What The SEC’s Latest Announcement Means For The Crypto Industry

A recent announcement by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) suggests that the crypto industry may be in for more pain as it continues to endure the far-reaching consequences that the Commission’s enforcement actions have had on it.  More Pain Incoming For Crypto? During the Securities Enforcement Forum Central 2023, David Hirsch stated that his office plans to bring action against other crypto companies that were breaking the law. Hirsch heads the agency’s unit (Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit) that handles crypto enforcement, including the lawsuits against the biggest…

Farmville co-creator-led company raises $33M to create Web3 games

Proof of Play, a company led by Farmville co-creator Amitt Mahajan, raised $33 million to create Web3 games, according to a Sept. 21 announcement. Majahan is the CEO of Proof of Play, and Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear is a board member. The funding was co-led by Chris Dixon at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Neil Mehta at Greenoaks. Investors Naval Ravikant, Balaji Srinivasan and the founders of streaming platform Twitch also participated, as well as Web3 firms Anchorage Digital, Mercury, Firebase, Zynga and Alchemy. Proof of Play released a closed beta…

Near Foundation CEO Marieke Flament resigns

Marieke Flament, CEO of Near Foundation — the developer of the namesake layer-1 protocol — has resigned. According to the Sept. 21 announcement, Chris Donovan, Near Foundation’s general counsel, will replace Flament as the new CEO following the resignation. Flament gave no specific reason for her departure. Speaking on her tenure, Flament said: “Two years ago, I had never heard of NEAR. Upon doing a bit of research and after several conversations it became clear that NEAR had a tremendous potential – fantastic tech, a diverse and vibrant community and…

Bank of England Ends 14-Session Interest Rate Hike Streak

The Bank of England has halted its 14 consecutive interest rate hikes, keeping rates at 5.25% due to moderating inflation. Despite this, the economy remains precarious. The Bank of England has decided to end a streak of 14 consecutive interest rate hikes, keeping them at 5.25%, following data showing a moderation in inflation. According to CNBC, the Monetary Policy Committee voted 5-4 in favor of not raising rates at its September meeting, while 4 members indicated they would have preferred a 0.25-point increase to 5.5%. The Bank of England’s decision…

Ethereum price sees new low versus Bitcoin since switching to Proof-of-Stake

Ether (ETH) has seen a 36% year-to-date increase in its price in 2023 in U.S. dollar terms. This recovery, however, is modest given that ETH is currently trading 66% below its November 2021 peak of $4,870. Ethereum vs. Bitcoin: 14-month downtrend and counting  Moreover, on Sept. 20, Ether reached its lowest levels against Bitcoin (BTC) in 14 months, breaching the critical 0.06 BTC support. This has raised questions among Ether investors about the factors behind this price decline and what it will take to reverse the trend. Ether price / BTC…

ImmutableX (IMX) Up 38% as South Korean Exchange Volume Spikes

The rapid increase in the value of Immutable’s IMX token has attracted not only the interest of crypto fans but also remarks from industry experts. In a surprising turn of events, ImmutableX (IMX) is experiencing a remarkable surge of 38.1% in just a few hours this morning following a corresponding trading volume spike. Recent data from CoinGecko revealed that IMX went from a modest $0.55 to an impressive peak of $0.76. The Driving Force Behind the ImmutableX Volume Surge The rapid increase in IMX’s price can largely be attributed to…

eToro Receives Approval to Offer Crypto-Related Services in EU Under CySEC CASP Register

eToro will be in a position to offer cross-border crypto services after the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework goes into effect in December 2024. An investing platform with over 32 million registered users, eToro, has announced that it is ready to offer crypto-related services in the European Union (EU) after its application for registration under the Crypto Asset Service Provider (CySEC CASP) was approved. The company, however, announced that its Europe entity will be in a position to provide crypto-related services after the Markets in Crypto Assets…

NEAR Foundation’s Marieke Flament Steps Down as CEO

“When I joined two years ago, NEAR had around 50,000 users, and now we have over 2.5 million daily active users,” Flament said in an interview with CoinDesk. She added that Donovan is well-suited to the CEO role now given “the current regulatory landscape.” She added: “We are not the only ecosystem making a move like that.” Source

Chainlink hits Ethereum layer 2 Arbitrum for cross-chain DApp development

Blockchain oracle network Chainlink has tapped into Ethereum (ETH) layer 2 scaling protocol Arbitrum to drive cross-chain decentralized application development. The two protocols announced the mainnet launch of the Chainlink Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) on Arbitrum One on Sept .21, giving developers access to Chainlink’s solution that taps into Arbitrum’s high-throughput, low cost scaling. The combination of CCIP and Arbitrum One’s ecosystem aims to unlock a myriad of use cases, including cross-chain tokenization and collateralization, blockchain gaming, data storage and computation. Chainlink Labs chief business officer Johann Eid commented on…