross-chain computation platform, announced on December 29 that it has entered into a partnership with BMW to integrate blockchain technology into the automaker’s infrastructure in order to improve the efficiency of financial transactions.
Coinweb stated that the primary goal of this partnership is to provide a completely new experience for BMW’s customers in Thailand. To achieve this, the two companies plan to implement two different roadmaps in 2023.
The Project Will be Divided Into Two Phases
The first phase of the partnership will involve the creation of a roadmap to assess the use of cross-chain parallel-executing smart contracts to automate manual processes that are time-consuming and resource-intensive for the company.

Coinweb brings blockchain

On December 28, NFT artist Lucréce reported via Twitter that he is in talks with Arthur Breitman, co-founder of Tezos, to get an explanation from Manchester United soccer about why its new NFT collection uses designs and styles similar to his own.
Lucréce’s collection is much older than United’s and has higher prices, reaching approximately 21 ETH ($24,919) per NFT. In contrast, each of the Red Devils’ 7,777 NFTs sold for about $40, running out of stock immediately after release.
Lucréce’s NFT collection, Source: OpenSeaLucréce hopes to strike a deal with the Red Devils. that will benefit both parties, as the resemblance of their artwork is so uncanny that some community users wondered if the artist worked on creating the Manchester United project.

I’m not saying @ManUtd

This December 27, Kaspersky Lab announced that the North Korean hacking group ‘BlueNoroff’ stole millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies after creating more than 70 fake domains and impersonating banks and venture capital firms.
According to the investigation, most of the domains mimicked Japanese venture capital firms, denoting a strong interest in user and company data within that country.
“After researching the infrastructure that was used, we discovered more than 70 domains used by this group, meaning they were very active until recently. Also, they created numerous fake domains that look like venture capital and bank domains.”
The Bluenoroff Group Perfected Its Infection Techniques
Until a few months ago, the BlueNoroff group used Word documents to inject malware.

The crypto winter is proving to be unbearable for some, but other businesses enjoy the cold weather. Binance is taking advantage of the current market conditions to expand into the Asian market by acquiring its third licensed crypto exchange.
This Dec. 19, Binance confirmed that it became the majority shareholder of Indonesian cryptocurrency exchange Tokocrypto, appointing a new CEO following the resignation of Pang Xue Kai, its founder and now former CEO.
As reported by CNBC Indonesia, Binance plans to acquire all of Tokocrypto’s shares in a phased manner to operate legally in the country, as the exchange has all regulatory permits from the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (BAPPEBTI).
It is worth mentioning that Binance has been investing in Tokocrypto since