We round up the week’s most significant crypto-industry news from market participants.
- Coinbase launched spot trading on Coinbase International Exchange.
- MetaMask expanded its roster of payment platform partners.
- Blockchain.com will hire staff to support its expansion in Turkey and Nigeria.
- BitGet boosted spot trading volume by 82%.
- Archax and the HBAR Foundation expanded their partnership in staking and real-world asset tokenisation.
Coinbase launches spot trading on Coinbase International Exchange
Coinbase добавила spot trading on Coinbase International Exchange. Previously the platform had focused exclusively on futures trading. The move is part of the company’s broader global expansion drive in light of pressure from U.S. regulators on the company.
We are excited to announce the next phase of our Coinbase International Exchange expansion — the launch of non-US spot markets for eligible customers, designed to address the unique needs and demands of our global user base. pic.twitter.com/JWEChT5BDa
— Coinbase ?️? (@coinbase) December 13, 2023
Initially, BTC/USDC and ETH/USDC pairs will be listed.
Head of Institutional Products at Coinbase Greg Tusar explained that adding spot trading will lay the groundwork for a deep and liquid market.
The organisation also увеличила до 10× леверидж для торговли бессрочными фьючерсами на Coinbase International Exchange и Coinbase Advanced. Listing expanded to include contracts for Optimism, Arbitrum and Ethereum Classic.
@CoinbaseIntExch will add support for Optimism, Arbitrum, and Ethereum Classic perpetual future contracts on Coinbase International Exchange and Coinbase Advanced. The opening of our OP-PERP, ARB-PERP, and ETC-PERP markets will begin on or after 10am UTC on 13 DEC 2023. pic.twitter.com/qExGSbGEq2
— Coinbase International Exchange ?️ (@CoinbaseIntExch) December 8, 2023
In October, Coinbase Advanced clients in jurisdictions outside the U.S. gained the ability to trade perpetual futures on Bitcoin, ETH, LTC and XRP against USDC.
MetaMask expands number of partners among payment platforms
The team behind the development of the non-custodial wallet has entered into partnerships with payment companies in several countries.
Among them — VietQR and Mobile Money in Vietnam, GCash in the Philippines, QRIS in Indonesia, Thai QR in Thailand, Vodafone Cash in Egypt, and Webpay in Chile.
?We’ve unlocked new ways to onboard to crypto around the world!
-Vietnam: VietQR, Mobile Money
-Philippines: GCash
-Indonesia: QRIS
-Thailand: Thai QR
-Egypt: Vodafone Cash
-Chile: WebpayPLUS local transfers in Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea.?
— MetaMask ?? (@MetaMask) December 8, 2023
The collaboration aims to broaden ways to buy cryptocurrency across regions and support a greater number of providers.
In October, the MetaMask team in partnership with Blockaid introduced security alerts in the browser extension Web3 wallet.
Blockchain.com to hire personnel for expansion in Turkey and Nigeria
In Q1 2024 the bitcoin exchange Blockchain.com will increase its headcount by 25% as it seeks to expand in Turkey and Nigeria.
The platform also hired former Kraken head of global operations Curtis Ting to help establish a new centre in Paris and units across Europe in line with new rules.
In November Blockchain.com closed a Series E funding round worth $110 million at a $7 billion valuation. The company’s value could have halved since March 2022. According to Bloomberg sources, it was then valued at $14 billion .
BitGet increased spot trading volume by 82%
The cryptocurrency exchange BitGet, for November, boosted its spot trading volume by 82%. The platform also expanded its product range — added 51 new tokens to its listing, expanded fiat gateways in the Middle East, and introduced a private mode for elite traders.
Bitget Wallet strengthened its protection from MEV, integrating it with Flashbots.
In December the platform invested in L2-solution Morph for Ethereum network scalability. Morph combines features of Optimistic- and ZK-Rollups. The project plans to complete beta-testing and launch the mainnet in the early part of next year.
Archax and the HBAR Foundation extend partnership in staking and real-world asset tokenisation
HBAR Foundation and the licensed British exchange Archax договорились to extend support staking of HBAR — governance-token of the Hedera network Hedera. The collaboration also envisages further tokenisation projects.
Archax has integrated Hedera network and Hedera Token Service (HTS) support into its products and services. In particular, a tokenisation mechanism built on that foundation is used to move the abrdn money-market fund shares to the Hedera blockchain.
In November, Archax raised $28.5 million in a Series A round.
Also on ForkLog:
- Gemini Earn will receive only 61% of assets under the restructuring plan.
- HTX faced a withdrawal of $258 million after a hacker attack in November.
- IRS demanded that FTX pay $24 billion in taxes.
- Tether will freeze all OFAC-sanctioned crypto wallets.
- CoinList will pay a $1.2 million penalty for sanctions violations against Russia.
- DWS, Galaxy Digital and Flow Traders will issue a euro-denominated stablecoin.
What to read this weekend?
On 12 December Binance filed two filings in a case against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, arguing the agency’s actions were unlawful.
Against the regulator’s ongoing clash, the platform’s co-founder He Yi confirmed plans to open the headquarters and establish a board of directors.