Taurus, a digital asset infrastructure provider for financial institutions in Europe, has raised $65 million in a Series B capital raise led by Credit Suisse. The funding round also saw participation from several other institutional investors, including Deutsche Bank, Pictet Group, Cedar Mundi Ventures, Arab Bank Switzerland, and Investis. According to the announcement, the funds raised will be used by Taurus to bolster its growth strategy in three primary areas, which include; recruiting top engineering talent to continue developing its platform, expanding its sales and customer success organization to enhance its infrastructure solutions with new offices in Europe, the UAE, …

During a bear market, businesses have the opportunity to shift their focus away from money-making to innovation. On this premise, the 2022 disasters that affected the crypto market severely — from Luna to Celsius and the FTX collapse — have emphasized one significant notion: Trust must be earned, and it’s not easy to attain. A healthy industry with a robust business structure will always constitute a winning model for vigorous competition and continued user-base growth. Some businesses managed to thrive in such challenging conditions in 2022 because they had the ability and intuition to apply the righteous principles that others …

NFT ticketing is revolutionizing event ticketing by providing a secure, transparent and efficient way of issuing and managing tickets. Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) are significantly harder to forge or duplicate than conventional tickets since they are stored on a blockchain. This lowers the risk of fraud and fake tickets by allowing event organizers to determine that only authentic tickets are used to enter an event. NFT ticketing also enables greater customization and adaptability in terms of ticketing. For instance, event planners may issue NFTs for various event sections, such as VIP or general admission tickets. They can also provide details like …

The metaverse, a virtual environment that simulates reality, offers complex moral dilemmas regarding privacy, ownership and control. These consist of: Privacy: Who has access to and how is personal information used within the metaverse? Ownership: Who owns the digital assets and real estate in the metaverse, and what rights do they have over it? Control: Who oversee activities in the metaverse, and what rules and regulations will be implemented to guarantee fair use and equal treatment for all participants? These are crucial issues to think about as the metaverse expands and is utilized more frequently, and they will probably have …

Interactive Brokers, a global brokerage firm with headquarters in the United States, announced the launch of its crypto trading services for institutional clients in Hong Kong on Feb. 14. The crypto trading services were launched in association with OSL Digital Securities, a Securities and Futures Commission (SFC)-licensed digital asset brokerage and trading platform for professional investors. Individuals with more than $1 million (8 million Hong Kong dollars) in investable assets or institutions with almost $6 million (40 million Hong Kong dollars) who are Hong Kong residents can now trade cryptocurrency alongside other asset classes available on the Interactive Brokers platform. …

Bitcoin’s average block size has hit all-time highs above 2.5MB for the first time since its inception in 2009, driven by the launch of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) protocol Ordinals in January 2023. Block size data from Blockchain.com reflects a jump in Bitcoin block size from the beginning of February 2023, increasing over 2MB in the weeks following the launch of the Ordinals Protocol. As Cointelegraph previously reported, participants from the Bitcoin mining ecosystem have already made over $600,000 processing transactions of Ordinals, which have been dubbed as Bitcoin-based nonfungible tokens. Related: Bitcoin hits record 44M non-zero addresses, thanks to Ordinals: …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reportedly planning to propose new rule changes this week that could impact what services crypto firms can offer their clients. According to a Feb. 14 report from Bloomberg citing “people familiar with the matter,” the securities regulator is working on a draft proposal that would make it difficult for crypto firms to hold digital assets on their client’s behalf as “qualified custodians.” This may, in turn, affect the many hedge funds, private equity firms and pension funds that work alongside such crypto firms. According to those cited, a five-member SEC panel …

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has seen a surge of withdrawals over the last 24 hours as investors appear to be spooked over recent news of regulatory action against Paxos and its stablecoin Binance USD (BUSD). At the same time, the BUSD token has recorded significant redemptions, with 342 million BUSD burned over the last 24 hours according to Peckshield. #PeckShieldAlert ~342M $BUSD have been burned at Paxos Treasury within the last 24 hours, $BUSD MarketCap: $15.8Bhttps://t.co/BMeVokqVE6 pic.twitter.com/hJdnixxbtD — PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) February 14, 2023 On Feb. 12, news broke that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gave notice of potential enforcement action …

Digital asset platform Bakkt has announced its plans to shift its focus to B2B technology solutions. The company said it will soon be sunsetting its consumer-facing app, which was designed to give users the ability to utilize their digital assets in different ways. The app, launched in March 2021, offered a user-friendly experience that brought together various digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, loyalty points, and gift cards. Despite the discontinuation of its consumer-facing app, current Bakkt App users will still have access to their crypto and cash holdings through a new web-based platform, available on all devices. According to Bakkt, users …

For readers looking for unique, meaningful gifts for their valentine this Valentine’s Day, consider giving a cryptocurrency-related gift. Here are nine options: A cryptocurrency gift card Give your significant other the gift of choice by giving them a cryptocurrency gift card. They can use it to buy food or any digital asset they want, whether that’s Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) or a stablecoin like USD Coin (USDC). Virtual real estate Readers can buy virtual real estate in the metaverse, such as in Decentraland or The Sandbox, as a unique, romantic gift. Their significant other can build and customize their own …

Cyber criminals used a variety of novel ways to carry out hacks and exploits in 2022, with over $2.8 billion of cryptocurrency stolen last year. According to a report from CoinGecko using data sourced from DeFiYield’s REKT Database, nearly half of the total crypto stolen in 2022 was fleeced using diverse methods. This includes bypassing verification processes, market manipulation, ‘crowd looting’ as well as smart contract and bridge exploits. The biggest hack of 2022 was carried out through an access control hack. Sky Mavis, the developer behind popular game Axie Infinity, saw its Ronin bridge hacked in March 2022, leading …

Cointelegraph is proud to announce the launch of the Cointelegraph Markets and Research YouTube channel, a place that will hopefully become every trader’s first stop for breaking markets news, insights and alpha from Cointelegraph’s team of experts and guest analysts from the crypto industry. The Cointelegraph Markets and Research channel features three unique shows — The Market Report, Market Talks and Macro Markets — which stream live weekly at 12:00 pm Eastern Time (5:00 pm UTC) on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, respectively. The Market Report Every Tuesday at 12:00 pm ET (5:00 pm UTC), Bitcoin (BTC) evangelist Joe Hall hosts …