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| Hey Insider! An influx from the traditional finance (TradFi) giants hit the crypto market today, triggering an upward trend on several key metrics of the industry. Today's issue covers this TradFi influx with its footprints, a new U.S. task force focusing on crypto crime, Nike's virtual experience in Fortnite, Binance's new trading platform in Kazakhstan, and more. Enjoy your reading! Doğa
p/dogayurduneri | |
| 1 | | Five federal enforcement agencies have recently established a new U.S. crypto crime task force dubbed the Darknet Marketplace and Digital Currency Crimes Task Force in Arizona. The new interagency group will investigate how criminal gangs in the U.S. state use crypto and the dark web to commit various crimes, including child exploitation, personal data theft, scams, money laundering, and drug trafficking. More: - The agencies forming the task force include the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Arizona, the Office for U.S. Attorneys, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Postal Inspection Service.
- The representatives from these agencies signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish the unit.
- The agencies have already worked together for nearly six years to spot high-profile drug trafficking cases.
- The new task force mainly aims to provide increased collaboration between the agencies, enhance resources, and disrupt criminal groups using crypto, the dark web, and other emerging technologies.
Zoom Out: - In February 2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also established a Virtual Asset Exploitation Unit.
- The division actively works with the Justice Department National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, founded in 2021, to focus on crypto-related crimes.
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What the numbers say: The crypto market saw a strong capital inflow over the last several days, reversing the downward trend after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) crackdown on two major crypto exchanges, Binance and Coinbase. The total crypto market cap increased to $1.17T from $1.06T in just a week, with a nearly $120B surge. The leading cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC), also surpassed the $30,000 level for the first time since April, shortly after it retreated to under the critical $25,000 mark, alarming investors. Relevance: The surge in the crypto market cap and Bitcoin price followed an influx from the traditional finance (TradFi) giants to the crypto industry. The trend started with the world's largest asset manager BlackRock's application for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) on June 16. Then, $87B asset manager WisdomTree and $1.5T asset manager Invesco also joined BlackRock by filing an application for a spot Bitcoin ETF with the SEC. Germany's largest bank, Deutsche Bank, made a similar move to enter into the crypto space by applying for a license to offer crypto custody services. Similarly, a new crypto exchange backed by Wall Street giants like Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Charles Schwab Corp. recently went live, supporting the upward trend in the crypto market cap. This collective TradFi influx to the digital asset market caused a jump in key metrics of the industry in just a week. Brands that should care: Several other leading figures from TradFi also previously demonstrated their intention to have a presence in the crypto industry. Last year, the oldest bank in the U.S., BNY Mellon, added cryptocurrencies to its custody services. Earlier this year, Nasdaq, the U.S.-based financial services giant operating three stock exchanges, also announced its plans to offer a crypto custody service. Similarly, the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), a U.K.-based stock exchange, announced in April that it would offer Bitcoin futures and options. | | | |
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| 3 | | Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, recently launched a regulated digital asset platform in Kazakhstan. Through the new platform, the company will offer various financial services for crypto and fiat currencies to users in the Central Asian country, including exchange, conversion, deposit, withdrawal, and custody. More: - Binance received an in-principle approval in Kazakhstan in August last year.
- The company then obtained a permanent license to legally operate as a digital asset service provider in the country in October 2022.
- Kazakhstan's Freedom Finance Bank will allow users to transfer their funds in fiat currencies to their accounts on the new platform.
- In addition to the bank transfer, users will also deposit and withdraw their funds through bank cards.
Zoom Out: - The move came amid increased scrutiny from the regulators in the West against Binance.
- In the U.S., the exchange is currently under scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and federal prosecutors, mainly due to compliance issues.
- A recent report also pointed out that the firm started being investigated in France on allegations of illegally canvassing customers and severe money laundering.
- Besides, the company has recently withdrawn from several markets in the West, including Canada, Cyprus, the Netherlands, and the U.K.
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| 4 | | Popular sportswear brand Nike's Web3 community platform .Swoosh has launched an Air Max-themed virtual experience dubbed Airphoria in one of the most popular online video games, Fortnite. The new experience will be available in the game until June 27. More: - Airphoria was born out of a collaboration between Nike, Fortnite's parent company Epic Games, and branded game builder Beyond Creative.
