Select observations of the day:
Stepn will halt gameplay in China, where users make up 5% of the platform's overall user base, in mid July by ceasing GPS services to comply with local regulatory policies. The platform advises users who plan to reside in mainland China long-term to sell their assets on the platform if possible - source - 2nd
Tether launches USDT on Polygon, their 11th blockchain including Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, Algorand, Tron, Omni, EOS, Liquid Network, Kusama and Bitcoin Cash's Standard Ledger Protocol. Currently more than 19,000 dApps running on Polygon - source
US Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard stated to the House Financial Services Committee that it could take up to 5 years to build a U.S. CBDC and that the project can only start once Congress and the White House sign off - source
Mark Zuckerberg says Meta's metaverse project will lose 'significant' sums of money for up to 5 years and some products wouldn't be ready for 15 years - source
On-chain clues hint at $OP dropping soon. Speculations and rumors for now - source
FTX US has announced plans to offer Bitcoin and Ethereum futures - source
Plus more. Eth has been really underperforming vs btc. Bummer. Anyhoo. Have an excellent weekend. Take care of yourself and do something that makes you happy.
- Time moves differently in crypto. Crypto is an intricate game filled with various players operating across multiple time frames and with varying agendas. Day in, day out, the pieces are moving all across the board. Sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. Here’s a small glimpse of what has happened so far today in our little crypto bubble -
Chain News:
Solana based move-to-earn Stepn will effectively ban gameplay in China in mid-July to comply with local regulatory policies. Mainland Chinese users make up 5% of the platform's overall user base. The platform advises users who plan to reside in mainland China long-term to sell their assets on the platform if possible - source - 2nd
Tether launches USDT on Polygon, their 11th blockchain including Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, Algorand, Tron, Omni, EOS, Liquid Network, Kusama and Bitcoin Cash's Standard Ledger Protocol - source
FTX US has announced plans to offer Bitcoin and Ethereum futures - source
The Terra community has passed the proposal 1747 to burn 1.388B UST held in the community pool - source
Kava announced the launch of the $750M Kava Rise Developer Program designed to onboard the best developers across the DeFi, NFT, and GameFi verticals - source
Two of the largest staking companies, Figment and Chorus One, will not be supporting the new Terra blockchain, citing concerns over the way the decision-making process was handled - source
Onchain clues hint at $OP dropping soon. Speculations and rumors - source
MetaMask Partners with Asset Reality To Help Victims Of Wallet Hacks reclaim their funds - source
Solana’s blockchain clock is currently adrift of real-world time by about 30 minutes due to longer than ideal slot times on the network. Does not affect network operations, it could contribute to reduced earnings from staking rewards - source
A suit against PoolTogether Inc., a company associated with a blockchain-based app that gamifies savings by cryptocurrency holders, challenges the DeFi community’s claims that its protocols are autonomous and self-governed - source
Binance has partnered with financial analytics firm Kharon and API-native screening provider Neterium to enhance sanctions screening and tighten up its KYC - source
Utrust's, a crypto payments service provider powering the new generation of Web3 payments, UTK token is coming to the Elrond Network as an ESDT token - source
1inch Network has announced a partnership with Travala. The Binance-backed travel agency will add the 1INCH token as a payment option on its platform - source
Introducing Zerion Wallet: As part of the launch, you can mint Zerion DNA, a first-of-its-kind NFT that evolves as you explore Web3 - source
Introducing the Phuture DeFi Index, PDI: acts as a key element to any portfolio seeking to capture the next chapter of DeFi growth, while removing the complexity that often discourages investment in the space - source
Metaverse News:
Mark Zuckerberg says Meta's metaverse project will lose 'significant' sums of money for up to 5 years - source
News:
US Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard stated that the ‘Digital Dollar’ CBDC could take as long as five years to build - source
Huobi Global has purchased Latin America-based exchange Bitex. The company will join Huobi Global's platform but keep its own branding and managemen - source
Raises:
Elliptic, a blockchain analytics firm, has closed its $60M Series C funding round with participation from JPMorgan - source
Music NFT marketplace FanTiger has closed $5.5M seed round. Investors: Multicoin Capital - source
Shooter P2E game Cantina Royale raises $4.5M in seed round co-led by Elrond and Mechanism Capital - source
New Listings:
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