We have compiled the most important news from the crypto industry over the past two weeks.
- Xapo Bank will become the first licensed bank in Britain to offer interest-bearing accounts for fiat and bitcoin.
- Taurus will assist State Street in launching a platform for tokenizing real assets.
- Ledn secured a $50 million syndicated loan backed by bitcoin from crypto bank Sygnum.
Xapo Bank to Become First Licensed Bank in Britain Offering Interest Accounts for Fiat and Bitcoin
Gibraltar-based cryptocurrency private bank Xapo Bank has become the first British institution to offer interest-bearing fiat and bitcoin accounts. This follows the successful passporting of its banking license in the country.
This mechanism allows Gibraltar-based companies to extend their banking license to the UK, with the assistance of the FCA, PRA, the Bank of England, and the overseas territory authorities.
According to a press release, Xapo offers an annual yield of 1% on bitcoin balances.
Clients have access to:
- spending coins via a debit card;
- investing in S&P 500 stocks;
- direct payments in pounds sterling to UK bank accounts;
- purchasing certain cryptocurrencies;
- payments in stablecoins with US dollar bank accounts.
In 2023, USDC issuer Circle entered into an agreement with Xapo Bank to bypass “expensive and time-consuming” SWIFT payments.
Taurus to Assist State Street in Launching Platform for Tokenizing Real Assets
Swiss infrastructure startup Taurus and one of the global leaders in securities custody services, State Street, agreed to collaborate. In addition to launching a tokenization platform, the institution aims to expand clients’ capabilities in storing digital currencies.
State Street will integrate support for Taurus-EXPLORER, designed to ensure interaction with dozens of blockchains, Taurus-PROTECT for cryptocurrency storage, and Taurus-CAPITAL for issuing and managing tokenized instruments.
According to bank representatives, the latter is aimed at asset management clients interested in transforming their funds.
In June, State Street Corporation’s investment management divisions and Galaxy Digital Holdings jointly applied to launch an actively managed exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Taurus agreed with Lido on integrating liquid staking.
Ledn Secures $50 Million Syndicated Loan from Crypto Bank Sygnum
Licensed Swiss crypto bank Sygnum issued a syndicated loan to lending platform Ledn for $50 million, backed by bitcoin.
According to participants, this is the first such deal in the industry’s history.
Ledn will use the funds to continue its retail lending operations.
According to platform representatives, the syndicated loan opens new opportunities and markets for institutional lenders and borrowers as the cryptocurrency ecosystem strengthens.
At certain threshold LTV levels, Ledn will be required to replenish collateral.
In July, ForkLog reported on Cantor Fitzgerald’s financial group’s plans to launch a fiat lending business secured by bitcoin.
The initial limit will be $2 billion. It will later be increased by a similar amount. The company’s clients will effectively be able to leverage their coins.
Key DeFi Segment Metrics
Total Value Locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols has plummeted to $82.9 billion. Lido remains the leader with $24.7 billion. EigenLayer is in second place ($11.8 billion), with Aave holding third ($11.4 billion).
TVL in Ethereum applications plummeted to $47.2 billion. Trading volume on decentralized exchanges (DEX) over the past 30 days dropped to $128 billion.
Uniswap continues to dominate the non-custodial platform market, accounting for 43.2% of total turnover. The second DEX by trading volume is PancakeSwap (19.1%), followed by Aerodrome (8.8%), Dodo (7.1%), and Curve (4%).
Also on ForkLog:
- FTX creditors supported the reorganization plan.
- Mt.Gox moved bitcoins worth $784 million.
- Bitwise acquired ETC Group.
- Optimism Foundation disabled fraud protection due to vulnerabilities.
- MakerDAO rebranded to Sky.
- Stacks developers will launch the Nakamoto update to “separate” from Bitcoin.
- Starknet accelerated transactions through parallelization and “block packing”.
- Mezo developers launched a bitcoin liquid staking token.
- Base surpassed other L2 solutions in terms of active addresses.
- BNB Chain team launched a cross-chain bridge.
- Abra settled SEC charges over illegal securities sales.
- Sony launched the testnet of its own L2 blockchain, Soneium.
What to Read Over the Weekend?
On August 24, French authorities detained Telegram founder Pavel Durov at Le Bourget airport as part of an investigation opened on July 8 against an “unidentified person” on 12 counts.
On August 28, false information about Durov’s release spread in the crypto community. It was later revealed that the entrepreneur was placed under judicial supervision with a €5 million bail and charged with six offenses. A letter in his support garnered over 2.5 million signatures.
ForkLog closely followed the developments and reported on the #FreeDurov initiative by the TON community, which gathered over 2.5 million signatures, as well as the opinion of Galaxy Research analysts. The latter are convinced that Durov’s detention is unlikely to be the last major arrest of a company leader “for failing to adequately control their platform.”