Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
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Legal news
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John McAfee: antivirus entrepreneur found dead in Spanish prison
McAfee’s extradition to the US on tax charges had been approved hours earlier
John McAfee, the antivirus software entrepreneur, was found dead in his cell in Spain, hours after Spain’s highest court approved his extradition to the United States, where he was wanted on tax-related criminal charges carrying a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.
McAfee, 75, was found dead in the Brians 2 prison near Barcelona late Wednesday, according to Catalonia’s regional police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra.
The Catalan justice department stated in a statement that prison officers and medics attempted but were unable to save the life of a 75-year-old man.
Judicial staff have been dispatched to the prison and are investigating the causes of death,” the statement stated, adding that “Everything points to death by suicide.”
On Wednesday evening, McAfee’s lawyer told the Reuters news agency that McAfee had apparently hanged himself in his prison cell.
Investment news
- Cathie Wood of investment management firm Ark Invest took advantage of the crypto price dip to purchase more than 1 million shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and more than 200,000 shares of crypto exchange Coinbase, CNBC reported. This puts the company’s GBTC holdings at around USD 239m, while their Coinbase shares are worth around USD 801m.
- Huobi Ventures, the investment arm of crypto exchange Huobi, said it has made a strategic investment in synthetic product trading platform Beyond Finance. The partnership means that Beyond Finance will gain investment, active support, strategic partnerships and advisory services from Huobi Ventures.
- Crypto market data provider Kaiko announced a USD 24m Series A funding round led by Anthemis and Underscore VC, among other investors. „This new round of funding will accelerate the development of Kaiko’s professional data products and support the company’s expansion into North American and Asian markets, addressing leading financial institutions and blockchain market participants,“ the company said.
- Pennsylvania-based crypto miner Stronghold Digital Mining said it raised USD 105m from investors such as MG Capital, Greg Beard, the company’s co-chairman and CEO, and family offices. The company uses waste coal to mine Bitcoin and other cryptoassets.
Exchanges news
- The US crypto exchange heavyweight Coinbase has become the first Western company to obtain an operating permit from the top Japanese financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA). Per the FSA’s recently updated crypto exchanges database, Coinbase was granted a license that will allow it to offer trading in bitcoin and four major altcoins. The Japanese firm Tokyo Hash was also granted an operating permit on the same day, June 18.
- FTX Trading Limited and West Realm Shires Services, owners and operators of crypto derivatives platforms FTX.COM and FTX.US, and Major League Baseball (MLB) announced a new long-term, global partnership. FTX.US has partnered with MLB in relation to the US, and FTX.COM internationally. This deal was established to create increased brand awareness for FTX and continued innovation for MLB, they said.
Adoption news
- Goldman Sachs has joined the blockchain-based network created by JPMorgan for repurchase agreements that use smart contracts and a digitized version of the US dollar, per Bloomberg. Their first trade of unspecified value came on June 17, and the company stated that they appreciate the speed at which trades go through.
- Digital asset bank Wyoming Deposit & Transfer (WDT) has been awarded a bank charter by the Wyoming Division of Banking, which allows it to provide commercial banking and custodial services for tokenized assets and digital currencies. The company’s banking and custodial services are meant to meet the needs of fiduciary institutions as well as small and medium-sized blockchain and digital assets ventures.
- Digital payments platform Wirex said it has partnered with crypto custodian FireBlocks, along with launching their X-Accounts feature to allow users to earn up to 16% on their crypto and fiat funds. They said that the partnership will ensure „top-level security“ of users’ funds, as well as USD 30m in insurance of crypto assets.
Regulation news
- The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has delayed another bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) decision, extending the 45-day window that was due to expire June 26th. They have now announced that they intend to reach a decision for the Valkyrie Digital Assets ETF by August 10.
- The Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) said there is a need for a legal framework around cryptoassets before they become a suitable form of investment. With the high volatility and increased attention that also included criminal activity, regulations are a must before customers can invest in crypto, they added.
- Mark Steward, head of enforcement and market oversight of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), says that 111 unregistered cryptoasset firms operating in the Great Britain pose a risk to the broader financial system, per Reuters. Such companies were high risk, volatile and unregulated, so Steward warned consumers, banks, and payment services companies against dealing with them.
NFTs news
- Solana (SOL) front page Step Finance has become the first dashboard where users can aggregate and visualize Augmented Reality non-fungible tokens (NFTs), according to an emailed press release. The first available NFTs will be from the Star Atlas metaverse, a next-gen gaming world that runs on Solana.
