The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recommended that Nigeria license global cryptocurrency exchanges as a part of its economic reformation measures. According to a recent IMF report, the bid to integrate cryptocurrencies into its financial system aims to secure Nigeria’s position in the African cryptocurrency market. It recommends that “global crypto trading platforms be registered or…

Ethereum restaking protocol Eigenlayer has launched its token-claim process, or “airdrop,” for Season 1, Phase 1 rewards, according to a May 10 blog post from the protocol’s development team. The claims process will allow users who are owed the new EIGEN token to finally acquire it, after weeks of waiting. However, EIGEN is currently nontransferable,…

Ethereum layer-2 blockchain Starknet will soon allow artificial intelligence (AI) agents on its blockchain that can autonomously perform on-chain activities for users, such as optimizing yield and re-allocating portfolios. Giza — a firm aiming to bring AI to blockchains — raised $3 million in a pre-seed round led by CoinFund in July 2023 and is…

Coinbase is preparing for a future of a billion customers using decentralized applications on millions of blockchains safely and securely in a system integrating the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and Circle’s USD Coin. Coinbase head of tokenization Anthony Bassili, speaking at TokenizeThis 2024 in Miami, said Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 Base blockchain will save time on Know Your…

Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin believes the United States Securities and Exchange Commission is intentionally hindering innovation, which threatens the country’s existing financial landscape. Speaking at FT Live’s Crypto and Digital Asset summit in London, Lubin unpacked Consensys’s decision to sue the SEC after receiving a Wells notice from the U.S. securities regulator. “The SEC appears…

Amid an industry boom, crypto education initiatives are quickly gaining traction. On May 7, organizers of the Women in Tech Global Summit 2024 announced that they would incorporate Unstoppable Domain’s technology for its own Web3 top-level domain (TLD). Dubbed “.WITG,” the digital identity domain, assignable to each participant, will allow users to network as well as access…

Crypto users are clamoring to find the next big thing in the Social Finance (SocialFi) sector, according to analysts from K33 Research — who see it a growing corner of crypto despite being plagued by “perverse incentives.” In a May 8 research report, K33 DeFi analyst David Zimmerman wrote that following a recent Firend.tech airdrop, crypto users…

Ethereum scaling solution provider Optimism is looking to take its blockchain throughput a step further by onboarding layer-3 applications on top of the OP Stack. On May 8, the Optimism team said that they were welcoming layer-3s to the Superchain where they can build on the OP Stack and share revenue with the Optimism Collective. The OP Stack is…

The Democratic Party of Korea will request that the Financial Services Commission (FSC) reconsider its interpretation of the legal status of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), according to a local press report. Allowing spot ETFs with underlying virtual assets was one of the party’s campaign promises. An unnamed official of the Democratic Party policy committee told…

The Starknet Foundation announced a new grant program with $5 million worth of USDC for emerging projects on the network. The new $5 million Seed Grants Program aims to support at least 200 promising teams, with $25,000 in USD Coin per award recipient, offering a “final push” to help final-stage projects launch on Starknet, an Ethereum…