Weekly Roundup of Cryptocurrency News 01/10/2021

Here are the leading headlines on cryptocurrency and decentralized finance that you might have missed this week

Kraken pays $ 1.25 million fine for trade violations

Kraken crypto exchange will pay a $ 1.25 million fine for allegedly offering unregulated crypto products to consumers. A statement released Thursday by the CFTC also stated that Kraken was instructed to cease and refrain from any further violation of the Commodity Exchange Act.

The problem arises from the CTFC’s findings, which showed that Kraken had offered marginal trades to its customers between June 2020 and July 2021. Kraken are accused of various irregularities, such as forced liquidation if repayments are not made within 28 days.

Regarding the decision, Acting Enforcement Director Vincent McGonagle of the CFTC said the move was part of the regulator’s broader effort to protect consumers. He added that trading digital margin assets in the US must comply with applicable laws and regulations.

Despite an agreement with regulators, Kraken has neither admitted nor denied his guilt. The exchange instead issued a statement saying it has continued to commit to working with regulators to level the crypto playing fields around the world.

FINMA approves the first crypto fund in Switzerland

Crypto Finance was the first company to receive approval from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). The Swiss supervisory authority confirmed in a statement on Wednesday that the company will offer the “Crypto Market Index Fund” managed by PvB and held by SEBA Bank.

FINMA also said it has implemented requirements to ensure that the companies it has approved are able to wade through the risks posed by crypto markets. For example, for a company to receive approval, it only needs to invest in established crypto assets that have a satisfactorily high trading volume. In addition, such a firm would need to ensure that investments are made through counterparties and platforms located in a member country of the Financial Action Task Force, and the approved firms would also be subject to anti-money laundering laws.

The regulator is also keen to apply the applicable laws around financial markets “consistently technology neutral” to improve innovation in the country while ensuring that evolving technologies are not used to circumvent regulations.

Cardano is investing $ 100 million in DeFi and NFT development

Ken Kodama, the CEO of Emurgo, Cardano’s commercial arm, said Sunday during the Cardano 2021 Summit that the project would invest $ 100 million to accelerate the development of the Cardano ecosystem. Kodama also confirmed that the company will set up “a dedicated operation” starting next year to fund the blockchain ecosystem.

The move would potentially be hugely significant as Emurgo was an integral part of Cardano’s engagements with government agencies, developers, startups, and other companies. As a significant contribution to the development of the Cardano ecosystem, users hope the investment will help expand the use cases of the ecosystem.

Since the blockchain has been smart contract compatible since the Alonzo upgrade, the cash injection can also help Cardano develop its own decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible token (NFT) projects. Cardano also plans to use the funds to raise awareness about blockchain. The investment vehicle is split into Emurgo Ventures and Emurgo Africa. Emurgo Africa will support over 300 startups in Africa, while Emurgo Ventures will focus on other developed markets.

Alibaba suspends sales of crypto miners

E-commerce giant Alibaba released an announcement on Monday confirming that it will stop selling crypto mining equipment. Alibaba added that it would also impose restrictions on software, tutorials and strategies related to virtual currency. The ban goes into effect on October 8, but Alibaba said it won’t start punishing third parties for breaking the ban until October 15.

The announcement came in response to China’s decision last Friday that found that all crypto activity in the country was banned. The People’s Bank of China, along with other regulators, made this anti-crypto decision while warning that companies offering offshore crypto exchange services to Chinese citizens would be breaking the law.

On Tuesday, Bitmain added to the list of companies whose operations were affected when sources told CoinDesk that the manufacturer planned to cease sales in China and relocate a significant portion of operations out of the Shenzhen area. Bitmain will now look to invest in more crypto-friendly environments that it has already ventured into, like Georgia in the US and Istanbul in Turkey.

Europe is the world’s largest crypto market, Chainalysis

According to a Chainalysis report released on Tuesday, countries across the European continent recorded more than $ 1 trillion in inbound crypto transfers from June 2020 to July 2021. That sum was equivalent to 25% of total global activity and resulted in the Central, Northern and Western Europe (CNWE) region climbing to the top due to the incredible growth and declining activity in East Asia.

Chainalysis attributed the growth to an influx of institutional investors as institutional investment numbers in the region jumped from $ 1.4 billion in July 2020 to a staggering $ 43.6 billion in June this year. The growth was led by the UK, where $ 170 billion worth of crypto assets were traded in the country, with nearly half of the amount, 49%, coming from DeFi protocols.

The report showed that DeFi is slowly becoming a permanent fixture in this market considering that it held a significant portion of the large institutional transfers over the period under review. In fact, DeFi consistently had three to four of the top five services for most of the months in that period. It also showed how investors have now increasingly begun to “plug” their cryptos over DeFi protocols.

source https://www.bisayanews.com/2021/10/02/weekly-roundup-of-cryptocurrency-news-01-10-2021/