Announcements

Global fast-food franchise McDonald’s started to accept Bitcoin and Tether as a payment method in the city of Lugano in the region of Switzerland, which is becoming a leader in crypto adoption in Europe. It follows after the Plan B Foundation has enabled Bitcoin payments for merchants across the city. A short video of ordering…

Payments giant Mastercard launches Crypto Secure, a new software product designed to help banks and other card issuers identify and block suspicious transactions from crypto exchanges. The service is powered by CipherTrace, a blockchain security startup acquired by Mastercard last year. According to a CNBC report, Mastercard on Sept. 4 debuted a new piece of…

Sega, one of the largest Japanese gaming companies, has announced the upcoming launch of its first blockchain game, based on Sega’s Sangokushi Taisen franchise, in partnership with development company Double Jump Tokyo. The game’s blockchain elements will be built on Oasys, a Japanese scaling project. One of the most prominent Japanese gaming companies, Sega, has…

Top investment deals across the crypto sector over the last week (Sept. 24–30, 2022): Deribit raises $40 million from existing investors at a $400 million valuation Deribit, the largest Bitcoin options exchange by market share, has raised funds from existing investors at a $400 million valuation, The Block reported. The Panama-based exchange raised around $40…

Circle, the company behind the second-largest stablecoin USDC, announced on Sept. 28 that it will soon expand USDC support on five additional blockchains. Furthermore, the company announced a Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol to streamline the movement of USDC across networks. As the company’s CPO Nikhil Chandhok revealed at Circle’s Converge22 conference, USDC will be compatible with…

Top crypto news from the Middle East region over the last week (Sept. 24–30, 2022): First metaverse project 2117 launches in the UAE inspired by Dubai ruler’s vision The UAE-based Web3 pioneer BEDU launched the country’s first metaverse project under the name 2117, inspired by the ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum’s vision…