Crypto lending platform Nexo has increased the size of its buyback program, giving the company more discretionary ability to repurchase its native token to boost interest payments or make strategic investments in the future. On Aug. 30, Nexo disclosed that its board of directors had committed an additional $50 million to buybacks, building off the company’s initial $100 million repurchase program launched in November 2021. The approval green lights the discretionary repurchase of up to $50 million worth of NEXO tokens on the open market. NEXO is the platform’s native cryptocurrency giving users the ability to earn interest and lock …

Netherlands-based crypto investment firm Maven 11 has launched its third lending pool on Maple Finance, giving borrowers access to liquidity amid the bear market. The $30 million pool financed by institutional lenders will be utilized by trading firms that include Wintermute, Auros and Flow Traders, among others, Maven 11 announced this week. The new pool is designed “specifically for institutions looking for yield opportunities,” the company said. Maple, a decentralized finance credit platform, is filling a void left by the implosion of leading centralized finance (CeFi) companies such as Celsius. Liquidity constraints triggered by the collapse of Terra Luna and …

A “killer app” for consumers is what will be needed to bring the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector to a level that draws in a mainstream audience, said Ripple Lab’s head of DeFi markets Boris Alergant. Alergant nade the comments during a panel at the Blockchain Futurist Conference titled "The Future of Decentralized Finance" on Aug. 9, which was covered by Cointelegraph reporters on the ground in Toronto, Canada. Alongside Alergant, Aventus Ventures CEO Kevin Hobbs, FLUIDEFI co-founder and CEO Lisa Loud, and Teller Finance CEO and co-founder Ryan Berkin also featured on the panel. The general sentiment among the panelists …

Days after pausing trading, withdrawals and deposits, crypto exchange Voyager Digital is filing for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 in the Southern District Court of New York. Voyager’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing indicated that it is on the hook for anywhere from $1 billion to $10 billion in assets to more than 100,000 creditors. The troubled crypto exchange wasted no time after the United States holiday to file for bankruptcy on Tuesday. In a Wednesday statement, Voyager explained that the move is part of a “Plan of Reorganization.” When implemented, the plan would enable clients to reaccess their accounts again, and …

Crypto contagion claims another casualty. In a statement, Singapore-based crypto exchange Vauld has made the “difficult decision to suspend all withdrawals, trading and deposits on the Vauld platform with immediate effect.” In what appears to be a run on the crypto bank, the group intends to “apply to the Singapore courts for a moratorium,” as Vauld customers have tried to withdraw an “excess of a $197.7 million since 12 June 2022.” The decision to suspend withdrawals is a screeching U-turn. Reportedly, Vauld boasted $1 billion assets under management in May this year, while on June 16, a company email stated …

Crypto investment platform CoinFLEX aims to rectify its liquidity shortage and restart user withdrawals by selling off bad debt through a new $47 million token offering. The new token is known as Recovery Value USD (rvUSD) and will be worth $1.00 each. It is designed to help CoinFLEX recover $47 million in losses incurred by an account that was allowed to reach negative equity without being liquidated. It will be issued from Tuesday through July 1, and the firm stated that it hopes to resume withdrawals by June 30. While the identity of the individual whose account went negative is …

There’s a glimmer of hope for the bear market’s most recent victim. Following reports that Celsius is insolvent, Nexo is offering a buy-out. A Nexo representative told Cointelegraph that Nexo is trying to do the “right thing” as they are “mindful of the repercussions for retail investors & the crypto community.” Celsius suspended all network withdrawals on Monday; users are not able to access their funds. In an open letter, Nexo has extended a formal offer to acquire qualifying assets of Celsius Network after their withdrawal freeze. The letter states: “Nexo, its partners, and affiliates could readily acquire from Celsius …

Generating a yield on crypto is increasingly tricky. The Terra ecosystem implosion — where up to $50 billion was wiped out — led to a decline in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols offering interest. At the other end of the table, centralized finance, or CeFi, where all processes are rooted through a central body, has endured a comparatively peaceful bear market, yet interest rates are trending down. On the first of the month, investors who have an account with a CeFi provider such as Ledn, Celsius, BlockFi or Nexo generally receive emails detailing the interest rate for the following month. A …

Banking giants Goldman Sachs and the United Kingdom’s Barclays have joined a $70 million Series A funding round for the institutional crypto trading platform Elwood Technologies, founded by billionaire British hedge fund manager Alan Howard. Joining the round was crypto-friendly German bank Commerzbank, crypto investment manager Galaxy Digital and Dawn Capital, as reported by the Financial Times on Sunday. The fundraising round valued the company at around $500 million, according to the report. Despite the recent fall in crypto markets, Elwood said it’s betting that traditional financial institutions such as hedge funds and banks will still be interested in investing …

Integration of CeFi and DeFi through Binance Bridge 2.0 DeFi is driving the development of cutting-edge Web3 use cases such as nonfungible tokens (NFTs), gaming and the metaverse. With the Binance Bridge 2.0, DeFi can be brought to a broader audience worldwide while maintaining the same smooth user experience as CeFi. Most of the “DeFi” ecosystem relies on centralized services because of convenience, which enables us to understand where the traditional world of centralized banking and the new world of decentralized money might intersect to everyone's benefit. Binance, with its first bridge, made it possible to bridge assets listed on …