Cathie Wood's Ark Invest has reportedly purchased 6.93 million shares of the special purchase acquisition company, or SPAC, that is merging with Circle, for $70.6 million through the company’s ARK Fintech Innovation exchange-traded fund (ETF). This purchase would represent a new position for the ETF, according to MarketWatch. Ark Invest's ETFs have a history of bold purchases within the tech industry as indicated by their move to buy $80 million in Robinhood shares after the prices dipped back in October 2021. Wood is also bullish on crypto despite passing on buying the first Bitcoin futures ETF that same month. Circle …

Frax Share (FXS) has been one of the few altcoins to pull off a dominant price performance amid the down market of late 2021 to early 2022. In the month between Dec. 14 and Jan. 14, FXS was up 128% against the U.S. dollar and 159% against Bitcoin (BTC). In addition to this impressive feat, FXS topped the charts of historically bullish trading conditions on multiple occasions throughout this period. What is behind the token’s recurring strong trading outlook? Governing a stablecoin ecosystem FXS is the utility token underpinning the Frax ecosystem — a stablecoin protocol that seeks to occupy …

Tether has added three more Ethereum addresses, holding more $150 million worth of the USDT stablecoin between them, to its blacklist. As a centralized company, Tether is able to blacklist addresses it believes are involved in crime, money laundering — or for any other reason it chooses. This is the first time Tether has blacklisted an address in 2022 but it added 312 addresses to the blacklist last year and has added 563 all up since it first did so on Nov. 28, 2017. Tether has not revealed why the three new addresses were blacklisted, however it has used its …

Hong Kong’s central bank, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), wants to supervise stablecoin issuance and reserves management. HKMA published a discussion paper on Jan. 12 regarding cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, in which it provided its views on how the industry should be regulated in Hong Kong. In the 34-page long consultation document, the HKMA paid special attention to “payment-related stablecoins,” pointing out that the market capitalization of all stablecoins hit $150 billion in December, accounting for 5% of the entire crypto market. The regulator added that all existing stablecoins are “mostly asset-linked and predominantly pegged” to the United States dollar, …

The official digital yuan wallet app that was released as a pilot version to be used in select cities has still managed to top app store charts in its first week. Developed by the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), the app became available for download on Chinese Android and Apple app stores last Tuesday. The app is still in an experimental phase and is only accessible to select individuals through authorized e-CNY service providers. While anyone in China could download the app, its usage is limited to select cities. Despite these limitations, the South …

Bahrain is the latest nation to explore blockchain technology by American investment bank JPMorgan, with the country’s central bank trialing JPMorgan’s proprietary digital currency. The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) has successfully completed a digital payment test in collaboration with JPMorgan’s blockchain and cryptocurrency unit Onyx, according to an official announcement published on Jan. 6. The trial involved two other major institutions, Manama-based international bank, Bank ABC, and Bahrain’s national aluminum smelter Aluminium Bahrain, also known as Alba. The test enabled Bank ABC to settle real-time payments to Alba’s counterparts in the United States using the JPM Coin, a blockchain-based …

American fintech giant PayPal Holdings has reportedly confirmed its intent to launch its own stablecoin named PayPal Coin. The development of an in-house stablecoin was first discovered in the source code of Paypal’s iPhone app by developer Steve Moser. Confirming the evidence found on the PayPal app, Jose Fernandez da Ponte, PayPal’s SVP of crypto and digital currencies, told Bloomberg News: “We are exploring a stablecoin; if and when we seek to move forward, we will of course, work closely with relevant regulators.” Moser’s finding uncovered that PayPal is in the works of building PayPal Coin, which will be backed …

Stablecoins have emerged as a foundational part of the cryptocurrency ecosystem over the past couple of years due to their ability to provide crypto traders with an offramp during times of volatility and their widespread integration with decentralized finance (DeFi). These are necessary for the health of the ecosystem as a whole. Currently, Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) are the dominant stablecoins in the market, but their centralized nature and the persistent threat of stablecoin regulation have prompted many in the crypto community to shun them and search for decentralized alternatives. Binance USD (BUSD) is the third-ranked stablecoin and …

Decentralized stablecoin issuer Terra issued an ambitious proposal to expand the interchain deployment of its UST stablecoin across five projects on Ethereum, Polygon, and Solana. Terra’s Jan. 6 Research post UST Goes Interchain: Degen Strats Part Three provides details about how $139 million of UST and its native stablecoin LUNA would be utilized and on what platforms if the proposal is passed. Terra is a blockchain that supplies algorithmic stablecoins and LUNA has market cap ($28.5 billion). In each proposed deployment, Terra would deposit UST in varying amounts from $250,000 to $50 million to boost the stability of each of …

Crypto-focused enterprise payment platform Tribal Credit has concluded a $40 million debt offering that was funded through fiat and stablecoins — giving the company additional capital to expand its business services in Latin America. The so-called hybrid debt round was financed by Partners for Growth, a California-based investment firm, and Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), which is a non-profit organization supporting the growth of the Stellar blockchain. Tribal said it will use the capital to fund receivables from its customer base throughout Latin America, particularly Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru. Tribal COO Duane Good explained to Cointelegraph that funding receivables …

As 2022 gets underway, the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector of the cryptocurrency ecosystem appears to be gaining momentum in what could be an echo of the bullish market seen in seen in early 2021. Data from crypto market intelligence firm Messari shows that over the past 30 days, 5 out of the top 10 DeFi protocols have seen their tokens post double-digit gains. This is in spite of the struggles that Bitcoin has faced, a dynamic which usually places bearish pressure on the wider crypto market. A deeper dive into the data shows that AAVE, Curve (CRV) and Spell Token …

Inflation is increasing, and alongside them are growing interest rates. That is, on everything but your savings held in the bank. The sad reality is in 2021, the average American savings account is only paying 0.06% interest annually, with neighboring countries, including Canada offering little more. Since banks don’t want users’ money, those who have their life earnings in a savings account have little hope to grow their wealth. For this reason, traditional finance is quickly being beaten out by decentralized finance (DeFi), a concept that eliminates the middleman, thereby reducing fees, and opens the door to many in need …