German engineering and technology giant Siemens has become one of the first companies in Germany to issue a digital bond on a public blockchain, worth €60 million, with a maturity of one year, in accordance with Germany’s Electronic Securities Act. According to the announcement, the bond was sold directly to investors such as DekaBank, DZ Bank, and Union Investment, without the need for central clearing and paper-based global certificates. Siemens noted that the process enabled transactions to be executed much faster and more efficiently than traditional bond-issuing methods. Siemens emphasized the benefits of using digital bonds over traditional bond-issuing methods …

Taurus, a digital asset infrastructure provider for financial institutions in Europe, has raised $65 million in a Series B capital raise led by Credit Suisse. The funding round also saw participation from several other institutional investors, including Deutsche Bank, Pictet Group, Cedar Mundi Ventures, Arab Bank Switzerland, and Investis. According to the announcement, the funds raised will be used by Taurus to bolster its growth strategy in three primary areas, which include; recruiting top engineering talent to continue developing its platform, expanding its sales and customer success organization to enhance its infrastructure solutions with new offices in Europe, the UAE, …

Cathie Wood’s investment management firm Ark Invest continues stacking Coinbase (COIN) stock amid the latest cryptocurrency market decline. On Feb. 10 and Feb. 13, Ark made its first COIN purchases since mid-January, adding significant exposure to the United States’ largest crypto exchange. Last Friday, Ark bought 139,105 COIN shares for the ARK Innovation exchange-traded fund (ARKK), according to an investor notification seen by Cointelegraph. On the same day, the asset manager also purchased 23,220 COIN shares for allocation by another fund, ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW). The asset manager spent a total of $9.2 million on these Coinbase stock …

The metaverse, a virtual environment that simulates reality, offers complex moral dilemmas regarding privacy, ownership and control. These consist of: Privacy: Who has access to and how is personal information used within the metaverse? Ownership: Who owns the digital assets and real estate in the metaverse, and what rights do they have over it? Control: Who oversee activities in the metaverse, and what rules and regulations will be implemented to guarantee fair use and equal treatment for all participants? These are crucial issues to think about as the metaverse expands and is utilized more frequently, and they will probably have …

The U.K. Tax Reform Council has launched a campaign against the Bank of England's plan to introduce a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The non-profit organization warns that such a move could seriously harm individual privacy and lead to intrusive changes to the taxation system. The freshly formed Tax Reform Council includes monetary economist John Chown, cofounder of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, on its advisory board. The Tax Reform Council believes implementing a CBDC would lead to increased government surveillance, greater intrusion from tax authorities and a heightened risk of cyber attacks on the nation's monetary system. We are …

Interactive Brokers, a global brokerage firm with headquarters in the United States, announced the launch of its crypto trading services for institutional clients in Hong Kong on Feb. 14. The crypto trading services were launched in association with OSL Digital Securities, a Securities and Futures Commission (SFC)-licensed digital asset brokerage and trading platform for professional investors. Individuals with more than $1 million (8 million Hong Kong dollars) in investable assets or institutions with almost $6 million (40 million Hong Kong dollars) who are Hong Kong residents can now trade cryptocurrency alongside other asset classes available on the Interactive Brokers platform. …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reportedly planning to propose new rule changes this week that could impact what services crypto firms can offer their clients. According to a Feb. 14 report from Bloomberg citing “people familiar with the matter,” the securities regulator is working on a draft proposal that would make it difficult for crypto firms to hold digital assets on their client’s behalf as “qualified custodians.” This may, in turn, affect the many hedge funds, private equity firms and pension funds that work alongside such crypto firms. According to those cited, a five-member SEC panel …

Crypto financial services Matrixport's head of research believes the recent scrutiny of Paxos and its Binance USD (BUSD) token is not a direct attack on stablecoins themselves. In a Feb. 14 analysis, Matrixport's Markus Thielen suggested that Paxos Trust Company, the issuer of the Binance USD (BUSD), may not have been stringent enough with its oversight of the token. He added that the issue "does not appear to be around stablecoins" in itself. "Paxos had violated its obligation to conduct tailored, periodic risk assessment and due diligence of Binance and Paxos-issued BUSD customers," Thielen argued. On Feb. 13, the New …

The percentage of Ethereum blocks complying with orders set by the United States Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) has now fallen to 47% — the lowest since Oct. 11. The latest milestone in reversing censorship comes nearly three months after the percentage of OFAC-compliant blocks reached its peak at 79% on Nov. 21. OFAC-compliant blocks are those that exclude transactions involving parties sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. A fall in compliant blocks could be seen as a win for those that oppose censorship within the Ethereum ecosystem. In a statement, blockchain consulting firm …

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has seen a surge of withdrawals over the last 24 hours as investors appear to be spooked over recent news of regulatory action against Paxos and its stablecoin Binance USD (BUSD). At the same time, the BUSD token has recorded significant redemptions, with 342 million BUSD burned over the last 24 hours according to Peckshield. #PeckShieldAlert ~342M $BUSD have been burned at Paxos Treasury within the last 24 hours, $BUSD MarketCap: $15.8Bhttps://t.co/BMeVokqVE6 pic.twitter.com/hJdnixxbtD — PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) February 14, 2023 On Feb. 12, news broke that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gave notice of potential enforcement action …

Australia-based Bitcoin (BTC) mining company, Iris Energy, revealed it will nearly triple its mining capacity with the addition of thousands of mining rigs. On Feb. 13 the firm said it purchased an additional 4.4 Exa Hashes per second (EH/s) worth of Bitmain Antminer S19j Pro ASIC miners bringing its self-mining capacity to 5.5 EH/s from 2.0 EH/s. Based on the S19j Pro’s maximum hashrate of 100 Tera Hashes per second (TH/s), the purchase adds an estimated 44,000 miners to its fleet, according to Cointelegraph’s calculations. Daniel Roberts, Iris’ co-founder and Co-CEO said the purchase “is a significant milestone” for the …

Paxos Trust Company has released a statement noting that it "categorically disagrees" with the United States securities regulator which has painted Binance USD (BUSD) as a security. In the Feb. 13 statement, the BUSD issuer confirmed recent reports that it had received a Wells notice from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over BUSD and its alleged failure to register the offering under federal securities laws. END/ Paxos remains dedicated to the development of stablecoins, tokenization & #blockchain technology. We’ll continue serving the world’s most respected and established companies to create a more open financial system. — Paxos …