Weekly Newsletter – 24 Feb 2023

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Weekly Summary

  • FTX Japan Resumes Crypto and Fiat Withdrawals
  • Ankr Token Surges 60%, Partners Microsoft for Enterprise-Grade Node Service
  • Blur Announces Airdrop, Surpassing Opensea for NFT Trading Market Dominance
  • Mastercard to Allow Crypto Payments in Web3 via USDC Settlements
  • Paxos in ‘Constructive Discussions with the SEC’

Industry Stories

FTX Japan Users Can Resume Withdrawing Funds in Fiat and Crypto: FTX Japan, the Japanese subsidiary of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, announced on Monday that their customers would be able to withdraw deposits of crypto and fiat currency starting from Feb 21. Withdrawals will be facilitated through Liquid Japan, a crypto trading platform purchased by FTX last spring. Before halting operations in November, FTX Japan was launched in June 2022 and was required to segregate client funds from its assets by local law.

Ankr partners with Microsoft to deploy enterprise blockchain node service: Ankr, a blockchain-based cloud computing platform, has partnered with Microsoft Azure to offer enterprise node services, expecting to bring more accessibility and efficiency to blockchain infrastructure solutions. The platform has also built partnerships with other major cloud service provider including AWS and Google Cloud. So far in 2023, Ankr’s native token ANKR has surged over 200%, fueled by the growing demand for decentralized finance (DeFi) services.

Blur Overtakes OpenSea as Ethereum NFT Trading Skyrockets: Blur, a new decentralized NFT marketplace built on Ethereum, is gaining popularity and surpassing the long-time leader OpenSea in trading volume. The marketplace is positioning itself as a more community-driven and user-friendly alternative to other NFT marketplaces. It has also announced an airdrop of 300 million extra tokens to users who have been trading NFTs on the platform, aiming to reward loyal traders, increase liquidity and attract more users.

Mastercard to Allow Crypto Payments in Web3 via USDC Settlements: Mastercard has fostered a partnership with web3 payment protocol Immerse, for it to support crypto payments through USDC on the Ethereum blockchain. The USDC settlement layer will be integrated with Mastercard’s existing infrastructure, enabling a seamless experience for both its 30 million merchants and 2.8 billion customers to initiate or receive payments in USDC. The move is expected to accelerate crypto adoption worldwide and bring it closer to mainstream use.

Paxos in talks with U.S. SEC over Binance stablecoin: Paxos is reportedly in “constructive” discussions with the US SEC over its Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin, citing an executive of the company. The blockchain infrastructure platform that issues and redeems BUSD on behalf of Binance, has received an order to cease offering the product from the New York Department of Financial Services earlier this month.

Product Highlight

While the market is heating up this year, some investors trade, some investors earn.

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(The abovementioned yields are real-time rates as of Feb 25, and will be updated timely based on market conditions.)

Matrixport News

From Feb 24 to Mar 5, Team Matrixport will attend ETHDenver, one of the world’s largest and longest-running Ethereum BUIDLAthon events. Matrixport provides secure and scalable digital assets financial services for institutions to manage their risk, portfolios, liquidity, and grow their businesses. Connect with our team and learn more about our latest developments onsite.

Matrixport’s recently published Private Wealth in Digital Assets Study identified “easier technology platforms” as the top catalyst for institutional investors’ adoption for virtual assets. On top of a good user interface, digital asset investment platforms also need to offer expert investment advice, similar to traditional banks. This is especially the case for more seasoned investors, who expressed in the research that they would prefer to invest through crypto asset managers that can offer more diverse and specialised investment services.

Read our blog about accessibility of digital assets.

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Grow and manage your digital wealth with the Matrixport app: 

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