Coinbase Bases, PayPal Stablecoins, Binance Exchanges and 20 Crypto Jokes

This cryptoweek in the cryptoverse: crypto! Glassnode found that long-term holders now control more BTC than ever, and we learned that crypto is now scarcely more supportive of the sex industry than the banking sector. Coinbase’s new Ethereum layer-2 blockchain Base went live on Wednesday, Coca-Cola and top DAOs joined the ‘Onchain Summer’ Web3 festival to celebrate Base launch, and Coinbase announced plans to buy back a portion of its corporate $1 billion debt. PayPal launched its PYUSD stablecoin, and it planned to generate revenue from its stablecoin in a number of ways, while US Congresswoman Maxine Waters criticized PayPal’s stablecoin launch saying the company should have waited for federal regulatory approval. Binance became the first fully licensed crypto exchange in El Salvador, Binance Labs maintained its dominance in crypto funding despite the regulatory challenges, the exchange’s latest proof-of-reserves report came under scrutiny following its depleting USDC reserves, and CEO Changpeng Zhao warned that the AI-enabled deepfake videos pose significant risks to crypto.

Then, Bitstamp declared its intention to “permanently” halt trading of certain altcoins for its users based in the US and it planned fresh fundraising through strategic investors, while Bitget announced a one-year partnership with Adam Devine. Huobi saw significant outflows of funds and a decline in its TVL amidst rumors of insolvency and investigations, and Kenyan police reportedly raided Worldcoin’s warehouse. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said that approximately 70% of USDC adoption originated from countries beyond the US, Galaxy Digital narrowed losses to $46 million and maintained a strong liquidity position at $696 million in Q2, and 3AC-founders-created OPNX proposed a takeover of the struggling crypto lender Hodlnaut. Amazon offered its 170 million prime subscribers the ability to claim exclusive in-game NFTs from popular blockchain games, y00ts NFT project once again migrated its base but this time from Polygon to Ethereum, and CoinGecko introduced a new category that lists crypto designated as securities by the US SEC.

Then then, a class-action lawsuit named 18 venture capital investment firms as defendants for their links with FTX, Sino Global Capital filed a claim worth $67.3 million on behalf of its Liquid Value fund against FTX, FTX’s lawyers filed a response to the creditor panel’s draft reorganization plans and disapproved the committee’s claims on the exchange’s lack of engagement, and Vitalik Buterin shared insights on Sam Bankman-Fried’s reputation within the industry. Meanwhile, hackers gained access to Blockchain Capital’s Twitter account and promoted a fake token giveaway, Cypher Protocol halted its smart contract following an exploit that saw an estimated $1 million stolen, and Curve Finance offered a $1.85 million bounty to anyone who can identify its exploiter.

Then then then, the Russian digital ruble pilot proper is set to begin next week with 600 citizens, Belarus planned to launch a digital version of its ruble for use in “cross-border” payments, the Bank of England established the CBDC Academic Advisory Group and was seeking specialists to join it, more Chinese citizens and firms were using the digital yuan to pay their taxes, and China’s Minsheng Bank teamed up with JD.com to launch a digital CNY-powered payment service. The first licenses in Hong Kong were issued to crypto companies under a new regulatory regime, and Blockchain.com received a major payment institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The UK central bank suggested that it remains committed to a systemic stablecoin regime, Nigeria unveiled plans to use blockchain to issue and verify National Youth Service Scheme certificates, the US Federal Reserve introduced a new set of guidelines aimed at closely monitoring banks’ involvement with crypto, and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said his Presidential campaign is officially accepting donations in BTC.