The Bermuda government is pushing on with its ambitious plans to become a cryptocurrency hub despite the massive market downturn in 2022. The small island territory known for its pristine pink sand beaches and attractive taxation policies has been actively expanding its crypto sector since 2017, according to Bermuda’s Minister of Economy and Labor Jason Hayward. He noted on Friday that the government remains unfazed by the recent crash caused by the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in May, as the market has weathered many storms since 2017. Speaking with the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Hayward pointed to the experience …

Seven major crypto companies — Binance.US, Circle, Solana Foundation, The Aave Companies, Hedera, TRM Labs and Civic — joined hands to launch a community-driven scam reporting tool. Named Chainabuse, the tool aims to enable crypto users to issue warnings and discuss ongoing fraudulent activity such as scams and hacks in real-time. Launched on Wednesday, the Chainabuse platform aims to counter the ongoing scams plaguing the crypto ecosystem. On May 4, Cointelegraph warned the community about the rise in Ape-themed airdrop phishing scams. Chainabuse serves as a one-stop-shop platform for crypto users, victims of financial crimes and crypto businesses to actively …

The global cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin aims to go beyond centralized trading services and focus on Web3 with new funding backed by firms like Circle Ventures. The KuCoin cryptocurrency exchange officially announced on May 10 a $150 million pre-Series B funding round, bringing the company’s valuation to $10 billion. The latest funding round mainly aims to strengthen the exchange’s partnership with major industry players as well as promote the mass adoption of crypto, KuCoin CEO Johnny Lyu told Cointelegraph, noting: “KuCoin is financially healthy. [...] We are still in contact with many VCs, and we are open to have another round …

Crypto capital markets platform Maple Finance has expanded support to the Solana blockchain and has deployed a $45 million fund to spur ecosystem growth. Maple provides undercollateralized loans for institutional borrowers on Ethereum and now Solana from several pool delegates. The project stated in a Monday blog post that it has already “originated over $1.2 billion in loans and currently count over $900 million in TVL to the platform.” The ecosystem fund was launched in partnership with decentralized finance (DeFi) lending platform X-Margin, with capital being provided by USD Coin (USDC) issuer Circle, digital asset manager CoinShares and several unnamed …

The past seven days have reminded me of how lucky I am to have forged a career in the Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency industry. Cointelegraph sent a contingency of reporters to the Bitcoin conference in Miami, where we got to chop it up with billionaires, business leaders and hedge fund managers. I had the privilege of sitting down with Canadian businessman and Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary, who actually revealed most of his crypto portfolio. I also got to interview Bloomberg’s senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone, who shed light on crypto market volatility, as well as Mark Yusko of Morgan …

Circle, a major peer-to-peer payments firm and the principal operator of the UDC Coin (USDC), has announced a $400 million funding round and a new partnership with the American investment firm BlackRock. The USDC issuer has entered into an agreement for a funding round featuring investors like BlackRock, the investment advisory firm Fidelity Management and Research, the London-based hedge fund Marshall Wace and Fin Capital, as Circle officially announced Tuesday. The investment round is expected to close in the second quarter 2022. Apart from providing strategic investment and being primary asset manager of USDC cash reserves, BlackRock has inked a …

Binance .US, the American partner of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading value, has completed its first-ever external funding from investors like Circle Ventures. Binance.US has raised more than $200 million in a seed round to reach a pre-money valuation of $4.5 billion, the firm announced to Cointelegraph on Wednesday. Circle's venture arm Circle Ventures joined the funding round. “Circle Ventures is excited to invest in Binance.US. We are committed to helping create a robust and competitive digital assets ecosystem,” Circle’s chief financial officer Jeremy Fox-Geen said. The funding round also involved VanEck, one of the first United …

Stablecoins used to be a sort of taboo subject in the crypto community after it became common practice to criticize Tether’s reserve backing. Are you really a seasoned crypto investor if you haven’t gone down the USDT rabbit hole? Some of those concerns were finally quelled in May 2021 when Tether passed an assurance test by disclosing its reserves for the first time. For some onlookers, the reserve breakdown created more questions than answers due to the stablecoin issuer’s oversized exposure to commercial paper. The stablecoin market has grown leaps and bounds over the past four years. While Tether remains …

USD Coin (USDC) operator Circle has launched a new account service aimed at helping businesses transact in cryptocurrencies — potentially opening the door to wider mainstream adoption of digital assets. The new business-centric Circle Account allows enterprise clients to deposit, withdraw, receive and store cryptocurrencies and have all payments settled in the USDC stablecoin, the company announced Wednesday. Circle's new account features give businesses the ability to seamlessly integrate crypto payments into their operations and use digital assets as collateral. Account holders can send and receive USDC across eight blockchains, including Ethereum, Algorand, Solana, Stellar, Tron, Hedera, Avalanche and Flow. …

USD Coin (USDC) operator Circle has seen its valuation double to $9 billion after the company revised its merger agreement with Concord Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) founded in 2020. Circle announced Thursday that it had terminated its previous business combination terms with Concord and reached a new agreement that is expected to be finalized by Dec. 8, 2022, with the possibility of it being extended to Jan. 31, 2023. As Cointelegraph reported, Circle and Concord first announced their merger plans in July 2022. A Circle spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the new agreement reflects a commitment from …

The world’s second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization keeps on growing as it erodes the dominance of the current leader, Tether. The stablecoin landscape is a constantly-shifting dynamic but one trend has become clear over the past year or so — Tether’s dominance is diminishing. Its main rival, Circle, has just reached a milestone of 50 billion USDC in circulation according to CoinGecko and a Feb. 1 tweet by company co-founder and CEO, Jeremy Allaire. 50 BILLION USDC (w/ thread below) pic.twitter.com/5FEaPmXjup — Jeremy Allaire (@jerallaire) February 1, 2022 Allaire said that while this is a massive number, “it's the massive …

Regulators around the world have been thinking seriously about the risks associated with stablecoins since 2019 but recently, concerns have intensified, particularly in the United States. In November, the United States’ President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, or PWG, issued a key report, raising questions about possible “stablecoin runs” as well as “payment system risk.” The U.S Senate followed up in December with hearings on stablecoin risks. It raises questions: Is stablecoin regulation coming to the U.S. in 2022? If so, will it be “broad stroke” federal legislation or more piecemeal Treasury Department regulation? What impact might it have on …