Cardano founder shows interest in buying CoinDesk news service
Charles Hoskinson, co-founder of the Cardano blockchain, said that he is considering buying crypto news service CoinDesk to revamp it into a mix of a news and community site.
CoinDesk said Wednesday that it engaged Lazard as a financial adviser to explore options including a partial or full sale. The site is owned by Digital Currency Group, a conglomerate whose lending subsidiary Genesis Global Capital filed for bankruptcy.
City of Busan to establish digital assets exchange
According to local news outlet News1, Busan, South Korea will establish a decentralized digital commodities exchange.
Officials said the platform is scheduled to start operations this year and will support local cultural content via digital assets.
Cross-Chain bridge protocol Stargate partners with Metis for more efficient interoperability
Cross-chain bridge protocol Stargate Finance will work with Ethereum layer 2 platform Metis to enable more flexible and secured cross-chain applications for users.
The partnership is being pitched as a way to allow Stargate – a protocol built by LayerZero Labs – to give projects more flexibility when building decentralized finance (DeFi) applications across different blockchains.
Rarible expands NFT Marketplace builder to Polygon-based collections
NFT marketplace Rarible is expanding its white-label marketplace building tool for Polygon-based collections, the company said Wednesday.
Creators who mint NFTs on Polygon can now create their own collection-specific storefront for free using Rarible’s infrastructure. Utilizing the platform’s native aggregation tool, creators can also include tokens listed across other secondary marketplaces.
1inch launches proprietary hardware wallet as self-custody trend grows
To provide maximum security, the 1inch Hardware Wallet is “fully air-gapped,” meaning that it has no direct connection to the internet and does not require any wired connection.
According to a spokesperson at 1inch, the firm started the development of the hardware wallet in early 2022 and expects to launch the product in Q4 2023. The firm also plans to proceed with development and security enhancements in the near future.
OKX publishes proof-of-reserves report showing $7.5 billion in ‘clean assets’
OKX has $7.5 billion in reserves, and these reserves do not contain its native token, according to a report published by the exchange on Thursday.
Accordingly, as of January 18, OKX said it was holding 117,682 BTC, 1,178,993 ETH and 2.9 billion USDT. The report shows the exchange is overcollateralized with a reserve ratio of 105% for Bitcoin (BTC), 105% for Ethereum (ETH), and 101% for USDT.
Polygon enlists Xternity to migrate multiplayer Web3 game from Solana
Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution Polygon, joined hands with Xternity, a Web3 gaming development platform, to migrate and onboard a multiplayer Web3 game — Synergy Land — to the Polygon network from Solana.
As blockchain platforms, Solana focuses primarily on scalability and cost-cutting, while Polygon allows for seamless interaction with the Ethereum ecosystem.
FTX token jumps after new CEO says exchange could restart
In a recent interview, CEO FTX John J. Ray III said that he is still trying to uncover and retrieve FTX assets and has tasked a group with exploring the possibility of restarting the international arm of the exchange.
The CEO who has stepped in for former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, believes the move to reopen FTX would offer more value to customers as opposed to simply liquidating assets and closing or selling the platform.
SEC of Thailand issues crypto custody provider rules
On Jan. 17, the Thai SEC issued regulations requiring virtual asset service providers (VASP) to establish a digital wallet management system to guarantee efficient custody. The new rules target crypto custodians or VASPs that provide crypto storage services.
The regulations include three major requirements, including the provision of policy and guidelines for overseeing the risk management of digital wallets and private keys. The rules require VASPs to communicate with regulators regarding such policies and provide action plans to ensure compliance.
Report shows 100% increase in developers in two years
According to Electric Capital, the number of monthly active crypto developers closed at 23,343 in December 2022. This figure represented a nearly 100% increase from the beginning of 2020, when there were less than 10,000 active developers.
This significant growth in the number of developers working in the crypto industry is a positive sign for the future of the industry. Despite the significant drop in the Bitcoin price, which plummeted more than 76% from its all-time high of $69,000, the number of monthly active developers grew by 5%.