The cryptocurrency business is thriving, but there are a lot of things happening, including the South Korean Court issuing an arrest warrant for Terra Co-Founder Do Kwon, Dogecoin becoming the second largest Proof Of Work (PoW) Crypto, XRP Lawsuit: What to expect next? and much more!
In this issue:
- South Korean Court issues arrest warrant for Terra Co-Founder Do Kwon.
- European Central Bank chose five companies to test use cases for the Digital Euro.
- Dogecoin becomes the second largest Proof Of Work (PoW) Crypto.
- Bahrain Central Bank set to test Bitcoin payment processing solution.
- XRP Lawsuit: What to expect next?
- According to Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum Merge Cut Global Energy Usage by 0.2%
- Thailand’s SEC bans crypto firms from offering staking and lending services.
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South Korean court issues an arrest warrant for Terra Co-Founder Do Kwon.
On Wednesday, September 14, a Seoul-based South Korean court issued an arrest warrant for Do Kwon, the co-founder of cryptocurrency company Terraform Labs (Terra) , for allegedly violating nations’ capital markets law. The warrant included five additional individuals.
The warrant comes four months after the collapse of the Terra Ecosystem and its algorithmic stablecoin (UST), which was the first domino to fall in this year’s crypto winter.
All six individuals are located in Singapore, the prosecutor’s office said. Do Kwon didn’t immediately reply to an email seeking comment? He found himself at the center of one of crypto’s biggest blowups when TerraUSD, also known as UST (Terra’s dollar), crumbled from its dollar peg and brought down the ecosystem he had built. The collapse in May shook faith in the digital-asset sector, which has yet to recover much of the losses.
European Central Bank chooses five companies to test use cases for The Digital Euro.
On September 16, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced the five companies chosen to assist in developing user interfaces for the digital euro prototype, including e-commerce giant Amazon, Italian bank Nexi and Spanish bank CaixaBank.
The institution has made a call to choose entities that develop technological projects associated with the creation of the European digital currency. CaixaBank, the only European bank selected, will be responsible for creating a prototype for P2P payments (between people) with the digital euro.
According to the ECB, the companies will work in separate areas of the CBDC development project, testing the integration of the digital euro in different use cases. Each company will focus on an individual use case. Amazon will be in charge of testing e-commerce payment systems. CaixaBank and Worldline will be in charge of prototyping P2P payments, while EPI and Nexi will work on retail point-of-sale payments.
Although these private companies are working on different use cases and integrations for the Digital Euro, the European Central Bank is the only one responsible for the development of the CBDC’s code and infrastructure.
Dogecoin becomes the second largest Proof Of Work (PoW) Crypto.
Dogecoin becomes the second largest PoW Crypto following Ethereum’s shift to Proof of Stake (PoS).
Dogecoin is now the second largest crypto-asset powered by mining, as the Merge successfully transitions Ethereum to PoS.
$DOGE, which had remained the third largest Proof of Work (PoW) cryptocurrency before The Merge, has now moved to second place, bestriding notable assets such as Ethereum Classic (ETC) and Litecoin (LTC).
Dogecoin is only below the firstborn crypto Bitcoin (BTC), on the list. With a market capitalization of $8.04B at the time of writing, Dogecoin still comfortably places itself in the 10th position of the largest cryptocurrencies, considering all assets, including PoS tokens.
The shift to the second position of the largest PoW assets is an outstanding achievement for the meme coin, considering its initial frivolous outlook and the sentiments surrounding it.
Amongst the top PoW cryptocurrencies, Ethereum Classic (LTC), Litecoin (LTC), Monero (XMR), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) respectively secure third, fourth, fifth, and sixth positions.
Bahrain Central Bank set to test Bitcoin payment processing solution.
The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) plans to roll out a Bitcoin (BTC) payment processing and payout solution in partnership with BTC payment processor OpenNode.
In a press statement published on September 13, OpenNode stated that the solution is guided by the growing interest in digital assets across the Middle East. The company noted that the solution would be central to pushing economic growth while supporting businesses.
Indeed, Bahrain has recently focused on improving the environment for businesses in the crypto space after releasing the Regulatory Sandbox to develop the country’s FinTech ecosystem to diversify the digital economy.
Part of the framework allows crypto entities to conduct real-time research in a controlled environment but under the surveillance of a regulator.
The development of the Bitcoin payment processor highlights Bahrain’s continued efforts to develop the cryptocurrency sector. In the recent past, the country has also enabled more businesses to set up bases in the region.
For instance, in May 2022, the CBB granted a Category 4 license to cryptocurrency exchange Binance, allowing the platform to offer a wider range of services to users in the country.
At the time, Binance was the first crypto service provider to hold a full Category 4 license in Bahrain.
XRP Lawsuit: What to expect next?
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Vs Ripple, XRP case has entered into the much-awaited summary Judgement phase. Both parties recently submitted motions regarding the proceedings.
Meanwhile, before the crucial proceedings begin, Attorney James Filan informed what the public can expect ahead from the next court filing in the XRP case on Monday, September 19, 2022.
SEC and Ripple defendants have submitted the joint scheduling proposal. District Judge Torres went on to approve the proposal. The submitted plan seems very specific regarding which documents will come out in public in the XRP case. However, it also mentions the fixed date of its revelation.
As per attorney Filan, September 19, 2022, will see the redacted version of the submitted briefs. The public won’t be able to actual declarations and Exhibits in the XRP case. He highlighted that these documents will eventually come after the pending decision on the Omnibus briefing. This is related to the sealing described at the end of the accepted schedule.
According to Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum Merge Cut Global Energy Usage by 0.2%.
The Ethereum Merge lowered the world’s energy consumption by 0.2%, according to the Ethereum blockchain’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin, marking what may be one of the single most enormous decarbonization efforts in history.
The overhaul cut Ethereum’s energy use by 99.988% and carbon-dioxide emissions by 99.992%. The decrease means the network now spews out less CO2 than a few hundred U.S. households do during a full year of electricity use, according to a new report from the Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute (CCRI).
“We’re delighted to have commissioned this report from CCRI, which substantiates the Ethereum Merge’s impact as likely the biggest decarbonization effort of any industry in history,” ConsenSys founder Joseph Lubin, who also co-founded Ethereum, said in a statement.
Before it transitioned to PoS, a single Ethereum transaction used 200.05-kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity, comparable to how much the average U.S. household uses in 6.7 days, according to an estimate.
Bitcoin still uses PoW, drawing criticism from environmentalists and policymakers. However, some bitcoin advocates have argued that bitcoin mining uses a larger mix of renewable energy than other industries and can help the world transition to cleaner energy.
Thailand’s SEC bans Crypto firms from offering staking and lending services.
Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has banned crypto companies from offering staking and lending services, according to a press release on Thursday, September 15.
The release said that the decision to ban “depository services”, which includes paying returns to depositors, was made to protect traders from the risks associated with crypto lenders.
Several crypto lenders including Celsius Network and Babel Finance, as well as exchanges offering lending services, froze withdrawals over the past few months following a downturn in the crypto market, with bitcoin and Ethereum losing over 50% of their since the turn of the year.
One of the troubled exchanges that halted withdrawals is Zipmex, which has entities in Singapore, Thailand, Australia, and Indonesia.
The Thai SEC filed a police complaint against Zipmex last week after the exchange failed to provide transactional information before a deadline. The regulator also asked Zipmex to clarify the withdrawal freeze in July.
Closing
That’s it for now! Thanks for reading todays newsletter! Be sure to have a look at the Blog section to read our previous editions as well! Have a look at our Guides section if you’re interested in learning more about crypto! And finally, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter!
