The Bank of London has proposed to buy Silicon Valley Bank’s British subsidiary.
The Bank of London is a clearing bank in the United Kingdom and had proposed the deal to the UK Treasury and Bank of England.
A consortium of investors that includes private equity firms leads the Bank of London.
Bank of London co-founder and chief executive Anthony Watson said in a statement: “Silicon Valley Bank cannot be allowed to fail given the vital community it serves.”
He added: “This is a unique opportunity to ensure the UK has a more diversified banking sector, whilst allowing continuity of service to SVB’s UK client base.”
UK authorities also drafted a rescue plan for startups and tech firms hit by the SVB collapse, including cash bailouts for numerous tech firms.
UK Government Response to SVB Crisis
According to a statement from UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, the Bank of England had confirmed that SVB had a “limited presence in the UK” and did not “perform functions critical to the financial system.”
It added it understood the “level of concern” the collapse raised for SVB UK customers, namely impacts on “cashflow positions in the short term.”
Hunt stated: “The UK has a world leading tech sector, with a dynamic start-up and scale-up ecosystem. The government recognises that, given the importance of Silicon Valley Bank to its customers, its failure could have a significant impact on the liquidity of the tech ecosystem.”
Downing Street would treat the issue as a “high priority” and launch talks between the Bank of England Governor, British Prime Minister, and Chancellor at the weekend.
Hunt concluded: “The government is working at pace on a solution to avoid or minimise damage to some of our most promising companies in the UK and we will bring forward immediate plans to ensure the short term operational and cashflow needs of Silicon Valley Bank UK customers are able to be met.”
Coadec Statement on SVB Collapse
A further statement from Coadec, a coalition representing British tech firms and startups, work with HM Treasury “remains ongoing.”
The organisation said discussions were “ongoing with potential buyers for SVB UK.” There were numerous potential measures to address “the immediate liquidity and banking problems” under consideration, the statement read.
It aimed to release an announcement “before the market opens on Monday,” Coadec added.
It continued: “The Government has worked incredibly hard over the past several days and we have to give them great credit. At the same time, we have made clear in no uncertain terms the risks that are posed to the UK startup ecosystem and innovation economy if the deal does not do what it needs to in helping companies at risk.”
Coadec concluded that the United States Federal Reserve aimed to resolve the crisis in a way that “fully protects all depositors.”
Silicon Valley Bank has long supported tech startups and Web3 firms, and its recent collapse is the world’s biggest since the 2008 financial crisis.
Taipei, Taiwan, 13th March, 2023, Chainwire
Bloxmith, the player-first Web3 gaming studio, today announced that the open beta for Raiders Rumble, its unique 1v1 squad battler game for mobile powered by the Flow blockchain, is now available for download on Google Play and Apple App Store.
Raiders Rumble challenges players to apply fast-paced strategic decision making in countering the moves of their opponents. Built as a strategic esports game for the masses, it features a daily rotation of tournament modes where the top 50 percent of participants can win in-game items or RUMB tokens, Raiders Rumble’s project token.
Furthermore, players do not need a crypto wallet or digital collectibles (NFTs) to start playing and enjoying the game. To maintain competitive integrity, digital collectibles in Raiders Rumble do not provide any in-battle advantage, though they have several other unique features that make them highly valued by collectors.
“For our first game, we wanted to pioneer a new type of competitive mobile strategy game that would help bridge the gap between traditional and Web3 gamers,” said Bloxmith Co-founder and CEO Wayne Lee. “We are delighted to be working on the Flow blockchain – it solves the scalability problem for games and digital collectibles. With frictionless onboarding, social logins and familiar payment methods, Flow is built from the ground up to make it easier for mainstream users and brands to transition from Web2 to Web3.”
As part of the launch and esports nature of the game, Raiders Rumble will host three Flow-sponsored bonus tournaments. Strategy gamers will have the opportunity to win FLOW tokens, with a total prize pool worth $USD 120,000 in FLOW up for grabs for the best strategy gamers around. These Flow-sponsored tournaments are scheduled to take place between March 23-31, with more details on the Raiders Rumble website here.
