Tether issues $610M debt financing to Bitcoin miner Northern Data

Tether (USDT) stablecoin issuer is raising the bet on Bitcoin (BTC) mining by issuing a major debt facility to German-based BTC mining company Northern Data AG. Northern Data AG has secured a 575 million euro ($610 million) debt financing facility from Tether to drive further investments across its businesses, according to an announcement on Nov. 2. The debt capital specifically aims to enable Northern Data Group to invest in its three business lines including its artificial intelligence cloud service provider Taiga Cloud, Ardent Data Centers and Peak Mining, the company’s…

World Bank Issues First Digitally Native Note on Luxembourg Stock Exchange

The basis for this issuance was Corda, R3’s digital ledger technology (DLT) platform that offers a sustainable infrastructure for digitally native notes. In a first, the World Bank has listed the “first digital native security” or “digital native note (DNN)” on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSe). The €100 million DNN, listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, is a key element of a more extensive endeavor to create a sustainable digital infrastructure for DNN issuance. The issuance happened through the involvement of Citi’s Issuer Services in the role of the issuing…

US Court issues mandate for Grayscale ruling, paving way for SEC to review spot Bitcoin ETF

The United States Court of Appeal has issued a mandate following a decision requiring Grayscale Investments application for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund to be reviewed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  In an Oct. 23 filing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the “formal mandate” of the court took effect, paving the way for the SEC to review its decision on Grayscale’s spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund, or ETF. The mandate followed the court’s initial ruling on Aug. 29 and the SEC failing…

FinCEN issues alert regarding crypto transactions connected to Hamas

The United States Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, issued an alert for financial institutions as part of efforts to identify “suspicious activity” related to funding terrorist groups. In an Oct. 20 notice, FinCEN said the terrorist organization Hamas — behind the Oct. 7 attack on Israel — employed “fundraising campaigns involving virtual currency and fictitious charities raising both fiat and virtual currency” to fund its activities. The government department warned virtual asset service providers and other institutions to “identify and report suspicious transactions” potentially connected to Hamas.…

Hollywood’s AI Issues Remain Unsettled Post Writers’ Labor Deal

Despite the current AI Hollywood writers are not completely out of their fight with the use of AI. Some experts have shared some areas of concern. The Writers Guild of America recently signed a labor deal with Hollywood Studios, in what seems to be a victory for the Guild. The labor deal involves implementing guardrails for the use of artificial intelligence (AI). For years, writers and actors have expressed apprehension about the growing prevalence of AI, primarily out of fear that this technology might render them unnecessary in the realm…

Google Moves to Shield Customers from AI-Related Copyright Issues

Google’s announcement comes amid rising concerns over the copyright issues that have been linked with using generative AI. Google is making it its business to legally protect users of generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems within its Google Cloud and Workspace platforms. That is if they are ever faced with copyright infringement allegations. The announcement reads in part: “If you are challenged on copyright grounds, we will assume responsibility for the potential legal risks involved.” With the move, the tech giant joins other top firms like Adobe, Microsoft, and many more…

Lido Finance discloses 20 slashing events due to validator config issues

Ethereum staking protocol Lido Finance has disclosed its protocol saw 20 slashing events due to a series of infrastructure and signer configuration issues from validators operated by Launchnodes. The incident occurred on Oct. 11 at about 3:30 pm UTC, according to Launchnodes. In an Oct. 11 post on X, Lido said Launchnodes’ validators nodes are now offline, and slashings have ceased while the root cause was being investigated. The slashing took place on the Ethereum blockchain and Lido projected the impact to be around 20 Ether (ETH), worth $31,000, as…

HTX claws back $8M in stolen funds, issues 250 ETH bounty to hacker

Huobi Global’s crypto exchange HTX has confirmed the return of the funds stolen by a hacker in late September and issued a 250 Ether (ETH) bounty after resolving the issue. One of HTX’s hot wallets was drained of 5,000 ETH on Sept. 25, worth roughly $8 million at the time. Shortly after the hack occurred, the firm contacted the hacker and claimed to know their identity. HTX ultimately offered to pay a 5% bounty worth around $400,000 and to not take any legal action if they returned 95% of the…