Celsius’ Alternatives, Tether’s Commercial Paper, Blockchain.com Vs. Three Arrows + more news

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

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Investment news

• Troubled crypto lender Celsius network (CEL) announced that they are “continuing to take important steps” to preserve and protect assets and explore options, which include pursuing strategic transactions as well as restructuring commitments, among other avenues.
• Simon Dixon, the founder of the online investment platform BnkToTheFuture, so that Celsius has contacted him and that he is considering the best way to help. They offer three suggestions to their community, and let them decide which path the platform will take.
• Online mediation eToro and the Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) which agreed to make it public plans to allow the deadline for their merger to pass without terminating the agreement, The Information reported, citing an undisclosed person familiar with the matter.
• Investment company VanEck submitted a new application for a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), called VanEck Bitcoin Trustwith the United States Security and Exchange Commission.
• DeFi protocol MoHash raised $ 6 million in start-up financing to provide access to global capital and debt liquidity issued by non-bank lenders using DeFi as a tool.

Stablecoin news

• Stablecoin issuer Tether (USDT) announced that they reduced their certificate portfolio by around 58%. It currently has $ 8.4 billion of these holdings, of which $ 5 billion will expire on July 31, with the goal of bringing that number to zero, the company said.

Legal news

• Crypto platform Blockchain.com and exchange of crypto derivatives Deribitcreditors of Three Arrows Capital (3AC), is collaborating with ongoing investigations into the troubled crypto hedge fund, according to Bloomberg. According to a spokesman for Blockchain.com, 3AC scammed the crypto industry, and the company has applied for immediate liquidation of all global assets of 3AC, as they intend to “hold them accountable to the full extent of the law.”
• Former Monero (XMR) Leading Caretaker Ricardo “Fluffypony” Spagni Surrenders to US 5 July Marshals Service for extradition to South Africa, where he is facing fraud charges of USD 10,000 against his former employer, Cape Cookies. South African officials will be present to “initiate his arrest”.
• USA Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charged Cornelius Johannes Steynberg and the company Mirror Trading International (MTI) with fraud and registration breach to create and operate a global commodity pool in foreign currency, valued at over $ 1.7 billion, which only accepted bitcoin (BTC) to buy participation.
• USA Ministry of Justice (DOJ) announced criminal charges against:

1. Le Anh Tuan for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit international money laundering through a rye pull scheme that included a so-called “Baller Ape” NFT.
2. Emerson Pires, Flavio Goncalves and Joshua David Nicholas with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud in connection with a global crypto-based Ponzi scheme called EmpiresX which generated about $ 100 million from investors, according to the statement.
3. Michael Alan Stollery, CEO and Founder of Titanium Blockchain Infrastructure Services (TBIS), an alleged crypto-investment platform, for securities fraud involving TBIS’s first coin offering, which raised approximately $ 21 million from investors in the United States and abroad.
4. David Saffron, owner of the crypto investment platform Circle Societyand said that he used it to encourage investors to participate in an unregistered pool of goods, and that he fraudulently collected approx. USD 12 million from investors.

Mining news

• New York, USA, officials refused for necessary renewals of air permits to Greenidge generation power plant on the grounds that Bitcoin mining was a threat to the state’s climate goals, according to the Associated Press. The company said it would continue to operate under its current license while challenging the decision, it added.

Blockchain news

• Ethereum (ETH) core developers launched the Gray Glacier upgrade, and again pushed the ice age / difficulty bomb for about 100 days, without any other changes being implemented.
• Decentralized application (dapp) store DappRadar announced a cross-chain token bet mechanism for their original token RADAR, which allows users to claim their bet rewards on any blockchain.

Exchange news

• Coin base denied reports that it sells a number of features, used to track and identify cryptocurrencies, to the United States Immigration and customs enforcement. They stated that their Coinbase Tracer tools are designed to support compliance and help investigate economic crimes such as money laundering and terrorist financing, obtaining information from public sources, and that they do not use Coinbase user data.
• CoinFLEX said that it is in talks with investors about a token sale for its Recovery Value USD token (rvUSD) and that the liabilities are growing, but withdrawals will remain suspended until the token sale is fully committed.

Finance news

• Euro area annual inflation is expected to be 8.6% in June 2022, up from 8.1% in May, according to a flash estimate from Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union. A more precise figure for the month is scheduled to be released on 19 July.