“Raiders Rumble is a compelling example of a mobile game that can simultaneously appeal to a mainstream audience while introducing them to the power of Web3 gaming powered by Flow,” said Chirag Narang, Head of Product at Flow. “The Bloxmith team’s innovative take on game design and player onboarding aligns strongly with Flow’s vision and goals for our ecosystem around gaming and onboarding mainstream users to Web3.”
About Bloxmith
Founded in December 2021 by a group of passionate gaming veterans from Riot Games, Blizzard Entertainment, Pumpkin VR and Facebook Gaming, Bloxmith’s mission is to create player-first games that are still fun even after 1000+ plays. Bloxmith’s investors include Infinity Ventures Crypto, Dapper Labs, Vayala, Moon Holdings, Bitoro, SEA Pixel, and Results.io.
For more information, visit: Website | Twitter | LinkedIn | Discord
About Flow
Flow is a decentralized layer one blockchain designed for onboarding mainstream consumers. Frictionless, secure and eco-friendly, Flow empowers developers to innovate and push the limits that will bring the next billion to Web3. Today, Flow is home to a thriving ecosystem of creators from top brands, development studios, venture-backed startups, crypto leaders, and more. For more information, visit www.flow.com
Contact
Deon Moh
[email protected]
Seattle, Washington, 13th March, 2023, Chainwire
Massive Gaming, NEOWIZ’s overseas affiliate, will launch the global social casino hold’em game House of Poker in March 2023, following the successful opening of the Play and Earn social casino game House of Slots.
House of Poker is an iTech Labs certified global social hold’em game providing users with a fair and realistic gaming experience through various hold’em tournament contents and live face chat. Through the Play and Earn system, users will be able to receive stored rewards in a decentralized way. This provides an opportunity for users of House of Poker to more fully own their value in the game. To this end, the IntellaX ecosystem developed by NEOWIZ in partnership with Polygon is already being serviced globally.
With the adoption of USDC as a stable coin global users can play various social casino hold’em games for free and earn blockchain Stable Token (USDC) with specific goods provided by the game. The adoption of this stablecoin helps future-proof the game in case there is a decline in the value of the game’s own token which has been the biggest issue in existing WEB3-based games released so far. As Play and Earn users contribute to the game and receive rewards we hope that users will enjoy the benefits of participating in future events.
In the meantime, the experimental combination of Play and Earn games based on blockchain technology, mainly for small and medium-sized game developers, has been active, but it has become an economic structure that does not provide stable and fair benefits to users as it benefits only developers due to token minting profits. However, House of Poker is the world’s first social casino hold’em game service based on blockchain technology that applies the Play and Earn structure that can fairly benefit users according to the contribution of stable USDC.
For more information, visit:
Discord | Telegram | Twitter | Medium
About Massive Gaming
Massive Gaming is an affiliate of NEOWIZ, focused on the production and publication of Crypto-enabled games and services. Learn more at our Medium – https://medium.com/massivegaming
Homepage: https://massivegaming.io/
Contacts
PR Manager
William Murphy
Massive Gaming
[email protected]
Jake Kim
Massive Gaming
[email protected]
Silvergate Bank, the banking institution linked to troubles with now-defunct cryptocurrency platform FTX, announced on Wednesday it would “wind down operations.”
The Bank’s parent company, Silvergate Capital Corporation, said in a press release it would close operations due to “recent industry and regulatory developments.”
It also plans a “full repayment of all deposits,” according to its liquidation plan.
The news comes after numerous cryptocurrency platforms, including Paxos, Coinbase, Gemini, Galaxy Digital, and BitStamp said they would sever ties to the bank.
Their announcement comes after the firm faced lawsuits for facilitating FTX and Alameda Research payments despite the latter two filing for bankruptcy shortly after.
Silvergate Capital said it would close its exchange network on 3 March due to a “risk-based decision.”
The embattled bank also sparked the ire of banking and cryptocurrency firms after it stated it would delay filing its annual 10-K report, raising suspicion about its financial situation.
KuCoin faces a lawsuit after New York State Attorney General, Letitia James, filed the measure on Thursday.
In a press release, she accused the cryptocurrency firm of violating securities laws, citing unregistered tokens as securities.
The regulator is the first to accuse Ether of becoming a security, despite the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) consistently designating Bitcoin and Ether as commodities.
The regulator claims that the Martin Act allows regulators to designate Ether tokens as securities, allowing them to file criminal charges against violators.
