USDC Released on Stellar Through Coinme, THORChain Halts & Resumes Network, EOS EVM Testnet Goes Live, OKX to Apply for Hong Kong License

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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Payment news

• Crypto cash exchange Coinme and Stellar Development Foundationa non-profit organization that supports the development of Stellar network, today announced the release of the USDC stablecoin on Stellar throughout the Coinme wallet and Coinme’s global cash onramp and offramp ecosystem. “Coinme’s integration of USDC on Stellar promotes financial inclusion by enabling physical cash to become borderless digital cash available across thousands of locations across the country, making it easy and affordable to cash in, pay out, send and receive USDC on Stellar,” said the press release. The service is now live in the Coinme wallet accessible through the browser, and will soon be coming to the Coinme mobile apps on iOS and Android, it added.

Security news

• Liquidity protocol across chains THORChain stopped and resumed the network due to new allegations of a potential network vulnerability. Per a Tuesday brief, the team “received credible reports of a potential vulnerability affecting THORChain” and halted it globally. Several hours later, they tweeted that they could “safely assume [that] no nodes can exploit the current vulnerability and as such the network (trade) has been halted. LP actions resume. Churn will remain stopped pending a coordinated root cause.”

Blockchain News

• A testnet for EOS Ethereum virtual machine (EVM) feature went live this week ahead of the mainnet launch, which is scheduled for April 14th. “This is an exciting milestone for the EOS community, with the pending security audit the only major milestone remaining before the EOS EVM Mainnet Beta is launched,” the team said.
• Oasisa blockchain optimized for the gaming community, announced that one of Japan’s largest telecommunications operators, KDDI Corporation, officially joined the network of blockchain node validators. KDDI is the second Japanese technology giant to join the following network SoftBankmoving in February. KDDI and SoftBank will join 21 other initial validators, which include established brands from both traditional and blockchain games, including SEGA, Bandai Namco Research, Ubisoft, Square Enixand Yield Guild Games.
• Router protocol, an infrastructure company that enables communication between blockchains, today announced “a first-of-its-kind cross-chain account abstraction model that makes it easier for users to interact with smart contracts across different blockchain networks.” According to the press release, without account abstraction, users will have to manage multiple accounts on different blockchain networks, each with their own technical requirements and specifications. Use cases include multi-chain dust collection, cross-chain optimized production, and multi-chain Web 3 usernames.

Exchange news

• OKX said in a statement on Tuesday that it is applying for a license to trade virtual assets in Hong Kong just two months before the city will officially make crypto trading fully legal, the South China Morning Post reported. Lennix Lai, the firm’s managing director of global institutional, said during a media briefing in Hong Kong that OKX sees “tremendous potential” in the city and is willing to invest in talent and work with regulators “over the next five years to continue to build local ecosystem.”

DeFi news

• MakerDAOa DeFi lending protocol and creator of the DAI stablecoin, announced the approval of Makes constitution, which will gradually change the operations of MakerDAO, and set the conditions necessary for the roadmap, the Endgame Era, to be implemented. According to the announcement, “Endgame will enable MakerDAO to expand its money market investments in the short term and increase protocol revenues. Using these revenues, MakerDAO aims to implement a mechanism to purchase decentralized security, such as ETH and staked ETH, for to reinforce DAI support, ensure stability and maximize the level of decentralization in the long term.”
• As Polygon announced his zkEVM Mainnet Betacrypto startup Alchemy said it is partnering with Polygon to equip EVM developers with the tools to start building Zero Knowledge applications. Alchemy’s infrastructure will be available to all builders on the Polygon zkEVM Mainnet, it said, adding that “a few categories of applications that should be particularly excited include DEXs, Web3 games, and NFT marketplaces.”

Career news

• Capital management giant rendering is expanding its crypto research development team. Positions, according to the site, include a crypto and token research development team leader, as well as a crypto trading product owner and a Java engineering principal on the Wallet Blockchain Foundations team.