Arca Labs, the innovation arm of digital asset investment firm Arca, has partnered with blockchain tech firm Securitize to launch regulated, tokenized financial products. According to a Thursday announcement, Securitize has signed on to provide a smart contract and issuance platform for the firm, starting with Arca’s tokenized fund dubbed the “Arca U.S. Treasury Fund,” which was launched in July 2020. Arca touts the Arca U.S. Treasury Fund as the first treasury fund registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 to issue shares as digital assets via the blockchain. The fund meets the same regulatory requirements as a mutual …

On Thursday Avalanche’s (AVAX) price hit a new all-time high at $68.89, and over the last few months, the project has risen to challenge the Ethereum network’s dominance among smart contract platforms. According to the project’s website, the layer-one protocol is capable of surpassing 4,500 transactions per second (TPS) with a time to finality of less than 2 seconds. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that since hitting a low of $32.10 on Sept. 7, the price of AVAX has rallied 111% to establish a new all-time high on S as its 24-hour trading volume spiked 200% to …

The banking capabilities of fintech have met cryptocurrencies in a new partnership between Australian crypto exchange BTC Markets and local neobank Volt. With a license to operate in Australia as an authorized deposit-taking institution since 2019, Volt will provide corporate cash management accounts for BTC Markets users to manage their Australian dollar funds. Those accounts allow real-time payments on the New Payments Platform, Australia’s national infrastructure for fast payments. “This means near-instant trading opportunities for our crypto clients, as they can rapidly fund AUD into their BTC Markets account,” BTC Markets CEO Caroline Bowler told Cointelegraph, adding that in the …

Decentralized exchange aggregator 1inch has partnered with an animated series that pokes fun at startups in a Silicon Valley-like setting. In a Friday announcement, 1inch said it would be sponsoring the nonfungible token, or NFT, series Take My Muffin in addition to providing its technical expertise for the show and introducing team members to projects in the decentralized finance, or DeFi, space. The series follows the exploits of a team of creatures who attempt to get startup projects off the ground — with general wackiness and blockchain-based solutions aplenty — and is scheduled to be released in the first half …

United States-based e-commerce platform Shop.com is the latest site to adopt cryptocurrency payments. The company, which is owned by Market America, announced its partnership with crypto payment service provider BitPay, which will allow it to accept payments in several cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC). The new partnership enables Shop.com users to select the BitPay option during checkout to pay via their crypto wallets. Currently, users have the option to pay with Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ether (ETH), Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), Dogecoin (DOGE) and Litecoin (LTC), as well as five U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins. Describing the partnership as the next chapter in …

One of the most important factors in the long-term success of a blockchain platform is having an active community of supporters and developers that work to showcase the capabilities of the network by creating new products and interacting with projects on the protocol. Zilliqa (ZIL) is one project that saw its price surge throughout August as developers built out its ecosystem and made improvements to the protocol. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after hitting a low of $0.05 on July 20, the price of ZIL proceeded to rally 145% to a swing high at $0.1244 on …

Barbados-based fintech firm Bitt Inc will be working as the technical partner for the Central Bank of Nigeria for its proposed e-naira digital currency. In a Monday announcement, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it had chosen Bitt Inc based on the company’s “technological competence, efficiency, platform security, interoperability and implementation experience.” It also considered the fintech firm’s experience in the development of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank’s digital currency, DCash, which it launched in April. The partnership announcement comes the same day the CBN issued preliminary guidelines for its central bank digital currency, or CBDC, called the e-naira. …

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has responded to criticism over the Cardano Foundation’s partnership with Coinfirm, saying it was necessary for the adoption of ADA. The Cardano Foundation announced its partnership with the blockchain analytics provider on Tuesday, which will see Coinfirm’s analytics being utilized to ensure compliance with frameworks such as the 6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive and Financial Action Task Force’s guidelines. “The tools and services provided by Coinfirm enables every exchange, custodian, and all other third-parties to clearly track the history of ADA held in their wallet,” the announcement read. Not everyone welcomed the move, however. On Thursday, Weiss …

An artificial intelligence-powered platform designed to enhance traditional mobile banking with seamless crypto integration is about to launch v2 of its mobile application, describing it as an all-in-one crypto-financial solution. BlockBank, which describes itself as a platform designed for professional traders and new retail market participants, reported that the new version of its application is a significant advancement compared to what has been offered in the space so far. The application is said to consist of four main components: a centralized custodial wallet, a non-custodial Web 3.0 wallet, banking and an AI-powered robo-advisor. The team emphasized that users won’t have …

Financial news site Bloomberg and Galaxy Digital Management have expanded their crypto offering to track the performance of the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. In a Thursday announcement, Bloomberg said it would launch an index currently tracking nine different decentralized finance projects with Galaxy Digital. As of Aug. 1, these projects included Uniswap (UNI), Aave (AAVE), Maker (MKR), Compound (COMP), Yearn.Finance (YFI), Synthetic (SNX), SushiSwap (SUSHI), 0x (ZXR) and Uma (UMA). "Decentralized finance is growing as the next major investment theme within crypto," said Alan Campbell, Bloomberg's multi-asset index business' head of product management. "As liquidity and institutional custody solutions continue …

Digital asset exchange platform Crypto.com will be prominently featured in football matches during Italy’s Lega Serie A competition as part of a partnership with the league. In a Thursday announcement, Lega Serie A said Crypto.com was going to be presenting key broadcast moments for the Italian football competition “where technology enhances the match.” Specifically, the platform has formed a multi-year partnership to help present the series’ “goal of the month,” as well as broadcast moments using video playback to judge fouls and whether goals are legitimate. Crypto.com sponsored Lega Serie A in the Coppa Italia football cup in May, when …

Shark Tank host Kevin O’Leary has become an official spokesperson for Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX crypto exchange and will be paid in crypto and receive equity as part of the deal. According to a Tuesday announcement, the partnership with FTX Trading Ltd. and West Realm Shires Services Inc. (owners of FTX.US and FTX.com) will see O’Leary take an equity stake in both firms. The venture capitalist, also known colloquially as “Mr. Wonderful,” signed the multi-year deal to serve as a brand ambassador and spokesperson. He asked to be paid in crypto assets to increase his holdings. Finally solved my compliance problems …