The NYAG said in a statement, “KuCoin claimed to be an exchange, but is not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as a national securities exchange or appropriately designated by the [CFTC] as is required under New York Law.
“KuCoin also failed to comply with a subpoena issued by OAG to provide more information about its digital asset trading activities in the state. KuCoin has already been found to be operating without proper licensure in multiple jurisdictions including the Seychelles, Canada, and the Netherlands.”
Shortly after the NYAG publicised the lawsuit, ETH dropped 8 percent, with other cryptocurrencies following suit.
The statement also argues that KuCoin Earn, the platform’s staking and cryptocurrency lending offering, allowed NYAG to create a KuCoin account with a New York IP address. The exchange allegedly charged a fee for buying and selling tokens, as well as depositing tokens on the KuCoin Earn scheme.
James hopes to receive a court order to block KuCoin from holding exchange status and block the firm from trading in New York. The office also plans to geo-block KuCoin and block access to its apps and services.
The news comes after the NYAG launched further measures against Nexo, Celcius, CoinEx for allegedly offering unregistered securities to customers.
Singapore-registered cryptocurrency company MinePlex is refuting recent allegations of illegal activities in Vietnam. The company denies all claims made in a report by Vietnamese TV channel VTV, which accused MinePlex of illegal activities.
MinePlex clarifies that it is registered in Singapore as MINEPLEX PTE. LTD. Thus it operates as a legal entity in accordance with the Singapore law. Operating since 2020, MinePlex has brought to market working Blockchain-based products such as Explorer, Wallet, Payments, Finance, Marketplace and more. “Already 2.5 years ago, the MinePlex technology was recognized as unique in the world media.
The MinePlex blockchain is based on the work of two tokens. One mines the other. This is written in a mathematical algorithm and the company cannot interrupt this process in any way.”
The company also partners with a major Brazil-based bank when offering finance-related services, such as payment cards and accounts, and its services can’t be qualified as illegal.
MinePlex notes that VTV journalists took out of context the phrase of MinePlex CFO, Fyodor Bogorodsky, who was discussing the potential growth of the PLEX token to $1,500 in the future. Bogorodsky’s words were not a guarantee or promise and were taken out of the context.
In addition, MinePlex’s products and employees were verified by the well-known international cybersecurity firm CertiK. The MinePlex team underwent a KYC check from CertiK in July 2022. All team members were verified, interviewed by independent experts of the company, and passed a financial audit.
MinePlex was recognized as a top blockchain project in 2021 by International Business Times, named Top Digital Finance Company 2021 by Seeking Alpha, and ranked first among top crypto projects of 2023 by Nasdaq.
MinePlex is disappointed that VTV did not verify and clarify the content before publishing subsequent articles that caused confusion, affecting the company’s reputation. The company is seeking a rebuttal from VTV to clear its name and restore its reputation.
MinePlex is committed to providing reliable and trustworthy services to its customers. The company is making every effort to contact the TV company to clarify the situation. However, the TV team does not respond to letters from the company and the company’s lawyer in Vietnam. MinePlex is confident in its legal bases and operating conditions and will continue to defend its reputation and honor.
MinePlex is a new generation digital ecosystem that creates advanced and modern payment solutions based on traditional financial, blockchain, and digital application technologies. The company has always been transparent about its operations and is committed to delivering high-quality services to its customers.
Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin announced on Thursday that he had dumped a large number of altcoin holdings this week, stating they had “no cultural or moral value.”
The cryptocurrency expert sold off 9.9 billion CULTDAO native tokens (CULT) for roughly 58 Ether (ETH), along with MOPS and BITE holdings.
PeckShield revealed the news, adding that the sale totalled up to 220 Ether, or $331,705 USD at the time of writing.
In a statement on Reddit, Buterin said: “$BITE and most other coins being discussed on this forum are shitcoins, have no redeeming cultural or moral value, and will probably lose you most of the money you put into them. I anti-endorse these projects to the greatest extent.”
The news comes after Buterin burned Shibu Inu (SHIB) holdings valued at $6 billion USD after receiving half of the total supply in circulation.
In November last year, Buterin added Scourge to Ethereum’s roadmap to tackle censorship and boost network decentralisation. This aimed to expand the number of transactions per second to roughly 100,000 by using rollups as an upscaling technique.
