Banks and Institutions
VanEck’s bitcoin ETF is slated to list tomorrow on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, according to an announcement from the firm. While this fund offers exposure to Bitcoin-related investments, it does not invest directly in BTC but uses futures. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also denied the firm’s proposal for a physically-backed bitcoin ETF.
Miami is giving its residents a bitcoin dividend, according to Mayor Francis Suarez, who announced that a yield from the staking of the city’s MiamiCoin, the crypto protocol that made the city of Miami over $21 million. At the same time, the same protocol (CityCoins) will be used to create the NYCCoin in New York.
Crypto companies are going to be more scrutinized in the USA. A bill signed by Joe Biden was passed which will implement tighter rules on businesses handling cryptocurrencies and expand the reporting requirements for brokers. The bill mandates that digital asset transactions worth more than $10,000 be reported to the Internal Revenue Service.
Ecosystem
The paintings are estimated to cost between $5 to 7 million and $4 to 6 million. The auction will be held at Sotheby’s digital headquarters in Decentraland, a virtual world platform. This auction appears to be the first time the 277-year-old art house will prioritize crypto as payment over fiat currency.
Crypto.com has struck a 20-year deal with AEG, the owner and operator of the Staples Center in Los Angeles, to rename one of the most famous sports and entertainment venues in the U.S. This makes it one of the largest sponsorship deals in sports history.
Venture capital firm Paradigm has just launched a $2.5 billion investment fund to support the crypto sector. This new capital complements Paradigm’s main investment fund. Its primary objective is to finance companies in the cryptocurrency sector. It has thus participated in numerous fundraisings, including those of Chainanalysis, Thesis or even NFTs Showtime.
The accounting firm Deloitte announced a strategic partnership with Ava Labs, the team behind the blockchain network Avalanche. Deloitte plans to use Avalanche in order to “improve security, speed and [the] accuracy of Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursements.” The plan is to provide a secure environment for federal disaster claims.
Aave and MakerDAO represent more than 12% of Ethereum’s TVL. The two must-have protocols have just strengthened their relationship with the creation of the DAI Direct Deposit Module. This module has been designed to cope with periods of high demand for loans on Aave. When the demand for loans explodes, D3M will create the amount in DAI needed to keep interest rates at 4%.
Marathon Digital, one of the largest mining firms in the USA, is borrowing 500 million dollars through convertible notes to buy and deploy mining hardware. The payment should be done in 2026. This is the second time that Marathon Digital borrows money for buying more hardware, since the firm obtained 100 million dollars a month ago.
Technology
Taproot, Bitcoin’s long-anticipated code upgrade has been activated when the blockchain reached block 709,632 on Sunday. It”s the most major upgrade since the introduction of Segregated Witness in 2017. Taproot focuses on enhancing the network’s privacy and security through Schnorr signatures that can make more complex transactions.
Doctors Without Borders has begun recording immunizations on the blockchain, particulary COVID-19 vaccines, with a goal to eventually store all patient medical records on the blockchain where they will be accessible from a patient’s phone.
Figures
