Banking giant launches VC for crypto investments, pays taxes with crypto in the US, EOS Independence + more news

Get your daily, bite-sized summary of cryptoassets and blockchain-related news – examine the stories that fly under the radar of today’s crypto news.
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Investment news

• Nomura, one of Japan’s largest investment banks, is launching a new venture capital unit to invest in the crypto space. It named its new digital asset business Laser Digital and incorporated the holding company, Laser Digital Holdings AG in Switzerland, says the press release. The first product to be launched will be Laser venture capitalwhich will invest in companies in the digital ecosystem, focusing on decentralized finance (DeFi), centralized finance (CeFi), web3 and blockchain infrastructure.
• C Ventures, a venture capital firm started by Hong Kong real estate magnate and billionaire Adrian Cheng, aims to raise a $200 million fund to invest in the crypto space, according to Bloomberg. It plans to invest in blockchain assets, credit and private equity in the next 18 months, the play prices of private companies and digital assets are about to bottom out.
• Headquartersa financial dashboard for Web3 teams to manage their financial operations and reporting, announced that it secured $5 million in a pre-seed round led by Crypto.com Capital, Forge Venturesand MassMutual Venturesalong with Web3 funds included Saison capital, Coinhako, Longhash Ventures, Eyepiece, Sky9 Capitaland DWF Labs. The company plans to change the highly manual way Web3 teams manage their finances, it said in an announcement.
• British bitcoin trading desk CoinCorner has entered into cooperation with Seed group, a company owned by Sheikh Saeed bin Ahmed Al Maktoum’s family office. According to the announcement, Seed Group will help CoinCorner expand its business in the Emirates and the wider Middle East, while the fintech company will focus on establishing a user-friendly platform for UAE residents to buy, sell, send, receive and store bitcoin ( BTC ), as well as offering local businesses solutions for trading crypto.
• Digital assets and blockchain technology company Metallicus unveiled the Metal Pay API, a fully customizable and compliant solution that enables any financial service or consumer-facing business to cater to customers’ interest in crypto-assets, the announcement said. The application programming interface (API) is an extension of the established Metal Pay infrastructure that will enable partners to supplement their core business product offerings to drive new growth opportunities and competitive advantage, they said.

Adoption news

• Colorado, US, residents can now pay state taxes with crypto assets, Axios reported. Individual income tax, corporate income tax, sales and use tax, withholding tax, severance tax and taxes on fuel are eligible, it said.

Blockchain News

• The EOS Network Foundation (ENF) today announced the release of the Antelope Leap 3.1 consensus update and its “independence.” The team tired to which the update serves the network band Block.one and Bullish.

Regulatory news

• Regulators in Indonesia are introducing a new rule requiring domestic crypto exchanges to be mostly run by citizens, Bloomberg reported. At least two-thirds of directors and commissioners of crypto exchanges must be Indonesians resident in the country, officials from the Ministry of Commerce and the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency said during a parliamentary hearing in Jakarta on Tuesday.

CBDC news

• The Central Bank of Iran will start a central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot on Thursday, according to the country’s Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture. The goal of designing the crypto-rial is to turn banknotes into a programmable device, it added.

Exchange news

• Coin base announced today that Coinbase Cloud has launched a platform for web3 developers, providing developers with “free and instant blockchain API [application programming interface] access with Node by Coinbase Cloud.” Node, formerly known as Query & Transact, has been serving dedicated, paid nodes to businesses for read/write access to 25+ blockchains since 2020, it added.
• Binance and FTX is leading the bid to raise assets for troubled crypto lenders Voyager Digital, according to the Wall Street Journal. Both bid close to $50 million, while Binance’s is slightly higher of the two, it said.
• Bitten announced exclusive bonuses, including a prize pool of $300,000 and a reward pool of 1 million BGB, to complement the recent launch of Zero Fee trading in spot markets.

Legal news

• Stablecoin issuer Tether has been ordered by a US judge to produce financial records related to the support of USDT, including “general ledgers, balance sheets, income statements, cash flow statements and income statements”. The company must also share details of its accounts on stock exchanges Bitfinex, Poloniexand Bittrex. “The documents plaintiffs seek are undoubtedly important as they relate to the support of USDT,” the judge wrote.
• During bankruptcy proceedings in Canada, assets worth $2 million, including five luxury cars, have been seized from 23-year-old Aiden Pleterski, the self-described “crypto king,” CBC reported. This still falls far short of what his investors say they are owed, with creditors claiming at least $35 million has been given to Pleterski and his company AP Private Equity Limited for crypto and currency investments. About 140 investors who handed over a combined $20 million responded to a request for information from a fraud law firm investigating Pleterski, it added.

Payment news

• London-based fintech company Revolut announced that it has expanded its crypto offering to launch 29 new tokens for US users, via a new partnership with Apex Cryptoa subsidiary of Apex Fintech Solutions Inc. under Apex Digital Assets business line. Customers can now buy and sell a total of 36 cryptocurrencies directly in the Revolut app using available fiat currency.
• Payroll specialist Part announced that users can now link their accounts Coin base to get their paycheck in crypto. Coinbase has a feature that automatically converts your paycheck to crypto, which can be turned on and off at any time. Users can also deposit as little or as much of their paycheck as they want, it says.
• AgriDex, an end-to-end supply chain platform and marketplace for the global food and agriculture industry, has announced the launch of Fiat-on-Chain (FoC) payment technology. From 23 September, FoC will be available for purchase on AgriDex’s website in three currencies: GBP, EUR and USD. First announced in August, FoC says it has already secured more than $1 billion in deposit and transaction interest.

Charity News

• Princess Charlene of Monaco’s foundation launched a non-fungible token (NFT) collection for the first time to raise funds for ‘feed2gether‘ initiative to feed hungry children in South Africa. According to an announcement, feed2gether is a program developed with the goal of helping children ages 3 to 5. With the auction of this NFT collection, the foundation and feed2gether aim to raise $3 million. The fifteen piece NFT collection features paintings of countless children, each with a watermark of Princess Charlene’s face.

DeFi news

• Navigate, the community platform where users contribute data and fuel the creation of decentralized applications (dapps), has opened its first Data Vault on the Navigate Platform. The vault enables drone users to upload their data and receive rewards in the form of Navigate’s native utility token, NVG8. This data will power the platform’s first application, Navigate Maps. Additional data vaults will be launched by Navigate in the coming months to allow users to upload other forms of data sets, it said in an announcement.