Ras Al Khaimah’s recently announced free zone for virtual asset firms will explore accepting crypto payments from companies looking into setting up their businesses in the emirate, a lawyer involved in the hub’s development said. Dubai-based crypto lawyer Irina Heaver told Cointelegraph that once the Ras Al Khaimah Digital Assets Oasis (RAK DAO) secures the appropriate partners, it will check out crypto payments, including Bitcoin (BTC) and other stablecoins, for corporate registrations, office rent and other services. “After all, cities and cantons in Switzerland have been doing this for years,” she noted. Heaver further explained that suitable technology and regulatory …

Ras Al Khaimah, one of the seven emirates that make up the UAE, is set to launch a free zone for digital and virtual asset companies as the country’s approach to the industry continues to attract global crypto players. The RAK Digital Assets Oasis (RAK DAO) will be a “purpose-built, innovation-enabling free zone for non-regulated activities in the virtual assets sector.” Applications will open in the second quarter of 2023, the statement said. The free zone would be dedicated to digital and virtual assets service providers in emerging technologies, such as the metaverse, blockchain, utility tokens, virtual asset wallets, NFTs, …

The community supporting Illuvium, an interoperable blockchain game, has demonstrated the power of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) after blocking a scheduled nonfungible token (NFT) pack-opening event between Illuvium CEO Kieran Warwick and Three Arrows Capital (3AC) founder Su Zhu. Warwick was scheduled to go against Zhu in what’s called an “Influencer Illuvitars D1sk Battle” where prominent crypto personalities go against each other to open NFT packs. However, due to the controversies surrounding Zhu and 3AC, the Illuvium community expressed concerns over the potential risks of being associated with Zhu, who currently faces various accusations of unethical behavior. Influencer Illuvitar D1sk …

A proposal seeking to create a $200 million fund dedicated to early-stage Web3 startups was submitted on Feb. 26 by Mantle Core on BitDAO's governance forum. The ecosystem fund aims to boost the adoption of Mantle's network among developers and Dapps. Mantle is an Ethereum layer-2 network developed by the BitDAO ecosystem. According to the proposal, a capital pool of $200 million would be deployed within the Mantle ecosystem over the next three years. BitDAO's treasury would provide $100 million USD Coin (USDC), while another $100 million would be supplied by external matching capital from "strategic venture partners". Funds that …

Having emerged as a movement in the research community, Decentralized Science (DeSci) initiatives are progressing at a pace even big pharma cannot ignore. In fact, Pfizer is now the first pharmaceutical to vote on decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) proposals of German blockchain-based organization VitaDAO. The collaboration is part of VitaDAO's latest fundraising disclosed in late January from strategic members, including Pfizer Ventures, Shine Capital and L1 Digital, among other longevity enthusiasts. The $4.1 million raised will be used to fund longevity research projects and accelerate the spinout of VitaDAO's first biotech startups, with two more in development for 2023. "Pfizer …

The decentralized autonomous organization (DAO)-operated golf startup, LinksDAO, may soon put in an offer to purchase the newly marketed Spey Bay Golf Club in Scotland worth about $900,000. LinksDAO — self-described as a “global group of golf enthusiasts” that is on a mission to build the “world’s greatest golf community” — officially opened the proposal vote on Feb. 20, which came after a few weeks of informal deliberation. It would be the DAO’s first ever golf course purchase. few things in life are more fun than doing what you said you were going to do, regardless of adversity i will …

The COP has also created tools to prevent climate doomsday. Such economic tools as voluntary and compliance carbon markets, carbon credits, green bonds and other green assets tied to positive environmental impact play a crucial role in decarbonization global efforts. However, they are often inaccessible to small and medium-sized companies from developing countries. The main reasons are high upfront costs and complex structuring processes in line with global green standards. Positive and negative impacts on the environment have to be forecasted and described according to approved methodologies. This information is used for the future monitoring and reporting and is verified …

A bi-partisan anti-money laundering (AML) bill that covers “decentralized entities” such as decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and DAOs will soon be reintroduced to Congress, according to United States Senator Elizabeth Warren. Warren, a vocal crypto critic, argued at the Feb. 14 Senate Banking Committee’s hearing entitled “Crypto Crash: Why Financial System Safeguards are Needed for Digital Assets” that the crypto community wants decentralized entities running on code to be exempt from AML requirements: “In other words, they want a giant loophole for DeFi written into the law so they can launder money whenever a drug lord or a terrorist pays …

The decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) behind Lido — the largest Ethereum staking pool — is deliberating whether it should sell or stake the $30 million in Ether (ETH) from its treasury. A proposal was submitted on Feb. 14 by the DAO’s financial unit, Steakhouse Financial that considers four choices, one of which contemplates staking part or all of its ETH on Lido in the form of Lido Staked ETH (stETH). Another would see LidoDAO selling a part or all of its 20,304 ETH for a stablecoin, with the purpose being to extend the DAO’s runway. The proposal comes as ETH …

2023 is off to a tepid start for crypto venture capital, as the industry continues to emerge from a prolonged bear market. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t deals. In January, Cointelegraph reported a $125 million raise from Blockstream, a $60 million allocation to QuickNode and pair of ecosystem funds from Injective and SSV worth $150 million and $50 million, respectively. The latest edition of VC Roundup brings you seven smaller venture deals that may have slipped through the cracks. Related: Venture capital investments into blockchain continue to free-fall: Report =nil; Foundation closes $22M fundraise In January, Polygon Capital led …

Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) voted against a final proposal to deploy Uniswap V3 on the BNB Chain using the Wormhole bridge, shows the Uniswap DAO forum. The governance proposal to deploy the latest Uniswap iteration on the BNB Chain was submitted on Feb. 2 by 0xPlasma Labs on behalf of the Uniswap Community, after passing a temperature check with 20 million (80.28%) votes for yes, and 4.9 million (19.72%) votes for no. The venture firm used its 15 million UNI holding against the move. At the time of publication, only 3% of votes had been cast, or 23.4 …

Fumio Kishida, the Prime Minister of Japan, has come out in support of blockchain as a potential solution for technological issues facing the country. In response to questioning from Liberal Democratic Party member Masaaki Taira before the Budget Committee of Japan’s House of Representatives on Feb. 1, Kishida said there were “various possibilities for using Web3” in Japan. He added that the Japanese government could use aspects including nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) in efforts to revitalize regions and promote ‘Cool Japan’ — a national strategy aimed at showing off the country’s innovations and culture to the …