- As part of the virtual experience, the Fortnite gamers playing the Airphoria island for 10 minutes or more will be rewarded with the Air Max 1 '86 Back Bling, a wearable digital sneaker for the avatars in Fortnite.
- In addition, players linking their Epic Games and Nike accounts while Airphoria is available will be able to receive an Achievement badge on .Swoosh.
- Holders will not be able to trade or sell the Achievement badges since they do not have a monetary value, though they will be interoperable with Fortnite's virtual products, including skins, in the future.
- The players will also be able to receive early access to a future virtual Air Max collection by linking their Epic Games and .Swoosh accounts.
- Nike and Fortnite will also release several other wearable digital items, including the Airie and Maxxed Out Max outfits, which will be available for purchase on the Fortnite Item Shop.
Zoom Out: - In the past 30 days alone, Fortnite hosted more than 240 million active users.
- Nike also recently announced that .Swoosh's virtual creations will be integrated into Electronic Arts (EA) Sports games in the upcoming months.
- EA Sports' portfolio includes popular games with millions of players, such as FIFA, the Madden NFL series, and the NBA Live series.
- The beta version of .Swoosh was launched in November 2022, and at the time, Nike said the items sold on the platform could be worn in video games and metaverse experiences.
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| 5 | | The team behind the Polygon blockchain has introduced an AI-powered interface dubbed Polygon Copilot to help developers build decentralized apps (dApps) on the network. The interface will allow developers at any level to create their projects on Polygon by simply asking. More: - Polygon Copilot is powered by OpenAI's renowned AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT, and its latest large language model, GPT-4.
- The interface was trained on documentation about the Polygon blockchain.
- The platform will look at wallets and transactions to provide analytics and insights for the developers building dApps or NFTs on Polygon.
- The AI-powered interface will offer three different levels while onboarding users based on their comfort with using the interface.
Zoom Out: - ChatGPT was released in November 2022 and gained massive popularity within several months after its launch, becoming the fastest-growing consumer app of all time.
- Especially with the massive popularity of ChatGPT, AI has become a rising trend in the crypto industry over the last few months as many other crypto-related firms, including Bybit, OKX, Binance, Crypto.com, and The Solana Foundation, integrated AI-powered tools into their platforms.
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| 6 | | Czech automobile giant Škoda's Indian subsidiary, Škoda India, has launched an NFT platform dubbed Škodaverse India in collaboration with Near Protocol, a blockchain-based decentralized application (dApp) platform. The move marked the company's first foray into the Web3 space. More: - The platform will feature low gas fees, interoperable NFTs across different platforms, and eco-friendly digital collectibles.
- All NFTs on the platform will be minted on carbon-neutral blockchain networks.
- The company will also launch a Škoda NFT collection on the platform soon.
- The carmaker has yet to specify the exact launch date or price for the collection.
- Holders of the Škoda NFTs will be able to access exclusive benefits, rewards, and experiences.
- Users will be able to purchase NFTs through both fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies.
Zoom Out: - German automotive giant Mercedes-Benz's Web3 arm, Mercedes-Benz NXT, also recently released a 1,000-piece NFT collection dubbed Maschine.
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- Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, has expanded its zero-fee trading campaign to all TrueUSD trading pairs from the Bitcoin (BTC)-TUSD pair.
- The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the country's top securities watchdog, has warned about the increase in crypto trading platforms claiming to have authorization from fake regulatory bodies.
- Cyprus-based University of Nicosia (UNIC) has launched the world's first metaverse-focused Master of Science (MSc) program, opening registrations for the upcoming semester.
- Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has announced that crypto-friendly Joseph Tsai will be the company's new chairman, replacing Daniel Zhang on Sept. 10.
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 | Staff Writer | | Doga is a tech and science editor who has been writing news for nearly 10 years. She worked for leading tech platforms and mainstrem media channels as an editor and presenter throughout his career. Then, she carried her know-how to more than one platform. She is a part-time cat lover and binge-watcher, and also fond of science, space, and emerging tech. She always has a story to tell. She is a bit addict to the laughter and -unfortunately- the '90s culture. | | This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield | |
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