Kraken is being investigated, as is the unstoppable crypto unicorn. Coub.com Switches to NFT + More News

Aug 13, 2022 • 3 min read

The crypto exchange Kraken is being investigated for allegedly violating US sanctions by allowing users in Iran and elsewhere to buy and sell cryptocurrency, according to the New York Times, citing five unnamed people affiliated with the company or with knowledge of the investigation. According to the report, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has been investigating Kraken since 2019 and is expected to levy a fine.

Unstoppable Domains, a Web3 digital identity platform, announced the closing of USD 65 million in Series A funding led by Pantera Capital at a USD 1 billion valuation. According to the company, the funding will be used to fuel product innovation and expand its partnerships.
AntPool, a mining pool, confirmed that it has invested USD 10 million in the Ethereum Classic (ETC) ecosystem and intends to continue doing so.
According to Reuters, venture capitalists invested USD 17.5 billion in crypto and blockchain firms in the first half of 2022, citing data from market data provider PitchBook. This puts investment on track to surpass the previous year's record of USD 26.9 billion, according to the report.
Cronos (CRO) announced the nine participants chosen for the first cohort of its flagship USD 100 million-backed Cronos Accelerator Program. There are five Web3 Gaming projects, two Infrastructure Analytics projects, one Social Fi project, and one DeFi project.
Naoris Protocol, a blockchain-based cybersecurity network, announced that it has raised USD 11.5 million from investors worldwide as it prepares to launch a minimum viable product by the end of 2022 and the full product in mid-2023.

Coub.com, a micro-video social platform, has announced the launch of a Watch-to-Earn (W2E) content monetization model and its first NFT marketplace in the third quarter of 2022. According to them, each Coub NFT contains media assets as well as a proportionate share of all future W2E earnings from the purchased NFT.Coca-Cola announced that in honor of International Friendship Day, it will be giving away exclusive digital collectibles to owners of Coca-Cola collectibles (July 30). The collectible is inspired by the bubbles in Coke bottles, and when shared with a friend, the unique artwork will be revealed to both holders, according to the company.

OKCoin, a cryptocurrency exchange, announced that their risk team recently stopped a multi-million dollar scam targeting the elderly, recovering USD 1 million of the approximately USD 4.1 million that was stolen. The 'Tech Support Scam,' as it is known, involves scammers impersonating well-known tech companies and offering to fix non-existent technology issues or renew fraudulent software or security subscriptions, according to the report.
Regulation updates
According to the Financial Times, José Manuel Campa, chair of the European Banking Authority, sees the regulator's ability to hire specialized staff as a "major concern," highlighting concerns about authorities' ability to supervise digital asset markets. He explained that the regulator will not know which digital coins it has authority over until 2025 when Europe's new crypto regulations are set to take effect.

Tether (USDT), a stablecoin issuer, stated that it does not hold any Chinese commercial paper in its portfolio. Furthermore, its total commercial paper exposure has been reduced to around USD 3.7 billion (from USD 30 billion in July 2021), with plans to further reduce it to USD 200 million by the end of August 2022 and zero by the end of October/early November 2022, they said.

Flare Network, a blockchain project, has announced its first decentralized exchange (DEX), Pangolin Exchange, which will launch on the Flare mainnet as soon as the mainnet goes live. They added that the launch will be accompanied by an airdrop of 2% of Flare Pangolin tokens to all existing Pangolin DEX users.

Core Scientific, a Bitcoin (BTC) miner, announced a colocation agreement to expand its hosting business by 75MW, which they claim will generate approximately USD 50 million in annual revenue when the ASIC servers are fully deployed. With the addition of these units, the company expects to have approximately 325,000 ASIC servers (combined self-mining and colocation) operational in its data centers by the end of the year.

Crypto-business collaboration The Crypto Council for Innovation has announced the appointment of Linda Jeng, formerly of the US Federal Reserve Board of Governors, as its new Chief Global Regulatory Officer and General Counsel, as well as Brett Quick, formerly of the US Senate Banking Committee's National Security, International Trade, and Finance subcommittee, as its new Head of Government Affairs for North America.
Goldsmith Romero, Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has announced that Joseph R. Cisewski will be her Chief of Staff and Senior Counsel. Cisewski previously worked as the General Counsel of Pantera Capital, a blockchain-focused institutional asset manager.
Ray Illya Fraser (also known as illaDaProducer) has joined NFT project Yuga Labs as the new Community and Partnerships Lead.