Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
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Investments news
- After large inflows last week, Digital asset investment products saw outflows totaling USD 134m last week, marking the second-largest outflow this year, per CoinShares data. Bitcoin (BTC) saw USD 132m in outflows, while short bitcoin investment products saw inflows totaling USD 2m, its largest inflows on record. Ethereum (ETH) saw outflows totaling USD 15.3m, bringing its year-to-date ouflows to USD 126m. “Bitcoin volumes do not suggest any significant stress among investors, with investment products comprising only 7.6% of total bitcoin volumes, just above the 7% long-term average. However, overall average bitcoin volumes remain lower than everage at USD 2.3bn per day versus USD 3bn (on trusted exchanges),” CoinShares added.
- Enterprise blockchain firm Applied Blockchain filed to sell USD 60m of shares in an initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq Global Select Market at a price of USD 18.54 per share. The company plans to use the money to secure sites for new co-hosting facilities, develop those facilities, and enter into energy service agreements, among other uses, it added.
- A blockchain investment firm with an interest in non-fungible tokens (NFTs), NFT Investments PLC, announced that it would no longer pursue a GBP 96m (USD 125m) acquisition of crypto tech firm Pluto Digital. They did not state their reasons for canceling the deal.
- The TON Foundation behind the ecosystem for blockchain project TON has launched a USD 250m TONcoin Fund to support projects building on the network.
- Banking giant Goldman Sachs analyst Will Nance cut trading platform Robinhood to sell, citing continued weakness in account growth and path to profitability getting pushed further out as headwinds for the platform, per Bloomberg. He added that their cryptoasset trading has “much better” economics than stock trading, but the recent decline in volumes is offsetting the tailwind.
Gaming news
- Animoca Brands, the company advancing digital property rights for gaming and the metaverse, said it has for an unspecified sum acquired 100% of the issued capital of Eden Games from Engine Gaming & Media. Eden Games, known for games such as Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed, has over 13 million game boxes sold and over 60 million app downloads worldwide, per the announcement.
- Play-to-earn NFT game Blockchain Brawlers said it has witnessed over USD 357m in trading volume, with players currently earning over BRWL 3,200, the platform’s native token, per day (USD 958). The game has also begun holding its next series of special auctions offering Legendary 1-of-1 NFT brawlers, they added.
- Blockchain first-person shooter game Shrapnel released its whitepaper after a USD 7m private token sale, detailing the environment of the game and its rules.
Regulation news
- Russian payments to EU crypto wallets will be capped at EUR 10,000 (USD 10,900) under sanctions measures published in the European Union’s official journal. The limit is intended to stop wealthy Russians from circumventing a cap on investing in the EU.
Legal news
- Police in Sydney, Australia seized three cryptoasset teller machines, five kilograms of illicit drugs, and millions of Australian dollars of cash in Sydney’s south-east as part of a multi-agency operation involving the US Department of Homeland Security, per The Age.
Exchanges news
- Binance received in-principle approval from the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) to operate as a broker-dealer in virtual assets in the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The exchange received a Virtual Asset License from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority last month.
- Also, Binance announced wallet maintenance for a number of different networks, a total of 51, to take place on April 14 at 05:30 UTC. It is expected to take around three hours, when withdrawals will be suspended, and withdrawals will continue after the maintenance process is complete.
Wallet news
- Invity.io, provider of the in-wallet trading platform for Trezor hardware wallets, and Swan Bitcoin, a bitcoin onramp, announced a new partnership to bring recurring, direct-to-custody bitcoin purchases to Trezor wallets.
Mining news
- Bitcoin-focused Blockstream and payments company Block are partnering to launch a solar- and battery-powered bitcoin mine in Texas that uses solar and storage technology from tech giant Tesla, according to CNBC.
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(Updated at 15:51 UTC with an announcement from Animoca Brands.)