The American state of Mississippi is one step closer to protecting the rights of cryptocurrency miners after the state senate passed the Mississippi Digital Asset Mining Act on Feb. 8. There is a companion bill under consideration in the state house of representatives. The senate bill, authored by state Sen. Josh Harkins, legalizes home digital asset mining and the operation of mining businesses in areas zoned for industrial use. There are already crypto miners operating in Mississippi, which has some of the lowest electricity rates in the country. However, the bill claimed: “Digital asset mining has often faced regulatory challenges …

A crypto exchange project initially proposed by 3AC and Coinflex has now launched an official website and waitlist as of Feb. 9. Called “Open Exchange (OPNX)”, the new project alleges that it will be “the world's first public marketplace for crypto claims trading and derivatives,” according to a tweet from the project’s official Twitter account. 1/ Introducing Open Exchange. Open Exchange will start as the world's first public marketplace for crypto claims trading and derivatives. Then become the world's most radically transparent CEX. The claims waitlist is now open @ https://t.co/Q2HsUqSZ7E — OPNX Official (@OPNX_Official) February 9, 2023 In a …

According to data from DeFiLlama, Ethereum staking service Rocket Pool reached $1 billion in total value locked (TVL) on Feb. 9. The move comes less than two years after the decentralized finance (DeFi) launched its mainnet on Nov. 9, 2021. Dubbed a liquid staking solution for Ethereum (ETH), Rocket Pool allows users to join an Ethereum decentralized node operator or run their own node. Unlike conventional staking solutions, the capital requirements are far less as users can run their own node with just 16 ETH as opposed to the network specified 32 ETH, with another 16 ETH coming from a …

Amidst a drastic decline in coin prices, shifting player behavior, and hard-to-maintain tokenomics, it's been a difficult year for many GameFi developers. While more established franchises, such as Axie Infinity, have held ground, other lesser-known projects like Elexir have mostly pulled the plug, with a lack of viable game designs being unable to compensate for the "Fi" element in GameFi. That said, one project which, despite running into all challenges, experienced by its peers, appears to have gained traction anyway. In early February, blockchain multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game Superpower Squad (SPS) surpassed 200,000 downloads on the App Store …

New Hampshire is on the verge of becoming a national leader in cryptocurrency if its legislature follows through on recommendations made by a commission appointed by Governor Chris Sununu. The recommendations would establish a legal framework for blockchain and crypto businesses in the state, providing clarity and certainty to entrepreneurs and regulators while avoiding the onerous and largely pointless special rules federal regulators and members of Congress want to impose on the industry. The proposed rules would also protect consumers, depositors and investors. Blockchain businesses presently exist in something of a legal gray area in the United States. Congress has …

Finland-based peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency platform LocalBitcoins is shutting down operations after serving its customers for more than 10 years. LocalBitcoins officially announced termination of services on Feb. 9, citing tough market conditions of the ongoing cryptocurrency winter. “Regardless of our efforts to overcome challenges during the ongoing very cold crypto-winter, we have regretfully concluded that LocalBitcoins can no longer provide its Bitcoin trading service,” the firm said. LocalBitcoins encouraged all customers to withdraw their crypto assets from the platform, asking to proceed with withdrawing Bitcoin (BTC) from the LocalBitcoins wallet. According to the announcement, users will be able to withdraw …

The crypto winter and FTX collapse has decimated the ranks of cryptocurrency lenders. Genesis, BlockFi, Voyageur Digital and Celsius Network all filed for bankruptcy in the past seven months, and the contagion may still not be over. But at least one crypto lender appears to be on the comeback trail. SALT Lending, one of the world’s first cryptocurrency lenders, announced Feb. 8 that it has closed a $64.4 million financing that will strengthen its balance sheet and replenish its capital reserves. Accredited investors will receive shares of the company’s preferred stock in return for their funding. Though the Series A …

It is no secret that the global economy has continued to weaken over the course of the past year. To this point, on Jan. 19, the United States government hit its “debt ceiling,” i.e. the total sum of money that the U.S. Treasury can borrow to fund its ongoing federal operations, leading to renewed concerns that more financial pain and the economic slowdown could be incoming. Similarly, on the other side of the Atlantic, the United Kingdom has been struggling as well. This is made evident by the fact the number of company insolvencies registered in 2022 hit 22,109 — …

As Uniswap DAO’s vote to deploy to BNB chain continues, LIFI CEO Phillip Zentner argued in a February 6 forum post that the current proposal is flawed. According to him, the plan to use Wormhole as the sole governance bridge for Uniswap should be abandoned. Instead, he claimed that Uniswap researchers should work on a standardized system for using multiple bridges to handle governance decisions. The ongoing discussion on @Uniswap's forum is critical for the multi-chain ecosystem in 2023. TL;DR: Uniswap's model for x-chain governance will likely become industry standard. As an unbiased member of the community, @lifiprotocol is rooting …

The holding company of troubled crypto lender Genesis Global Capital, Genesis Global Holdco LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York on Jan. 19. Genesis is the latest crypto platform to file for bankruptcy, joining Celsius, Voyager, BlockFi and FTX. The application of Chapter 11 provisions to the crypto industry raises a series of new issues for courts. Here’s a preview of what creditors can expect, and what casual observers can learn about the implications of a Chapter 11 process for an entity in the crypto industry. The Chapter 11 process is going to threaten “crypto anonymity” Preserving …

Cloud mining firm Bitfufu, one of Bitmain's crypto firms, is delaying for the second time its plans to go public via a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), according to a statement on Feb. 7. The company announced its plans to go public in January 2022 through a merger with the SPAC company Arisz Acquisition Corp, anticipating to be publicly listed in the third quarter of that year and a pro forma enterprise value of nearly $1.5 billion. The new decision will postpone the public listing to May, helping the companies to consummate the business combination. "The Extension provides Arisz with additional …

Cash Cloud, the operator of Coin Cloud digital currency automatic teller machines (ATMs) in the United States and Brazil, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Nevada on Feb. 7. According to its filing, the company has liabilities between $100 million and $500 million, with between 5,001 and 10,000 creditors and assets between $50 million and $100 million. Cash Cloud’s biggest creditor is Genesis Global Trading, the brokerage subsidiary business of Digital Currency Group’s bankrupt lending arm. It has an unsecured claim of over $108 million from Genesis, far outstripping the next largest claimant, …