Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com continues to grow its presence in the MENA region with the receipt of a full payment service provider license from the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB). The license will permit the cryptocurrency exchange’s local subsidiary to offer e-money and fiat services, including the issuance of prepaid cards, throughout the Gulf Cooperation…

The Hashgraph Association (THA), a nonprofit organization building ecosystems using Hedera Hashgraph’s decentralized ledger technology, announced that it would work with stakeholders in Qatar to explore five digital asset use cases in the next 12 months. The organization said on its official LinkedIn platform that it would look into the tokenization of equities, real estate and sukuk, an…

The venture arm of the major blockchain security platform CertiK is working to promote Web3 adoption with a new multimillion-dollar investment targeting new industry projects. CertiK Ventures launched a $45-million investment plan on Sept. 19 to drive the development of high-potential Web3 projects, according to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph. The plan aims to accelerate…

The team behind Eclipse — the first Ethereum layer 2 that uses the Solana Virtual Machine to execute transactions — is set to launch its mainnet in October. “Public mainnet will be launching toward the end of October,” revealed Vijay Chetty, CEO of Eclipse Labs, in an interview with Cointelegraph at the Solana Breakpoint conference…

Germany’s second-largest financial institution, DZ Bank, has partnered with Boerse Stuttgart Digital to provide customers with cryptocurrency trading and custody services to its cooperative bank network. The collaboration will enable approximately 700 cooperative banks under DZ Bank’s umbrella to provide retail customers with an option to access digital assets like Bitcoin and Ether. The regulated platform’s…

Berachain, the hottest topic at Token 2049 in Singapore, could grow into a significant competitor to Solana. Berachain is branded as a “high-performance” layer-1 (L1) blockchain, aiming to turn liquidity into security through its unique proof-of-liquidity (POL) consensus mechanism. While most investors are preoccupied with altcoins like Ripple’s XRP overtaking Ether, some suggest that the real competitor…

Colin Butler, Global Head of Institutional Capital at Polygon Labs, believes that real-world asset tokenization for institutional clients may be the killer application for cryptocurrencies because it dramatically reduces costs and settlement time — becoming increasingly difficult for traditional financial institutions to ignore. “This technology is a massive disruptor for the entire global financial system,”…

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes believes the Federal Reserve’s recent rate cut was likely politically motivated and could impact markets and inflation. Speaking to Cointelegraph at Token2049 in Singapore on Sept. 18, Hayes shared his thoughts on the Fed’s recent action, speculating it could be part of an effort to bolster support for the Democrats. “I have a…

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated on Sept. 12 that he will no longer consider a network a “layer 2” if it has not reached “Stage 1” by the end of the year. “The era of rollups being glorified multisigs is coming to an end,” he stated, adding that “the era of cryptographic trust is upon us.”…

Two Republican lawmakers are demanding United States Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler answer questions about the classification of crypto airdrops by the end of the month. Representative Tom Emmer and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry said in a Sept. 17 letter to Gensler that they’re concerned after the SEC made “assertions about airdrops” in various…