​​CFTC flags 34 crypto and forex trading desks as unregistered foreign entities

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has expanded its RED List with a new roster of crypto and forex firms the agency has identified as unregistered foreign entities.

The CFTC announced the 34 new additions on July 14, warning US users and financial service providers against accessing their services.

Several of the entities announced share domain names or have domains that redirect to the same website. Others have websites that are themselves not live.

In a statement, Commissioner Kristin Johnson said:

"In today’s global markets a foreign entity operating outside the United States may—with a few taps on a smartphone—reach potential US customers through email, text message, IM, chat app, or social media, and solicit them to invest, transfer, or deposit funds, or otherwise transact via platforms created and maintained outside of the United States."

The firms make a total of 202 on the commission's Registration Deficient List, an initiative launched in 2015 to flag foreign entities the CFTC suspects of acting as intermediaries within the US. Today's announcement explains: "The Commodity Exchange Act generally requires intermediaries in the derivatives industry to register with the CFTC. An 'intermediary' is a person or firm that acts on behalf of another person in connection with trading futures, swaps, or options."

The CFTC has been working to persuade Congress to give it more authority to regulate spot crypto markets. Although the commission has a registration regime for derivatives trading, it only has authorization to intervene in cash markets in the event of fraud or market manipulation.

​​Celsius Outlines Next Steps as Bankruptcy Proceedings Begin

A Celsius Network presentation ahead of Monday afternoon's bankruptcy court hearing offers a snapshot of the company's current situation and broad picture of what a restructuring might look like.

As reported last week, Celsius has $4.3 billion in reported assets which includes $600 million in the now depleted CEL token, as well as $5.5 billion in liabilities.

Among next steps, the company is hoping its sizable mining subsidiary can use minted bitcoin (BTC) to both grow its balance sheet and fund mining operations.

Celsius is also considering "asset sales and third-party investment opportunities" as a way to raise capital.

The company added that it will confirm a Chapter 11 plan that will provide customers an option of receiving a discounted cash settlement, or the option to remain "long crypto," which could involve distributing CEL tokens.

The CEL token is currently trading at $0.80 with a market cap of $191 million, despite Celsius claiming that it owns $600 million worth of that native token.

The presentation comes ahead of the company's scheduled appearance in front of a bankruptcy judge on Monday at 2 pm ET.

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​​Italian Soccer League Serie A is Launching NFTs from Live Moments

Italy's top football league Serie A is bringing more than 1,300 moments of live action in the form of digital collectible NFTs in partnership with German-based football media platform OneFootball.

Serie A Forays Into NFTs With OneFootball
This series of digital collectibles will feature clips from matches in Serie A, Coppa Italia (the Italy Cup), and the Supercoppa Italiana (the Italian Supercup, featuring the previous winners of the Coppa Italia and Serie A). OneFootball also acquired the rights to create NFTs out of iconic historical moments from Serie A's archive.

The NFTs will be built on Flow blockchain using Dapper Lab's secure wallet and launched on OneFootball's marketplace, Aera. The first product will be revealed on August 1, with the first drop scheduled for August 29. Commenting on the development, the CEO and founder of OneFootball, Lucas von Cranach, said:

"We're creating an accessible experience for fans of Serie A. Our core business is Web2.
We, as OneFootball, focus on centralized experiences. But I'm a true believer in Web3, because it opens up possibilities to decentralize these experiences and to be in the position to own content,"
The biggest competitor of OneFootball is Sorare, one of the largest NFT platforms for soccer.

It has exclusive deals with France's Ligue 1, LaLiga, Bundesliga, MLS, and Dutch Eredivisie, and with over 150 teams around the world with a reported monthly sales volume of over $80 million.

In a Deloitte-conducted survey, it was found that sports-themed digital collectibles will generate more than $2 billion in transactions in 2022, almost double the figure from last year. By 2023, that figure will turn into $92 billion.

​​Volare Finance to Receive $6M Boost Following Its Avalanche Integration and Testnet on Fuji Now

The Volare Finance protocol is designing its platform as a one-stop shop for options traders with a range of concerns they face on a daily basis being resolved.

