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Do Kwon, the founder of Terraform Laboratories and the creator of the stablecoin TerraUSD (UST), has been charged with fraud by the US federal authorities in New York hours after Montenegrin police detained him. Kwon has been the target of several investigations and was even on Interpol's red notice after UST and its $40 billion ecosystem collapsed last year, sending shockwaves across the crypto markets.
Apart from that, here are some of the top stories from the crypto industry this week.
According to a recent report by Statista, the Indian cryptocurrency ecosystem is anticipated to include more than 156 million members by the end of 2023. On the list of the top five nations with the largest crypto markets, India came in second place to the US.
India is also anticipated to surpass the US, UK, Russia, and Japan in terms of adoption this year. According to the analysis, India’s cryptocurrency revenue is expected to reach $3.33 billion this year as the number of crypto owners in India is estimated to grow by 22 per cent and reach 191 million in the next four years.
The crypto sector, which remained unregulated for a large part of its existence, is now being mainstreamed by the Indian government. The government's recent inclusion of cryptocurrencies under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which designates exchanges and providers of virtual digital assets (VDA) services as reporting entities, is evidence of this.
The popular cross-platform messaging app Telegram announced that its users can now send each other tether (USDT), the world's largest stablecoin by market cap, within chats.
With this, Telegram users can buy, send, and process peer-to-peer (P2P) payments using USDT with zero transaction fees. In 2022, Bitcoin (BTC) and toncoin (TON) were added to its marketplace, with the latter also available to send within chats.
While USDT is interoperable with multiple blockchain networks, Telegram asserts to support the TRC20 version of cryptocurrency at prime time.
This big integration enables Telegram users crypto alternatives to choose from and a wallet bot to manage assets and handle all P2P payments without complexity.
Nigeria is seeing an increased acceptance of the CBDC nearly 18 months after introducing its own central bank digital currency (CBDC), the eNaira, as the country struggles with significant shortages of national fiat reserves.
Nigeria experienced a severe cash shortage as a result of the central bank's decision to switch out smaller denomination banknotes for larger ones amid rising inflation.
Due the lack of physical cash forced Nigerians to use the eNaira. In a country where cash accounts for about 90% of transactions, the value of eNaira transactions increased 63% to 22 billion nairas ($47.7 million).
Nigeria is the largest country with an operating CBDC, with the remaining ones being small island nations in the Caribbean.
Tech giant Microsoft is working on an Ethereum-based Web3 wallet for its flagship browser, allowing users to send and receive digital assets and NFTs.
The wallet will generate an ETH address following the onboarding process so that users can receive funds through the Ethereum network. Thevwallet is currently in a limited testing phase and is not yet available to the public.
According to reports, the wallet will be noncustodial, with Microsoft having no access to passwords and recovery keys, while it will also be “embedded in Edge” as opposed to being an installed browser extension.
Microsoft's this action is part of a recent push to considerably expand Edge's offers and functionalities. Edge has traditionally lagged behind rivals like Google's Chrome and Apple's Safari in terms of popularity.
Polygon and Immutable, two potent Ethereum scaling solutions have joined forces to create a gaming blockchain in a push to accelerate the adoption of Web3 gaming.
Immutable revealed that it would employ Polygon's zero-knowledge technology to build Immutable zkEVM, a new network that aims to accelerate and simplify the process of producing Web3-enabled games.
Polygon’s zkEVM scaling technology seeks to lower transaction costs while remaining compatible and secure with the layer-1 blockchain Ethereum, which is critical for the long-term growth of the blockchain and its ecosystem.
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Disclaimer: This article was authored by Giottus Crypto Exchange as a part of a paid partnership with The News Minute. Crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and can be highly risky. There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions. Please do your own research before investing and seek independent legal/financial advice if you are unsure about the investments.