Coinbase has been in the news lately, thanks to their latest $500 million investment decision and expansion efforts in Japan. Let’s take a look at that and all the other exciting events that happened in the industry this week. 

Bitcoin

El Salvador’s finance minister has revealed that economic agents in the Latin American country will not be required to accept Bitcoin, contradicting the government’s previous stance on their newly adopted currency. 

Largest asset manager in the world, Blackrock has invested in two Bitcoin mining companies, Marathon Digital Holdings, and Riot Blockchain.

Ethereum

A couple of days after they filed their paperwork, both VanEck and ProShares hastily withdrew their proposals for Ethereum futures, dampening the hopes for a crypto-ETF approval this year.

DeFi

Bloomberg has partnered with Galaxy Digital to launch the Bloomberg Galaxy DeFi Index. The Index will track the largest decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols by market value. 

Business

AH Capital Management, L.L.C. aka Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm working in the crypto sector, recently announced its latest investment in Yield Guild Games, to fund NFTs used in virtual worlds and blockchain-based games.

Leading US-based crypto exchange, Coinbase is set to purchase over $500 million worth of cryptocurrency assets to its balance sheet after gaining internal approval from its board of directors. 

Coinbase announces Japanese expansion via a partnership with the largest bank in the country, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. 

Technology

Polygon’s acquisition of the decentralized roll-ups platform Hermez Network cements its position as the go-to Layer 2 scaling solution. 

Multinational technology firm Microsoft, Chinese internet-based Alibaba Group Holding Limited, and  Carnegie Mellon University have teamed up to develop Argus, an anti-piracy solution that is set to run on the Ethereum blockchain.

Regulation

Crackdown on privacy coins suspected, as former lead Monero maintainer, Riccardo ‘Fluffypony’ Spagni was denied bail by the US court ahead of his extradition hearing on fraud charges. 

The President of the Dallas Federal Reserve, Robert Kaplan, stated that he believes the US Central Bank will eventually issue its own digital currency, believing that this is the last mile when it comes to the digitization of the payment system. 

NFT

WWE or World Wrestling Entertainment has entered the NFT space, announcing John Cena-inspired NFTs. The announcement comes with SummerSlam right around the corner, and the NFT will be accompanied with rare, never-been-sold before WWE memorabilia. 

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.