Advanced options trading platform for the Web3.0 ecosystem, Volare Finance has announced a new milestone bordering on its launch of its Testnet on the Fuji protocol. The move is important as Volare Finance continues in its push to provide a transparent, trustworthy, and convenient decentralized mechanism without intermediaries on options trading which can imitate the serviceability of centralized exchanges.

As shared with Coinspeaker, Volare Finance has received a new $6 million capital injection in a bid to build out its protocol which has been deemed as a revolutionary options trading model in the emerging crypto ecosystem. While the inherent details of the funds were not disclosed, the capital injection is a testament to how well investors perceive the niche that Volare Finance is setting for itself in the grand scheme of things.

The Testnet that has been launched on Fuji contains an outfit for Options, Strategies, Exotic, Farming, and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) sections through which investors can try out the difference that Volare Finance is brandishing.

Getting involved with blockchain technology is already considered a very complicated adventure, one which has a very high barrier to entry. Embracing options trading is an even more complicated endeavor, one that many crypto enthusiasts do not have a hang of. In light of this, Volare Finance is introducing a high level of simplicity to these offerings with its platform.

With its technology, Volare Finance aims not to only narrow down the requirements to partake in options trading but to also make it a more accessible trading style for all.

As a well-funded platform, Volare Finance provides a DeFi option protocol for European options, option combos, and exotic options. It also allows investors to invest in standard or customized option strategies portfolios and provides clients tools for hedging, speculation, and yield enhancement based on its infrastructure.

​​Battle Infinity Raises Almost 3,000 BNB in IBAT Sale, Hits Softcap in Less Than One Week

As Metaverse euphoria shows no signs of exhausting, new-gen ecosystem Battle Infinity hits softcap of its token sale in less than one week.

IBAT token presale hits a crucial milestone in a few days: Why is this important for Battle Infinity?
According to the official statement shared by Battle Infinity representatives, by July 22, 2022, it has already raised about 3,000 Binance Coins (BNB) in its IBAT token sale.

As such, the softcap of Battle Infinity’s hotly anticipated token sale is already launched; over $600,000 is in the project’s treasury. IBAT is integrated into Battle Infinity’s gameplay; this native utility token underpins the game’s tokenomic design.

Holding of IBAT tokens unlocks numerous features in Battle Infinity’s gameplay; that is why its sale gained popularity among Metaverse and play-to-earn enthusiasts.

Currently, the IBAT presale is still underway: the token price is fixed at $0.0015, while the minimum investment amount is 0.1 Binance Coin (BNB), or about $27.

​​Here's Why More Bitcoin Mining Can Lead To Better Environment?

Willy woo, a popular expert on Bitcoin, responds to the claims that bitcoin is bad for the environment and claims that a shift to renewables would require BTC mining to play a key role.
Moreover, he revealed that BTC miners would need to consume more energy rather than less to make a meaningful impact in the shift towards renewables.

Environmental Controversy Around Bitcoin Mining
Willy woo’s tweet was in response to a thread by Daniel Batten, another Bitcoin influencer. Batten believes that the criticisms against Bitcoin mining’s impact on the environment are a misconception that stems from the assumption that more consumption of energy is bad while less consumption is good.

According to Batten, any scalable renewable shift would require the need to generate at least 3 times more power. He introduces the concept of demand response which means a consumer who can be flexible in their energy usage by adjusting their demands. According to IEA, an accomplishment of net zero would require 10 times more demand response.

According to Batten, grid operators want more customers that can be flexible and can adjust their demands. He believes that bitcoin mining meets this criterion. Batten cited the examples of Texas Winter Storm and Summer Peak Demand in Texas when BTC miners shut off their operations due to grid operators’ requests.

BTC Mining Progress Towards Renewables
The bitcoin mining council’s second quarter survey revealed that the BTC mining industry has a sustainable electricity mix 0f 59.5%. This makes it the 5th year in a row when BTC mining has been dependent on renewables for over 50% of its power.

Michael Saylor, the CEO of MicroStrategy, who is a key player in the BMC stated that it is hard to find any industry that is cleaner or more efficient. Elon Musk, who suspended BTC payments from Tesla, also recently stated that bitcoin’s energy source has made considerable progress toward renewables. As a result, Tesla could restart BTC payments.

​​🤫What The Kraken Investigations Mean For Crypto Regulation

Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange based in the U.S., is reportedly the subject of an investigation launched by the country's Treasury Department, with the investigation said to have been ongoing since at least 2019.

