The Central African Republic has announced it will delay the listing of cryptocurrency, Sango Coin, on crypto exchanges due to current market conditions and marketing reasons. The update was revealed in Sango's Telegram group. Sango Coin was launched in July with the aim of raising nearly $1 billion over the next year, however, so far, only $1.66 million worth of the coin has been sold, according to the Sango website. In April of this year, the Central African Republic made Bitcoin legal tender, (BTC), becoming the first African state to do so. The country had also previously announced a plan …

The crypto bear market has also been called a builder’s market by many leading figures and companies in the industry. New data from Nasdaq reveals that investors had this mindset as they continued to sink money into Web3, particularly metaverse-related projects. According to the data over the last year 216 metaverse funding deals were completed, totaling out to nearly US$2 billion in funding. At the top of the funding pool were “support” based services, aka the main components for building. “Digital architects, game designers, AI developers, content creators and custom metaverse services were suddenly needed to build metaverse experiences.." Animoca …

Jo Johnson, the brother of former United Kingdom prime minister Boris Johnson, has reportedly stepped down from his role as an adviser to Binance, according to a report by the U.K.’s Telegraph. According to the report, Jo Johnson had been advising Binance during the exchange's efforts to expand into the United Kingdom. The former British prime minister’s brother, also known as Lord Johnson of Marylebone, reportedly took up a role on the U.K. advisory board of one of Binance's subsidiaries, Bitfinity, in September. The Telegraph reports that he resigned last week after Binance's proof of reserves raised red flags for …

The prosecutors investigating former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) have reportedly reached out to top members of the Democratic Party demanding information about the political donations made by the entrepreneur. Democratic members from the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and Congressman Hakeem Jeffries were contacted by SBF prosecutors for information to aid their ongoing investigations, according to a New York Times report. The United States attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York sent an email to the Democratic Party elections lawyer Marc Elias, asking for details on donations made by SBF. Similar emails …

The Digital Currency Group and its affiliates (DCG), which manages $296.7 million (280 million euros) in deposits and digital assets of crypto exchange Bitvavo for off-chain staking services, suspended repayments citing liquidity problems amid the bear market. However, Bitvavo announced to prefund the locked assets, preventing DCG-induced service disruption for users. With users proactively exploring self-custody options as a means to safeguard their funds, an acute liquidity crisis is expected to loom over exchanges. DCG cited liquidity problems as it suspended repayments, temporarily halting users from withdrawing their funds. Bitvavo, on the other hand, decided to prefund the locked assets …

This year saw an influx of trademark applications filed by various companies looking to get in on the Web3 action. By November, a total number of 4999 US trademark applications had been filed for cryptocurrencies and digital related goods/services — this according to USPTO licensed trademark attorney, Mike Kondoudis. According to the USPTO licensed trademark attorney, the future of the Web3 ecosystem looks "bright" and that "mainstream adoption is inevitable." Learn more about the impact of Web3 trademark applications filed on the future of the Web3 ecosystem in Cointelegraph’s interview with Mike Kondoudis below. Cointelegraph covered a wide range of …

The Russian central bank is ready to consider allowing cryptocurrency use within the country but only as part of a legal experiment, governor Elvira Nabiullina said. “It’s possible to consider transactions through an authorized organization in the country as part of an experimental legal regime, but that would require a relevant law,” Nabiullina stated during a press conference of Bank of Russia on Dec. 16. The Bank of Russia’s only objection has always been that crypto cannot be used as a payment instrument, Nabiullina emphasized. She added that the central bank is also concerned about investor protection because the crypto …

The incoming United States House Financial Services Committee chair Patrick McHenry wants the Treasury to delay the implementation of a section of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that deals with digital assets and tax collection. McHenry sent a letter on Dec. 14 to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen with questions and concerns about the scope of Section 80603 of the Act. In the letter he requested clarification over the “poorly drafted” and potentially privacy-compromising Section that deals with the taxation of digital assets, scheduled to go into effect in 2023. He said the section requires the government to treat …

Does the crypto industry’s funding space need an overhaul? This is one of many questions swirling in the wake of FTX’s downfall: When the prominent exchange collapsed, it left behind a long line of helpless creditors and lenders — including many promising projects dependent on funds promised by Sam Bankman-Fried and company. But there is a bigger problem at the heart of the current funding picture, wherein deep-pocketed venture capital firms throw their weight around in the low-liquidity Web3 market, heavily backing early-stage projects before cashing out at a profit once retail has FOMO'd into the market. For all the …

Cryptocurrency trading firm Amber Group, which had roughly 10% of its trading capital stuck on FTX at the time of the exchange’s collapse, has reportedly acquired cryptocurrency platform, Sparrow Holdings according to an announcement on Dec. 14. The Singaporean crypto platform Sparrow Holdings, which offers digital assets products and solutions, acquired its payments license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore in August, to provide Digital Payment Token (DPT) services in Singapore, under the Payment Services Act (PSA). Founded in 2018, Sparrow works with financial institutions and family offices in designing bespoke digital asset solutions to achieve customer-centric growth objectives, while …

Digital payments platform PayPal has teamed up with Metamask’s parent company, ConsenSys, to allow Metamask users to purchase and transfer Ethereum (ETH) via PayPal's platform. According to the announcement on Dec. 14, the service will initially be rolled out to only select PayPal users within the United States, since the US is one of Metamask’s largest markets, user-wise. Our US users will now be able to fund their wallet with ETH via @PayPal! Rolling out in the next weeks in the US, excl. Hawaii, through our mobile app (make sure to update to v5.13.0)https://t.co/392JwFYF3m — MetaMask (@MetaMask) December 14, 2022 …

Layer-1 blockchain platform Algorand has been chosen as the public blockchain to support an “innovative digital guarantees platform” to be used in Italy's banking and insurance markets. The Algorand-supported platform is expected to be launched in early 2023. According to Algorand’s Dec. 13 announcement, this is the first time an EU Member State will use blockchain technology for bank and insurance guarantees. A bank guarantee is when a lending institution promises to cover a loss if a borrower defaults on a loan. It's an alternative to providing a security bond or a deposit to a supplier or vendor. An insurance …