Networks & Protocols
Two new proposals to reduce both security emissions and liquidity mining incentives by around 30% will be submitted to the Canto Community on February 13th and 17th.
Acala launched the Acala EVM+ on Mainnet. With this dApp, developers get the opportunity to launch Ethereum-compatible DApps on Acala’s DeFi appchain.
DEX aggregator CowSwap reported that a hacker exploited an external solver and used it to drain the settlement contract, which held 7 days worth of protocol fees. User were not affected and the CowSwap also did not get affected the Solver’s Bond would pay the damages.
Dymension raised $6.7 million and will launch testnet on February 15th. More details available here.
MEV Boost
The Relay Market diversification continued with Agnostic Relay and Ultra Sound Relay gaining market share as major builders submitted blocks to them.
MEV-Boost Block Flow by Toni Wahrstätter was an interesting live visualization of block flow.
CeFi
CoinGecko released the Global Crypto Classification Standard (GCCS) developed jointly with 21Shares. The GCCS serves as an industry taxonomy and a uniformed way to categorize cryptoassets. The standard is expected to help users in two ways, a) understanding where certain projects sit within the crypto stack and what function and/or features their tokens may have, and b) having a uniform classification standard allows users to compare relative metrics across similar projects.
LocalBitcoins, one of the oldest Bitcoin Marketplaces, tweeted that it could no longer provide a Bitcoin trading service due to various challenges. Customers have up to 12 months to withdraw their funds.
Crypto exchanges launched actions to help Turkey’s earthquakes’ victims. Vitalik Buterin donated 99 ETH to help those affected by the disaster.
Bank of Brazil (Banco do Brasil), the oldest in the country, now allows citizens to pay taxes using crypto.
Tether profited $700 million in Q4 2022, according to a blog post by the company.
China will launch a national blockchain research center based in Beijing. Link.
Venture Activity
The weekly fundraising activity showed stability and has seen 17 investment rounds that have raised an aggregated total of $218.30 million. Overall, February has seen a total of ~$332.30 million in funding.
Most of the investments were Seed stage followed by Series A.
This week saw a decline in investments into Infrastructure projects, while all other sectors remained steady.
Regulatory
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Payward Ventures, Inc. and Payward Trading Ltd., both commonly known as Kraken, with failing to register the offer and sale of their crypto asset staking-as-a-service program. According to the Press Release, to settle the SEC’s charges, the two Kraken entities agreed to immediately cease offering or selling securities through crypto asset staking services or staking programs and pay $30 million in disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties.
The Securities and Exchange Commission also charged Emiliano S. Ryn and his company GexCrypto Corp. with defrauding members of the Filipino community in a scheme involving crypto assets. The detailed SEC Complaint can be accessed at this link.
Emerging Technologies and Crypto-Assets are among the 2023 Priorities for the SEC Division of Examinations.
According to Reuters, the G20 is exploring coordinated crypto regulation. Link.
The American state of Montana passed a bill to preserve Bitcoin and crypto mining rights. Link.
According to Bloomberg, PayPal suspended the development of its crypto stablecoin. The move comes amidst increased regulatory scrutiny.
