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Vignesh Karunanidhi

JPMorgan Begins Utilizing Blockchain for Collateral Settlements

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JPMorgan Chase & Co, a multinational investment bank, is apparently testing the use of its own private blockchain for collateral settlements.

JPMorgan performed a trial transaction on May 20 in which two of its businesses transferred a tokenized version of Black Rock Inc. money market fund shares, according to Bloomberg.

A money market fund is a form of mutual fund that gives exposure to liquid and short-term assets such as cash, cash equivalents, and debt instruments with excellent credit ratings, making it a low-risk investment.

JPMorgan’s bigger ambition for its private blockchain, according to the bank, is to allow investors to put forth a wide range of assets as collateral that may be used outside of typical market conditions.

“What we’ve achieved is the friction-less transfer of collateral assets on an instantaneous basis.” BlackRock wasn’t a counterparty, but it has been heavily involved in the initiative “since day one and are exploring use of this technology.”

Stated JPMorgan’s global head of trading services Ben Challice

JPMorgan has been into blockchain and crypto for long

JPMorgan has been interested in crypto and blockchain technology for a long time, and in late 2020, it launched Onyx Digital Assets (ODA). The project is a “blockchain-based network that facilitates the processing, recording, and Delivery-versus-Payment (DVP) exchange of digital assets across asset classes,” according to the description.

While it’s unclear whether JPMorgan used the ODA in this case, it’s set up to swap cash for various types of tokenized collateral, provide intraday liquidity, and provide access to the bank’s digital payment infrastructure token JPM Coin.

Tyrone Lobban, head of JPMorgan’s Blockchain Launch and the ODA, said the bank is attempting to foresee a scenario in which a greater range of traditional financial services will be offered.

BNP Paribas, a European bank, completed its first trade through the ODA earlier this week to test tokenized fixed income market trading.

BNP Paribas Global Markets managing director and head of US repo trading and sales Christopher Korpi commented on the decision, emphasizing the importance of being able to optimize its procedures using blockchain technology.

MetaMask Joins Hands With Asset Reality to Assist in Recovering Stolen Crypto

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To assist users in recovering stolen funds, Metamask has partnered with Asset Reality, a platform for accessing and recovering seized crypto and digital assets. The service is free, but customers must pay any applicable litigation fees.

The new collaboration has the potential to make legal action against scammers considerably easier for victims, as they will be able to pool their resources and split the costs of litigation.

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MetaMask Joins Hands With Asset Reality to Assist in Recovering Stolen Crypto 2

MetaMask’s initiative to assist victims

Metamask is one of the most popular non-custodial wallets in the world, with over 30 million monthly active users. However, as cryptocurrency’s popularity has grown, so has the number of frauds and phishing attempts aimed at early adopters.

Scams involving stolen assets have been particularly difficult to combat because Metamask does not have access to users’ cash. The decentralized nature of cryptocurrency, which is based on pseudo-anonymity and immutability, has made it difficult for entities to track and recover stolen cash.

According to the official release, the new cooperation intends to assist users in recovering their digital assets, with Asset Reality in charge of researching scam operations.

All Metamask users throughout the world will be able to use the new service. Victims must report their losses through the official Metamask site, according to the press release.

Aidan Larkin, the company’s CEO, saw the relationship as a critical step toward closing a gap in the sector:

“When a user has funds stolen, often due to being scammed into handing over their passwords or Secret Recovery Phrase, they often have nowhere to turn to, in what is an incredibly difficult time for them emotionally and financially.”

According to Asset Reality, the usual system demands victims to pay a significant amount of litigation fees during the lengthy litigation process. The company will bring victims together to pursue collective action in order to change how things are done. In this approach, even users who have suffered a minor loss may be able to reclaim their possessions.

Terra’s UST Burn Proposal Gets the Green Light

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All TerraUSD (UST) tokens retained in the project’s community pool, as well as UST utilized for earlier Ethereum liquidity incentives, will be burned, according to the Terra governance system.

This translates to, moreover, 1.3 billion UST, or nearly 11% of the current 11.2 billion supply, according to CoinGecko. The proposition received 99.3% of the total votes cast in favor of it. After the voting period ended, Terraform Labs, Terra’s main development corporation, will carry out the burn.

There will be two steps to this procedure. To begin, around 1 billion UST will be transferred from Terra’s communal pool to a burn module, where it will be permanently removed from the supply. The team will then manually bridge 370 million UST from the Ethereum network to Terra and destroy them, as described in a Terra governance forum explanatory article.

