Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.__________
Stablecoin news
USDT issuer Tether said that, starting from now and throughout 2023, it would reduce secured loans in its reserves to zero. It added that “in response to the most recent attack on Tether, the company has reiterated that the secured loans held in its reserves are overcollateralized and covered by extremely liquid assets.”
Legal news
Compound DAO and seven other defendants were sued by three complainants who claimed they had suffered damages after buying some $98 worth of COMP tokens. Per the document, the defendants were accused of selling unlicensed securities.
Regulation news
The Australian government plans to establish a framework for licensing and regulating crypto service providers in 2023. According to the statement, “the next steps in the Government’s ongoing ‘token mapping’ work will include the release of a consultation paper in early 2023 to inform what digital assets should be regulated by financial services laws, and the development of appropriate custody and licensing settings to safeguard consumers.”
DeFi news
Major crypto exchange Coinbase now fully supports USD coin (USDC) on Avalanche (AVAX), creating a way for “more than 100M Coinbase users to go from cash to flagship decentralized finance (DeFi) apps like Aave, Curve, Trader Joe, BENQI, and more,” said the announcement. Users can now directly on-ramp cash to USDC and vice versa, without needing intermediaries like bridges, it added.Oracle services provider Chainlink and Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum dapp development Arbitrum announced the launch of Chainlink Automation, a smart contract automation solution, on Arbitrum One. A number of projects, including COTI and Armadillo, Cask, and DeFiEdge, are already integrating Chainlink Automation into their dapps to trigger key smart contract functions on Arbitrum One, said the press release.
Investment news
Frontrunner, a decentralized sports prediction market, raised a $4.75 million funding round by Susquehanna Private Equity Investments LLP, Soma Capital, Gilgamesh Ventures, FBG Capital, Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, Toy Ventures, Gaingels, Ledger Prime, WAGMI Ventures, and NOA Capital. Per an announcement, the funds will be used to scale Frontrunner’s product and engineering team, as well as to streamline product development, and licensing.
NFT news
This week, auction house Sotheby’s and the non-profit organization CityKids Foundation will drop the first Keith Haring non-fungible token (NFT). In 1986, artist Keith Haring and the CityKids Foundation co-created the banner ‘Speak on Liberty’, with the 90’ x 30’ banner headlining this year’s Miami Art Week. Sotheby’s will work in conjunction with CityKids and Deepak Chopra’s Web3 accelerator Seva.Love to support the launch of the NFT, it said. Online bidding for ‘Speak on Liberty’ will be open from December 15-21 on Sotheby’s online auction platform.Hape (metaverse fashion models) and metaverse protocol Caduceus announced the launch of a new marketplace, which enables owners to have full control over how they’re styled as they enter its fashionverse, said a press release. Users can purchase on-chain items of Hape clothing using Caduceus’ native token CMP and attach them to their avatars in the Fashion Index, a wardrobe and ranking system. Stock is limited, and some items will be more limited than others, it added.DraftKings, Pixel Vault Inc., and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) announced a collaboration during which select professional football players will be transformed into superheroes created by Pixel Vault, available for purchase on DraftKings Marketplace. The complete list of players will be announced in the coming days, said a press release. The player cards will be playable exclusively in Reignmakers Football contests, DraftKings’ NFT-based game.OVER, the decentralized infrastructure for an open, AR (Augmented Reality)-enabled metaverse, launched its Map2Earn Beta program, enabling anyone with a smartphone to participate and earn rewards, said an announcement. Using a phone camera to take photos of a physical location through the OVER app, users create an OVRMap while also generating a shareable 3D fly-through video of their location.