According to reports, the United States Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is looking into crypto exchange Kraken for allegedly allowing consumers in Iran and other nations to buy and sell crypto to these jurisdictions, a potential infraction of current US sanctions.

The internal documents, which were leaked, show that Kraken has serviced 1,522 unique users with residences filed in Iran, with the data reflecting metrics until June 2022. Users from Syria and Cuba were also serviced, with both countries currently under U.S. sanctions.

The reports came first from the New York Times, in which the press outfit highlighted how Kraken would officially be the largest U.S. crypto firm to face such an enforcement action from the OFAC. Historically, the sanctions have been placed, in particular for Iran, since 1979. This sanction functions by prohibiting the export of goods or services (at scale) to citizens or individuals residing in or doing business from the country.

As a private company, Kraken is currently valued at roughly $11 billion. The crypto exchange has been the subject of regulatory actions in the past, with the most recent being a $1.25 million penalty levied against the firm by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). An earlier report from CryptoDaily also details how the firm's CEO, Jesse Powell, has repeatedly courted controversy for offering to pay-off Kraken employees who were disgruntled over the company's culture. Powell later stated that he had no regrets on the offense he made.

​​😉Central African Republic Token Sale off to Slow Start — $1.26 Million Raised in Under 5 Days

The Central African Republic’s token sale appeared to have gotten to a slow start after less than 13 million out of the 210 million Sango coins were sold since the commencement of the sale on July 25. The country has claimed its decision to adopt bitcoin has won praise from “other African countries exploring the possibilities of adopting a similar system.”

Just Over $1.2 Million Raised Since Token Sale Commenced
The sale of the Central African Republic (CAR)’s Sango crypto token, which commenced on July 25, has reportedly started off slowly with just under 13 million coins having been sold to date. With the initial selling price set at $0.10 per coin, it means the CAR has now raised approximately $1.26 million since the commencement of the sale, a website tracking the token sale has shown.

Investors that wish to acquire their share of the 210 million Sango coins on offer must fork out a minimum of $500. Prospective buyers can pay using BTC or ETH.

While details about the coin sale as well as the technology used to anchor the crypto token remain murky, a press statement released by a team that is promoting the project appeared to address these and other concerns. In the statement, the CAR team starts by addressing reports that the Sango coin is backed by bitcoin. The CAR team said:

SANGO, the coin of the Sango sidechain, will be fractionally backed by Bitcoin, which in simple terms means that the Central African Republic Treasury will consist of a Bitcoin reserve fund.

Being backed by bitcoin, therefore, means “Sango will be able to operate with wrapped Bitcoin (s-BTC) in the Sango ecosystem.”

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​🍺Major Brands Such as Budweiser Are Increasingly Turning to NFT Technology

A large number of companies, including Budweiser, Pinkberry and more, are reportedly experimenting with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to drive their loyalty and rewards programs.

According to a report by CNBC, Web3 startup Hang is aiming to give some of the world’s largest brands, such as Budweiser, Pinkberry, and Bleacher Report, “the power of web3 through its NFT-based membership platform, using new reward mechanics and technology to increase customer loyalty and LTV.”

On July 14, Hang, launched its “no-code platform for seamlessly creating and managing Web3-powered membership programs”, and announced a $16M Series A round led by Paradigm. With Hang, “program managers can easily set up membership rules and logic, add benefits and rewards, and connect to third-party services.”

Hang’s announcement went on to say:

“As part of the round, we are also proud to be partnering with Tiger Global, Kevin Durant’s Thirty Five Ventures, Mr. Beast’s Night Ventures, Tiffany & Co.’s Alexandre Arnault, Green Bay Ventures, Shrug Capital, Good Friends (Founders of Warby Parker, Allbirds, and Harry’s), Alt & Lob’s CEO Leore Avidar, Roger Ehrenberg/Eberg Capital, Bomba’s CEO Dave Heath, Scott Belsky, Impatient Ventures, Red Sea Ventures, K5 Global, and several other amazing VCs and entrepreneurs.“

Hang co-founder and CEO Matt Smolin told CNBC that large-scale brands are increasingly using loyalty programs as a way to engage and promote customer retention. He claimed that NFT loyalty programs were an excellent way for companies to leverage the benefits of blockchain technology:

Because of blockchain technology, NFTs create a way for brands to incentivize their users to not only rank up to a new level in their program, but actually appreciate the value of the asset that they own and can later be resold on [NFT] marketplaces.