UST burn process will begin soon

The dollar-pegged algorithmic stablecoin plummeted from $1 to $0.04 earlier this month before resuming trading at $0.03. It is now worth 96 percent less than it was before the loss of dollar parity.

Terraform’s resuscitation plan to rebuild the Terra network and issue LUNA 2.0 tokens was approved by Terra’s governance system a day before the burn.

Earlier this month, a request to burn TerraUSD was approved. However, due to technical issues with the concept, it was never realized. According to the new proposal, “the earlier plan attempted to withdraw more from the communal pool than was available, and hence the execution failed.”

The reduction will account for about 8% of total production, perhaps bringing it closer to its original dollar peg.

The relaunched chain will go live today, followed by an airdrop of the new LUNA 2.0 coins to Terra-based asset holders. The new Terra blockchain, on the other hand, will be devoid of UST tokens, and their use will be limited to the original Terra network.

Binance Joins Hands With Kazakhstan to Develop a Crypto Framework

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Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, and blockchain infrastructure provider, announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations, and Aerospace Industry.

The parties stated a shared interest in the country’s virtual asset market development in the agreement.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed during CZ’s official visit to Kazakhstan. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao visited Kazakhstan on May 25, 2022, and met with President Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev, Timur Suleimenov, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the President of Kazakhstan, and Bagdat Musin, Minister of Digital Development, Innovation, and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

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Binance Joins Hands With Kazakhstan to Develop a Crypto Framework 4

Kazakhstan will develop a regulatory crypto framework with Binance

Binance will assist in the development of the Republic of Kazakhstan’s legislative framework and regulatory policy for crypto-assets.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Republic of Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations, and Aerospace Industry and Binance will look for ways to integrate banking infrastructure into the cryptocurrency market, as well as facilitate the development and implementation of distributed ledger technology.

The Ministry of Finance and the exchange will work together to promote Astana Hub among local and international talent, allowing for the establishment of a regional blockchain hub.

“As a global leader among crypto exchanges, Binance takes responsibility for the whole ecosystem. Together with CZ, we considered the Binance roadmap in Kazakhstan. We also discussed the potential of creating a blockchain-oriented VC-fund and academy to help local talents from Astana Hub to go global. We really believe Kazakhstan can become a regional hub for international players in the crypto world.”

Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan Bagdat Musin

In addition, the Ministry is involved in the formulation and implementation of state policy in the areas of innovation, communications, public services, and electronic industry in the context of the country’s digital development.

Crypto Transfers in Thailand Will Be Exempt From VAT Until 2023

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Investors who move cryptocurrencies and digital tokens through Thailand exchanges will be eligible for a 7% VAT exemption on their transactions.

The tax break was enacted retroactively from April 1, 2022, according to a decree published in the Royal Gazette on Tuesday. According to local media, it will stay in effect until December 31, 2023.

The government approved the policy in March, and it applies to trading platforms that are registered with the Ministry of Finance. The judgment is now part of Thai law, as it takes effect the day after it is published in the official journal.

Thailand’s decision to promote cryptocurrency

The major goal of the tax exemption, according to the document, is to promote cryptocurrency trading on recognized exchanges, allowing crypto transactions to be regulated and supervised by appropriate authorities such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Thailand’s Finance Minister, Arkom Termpittayapaisit, is foolproof that the country’s cryptocurrency exchange will become more dependable and stable as a result of the reduced tax restrictions.

Ekniti Nititthanprapas, Director-General of the Revenue Department, noted that crypto trading would be easier for investors, who will benefit from fair tax treatment and secure transactions, while Thailand’s image in the global digital sector improves.

Another royal directive published on May 24 exempts transfers done with the retail central bank digital currency of Thailand’s monetary authority from VAT (CBDC).

In December, the Bank of Thailand said it would begin testing the CBDC as an additional payment option in financial institution-to-customer transactions in late 2022.

Thailand has seen a substantial increase in cryptocurrency investment and trade in recent years. The country’s financial regulators took efforts to prohibit the use of cryptocurrencies for payments in late March, citing the need to avert different financial and economic concerns, with the SEC releasing guidelines meant to deter digital asset operators from offering such services.

Exchanges Show Support in Assisting LUNA’s Revival by Listing the New LUNA 2.0

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For the launch of LUNA 2.0, Huobi, Binance, FTX, Bitrue, HitBTC, and Bybit cryptocurrency exchanges, have expressed interest in working with the Terra team to launch their new chain without an algorithmic stablecoin.

Binance had previously halted trades after validators paused the blockchain, making trades impossible, but in response to Terra’s statement, announced in a tweet, “The Terra community just approved a vote to ‘Rebirth Terra Network.’

