Crypto Roundup: Tether Expands, Ethereum Fees Plummet, Yandex Restricts Ads, RAKbank Partners for Crypto

Our feathered friend, the canary, has some crypto news to share. Tether is spreading its wings by launching on the Aptos blockchain, while Ethereum is seeing a significant drop in gas fees. Over in Russia, Yandex has cracked down on crypto exchange ads, and Dubai's RAKbank is partnering with Bitpanda to offer crypto services to its residents.

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Meme of the Day

Market Movements - 19 Aug 2024

The crypto market witnessed mixed movements on Monday. Bitcoin dipped by -2.57% to $58,450.80, and Ethereum declined by -2.95% to $2,586.18. BNB increased slightly by +0.33% to $537.59, while Solana was down by -1.49% to $143.15.

Among altcoins, Tron was up by +3.67% to $0.138, and Toncoin rose by +1.95% to $6.75. Cardano declined by -2.32% to $0.330, and Avalanche was in red by -2.42% to $20.67.

Movers and Shakers

In the last 24 hours, the top gainers included Klaytn (+4.29%), Tron (+3.67%), and Monero (+3.13%). The top losers included Celestia (-6.53%), Ondo (-6.41%), and Helium (-6.38%).

Project Updates

1. OKX has expanded its offerings for Australian customers by introducing AUD trading pairs. This allows users to directly trade popular cryptocurrencies like BTC and ETH against the Australian dollar (AUD).

   Read more here

2. Gate Ventures and Abu Dhabi's Blockchain Center have collaborated to launch Falcon Gate Ventures, a $100M fund dedicated to support promising Web3 projects.

   Read more here

3. Flexa, a digital payments platform, has launched a new tool for merchants to accept cryptocurrencies, such as USDC, directly at the point of sale. This allows customers to pay using their preferred crypto wallets with a simple QR code scan.

   Read more here

4. Swell Network announces completion of Voyage event (White Pearls) snapshot. Black Pearl holders are eligible for initial SWELL Wavedrop in October. Ecosystem points holders can participate in all Swell L2 airdrops.

   Read more here

5. Optimism temporarily disables permissionless fraud proofs after security audits revealed vulnerabilities. A hard fork on their Layer-2 network is planned for September 10th to address the issues and restore functionality.

   Read more here

Hall of Fame, Hall of Shame

Investor Kidnaps Bitconnect Staff for Losses

An Indian investor reportedly resorted to extreme measures to recoup alleged investment losses. The individual is accused of kidnapping employees from BitConnect, a now-defunct crypto platform, demanding the return of $1.7M and a specific amount of cryptocurrency.

Read more here

Google Sued Over Crypto Scam App

A Florida resident has filed a lawsuit against Google alleging negligence in its handling of a fraudulent cryptocurrency wallet app on the Google Play Store. The lawsuit claims the plaintiff lost over $5M after downloading the app, and that Google failed to remove the app for three months despite receiving a complaint.

Read more here

What moved in the Crypto World Today

Tether Expands to Aptos Blockchain

Tether has launched its USDT stablecoin on the Aptos blockchain, aiming to reduce transaction costs for users. Aptos boasts extremely low gas fees, making microtransactions and large-scale operations more economically viable.

Read more here

Yandex Bans Crypto Exchange Ads

Russian internet giant Yandex has implemented a ban on advertisements promoting cryptocurrency exchanges and mining services. This move cites concerns around potential financial risks faced by users engaging with these platforms.

Read more here

Ethereum Gas Fees Hit Record Low

Ethereum's network activity has significantly decreased, with gas prices reaching a historic low of 2.9 Gwei. This decline is attributed to the Dencun upgrade and diminished whale activity. While lower gas fees are generally beneficial, experts warn of potential long-term challenges such as user and liquidity fragmentation.

Read more here

RAKbank Offers Crypto with Bitpanda

Dubai's RAKbank has partnered with Bitpanda, a leading European digital asset platform, to provide UAE residents with a solution for buying, selling, and managing cryptocurrencies.

Read more here

Funding Announcements

Our Canary tweets of the latest funding news:

1. Web3 liquidity provider, Orderly Network raised $5M in a Strategic funding round from OKX Ventures, Manifold, Presto Labs, LTP, and others.

   Read more here

2. Platform for AI researchers, Crunch Lab raised $3.50M in a Seed funding round led by Multicoin Capital.

   Read more here

3. Privacy-focused digital identity platform, Holonym raised $5.50M in a Seed funding round led by Finality Capital and Paper Ventures.

   Read more here

4. Web3 base layer for AI, KIP Protocol raised $5M in a Private funding round led by Animoca Ventures and Tribe Capital.

   Read more here

5. Gaming platform, GAMEE received undisclosed funding from TON Ventures. Read more here

6. Asset management and payment platform, Mesh (ex Front Finance) received undisclosed funding from QuantumLight.

   Read more here

7. Digital payment system, WSPN raised $30M in a Seed funding round led by Foresight Ventures and Folius Ventures.

   Read more here

8. Cryptocurrency exchange platform, BiFinance raised $10M in a Series A funding round led by Sunfund Fortuna Global Opportunities.

   Read more here

Whale Movements

1. Ceffu moved another 121.11 BTC ($7.1M) to Binance. Txn details here

2. Vitalik Buterin transferred another 400 ETH ($1.05M) into the mixer Railgun via address 0x181. More details here

3. A Whale bc1q8 further withdrew 160 BTC ($9.38M) from Binance. Txn detail here

Today’s Token Unlocks

Polyhedra Network (ZKJ) - $18.70M
Merlin Chain (MERL) - $8.11M
Pixels (PIXEL) - $7.63M

Coinversation Street

Our Canary brings some of the trending and informative tweets from the crypto world:

@Globalflows shares their Bitcoin Breakdown Thread:

@Restructuring__ thread about private equity:

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