California Governor Vetoes ‘Premature’ Crypto Bill, Russia to Use Digital Ruble w/ China by Next Year, a Debit Card Enables NFT Avatar Customization + More News

Sead Fadilpašić
Last updated: | 5 min read
California (USA) Governor Gavin Newsom. Source: a video screenshot, NBC Bay Area / YouTube

 

Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
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Regulation news

  • California (USA) Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed a statewide bill that would have established a regulatory framework for crypto regulation. In a memo, Newsom said that: “It is premature to lock a licensing structure in statute without considering both this work and forthcoming federal actions. A more flexible approach is needed to ensure regulatory oversight can keep up with rapidly evolving technology and use cases, and is tailored with the proper tools to address trends and mitigate consumer harm.“

CBDC news

  • Russia is planning to use the digital rouble for mutual settlements with China by next year, Reuters reported, citing Anatoly Aksakov’s interview with Russia’s parliamentary newspaper. Aksakov is the head of the financial committee in Russia’s lower house of parliament. The report says that Russia is seeking to reduce USA‘s global financial hegemony. The Central Bank of the Russian Federation is already conducting digital rouble tests with banks.
  • The European Central Bank (ECB) will be using the digital euro for wholesale purposes. Member of the ECB Executive Board Fabio Panetta made the remarks at the Symposium on “Payments and Securities Settlement in Europe — today and tomorrow” on September 26.

NFT news

  • The crypto & fiat financial app hi announced a debit card featuring non-fungible token (NFT) avatar customization, powered by Mastercard. Eligible cardholders will be able to personalize the face of their card with an NFT avatar they verifiably own, and spend fiat, crypto, and stablecoins at more than 90 million locations worldwide where Mastercard is accepted.
  • Blockchain data and analytics platform Nansen announced the release of its Price Estimator v2.0, an advanced version of its proprietary machine learning tool designed to provide buyers and sellers with the most precise price available for any given NFT anytime. “The launch of the Price Estimator V2 will make Nansen the largest provider of valuations on the most number of NFTs within the cryptocurrency ecosystem,” said an announcement.

Legal news

  • The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has fined Tether’s former auditing firm, Friedman LLP, to the tune of $1.5 million. Per an order issued Friday, the accounting firm with improper professional conduct for failing to comply with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board while conducting audits of two public companies from 2017 through 2020.
  • Crypto platform Nexo is being sued by eight US state securities regulators representing New York, California, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Washington, and Vermont. Per an announcement by the New York Attorney General Letitia James, Nexo and Nexo Capital failed to register with the securities and commodities brokers or dealers and lied to investors about their registration status.

Exchange news

  • FTX has won the auction for the assets of bankrupt digital assets lender Voyager Digital. FTX US‘s bid is valued at approximately $1.422 billion, said the press release.
  • eToro announced a partnership with Banking-as-a-Service infrastructure provider OpenPayd to power eToro Money accounts throughout Europe. The partnership offers eToro’s customers a simplified, near-instantaneous payments experience, they said in a press release.

Payments news

  • Web3 infrastructure company MoonPay and Exodus are partnering to allow users of the beginner-friendly crypto wallet to buy cryptoassets directly. Exodus wallet users are now able to purchase a number of cryptoassets using debit and credit cards, bank transfers, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay straight from their preferred device, said an announcement.

Blockchain news

  • Immunify.Life, a transformative blockchain-based healthcare ecosystem, in partnership with Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST) – a science, technology, and innovation university in Kenya – has completed the groundwork for a large-scale HIV/AIDS treatment outcomes study that is now formally launched, said an announcement. As part of the study, the Immunify.Life data capture and processing platform will be used to help empower patients, communities, and entire countries using token rewards that can improve medical regimen adherence rates in previously lapsed HIV/AIDS patients.

Investment news

  • Investment platform Titan announced its partnership with Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest to launch the ARK Venture Fund exclusively available to retail investors on Titan. Titan investors now have the opportunity to invest in household names before they are publicly traded, they said.
  • Financial services firm Galaxy Digital Holdings announced that it is providing crypto pricing data to blockchains through Chainlink‘s oracle network. Per the press release, by collaborating with Chainlink, Galaxy’s crypto pricing data will be distributed directly to applications running across various blockchains, such as those operating in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space.
  • Smart Token Labs, a Web3 open source software development company, announced a raise of $6 million via SAFT for its project, TokenScript. The raise was led by Fosun International Co-Founder, Mr. Liang Xinjun. The portfolio of investors also includes HashGlobal, Bodl, Fenbushi Capital, SNZ Capital, UOB Ventures Signum Capital, and MH Ventures, as well as individual investor Zhang Fan, a Co-Founder of Sequoia China. Smart Token Labs will use the funds to further develop TokenScript, a programmable smart token interface that accelerates use cases across Web2 and Web3.
  • Coral, the makers of the Solana (SOL) development framework Anchor, announced a strategic round of $20 million co-led by FTX Ventures and Jump Crypto with participation from Multicoin Capital, Anagram, K5 Global, and other strategic investors. The company plans to use the funds to recruit and build a team, and to launch its first flagship product, Backpack, later this month.

Career news

  • Router Protocol, an infrastructure layer enabling communication between blockchains, announced it has hired cross-chain architect and developer Mankena Venkatesh as Chief Blockchain Architect. Venkatesh will lead the design, development, and deployment of Router v2. Prior to joining Router, Venkatesh was a part of the core team at Injective and the sixth employee at Polygon, building interoperability and scaling frameworks, and smart contracts.
  • European regulated digital asset custodian Komainu announced the appointment of Nicolas Bertrand as its Chief Executive Officer. Bertrand has over 20 years of experience in market infrastructure and digital assets, previously working at Borsa Italiana and the London Stock Exchange, whilst being an ambassador at the Global Blockchain Business Council, said the press release.