Xapo Bank partners with Lightspark and integrates Lightning Network, Ethereum Shanghai Fork Pushed Back, Casper Labs’ long-term partnership with SkyBridge and Al Maskari Holding

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

• Bitcoin (BTC) custodian and licensed private bank Xapo Bank collaborated with Lightning network infrastructure builder Lightspark and integrated with the Lightning Network, allowing users to instantly pay for small purchases of up to $100 at any provider that accepts Lightning payments without high transaction fees and long wait times for blockchain confirmations. “Xapo Bank also offers an annual interest rate of 4.1% on US dollars and will soon offer up to 1% on Bitcoin, spread over the year and paid out daily,” it said.

Ethereum news

• Ethereum (ETH) developers have pushed back Shanghai hard fork until April – it will happen about two weeks after Goerli testnet launch, scheduled for March 14. “We didn’t explicitly agree to a mainnet date, but assuming things go well with Goerli, we’d probably set a date for the next [developer meeting] (March 16),” Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko so. “Team proposed about 4 weeks after that for a potential mainnet fork, giving them 1 week to post + test a release, and then 2+ weeks of heads up for people to upgrade their nodes,” he explained.

Investment news

• Global alternative investment company SkyBridge capital and privately owned holding company Al Maskari Holding announced strategic, long-term blockchain software and service provider partnerships Casper Labs. Amidst Casper’s growing footprint in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), SkyBridge Capital and Al Maskari Holding will provide strategic support to Casper Labs, along with the broader Casper community, including business development, investor relations and marketing services. In addition, the companies buy subscription rights to become shareholders in Casper Labs,” the press release states.
• Digital collectibles platform Few and far between announced that it raised $10.5 million in a funding round led by a blockchain investment firm Pantera capitalwith participation from Cypher Capital, Huobi Ventures, Hypersphere, Lyrk Ventures, Mantis partners, K5 Globaletc. “The new funds will help further expand the platform’s capabilities, improve the user experience and increase the number of Web3 developers, plus IP owners who can benefit from the platform,” a press release said.
• ACTUALLYa venture from CEO Adam Lyons, founder of unicorn TheZebra.comannounced its $18 million seed round led by Poly chain, Flood gate founder Mike Maples Jr., and other strategic partners. The company also launched a phone plan comparison tool, REALLY.com, allowing individuals in the US to compare 56 carriers and 379 plans and switch to their service. “The ongoing and rapid adoption of Web3 and blockchain into our everyday lives has enabled an unprecedented period of change in telecommunications,” said Mike Maples Jr.
• Thousands of Australians who used do-it-yourself (DIY) pension funds or self-managed superannuation funds (SMFs) to invest in crypto are facing hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, Reuters reported. Assuming an average decline of 40% since the market peak, that would mean a drop of almost $600 million in the value of SMSF crypto investments, it said. Do-it-yourself superannuation funds account for a quarter of Australia’s A$3.4 trillion ($2.29 trillion) superannuation pool. There is roughly $880 billion in Australia’s SMSFs, with crypto accounting for $1.4 billion of that in the 2021 financial year, and that figure is likely to have increased since then.

Security news

• Web3 security platform Not usual announced the launch “as a one-stop shop for artists and collectors alike to shop and exhibit work,” the press release said. It launched a curated, moderated blacklist of fraudsters, which allows users to cross-check people and entities against a database of known bad actors. After $1.5 million in funding, the beta launch of NotCommon “aims to cut out fraud in the Web3 industry and strengthen trust and security in the space,” the team added.

Charity News

• Mete Umut Elmas, head of MENA Business Development of crypto exchange KuCoin, discussed the concept of crypto-donations at the Blockchain Life 2023 convention in Dubai, arguing that crypto-donations could encourage anonymous donations and enable greater equality, as well as introduce a tech-minded generation to philanthropy. Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) can also provide reliability in the management of funds, says the press release.