Cryptocurrency exchange CrossTower Inc has agreed to buy digital asset trading platform BEQUANT, which comes after months of window shopping by CrossTower for crypto companies, including a recently revised offer for Voyager Digital's assets. The Nov. 28 acquisition will provide CrossTower with over 600 new professional exchange clients in addition to its existing clientele. The incoming clients are based across the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America and are collectively making over $400 billion annually. The purchase comes as CrossTower CEO Kapil Rathi stated on Nov. 24 that CrossTower has long been on the lookout to buy digital asset …

The FTX collapse marks more than just the failure of another crypto exchange. It signals the time has come for the industry to grow up and embrace value. The value schism is here. FTX was the world’s second-largest crypto exchange. Now, it is a meme for the death rattle of absurd amounts of money being poured into refurbished centralized business models whitewashed in faux decentralization. As legendary investor Warren Buffet famously said, “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.” It seems there were more than a few nude bathers in this last cycle. But …

FTSE Russell, creator of the FTSE100 stock index, has released a series of indices whose constituents are digital assets, according to a press release released via its website on Nov. 29. The series has been produced in cooperation with Digital Asset Research. FTSE Russell is a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange. Indices have been used in the stock market throughout its history to track particular areas of the market. But there were relatively few made up of cryptocurrencies prior to 2021. The FTSE Digital Asset Index series appears to be the first issued by a company based in the …

Crypto collectibles and nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea announced plans to integrate BNB Chain on Seaport Protocol by the end of Q4 2022. The integration will allow users to buy, list and trade BNB Chain NFTs on the OpenSea marketplace. BNB Chain was built by Binance to operate as a Web3-focused blockchain network powered by the exchange's in-house token, Binance Coin (BNB). BNB Chain’s integration into OpenSea's Seaport Protocol aims to provide BNB Chain creators with multiple creator payouts, real-time payouts and collection management, among others. Sharing insights into the move, Gwendolyn Regina, Investment Director at BNB Chain, revealed her …

If early November’s FTX collapse was crypto’s “Lehman moment” — as more than a few pundits have suggested — will the FTX contagion now spread to stablecoins? After all, Tether (USDT), the market leader, briefly lost its United States dollar peg on Nov. 10. In normal times, this might have raised alarm bells. But, these aren’t normal times. In fact, in the days following FTX’s Nov. 11 bankruptcy filing, stablecoin “dominance,” i.e., the sector’s share of overall cryptocurrency market capitalization, increased to 18%, an all-time high. Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and most altcoins appeared to be feeling the pain from …

Some non-whale Bitcoin (BTC) investors seem to have had zero issues with the cryptocurrency bear market as well as fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) around the fall of FTX, on-chain data suggests. Smaller retail investors have turned increasingly bullish on Bitcoin and started accumulating more BTC despite the ongoing market crisis, according to a report released by the blockchain intelligence platform Glassnode on Nov. 27. According to the data, there are at least two types of retail Bitcoin investors that have been accumulating the record amount of BTC following the collapse of FTX. The first type of investors — classified …

Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi has partnered with the Commonwealth of Dominica to roll out a digital identity and national token service that promises digital citizenship of the West Indian island nation. Not to be confused with the nearby, larger Dominican Republic, Dominica is home to some 72,000 people and is situated in the middle of the Lesser Antilles archipelago. The government is looking to explore metaverse and Web3 technology to drive its development and attract talent from the cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystem. The island nation is one of the first Caribbean countries to adopt a Citizenship by Investment program. Dominica passports …

Israel's chief economist has laid out a list of recommendations as to how policymakers should tackle digital asset laws in the country in order to safely drive up crypto adoption. In a 109-page report submitted to the Minister of Finance on Nov. 28, Shira Greenberg, Chief Economist at the Ministry of Finance, called for a more comprehensive regulatory framework that would bring trading platforms and crypto issuers in line and would expand the powers given to its financial regulators. Greenberg recommended Israel should improve investor certainty and protection by imposing stricter licensing requirements on trading platforms and issuers of cryptocurrencies, …

Staking technology provider Kiln has closed out a $17.8 million fundraising round featuring the likes of Consensys and Kraken Ventures. The company is eyeing ‘exponential’ growth in demand for ETH staking services from institutional clients in the future. Kiln is a software-as-a-service provider focused on enterprise-grade staking solutions across 16 different proof-of-stake blockchain protocols. Its infrastructure enables users to stake on-chain while maintaining asset custody on separate solutions as well as cloud platforms and validator clients. An announcement shared with Cointelegraph outlined growing institutionalization of cryptocurrency staking as a trend in the market. According to Kiln, this is driving the …

Despite venture capital funding halving in October, there seem to be funds that still remain bullish on this space investing in emerging markets, Web3 and infrastructure. But, most people do not know who these mysterious funds are or what they are made of, or if there is a project starting up, how to get in touch with these funds. That is why Cointelegraph Research created a Crypto Funds Database, which keeps track of a list of nearly 900 different crypto funds from around the world. This database is designed for those looking to keep up with contacts from the movers …

A handful of government-backed financial institutions have been exploring tokenization use cases to revolutionize traditional financial systems. For instance, El Salvador’s Bitcoin Volcanic bond project has been in the works for over a year and aims to raise $1 billion from investors with tokenized bonds to build a Bitcoin city. The Central Bank of Russia has also expressed interest in tokenized off-chain assets. In addition, the Israeli Ministry of Finance, together with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE), recently announced the testing of a blockchain-backed platform for digital bond trading. Cointelegraph Research’s 2021 Security Token Report found that most securities …

When new technologies and platforms are created, there are incredible discovery phases in which economic activity eventually picks up and starts taking shape. The metaverse is arguably in that discovery phase, with many entrepreneurs finding ways to earn passive income on it. As economic activity in the metaverse rises, new passive income opportunities are seemingly being created on a regular basis, as are opportunities to actively earn income. While what works and what doesn’t is still up for debate, there are some in the vanguard of metaverse passive income. What is the metaverse? Before digging into passive income opportunities in …