Today in Crypto: Bitcoin Suisse Joins Liquid Collective to Enable ETH Staking, METACO Partnered with DekaBank, Celsius ‘Abandoned Promise of Transparency from Start’

Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
__________

Investment news

• Swiss crypto financial services provider Bitcoin Suisse announced today that it joined Liquid Collective, the liquid staking protocol built and run by an independent collective of Web3 teams including The Liquid Foundation, Alluvial, Coinbase Cloud, Figment, Kiln, Kraken, and others. Per an announcement, once live, Bitcoin Suisse’s clients will have the ability to stake ethereum (ETH) through Liquid Collective and use the receipt token generated by its protocol (LsETH) to participate in Web3 and decentralized finance (DeFi). Also, LsETH holders will be protected against losses from slashable events via built-in coverage, it said.
• The Anoma Foundation, which fosters the development of the Anoma ecosystem, announced that it is making “a substantial sum of retroactive public goods funding available to projects that contribute to common causes of privacy and autonomy.” Also, per an announcement, in anticipation of the upcoming mainnet launch of Anoma’s first fractal instance, Namada, a proof-of-stake layer 1 for interchain asset-agnostic shielded transfers, the foundation plans to recommend a genesis block with at least 20% of initial token supply dedicated to retroactive public goods funding.

Banking news

• METACO, a provider of digital asset custody and orchestration technology, announced that it partnered with DekaBank, a provider of securities services and capital market solutions to the German Savings Banks Finance Group (Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe). METACO’s Harmonize platform was selected by DekaBank to manage its digital asset operations. This platform was developed in partnership with Tier 1 banks to enable the commercial launch of complex banking value propositions around digital assets, such as custody of cryptocurrencies and digital securities, said the press release.

Legal news

• A nearly 700-page report on the bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network by independent examiner Shoba Pillay stated that “behind the scenes, Celsius conducted its business in a starkly different manner than how it marketed itself to its customers in every key respect. […] Celsius abandoned its promise of transparency from its start.” The company operated a business that was much riskier than advertised and failed to report hundreds of millions in losses.
• Defunct crypto lender BlockFi was granted court approval to sell its crypto mining equipment as part of the effort to repay its creditors. According to a court order, the decision to allow BlockFi to sell the remaining assets is “fair, reasonable and appropriate under the circumstances.” Also, all qualified bids” must be sent by the February 20 deadline.

Regulation news

• Kazakhstan’s Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) published draft “enhancements” to its crypto exchange licensing framework Digital Asset Trading Facility (DATF) for public feedback. It proposed requirements for regulated exchanges in regard to the safekeeping and segregation of customer assets, as well as risk mitigation.

Gaming news

• Payment processor for the gaming industry ZEBEDEE and play-and-earn fantasy esports platform Stattrak announced a new product for fans of esports in some of the major competitive games, including Counter Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, Valorant, Rainbow Six Siege, and Dota 2. Stattrak, which started as a mobile app that lets users assemble fantasy teams in professional esports tournaments and earn bitcoin (BTC) rewards based on their team’s performance, now also features a web platform as well as more games, tournaments, and a new game mode, said a press release.

DeFi news

• Zero-knowledge proof startup Axiom launched as a ZKP coprocessor for Ethereum, providing a way for developers to leverage zero-knowledge proof technology to create on-chain applications. Per an announcement, Axiom can interoperate with any on-chain system, including base layer Ethereum and rollups, thus unlocking faster and more private decentralized applications (dapps).
• Web3 developer bloXmove joined the Web3 network peaq ecosystem to provide the layer-2 protocol layer for dapps focusing on mobility, charging, and parking on the peaq network, said an announcement. As its first project on peaq, bloXmove will build a Web3 alternative to popular ride-hailing apps, owned by drivers and riders instead of tech giants. It’s also inviting the community to participate in a hackathon for the project later in 2023.

Business news

• Identity verification firm Trulioo has launched a global identity platform for person and business verification to help businesses worldwide build trusted user experiences while achieving regulatory compliance and optimizing growth, it said. “The surge in online shopping, mobile payments, and digital currencies in recent years presents opportunities for innovation and growth. But it also poses challenges for businesses to mitigate fraud and meet evolving regulations,” said the press release.