Apr 2022 Crypto Industry Updates

Content will be sorted chronologically with latest at the bottom.

• The 19th millionth BTC was mined [1 Apr 2022]
  • leaving only 2 million BTC to be mined over the next 120 years due to the halving rate of coins produced at every 210,000 blocks.
  • $BTC has a hard cap of 21 million coins, meaning that 90% of all BTC that will ever exist is already in circulation.
• DBS Retracts Plans to Launch Crypto Exchange for Retail Investors
  • cites regulatory ‘environment’ concerns
• Singapore crypto industry given some clarity over ad guidelines [7 Apr 2022]
  • following a meeting between Blockchain Association Singapore (BAS), Association of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Enterprises and Start-ups Singapore (Access) and Singapore FinTech Association (SFA), with MAS officials on March 30 to clarify and provide feedback on the guidelines.

    • “MAS' guidelines will not allow marketing and advertising of digital payment token (DPT) services to retail consumers in Singapore, but ads to accredited and institutional investors are allowed if service providers can demonstrate how they are targeted only at these specific groups of investors”

    • “Sponsorship of international events not held in Singapore but which will be broadcasted here are not in breach of the guidelines and can be allowed”

    • “DPT service providers can sponsor, participate and host financial services or industry events, if audiences at such events are limited to industry players and professionals and do not include the retail public.”

    • “Business-to-business advertising, as well as corporate announcements and media releases which do not promote trading and investing in DPT services, are also allowed.”

• BlackRock, Fidelity Back Stablecoin Firm Circle in $400 Million Funding Round
  • Circle Internet Financial Ltd., the issuer of USD Coin, the second-largest stablecoin, landed $400 million in funding from a group that includes BlackRock Inc. and Fidelity Management and Research LLC
  • as part of the deal, BlackRock will become “a primary asset manager of USDC cash reserves” for Circle
  • BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager with more than $10T in assets under management
  • a sign of traditional finance’s growing acceptance of the cryptocurrency industry
• Nexo and Mastercard launch ‘world first’ crypto-backed payment card [13 Apr 2022]
  • available in selected European countries initially
  • allows users to spend without having to sell their digital assets such as bitcoin, which are used as collateral to back the credit granted.
    • users can spend up to 90 per cent of the fiat value of their crypto assets
  • the card requires no minimum repayments, monthly, or inactivity fees
  • no FX fees for up to 20,000 euros per month
• FOMO Pay unveils first cryptocurrency payment solution for retailers in Singapore [13 Apr 2022]:
  • FOMO Pay is the first Major Payment Institution to introduce a cryptocurrency payment method for merchants in Singapore
• North Korea-tied hackers executed US$620 million crypto heist [14 Apr 2022]
  • attack was in March 2022 on the Ronin Network, an Ethereum sidechain used by play-to-earn crypto game, Axie Infinity.
  • connection was revealed when the United States Department of the Treasury added a new Ethereum wallet address to its list of sanctions for the Lazarus Group, and it matched the wallet address of the attacker on Ronin Network.

  • “Through our investigations we were able to confirm Lazarus Group and APT38, cyber actors associated with (North Korea), are responsible for the theft,” the FBI said in a statement.

• OCBC Partners With MetaVerse Green Exchange (MVGX) For Green Financing [25 Apr 2022]
  • plans to issue crypto tokens linked to investments in environmentally friendly technology and make them available to clients