He added the update aimed to boost the network’s proof-of-stake capabilities, providing “reliable and credibly neutral transaction inclusion” and avoiding protocol risks. This would block exploitative mining transactions on the network as well as investors leveraging tools to create censorship.
Bitcoin has stumbled under $20,000 after several backtracks in the crypto market, just after a massive surge in prices across 2023.
Thursday saw Bitcoin’s market capitalisation fall 7.7 percent compared to the previous day, data from Trading View showed.
Similar trends took place in November 2021, when Bitcoin plummeted from $69,000 USD to $16,600 up to early 2023. External influences included the collapse of FTX, Voyager Digital, Genesis, and Terra/Luna.
Despite this, Bitcoin and numerous cryptocurrencies surged in February this year, with the former topping $25,000. However, later in the month, the United States Federal Reserve revealed high levels of inflation that would require greater-than-anticipated efforts.
Fed Reserve chair Jerome Powell aimed to reduce inflation to 2 percent to stabilise the economy.
Recently Silvergate Bank also collapsed due to its ties to disgraced cryptocurrency exchange FTX and its subsidy, Alameda Research. The former facilitated the latter’s payments despite filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on 11 November, just days after receiving assistance from Silvergate Bank.
Numerous cryptocurrency exchanges such as Coinbase, Gemini, and others have severed ties with the troubled bank. The Biden administration said that it was aware of the situation and would continue monitoring the Silvergate collapse closely.
British officials at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) discussed their agency’s work on crypto regulation with the House of Commons Treasury Committee on Wednesday.
At the meeting, organisational chair Ashley Alder said the FCA was halfway “through a quite ambitious reset” amid the nation’s Financial Services and Markets Bill.
The legislation is currently under review in Parliament.
Both Alder and chief executive of the company, Nikhil Rathi, addressed inquiries on numerous financial topics at the Committee hearing.
In a letter to the Committee, former FCA chair Charles Randell wrote: “speculative crypto is gambling pure and simple and it should be regulated and taxed as such.”
Alder responded that “this is not going to be looked at from a regulatory perspective other than by financial regulators,” adding financial regulation “needs to be appropriately tough.”
The news comes as the Bill moves through Westminster, allowing the FCA to regulate the cryptocurrency industry without eliminating crypto risks.
Rathi added: “We are not going to be able to put in place a framework that protects consumers from losses,” adding that UK cryptocurrency holders only owned no more than “several hundred pounds.”
The news comes as the United Kingdom drafted a framework to explore using Web3 technologies, including cryptocurrencies, decentralised finance (DeFi), and others.
United States Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell offered his thoughts on the cryptocurrency industry at a Tuesday Senate Banking Committee meeting.
He hoped the Web3 technology could feature “productive innovation that makes lives better” and that the Fed did not want to “stifle innovation.”
In his statement, he said,
“We have to be open to the idea that – somewhere in there – there is technology that can be featured in productive innovation that makes people’s lives better […] We don’t want to stifle innovation.”
Powell and the Crypto Space
The news comes after Powell discussed concerns over the cryptocurrency industry in his two-day testimony, which is set to continue up to Wednesday.
He added that the Fed had seen a “remarkable set of events in the crypto space” and “quite a lot of turmoil” over the last year due to multiple fraud and bankruptcy cases.
He added: “We see in crypto activity lots of things that suggest that regulated financial institutions should be quite cautious in doing things in the crypto space.”
The news comes as banking regulators in the US have cracked down on cryptocurrency firms such as now-defunct crypto exchange FTX, Voyager Digital, Genesis, and Terra/Luna, among others.
Additionally, Silvergate Bank proved risky to the crypto and banking industries after regulators found it had facilitated transactions for FTX days before the latter collapsed into bankruptcy.
A Workable Framework?
Speaking further, Powell called for a “workable legal framework” for US digital assets, adding,
“People are going to assume when they deal with something that looks like a money market fund that that has the same regulation as a money market fund or a bank deposit. So stablecoins need some attention in that respect.”
Concluding, he said that stablecoins could continue in the financial sector with “appropriate regulation.” Ha added that there were “real concerns about permissionless public blockchain” which were “so susceptible to fraud, to money laundering and all of those things.”