The United States commodities regulator is set to take a close look at the decentralized finance (DeFi) space at an upcoming meeting of its tech committee, where it has also invited crypto industry executives to present. The Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) stated on Mar. 1 that the agenda for its Mar. 22 meeting of its Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) will include a panel on “exploring issues in decentralized finance.” Other panels will explore responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) development and possible threats arising from AI along with cybersecurity threats to financial markets. CFTC commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero said in a …

Silvergate Bank has announced that it will delay the filing of its annual 10-K report, which has sent its stock price down over 30% after hours. A 10-K report is a document required by the Securities and Exchange Commission which provides a comprehensive overview of the company's business and financial condition. The crypto bank stated that it would need an additional two weeks to complete the report for the 2022 fiscal year. Silvergate explained in its late filing notice that it sold additional debt securities in January and February and expects to record further losses in the coming months. "These …

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), the country's central bank, has released a report outlining use case proposals for its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). The RBA said on Mar. 2 local time that financial industry participants were also chosen to implement the chosen use cases and were invited to participate in a live pilot that is to take place over the coming months. The use cases proposed by the RBA included offline payments, tax automation and a CBDC for "trusted Web3 commerce." The selected partners for the use case trial ranged from banks, such as Commonwealth Bank and Australia …

Around 20% of banks have exposure to crypto assets, a Bank for International Settlements (BIS) report released Feb. 28 found. The majority of those banks are in the Western Hemisphere. According to the report, which is based on data from the first half of 2022, 17 Group 1 banks reported approximately 2.9 billion euros in crypto asset prudential exposure and 1 billion euros in crypto assets under custody. A Group 1 bank is one that has Tier 1 capital of more than 3 billion euros and is internationally active. Tier 1 capital is a bank's equity capital and disclosed reserves. …

Chiliz, a global company that deals with blockchain for sports and entertainment, has launched its incubator and accelerator program, Chiliz Labs, with the support of Jump Crypto. The $50 million program intends to invest in early-stage blockchain projects that leverage the Chiliz blockchain for sports and entertainment and the Socios.com partner network. We are pleased to announce the launch of our $50M USD incubator and accelerator programme Chiliz Labs! Backed by @jump_ Chiliz Labs will foster viable and innovative early-stage blockchain projects looking to leverage the new Chiliz blockchain. ⚡️ $CHZ — Chiliz ($CHZ) - Powering Socios.com ⚡ (@Chiliz) March …

Provenance Blockchain Foundation has announced a $50 million grant program for blockchain developers to support the development of regulated financial services on blockchain. The grant program promise to award $50 million in HASH, which is the native token on Provenance Blockchain, to developers who build core services and experiences that enable the full digitally-native lifecycle of regulated financial assets on blockchain technology. Developers will be evaluated based on a range of factors, including their ability to contribute to asset perfection, asset origination, on/off ramps, security, compliance, wallets, identity, developer tools, and new financial asset use cases. All projects that are …

For years, Bitcoiners have repeated the mantra be your own bank. But in truth, storing any type of crypto in a wallet has been a lot closer to stuffing cash under your mattress than to a complex financial institution like a bank. Admittedly, its an improvement in that crypto can be transferred across the globe in minutes and it’s secured with cryptography but its also a lot less user-friendly than a bank and doesnt offer anywhere near as many features. Your crypto could be stolen in a $5 wrench attack. You could lose the seed phrase and your funds forever. …

Attacks on bridge technology in 2022 led to the theft of $2.5 billion from decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, according to a report by Token Terminal. While this could have been a setback for many projects and, thus, for the crypto space, it seems to be fueling infrastructure and security developments. At the ETH Denver 2023, Web3 protocol Koii Labs and software company Idexo announced a new middleware bridge to advance deployments on-chain with "just a few lines of code," Cointelegraph exclusively learned from the teams. The solution aims not only to improve security and speed up deployments, but also to …

In this week’s newsletter, read about how a whale sold 1,010 nonfungible tokens (NFTs) within 48 hours. The Blur NFT marketplace captured the space’s attention, and the manuscript that coined the term “metaverse” is being auctioned by Sotheby’s. In other news, find out users’ motivations behind their NFT purchases, and don’t forget this week’s Nifty News, featuring a Twitch streamer earning 1,000 ETH in exchange for the Golden Key NFT. Whale sells 1,010 NFTs in 48 hours in ‘largest NFT dump ever’ NFT whale Jeffrey Hwang, also known as Machi Big Brother, sold 1,010 NFTs within 48 hours. The NFTs …

Civil charges were announced against former FTX director of engineering Nishad Singh on Feb. 28, the same day he entered a guilty plea to three counts of criminal fraud in Manhattan district court. Both the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are pressing charges against Singh. Singh pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to one count of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud on FTX customers and one count of conspiracy to commit commodities fraud after reportedly reaching a deal …

Bitcoin (BTC) bulls laid most of their options at $24,500 and higher for the March 3 options expiry, and given the recent bullishness seen from BTC, who can blame them? On Feb. 21, Bitcoin price briefly traded above $25,200, reflecting an 18% gain in eight days. Unfortunately, regulatory pressure on the crypto sector increased and despite no effective measures being announced, investors are still wary and reactive to remarks from policymakers. For instance, on Feb. 23, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler claimed that "everything other than Bitcoin" falls under the agency's jurisdiction. Gensler noted that most crypto …

The entertainment industry rarely sees a dull moment when it comes to disputes over the ownership of intellectual property or creative rifts between big networks and showrunners. A tiny number of studios and networks own the majority of rights, leading to the mass production of films and TV shows that somehow feel the same. Web3 aims to change that by giving the power back to content creators and fans. “In Hollywood, there’s a formula,” explained Jason Neubauer, the founder and CEO of Affect Change. “People have their own agendas. I wanted to create stories that are authentic, and inspire others …