A Coinbase–BlackRock alliance may not be good for everyone

A Coinbase–BlackRock alliance may not be good for everyone

BlackRock announced that its customers also using Coinbase will have access to the crypto exchange’s Prime program, a crypto trading platform for institutional investors. Shares in Coinbase were up 31% in early trading today.

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Why hasn’t the crypto winter affected the larger economy?

Why hasn’t the crypto winter affected the larger economy?

In an interview with CoinDesk, Antonio Garcia Pascual, Deputy Chief of the Global Market Analysis Division at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said crypto’s nosedive hasn’t caused a similar downturn in the “real economy.” The crypto sector’s market cap has slid from $3T to $873B since November 2021.

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Will Fidelity’s Bitcoin 401(k) plans gain traction?

Will Fidelity’s Bitcoin 401(k) plans gain traction?

Fidelity Investments announced that it’s launching employer-sponsored 401(k) plans that invest in Bitcoin. Fidelity administers retirement plans for approximately 23,000 businesses and manages over $11T in assets.

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What’s behind Putin’s digital-asset payments ban?

What’s behind Putin’s digital-asset payments ban?

On July 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law that bans the use of digital assets like NFTs and cryptocurrencies to pay for goods and services within the country. It is still legal to trade, buy, and sell those assets.

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Crypto crash fuels acquisition spree, raising privacy concerns

Crypto crash fuels acquisition spree, raising privacy concerns

Nexo, a crypto-lending platform with over 4 million users, has offered to acquire Singapore-based crypto services firm Vauld. Vauld management said in a blog post that Terra-Luna’s coin crash and Three Arrows Capital’s loan default sparked its financial difficulties.

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Making sense of Klarna’s tanked valuation

Making sense of Klarna’s tanked valuation

The BNPL giant is in talks to fundraise at a $15B valuation. It had previously been valued at $46B.

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The metaverse may be a gateway for marijuana payments

The metaverse may be a gateway for marijuana payments

Golden Ark, a marijuana payments startup, has launched a metaverse-based payments system. It’s developed virtual cannabis as a cryptocurrency that supports real-life cannabis authentication and transactions.

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A crypto gaming company crashed. Nobody will be held accountable.

A crypto gaming company crashed. Nobody will be held accountable.

Axie Infinity, a “play-to-earn” video game in which users receive tokens for playing on the platform and trading characters as NFTs, has seen the value of its tokens decline by more than 90%. Hackers also robbed Axie’s creators of more than $620M in cryptocurrencies.

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Crypto’s market cap fell below $1T. Now what?

Crypto’s market cap fell below $1T. Now what?

Bitcoin’s value dropped as much as 17% after crypto lending platform Celsius froze withdrawals on its platform. Bitcoin fell to its lowest value since December 2020, contributing to crypto’s aggregate value sliding from a high of $3T to below $1T.

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What’s behind the VC crypto push?

What’s behind the VC crypto push?

Binance Labs, the venture arm of Binance, the crypto exchange, announced a $500M fund to invest in Web3 and blockchain technologies. The raise comes a week after Andreessen Horowitz launched a $4.5B crypto fund.

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Is FTX gearing up for a Robinhood takeover?

Is FTX gearing up for a Robinhood takeover?

The cryptocurrency exchange announced that select users in the U.S. have access to commission-free trading for hundreds of exchange-listed securities, including both stocks and ETFs.

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Crypto may be crashing, but its carbon footprint isn’t

Crypto may be crashing, but its carbon footprint isn’t

Alex de Vries, a data scientist at the Dutch Central Bank, said the crypto sector’s $1T loss in the past few months may have slowed the growth of data mining, but it hasn’t decreased it. He estimated that, respectively, Bitcoin and Ether use as much electricity as Thailand and Kazakhstan.

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What are Meta’s fintech plans in the metaverse?

What are Meta’s fintech plans in the metaverse?

According to Meta’s Head of Fintech, Stephane Kasriel, the company is rebranding Facebook Pay as Meta Pay to emphasize interoperability across its platforms, and to reflect Meta’s investment in the metaverse. People across 160 countries currently use Facebook Pay.

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TerraUSD fiasco fuels calls for stablecoin regulation

TerraUSD fiasco fuels calls for stablecoin regulation

TerraUSD’s value spiraled this week after depegging from a 1:1 value with the US Dollar. Its value hovered around 31 cents this morning, but it’s more than doubled since then to 69 cents.

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Has Tiger Global been defanged?

Has Tiger Global been defanged?

Tiger Global Management has lost around $17B since the start of the year, meaning it’s erased almost two-thirds of its lifetime gains, according to LCH Investments. Its decline is almost double that of the Nasdaq Composite.

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