” On the recovery plan, we’re collaborating closely with the Terra team in order to provide the best possible service to impacted Binance users. “Stay tuned for more information.” On May 25, 2022, at 2 p.m. UTC, Bybit will cease LUNA and UST withdrawals, renaming LUNA as LUNC and UST as USTC on May 26, 2022, and Bitrue will commence Luna V2 trading on May 27, 2-22.

The exchanges will assist in the LUNA 2.0 airdrop

Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin UST lost its dollar peg earlier this month in a well-documented disaster. LUNA, its companion coin, crashed at the same time. In the aftermath of the Terra crash, founder Do Kwon proposed creating a new blockchain with the previous token rebranded as Classic and a new token, running on a new blockchain without an algorithmic stablecoin. On the Terra Classic blockchain, the original UST will survive.

A community pool regulated by staked LUNA classic tokens will receive 30% of the new tokens as an airdrop. At the same time, 35% will go to “pre-attack holders,” 10% to “pre-attack UST holders,” 10% to “post-attack holders,” and 10% to “post-attack UST holders,” and 15% to “post-attack UST holders.” Terra Classic block 7544910 will be used for a snapshot, whereas block 7790000 will be used for a post-attack snapshot. The airdrop will be co-hosted by Bybit and Bitrue.

Kwon had even encouraged developers to highlight the new blockchain’s support.

MasterCard Exec Is Bullish on Crypto and Says Mass Adoption Is Right Next Door

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Harold Bossé, MasterCard’s Vice President of New Product Development and Innovation, believes that crypto assets and blockchain technology will be widely adopted sooner rather than later.

According to estimates, millions of people are already consuming and sending crypto assets around the world, as Bossé stated in a blockchain webinar on May 24.

“They are early adopters and new adopters, but we have switched toward mass markets, [and] that will be a very important aspect for financial institutions to move into the space.”

MasterCard VP

MasterCard VP noted some challenges for crypto

He did point out that there are several obstacles to overcome before cryptos become popular. He cited a lack of top management awareness, business reasons concerning scalability, cost, and speed, as well as regulatory considerations.

Bossé, like many others before him, compared the current status of the crypto business to the internet’s early days. “Think about the dawn of the internet; no one could have predicted that Amazon would become a reality – you need the internet for Amazon to function,” he said before adding:

“We’re in the same situation: How do we transform the lives of people and go into demographics or groups of people who don’t really think about blockchain first but think about their business problems?”

With crypto-backed credit services and the recent filing of NFT and Metaverse trademarks, MasterCard has already shown interest in the crypto sector.

Bitcoin and Ethereum, for example, are large cryptocurrency networks that answer a few very specific needs. BTC offers almost instantaneous, low-cost money transfers across international borders, while ETH offers a decentralized application and smart contract Web3 economy. There are many more for the plethora of crypto projects that have sprung up in recent years, but only the most resilient will survive.

The remarks come as cryptocurrency prices continue to fall in what appears to be the start of a long bear market.

Bear markets are frequently regarded as beneficial because they eliminate speculators and leveraged gamblers, allowing strong hands and those who actually believe in what cryptocurrency stands for – financial freedom – to thrive. They also provide investors more time to investigate and accumulate in anticipation of the next bull market.

WeWork Founder Enters Crypto Space by Raising $70M for His Crypto Carbon Credit Project

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Adam Neumann has hopped on the crypto bandwagon, raising $70 million in the first major investment round for his climate tech firm Flowcarbon three years after being deposed as CEO of WeWork.

By putting carbon credits on the blockchain and crypto, the project wants to make carbon trading more accessible.

Neumann is an Israeli-American businessman and investor best known for cofounding WeWork in 2010, a firm that was once hailed as the future of workspaces.

However, everything came crumbling down in 2019 when the firm attempted to go public, exposing WeWork’s unproductive business model and dubious managerial behavior. The company went from a private valuation of $47 billion in August 2019 to bankruptcy talks just six weeks later, with Neumann under pressure to resign as CEO.

Flowcarbon’s co-founders include Adam and his wife, Rebekah Neumann, as well as CEO Dana Gibber and COO Caroline Klatt, both of whom are co-founders of Headliner Labs, a company that builds AI-powered chatbots for large media organizations. Neumann’s personal family office is run by Ilan Stern, another co-founder of Flowcarbon.

A crypto initiative to save the planet

According to Flowcarbon, Silicon Valley financiers Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz’s a16z crypto venture capital firm contributed $32 million to the last investment round. General Catalyst and Samsung Next are two more investors.

A token sale of Flowcarbon’s first crypto carbon-backed token, the Goddess Nature Token, raised another $38 million (GNT).

