Cointelegraph's editor-in-chief Kristina Cornèr interviewed Bybit founder Ben Zhou at the Formula 1 Grand Prix at Monaco, discussing topics like educating newcomers in crypto, the effects of the Terra (LUNA) — now known as Luna Classic (LUNC) — debacle on institutional interest and the survival of Bitcoin (BTC) amid new developments in the industry. According to Zhou, the firm's partnership with Red Bull Racing has allowed them to reach an audience that is new to crypto. Because of this, the Bybit founder noted that their team has been putting some focus on education. “Education is one part. We focus on …

On Wednesday, cryptocurrency exchange Kraken announced that it would continue to hire over 500 roles in various departments amid a market downturn. The company's hiring efforts are in stark contrast to a week of severe layoff announcements from major blockchain firms such as Coinbase, BlockFi, etc. In support of the decision to expand its staff, Kraken said: "We have not adjusted our hiring plan, and we do not intend to make any layoffs. We have over 500 roles to fill during the remainder of the year and believe bear markets are fantastic at weeding out the applicants chasing hype from …

On Monday, a heavy cryptocurrency sell-off in the markets caused significant ripples for projects and entities alike. On popular decentralized finance, or DeFi, lending protocol Aave, utilization rates have fallen across nearly all stablecoin borrowings. Most notably, borrowings for Binance USD (BUSD) now stand at a mere 30% compared to a high of 80% back in May. The utilization rate is the ratio of borrowed to deposited funds. Since borrowers are required to post digital asset collateral before taking out a loan on Aave, users are likely withdrawing en mass in light of Monda's sell-off to prevent liquidation. Data from …

Crypto custody firm Anchorage Digital has recently formed an exchange custody network with five digital asset trading platforms to segregate institutional client funds from exchanges into regulated asset vaults. In an announcement, the custodian mentioned that it has partnered with Binance.US, CoinList, Blockchain.com, Strix Leviathan and Wintermute. According to Anchorage, this will provide institutions with direct access to a wide range of trading pairs. The custody firm also noted that the formation of the custody network allows institutions like Registered Investment Advisors to meet their obligations to their clients in a safe environment by holding assets through a custodian, all …

Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of crypto trading platform Binance, shared plans to acquire two licenses that are critical for the firm's operations within the Philippines. In a press briefing in Manila, the Binance CEO mentioned that the exchange is looking to obtain the virtual assets service provider (VASP) license, which allows the platform to legally facilitate the exchange of digital assets and the conversion of crypto to the Philippine peso. Apart from the VASP, Zhao also noted that the trading platform is working to acquire an e-money issuer license from Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the country's central bank. This license …

Australian crypto exchange Swyftx wants to eventually offer seamless trading between traditional and crypto-asset classes, with its first step being the completion of its $1.5 billion merger deal with online investing platform Superhero. The deal to combine the two was revealed on June 8, with the merged entity set to become the first in Australia to offer both decentralized and traditional finance. We're teaming up with equities trading platform & fellow Aussie fintech @superheroaus, to give you the opportunity to invest in digital and traditional assets - all in one place! Official announcement here https://t.co/ygmeaS3wuq pic.twitter.com/Ivhsa2lybI — Swyftx (@SwyftxAU) June …

The Maiar Exchange, a decentralized exchange (DEX) native to the Elrond blockchain, has been temporarily taken offline after an attacker utilized an exploit and made off with roughly $113 million worth of Elrond eGold (EGLD). Minutes before 12:00 am UTC on Monday, the co-founder and CEO of Elrond, Beniamin Mincu, tweeted that he and his team were “investigating a set of suspicious activities” on the Maiar decentralized cryptocurrency exchange. Soon after, the DEX was taken offline, with Mincu reporting that the issue had been identified and an “emergency fix” was being implemented. In a Twitter thread posted almost 24 hours …

A further two cryptocurrency-backed exchange-traded funds (ETF) have launched on the Cboe Australia exchange on Monday, bringing the total amount of crypto ETFs available to Australian traders to six. The Canada-based 3iQ Digital Asset Management launched two spot ETFs, the 3iQ CoinShares Bitcoin (BTC) Feeder ETF and the 3iQ CoinShares Ether (ETH) Feeder ETF. Both of the Australian funds feed from the firm’s Canadian ETFs listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), the 3iQ CoinShares Bitcoin ETF, and the 3iQ CoinShares Ether ETF. The underlying assets of the Canadian ETFs are holdings of BTC and ETH held in cold storage …

Two out of the top 10 largest cryptocurrency exchanges by volume will expand into new markets, with Crypto.com obtaining a provisional crypto license in Dubai and FTX launching in Japan. Crypto.com announced on Thursday that the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) provided the exchange with provisional approval of its virtual asset license, giving the company the go-ahead based on initial compliance checks. The exchange said that VARA will carry out further due diligence and other mandated requirements before its full operating license is issued, which it expects to happen in the “near term.” Crypto.com said in March it would …

The Ether (ETH) to the United States dollar (USD) pair has pulled the biggest number of traders from January to March 2022, according to trading platform Capital.com. In its quarterly report, Capital.com noted that in 2021, the most significant number of traders was held by the Dogecoin (DOGE) to USD pair. However, the ETH/USD pair has taken the spot for most traders within the trading platform for the first time. The quarterly report noted that crypto turnover has gone up by 93% in the quarter. Despite the positive statistic, the report admits that the increase in revenue does not reflect …

Australian consumer advocacy group CHOICE has called on the federal government to provide better protection for crypto investors while submitting a proposed regulatory framework for cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the country. The regulatory framework was submitted in response to the federal Treasury’s consultation paper for crypto asset secondary service providers, or CASSPs, defined as firms providing custodial crypto wallets and exchange services. CHOICE commented: “As it stands, enforceable protections in the unregulated cryptocurrency market are somewhere between negligible and non-existent.” Outlining four main areas in its framework, the group called for a single definition of crypto for better regulation, a …

The billionaire founder and CEO of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, Sam Bankman-Fried, has revealed he intends to spend anywhere between $100 million and $1 billion to help influence the 2024 United States presidential election campaigns. In a podcast interview on Tuesday, Bankman-Fried was asked how much money he might donate during the next presidential election cycle, answering he’d give “north of $100 million” with a “soft ceiling” of $1 billion if he were to bankroll the person running against former president Donald Trump: “I would hate to say hard ceiling because who knows what’s going to happen between now and …