​⚡️What Kazakhstan’s new tax regime means for the crypto mining industry

On July 11, the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, signed new tax rates for crypto mining operators into law. While these amendments reflect the country’s growing frustration with the undertaxed and non-transparent usage of the national power grid by both foreign investors and domestic perpetrators, the new taxes could hardly be called excluding.

Moreover, they could signal the further adoption and legalization of mining in energy-rich Kazakhstan, making the country and the region an even more attractive destination for miners amid tightening pressure in more established jurisdictions.

Reality check
The two amendments will come into effect on Jan. 1, 2023, and will tie tax rates to the price mining operators pay for the electricity. Following a progressive scale, an operator will have to pay $0.024, or 10 tenges, of taxes for a kilowatt-hour (kWh) of energy at the lowest price of $0.012–0.024, and $0.0072, or 3 tenges, at the highest of $0.048–0.060 per Kwh. Those who use renewable energy that they produce will face the most favorable conditions of only one tenge per kWh.

These recent amendments are not the Kazakh government’s first attempt to tax the industry. A previous bill was signed by Tokaev on June 29, 2021, and introduced an additional payment of $0.0023, or 1 tenge, at the time for 1 kWh of electricity consumed for mining.

The tax amendments became a landmark in the long and difficult history of Kazakhstan’s relationship with the crypto mining frenzy, which drew a wave of foreign mining operators to the country. By some estimates, more than 87,849 mining machines have been brought to the republic by November 2021. Kazakhstan’s star on the global mining map sparked swiftly after the nationwide crackdown on crypto mining in China. By 2021, the country became second in global Bitcoin (BTC) mining — trailing only behind the United States — and accounted for 18.1% of the global Bitcoin mining hash rate.

Chinese miners have been relocating their business to Kazakhstan, believing it to be “a paradise of the mining industry” because of the stable political environment and cheap electricity. The Kazakh government, for its part, has welcomed the wave of new investors by supporting crypto mining up to the point of direct subsidies — experts have been anticipating more than $1.5 billion of tax revenue from mining within the next five years.

Digital mining was recognized as a legitimate business activity earlier in 2020 when the law “On Amendments and Additions to Some Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the regulation of digital technologies” laid the foundations for crypto regulation.

​💎Meta Integrates With Coinbase Wallet, MetaMask; Expands NFT Scope

Meta on Thursday announced plans to expand NFT feature to 100 countries across Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and the Americas. This comes at the back of its grand plans to integrate Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on social media platforms. The Meta NFT integration is aimed at allowing people to display NFTs as profile pictures. Going forward, Meta’s NFT plans could also pave way for the company’s own NFT market place.

Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg has in the past revealed his vision on combining NFTs with Metaverse. He indicated that in Meta’s long term plans, NFTs will be a part of the Metaverse ecosystem. Meta said it would be rolling out digital collectibles on Facebook. It will also allow people to display and share NFTs as AR stickers in Instagram Stories.

In a latest, Zuckerberg announced that his company was rolling out digital collectibles to 100 more countries. This will allow additional scope for a bigger community to use NFTs on Instagram, Meta said in an announcement.

“Mark Zuckerberg announced we are rolling out digital collectibles to 100 more countries. Now, more people, creators and businesses can showcase their NFTs on Instagram.”

Breaking: New Binance Token Explosive Launch, Here’s How To Earn It

Stader Labs’ latest staking token, BNBx, just went live on the BNB Chain.

Stader Labs is a crypto company that builds staking products. Stader announced their new products last month, to maximize yield while maintaining liquidity.

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​😎SHIB Army Says Ryoshi is Creator of New Coin Dejitaru Tsuka (TSUKA)

SHIB army is on the case. Some members of the Shiba Inu community closely followed a series of “cryptic messages” sent by Ryoshi, the creator of Shiba Inu. And they have come to the conclusion that the mysterious developer is behind a new cryptocurrency project.