The firm advertises itself as a leading climate technology firm focused on developing market infrastructure for the voluntary carbon market (VCM). Flowcarbon hopes to make the purchase, sale, and trading of carbon credits more accessible and efficient than the present carbon markets by tokenizing carbon credits on the Celo blockchain.

Carbon trading is a market-based approach for lowering greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.

Carbon credits can be purchased by businesses to offset their carbon emissions through programs that remove or reduce greenhouse gases from the environment, such as forestry efforts.

Flowcarbon, on the other hand, claims that the voluntary carbon market is now “inefficient, opaque, and inaccessible,” with brokers and advisers charging up to 20% in fees, many transactions taking place behind closed doors, and carbon credit pricing varying depending on the buyer.

The voluntary carbon market option proposed by Flowcarbon is not unique. Toucan Protocol, JustCarbon, and Likvidi are three other projects that attempt to make purchasing and trading tokenized carbon credits easier.

It was an obvious area where blockchain technology could help, according to Arianna Simpson, General Partner at a16z.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez Says That He Still Takes Salary in Bitcoin

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Even though Bitcoin has dropped over 40% in the last two months, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez stated he still takes his city salary in the largest cryptocurrency, bitcoin.

The Republican mayor, who has been working to market Miami as a cryptocurrency and tech hub, said he’s more concerned with the coin’s utility and that the collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin hasn’t impacted his plans for the city’s crypto business.

Last year, he revealed his intention to receive his salary in Bitcoin and warned that, in addition to the potential for big returns, digital assets carry a significant level of risk and volatility.

“I will note, for the record, that it’s not my only salary.””It’s a different decision than if a person was deciding to take their salary in Bitcoin if it was the only source of income for them.”

Suazrez told a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos

Francis Suarez always represented bitcoin

On Friday, June 4, 2021, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez spoke at the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami, Florida, United States. The world’s largest Bitcoin conference attracted 12,000 attendees and thousands more to Miami for a two-day conference.

Francis Suarez, a 44-year-old attorney, emphasized the distinction between protecting individuals against fraud and protecting them from losses. He also mentioned the “extreme volatility” that exists in IT stocks.

“Government has a history of trying to shield people from losses, but you can’t protect people from losses,” he said. “The American system is like that. That is what distinguishes investing. That is also part of the risk of winning.”

While fellow Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has been mentioned as a potential presidential candidate and has raised his profile by taking on “cultural war” issues that appeal to his base, Suarez has recently bridged the partisan divide on a number of hot-button issues, saying he believes in nurturing the LGBTQ community in Miami and calling for increased efforts to combat global climate change.

Suarez also recently unveiled a Bitcoin bull at the BTC conference in 2022, which had turned a lot of heads and harnessed attention to Miami and Suarez.

Luna Foundation Guard Funds Were Requested to Be Frozen by the South Korean Police

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Police in South Korea has sent warnings to cryptocurrency exchanges, requesting the freezing of funds linked to the Luna Foundation Guard.

On Monday, Korean authorities sent a request to the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, urging that funds not be transferred. The Luna Foundation Guard was specifically asked by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency not to take any action. Authorities claim they have acquired evidence linking the group to embezzlement.

The Luna/Terra algorithmic stablecoin debacle earlier this month devastated investor portfolios overnight, with the coin’s value plummeting by nearly 99 percent. This request, on the other hand, is neither a demand nor legally enforceable. Each individual can choose how they wish to answer, but no one knows how they will react.

Luna Foundation Guard might be in trouble

Several large Korean investors have investigated and sued Do Kwon, the CEO of Terraform Labs, following the collapse of the TerraUSD (UST) stablecoin. As a result of this, the “Grim Reaper,” a Korean Financial and Securities Crime Joint Investigation Team, was revived.

Korean lawmakers have met with executives from Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax, among other sites. Because the leaders of these exchanges are not obligated to comply, this meeting is most likely a ploy to put pressure on them.

“We will review the exchange’s investor safety procedures,” Yoon Chang-Hyeon, chairman of the People’s Strength Virtual Assets Special Committee, wrote on Facebook, according to Newspim.

According to the publication, it is reasonable to assume that exchange representatives will be held accountable in some way for the losses suffered by investors as a result of the Terra (LUNA) price drop. The Korean National Assembly, according to Newspim, is making moves to limit punishment in this sector.

Coinone has suspended LUNA trading as of May 11th, and Binance has also suspended certain spot trading.

The request to crypto exchanges and the Do Kwon probe are unrelated, despite the fact that this official report is part of a broader story.