Samsung is working to launch a new crypto exchange – Crypto Weekly Update

This week, the total market capitalization exceeded €1.04 trillion. The decrease at the 7-day interval is 4.58%. Bitcoin decreased by 6.8% during the week to a current value of over €21,600. Bitcoin dominance is 39.7%.

Samsung Is Working to Launch a New Crypto Exchange

South Korean multinational company Samsung is building its own cryptocurrency exchange in collaboration with other members of the Korea Financial Investment Association. According to available news, Mirae Asset Securities, the largest investment banking company in South Korea, is also involved.

Following the news shared on August 22, seven South Korean securities companies, including Samsung, are planning to open a virtual asset company. These companies have reportedly started obtaining licenses from financial authorities in the second half of 2022, with plans to launch the crypto exchange in the first half of 2023.

Electronics manufacturing giant Samsung is involved in the creation of the exchange through Samsung Securities. Samsung Securities is reportedly currently conducting a study to help it decide how to enter the blockchain business through so-called security tokens.

The firms may have been motivated to form a joint crypto exchange under the influence of the easing of cryptocurrency regulations under President Yun Seok-yeol’s government, which began in May. South Korea’s Financial Services Commission plans to advance a Digital Assets Framework Act that could create a more open industry. Source

Crypto Cards in Brazil

Latin American crypto company Ripio has launched a prepaid debit card in Brazil that allows direct payments in cryptocurrencies as well as cashback for purchases in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin.

The new debit card will allow payments using Brazilian reals and 28 cryptocurrencies that Ripio has listed on its platform. Ripio CEO Sebastian Serrano said the company is considering adding rewards in the form of cashback in cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin.

The company hopes to issue 250,000 cards by the end of the year, which were developed in partnership with Visa, and offer the product to the millions of users it has in the South American country. A digital version of the card is already available to interested clients.

The company also plans to launch a similar type of debit card in Argentina later this year. At the same time, it does not rule out launching it in other countries where the company operates, such as Uruguay, Mexico, Colombia and Spain. Source

Tether Is Fully Covered

The latest report from Tether Holdings Limited, the issuer of the largest stablecoin on the crypto market, has revealed important information from an independent audit of the company’s performance over the previous quarter. The company’s auditor was BDO Italia, which valued the company’s assets as of June 30, 2022.

Tether had previously announced a commitment to decreasing its commercial paper holdings by the end of August 2022. Data from the report revealed a 58% decrease in commercial paper exposure since the previous quarter from $20 billion to $8.5 billion.

Tether’s Chief Technology Officer Paolo Ardoino said on Twitter that Tether plans to continue to reduce its exposure to commercial paper to $200 million by the end of August and ideally zero them out by the following October.

The audit showed that the total amount of consolidated assets held by Tether at the time of the audit was just over $66.4 billion. The total amount of consolidated liabilities equaled nearly $66.2 billion, meaning that the USDT stablecoin was fully backed by the company’s assets at the time of the audit.

Beginning in May 2021, Tether began publishing quarterly statements of its reserves intended to back the stablecoin after reaching a settlement with the New York Attorney General. The publication of regular quarterly statements is in response to a lawsuit filed against Tether, in which the lawsuit alleged that USDT was not fully backed by fiat reserves in the past. Source

Poll: Parents Want Cryptocurrency Education in Schools

A recently released survey from online education platform study.com found that more than two-thirds of parents and college graduates in the United States who understand or are involved with cryptocurrencies think cryptocurrencies should be taught in schools so that students can learn more about the future of the new economy.

According to the survey, up to 64% of parents and 67% of college graduates surveyed believe cryptocurrencies should be part of mandatory education. However, in the Metaverse and NFTs, the survey results were markedly different. Only 35% of participants believe that the Metaverse should be included in the curriculum, while only 25% of respondents think so for NFTs.

Participation in the survey was conditional on passing a literacy test on cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology, Metaverse and NFTs to ensure that subjects had a sufficient understanding of the topics. A total of 884 US parents and 210 US college graduates participated in the survey.

The University of Connecticut and Arizona State University are among the US colleges that have already introduced introductory courses on blockchain technology and crypto applications. According to Professor Marianne Lewis of Connecticut State, the 14-week elective course at their university is designed to help students learn how to manage cryptocurrencies and how such digital assets impact our economy. Source

European Central Bank Tackles Crypto Licensing

The European Central Bank’s Banking Supervision Division said in a statement last week that it will take steps towards regulating digital assets, as the current national regulatory frameworks governing crypto-assets differ significantly across EU countries. The main aim of the measures is to harmonize regulatory rules.

The ECB further stated that it will apply the criteria from the Capital Requirements Directive – in effect since 2013 – to assess licensing requests for crypto-related activities and services. In assessing applications, the ECB will look at firms’ business models, internal governance and the complexity of the service provision. In addition, the ECB said it will rely on national Anti-Money Laundering (AML) authorities and the financial intelligence units of respective countries to provide data necessary to assess potential risks.

“The higher the complexity or relevance of the crypto business, the higher the level of knowledge and experience in the field of crypto should be. Senior managers or board members with relevant IT knowledge and chief risk officers with robust experience in this area are important safeguards.” The ECB said in a statement.

According to the ECB, an analysis of the roles and scenarios that cryptocurrencies can play in Europe is currently underway. Once the MiCA regulatory framework is approved, global regulators will be able to start standardizing rules for crypto service providers across the European Union. Source

Cardano in Trouble

Cardano stake pool operators have discovered a critical bug in the last version of the blockchain’s client software that creates incompatible forks on the testnet.

Adam Dean, a leading ecosystem developer and former Cardano stake pool operator, tweeted a warning late Thursday that the Cardano testnet, which has been running for two years, has become incompatible with the current version of the blockchain’s client software. According to Dean, the Cardano testnet is “catastrophically broken” due to a bug in the v1.35.2 version of the client.

After the bug was discovered, Cardano released a new client software, Cardano Node 1.35.3, which is incapable of syncing with the original testnet and is currently running on two new testnets without any block history. Dean further stated that the rush of the Vasil hard fork by the IOHK made him feel uncomfortable and that Cardano could have faced a catastrophe if the community didn’t catch the bugs in time.

The price of the Cardano coin also reacted to the negative news. The network’s native cryptocurrency ADA plummeted from $0.54 to $0.46 in one day, a 13% drop. Source

Start investing safely in cryptocurrencies now.