The mysterious creator of Shiba Inu (SHIB), Ryoshi, is thought to have created the new cryptocurrency project called Dejitaru Tsuka (TSUKA).

The mysterious Shiba Inu founder completely disappeared from social media in May 2022. Ryoshi’s Twitter handle and Medium blogs connected to Shibu Inu were deleted, and he remains anonymous.

SHIB Army sees a Reemergence
And yet. It seems Ryoshi has popped up again. Some members of the Shiba Inu community carefully followed a series of ‘cryptic messages’ apparently sent by Ryoshi through the blockchain. Many of the SHIB army say that Ryoshi’s Shiba Inu language is the same as that used in Dejitaru Tsuka’s in the first Medium blog. And, the blog has the same picture as Ryoshi’s Twitter handle.

Members of the SHIB community said the messages indicated Ryoshi’s return to the crypto ecosystem.

In line with the language on the Medium blog, there were ‘on-chain messages’ with words such as “faith, belief, and patience.”

​​Solana wallets ‘compromised and abandoned’ as users warned of scam solutions.

Solana users have been urged to move their funds to cold storage and be alert to possible scams after a major exploit of thousands of wallets sees more than $8 million stolen.

The cryptocurrency ecosystem has been rocked by a widespread exploit targeting Solana wallets that have been ongoing since Wednesday. Phantom and Slope, two Solana-based wallet services, initially flagged the attack on their social media platforms, alongside a host of cryptocurrency influencers, blockchain analytic and security firms and victims of the hack as it continued to unfold.

A handful of commentators noted that attackers had gained access to user private keys, as transactions were signed on the chain legitimately. Ava Labs CEO and founder Emin Gun Sirer estimated that more than 7,000 wallets had been affected, a number cited by various other individuals and firms online.

As investigations begin to unpack the root cause that allowed an attacker to pillage thousands of wallets, affected users are being warned not to accept help from individuals online purporting to have solutions to the hack. Heidi Chakos, the host of the YouTube channel Crypto Tips, stressed that scammers would be looking to exploit the ongoing situation.

Solana Status has been providing updates since the exploit began and noted that 7,767 wallets had been affected at 5:00 am UTC on Wednesday. Several wallets were affected across mobile and browser extensions.

Solana stressed that users move funds to cold storage and create new seed phrases, while the owners of the 8,000 drained wallets were told that these should “be treated as compromised, and abandoned.”

A spokesperson from Solana told Cointelegraph that engineers from several ecosystems as well as audit and security firms were continuing to explore the root cause that saw affected wallets drained.

"This does not appear to be a bug with Solana core code, but in software used by several wallets popular among Solana users."

Users affected by the exploit are being asked to provide their compromised wallet addresses to the Solana Foundation to assist in the investigation.

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​DeFi platform Oasis to block wallet addresses deemed at-risk

According to a new community Discord post on Thursday, decentralized finance platform Oasis. says that sanctioned addresses will no longer be able to access the application.

As a result of the change to the terms of service, wallets flagged as high risk are prohibited from using Oasis. to manage positions or withdraw funds. Instead, such category of users must interact directly with the relevant underlying protocol where funds are stored or find another service.

In explaining the decision, Oasis team member Gabriel said:

"We've recently needed to update the Terms of Service of the Oasis front-end to comply with the relevant laws and regulations. In line with the latest regulations, Oasis has an updated Terms of Service. Any sanctioned addresses will no longer be able to access Oasis functionality."

Raising a $6 million Series A in 2020, Oasis has grown to become a popular platform for DeFi borrowing and lending. The protocol has processed $4.6 billion worth of transactions in the past 30 days and manages $3.42 billion in deposits.

​Ripple to Power Remittances Between Japan and Thailand via New Partnership

Crypto company Ripple announced the launch of a new joint project with SBI Remit to streamline Japan-Thailand money transfers. Under the project, SBI Remit, Japan's largest payment provider, will allow Thais living in Japan to instantly send money back home using RippleNet technology. Siam Commercial Bank will represent the Thai side in this venture.

According to Ripple's press release, thanks to the implementation, more than 47,000 Thais in Japan will be able to freely send yen to Thailand using ATMs, and in one second they will be available for withdrawal in Thai baht there. In comparison, such a transaction previously required the involvement of a special agent and was mostly done only through cash.