“Musicians who distribute their work on streaming platforms typically wait weeks to get paid for the traffic they generate. Paperchain Inc., a startup that just raised pre-seed money, says it has a way to get that down to a few days and produce a steady stream of income for musicians. The New York-based startup uses loans from decentralized finance, or DeFi, and estimates what an artist’s daily streaming traffic is worth in order to fast-track payments.”

“Visa Inc. has joined rival Mastercard Inc. as an investor in Deserve, the credit-card technology startup’s chief executive officer said in an interview. “Our partnership with Visa in crypto will power interesting use cases around rewards, payments and settlements for credit card transactions,” Deserve co-founder and CEO Kalpesh Kapadia said.  Deserve launched a Visa credit card in partnership with cryptocurrency financial services provider BlockFi in July.”

“A top U.S. bank regulator said U.S. officials are looking to provide a clearer path for banks and their clients that are looking to hold cryptocurrencies, in order to keep control over the fast-developing asset. Jelena McWilliams, who chairs the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, told Reuters in an interview on Monday that a team of U.S. bank regulators is trying to provide a roadmap for banks to engage with crypto assets.”

“Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions, today announced a strategic relationship with Bakkt (NYSE: BKKT), a trusted digital asset platform that enables consumers to buy, sell, send and spend a range of digital assets. The combination of expansive capabilities from Fiserv, including the ability to move funds into and out of mobile wallets, with Bakkt’s digital asset platform will enable practical uses of crypto and emerging asset classes.”

“Singapore-based payments unicorn Nium has rolled out a crypto-as-a-service (CaaS) offering aimed at financial institutions. Nium provides turn-key purpose-built API suites for new and traditional finance companies. Its latest offering seeks to provide ready-made tools amid a period of high demand in crypto.The company said its new CaaS will provide institutions with “in-demand capabilities” for crypto investment and initially supports up to five cryptos, according to a statement on Monday.Through an API connection to its platform, the firm says its clients can embed crypto marketplace services, along with KYC, regulatory monitoring, brokerage, custody, and processing.”

“Today at Money20/20, Mastercard (NYSE: MA) and Bakkt (NYSE: BKKT) announced a multifaceted partnership to make it easier for merchants, banks and fintechs in the U.S. to embrace and offer a broad set of cryptocurrency solutions and services. Consumers, in turn, will experience expanded access to the digital asset ecosystem. Bakkt extends Mastercard’s ecosystem of cryptocurrency partners enabling Crypto-as-a-Service, which provides quick access to cryptocurrency capabilities.”

“Bitcoin’s record rally helped push the value of assets used in decentralized finance to $100 billion for the first time, according to data compiled by DeFi Pulse . DeFi Pulse calculates the amount by combining the balance of Ether and other assets held in smart contracts settled on the Ethereum blockchain and multiplying them by their price in dollars. Lending on cryptocurrency platforms rose 14.9% from last week to $50.7 billion, according to DeFi Pulse. Cryptocurrency exchange transactions on DeFi networks climbed 8.6%. The number of Bitcoin used in decentralized finance rose 8% to 209,575 from 194,130 a week earlier. The number of Ether used increased 3.5%.”

“New York’s attorney general ordered two unlicensed cryptocurrency lending platforms to cease operating in the state as authorities continue to clamp down on crypto firms over fraud concerns. The names of the companies were not disclosed. In an order, the Office of the Attorney General said it had evidence that the platforms were illegally selling or offering security products without being registered with the state as a broker-dealer. They have 10 days to close up shop in New York. In a separate order, the state AG required three other unnamed crypto platforms to submit detailed explanations of their business models, including the nature of any lending and deposit products. Responses must be returned by Nov. 1.”

“Bakkt (“Bakkt”), a trusted digital asset marketplace that enables consumers to buy, sell, send and spend digital assets, today announced a partnership with Google to extend the reach and usability of digital assets to meet rapidly evolving consumer demand and preferences. Bakkt users will be able to add their virtual Bakkt® Visa® Debit Card (“Bakkt Card”) into Google Pay to purchase everyday goods and services online, in-store, or wherever Google Pay is accepted. Digital assets such as bitcoin will be converted to fiat currency for these payments to occur.”

“Ripple Labs Inc. is starting a $250 million fund to help creators of non-fungible tokens, in another sign of just how hot the NFT market has gotten. The Creator Fund will provide NFT creators with the financial, creative and technical support needed to explore and craft premium NFTs and other tokenization projects on the XRP Ledger, Ripple said in a statement Wednesday. While the best-known NFTs tend to be art and collectibles, the fund will aim to support other use cases as well, like interactive experiences and fractional ownership, the statement said, adding that Mintable, mintNFT and VSA Partners will also be involved.”

“Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is going deeper into traditional financial services, allowing users to deposit paychecks directly into their online accounts. Coinbase said Monday that its U.S. customers will be able to use the direct deposit service for any percentage of their paycheck. They can hold their money in dollars or immediately transfer it into cryptocurrencies like bitcoin with no fees.”

“Michael Anderson mined bitcoin in his dorm room and left a corporate job to invest in cryptocurrency projects. When he bought his first home in San Francisco this year, he didn’t turn to a bank. Instead, he borrowed against his cryptocurrency. Crypto enthusiasts such as Mr. Anderson are tapping their holdings to buy homes, cars and, often, more crypto. They are getting these loans from upstart nonbank lenders and automated, blockchain-based platforms.”

“Cryptocurrency companies want to tap into the Federal Reserve payments systems that traditional banks use to move money around quickly. The banks are pushing back. The companies include Avanti Bank, which aims to provide custody services for institutional investors in cryptocurrencies, and Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange platform. They say direct access to the Fed’s payment systems would allow them to more quickly and cheaply process orders from customers buying and selling digital assets. Currently they must partner with traditional banks that have accounts with the Fed.”

“Microsoft has been awarded a U.S. patent for software it says can help users develop blockchain applications by making it easier and more efficient to create crypto tokens for different distributed ledgers. According to the patent, creating and managing tokens is currently “difficult and cumbersome” due to the lack of standardization across different blockchains.Microsoft’s patent describes a ledger-independent system for helping users to create tokens, and for managing them across different networks.”

“The quest for legitimacy in the United States is leading Binance.com, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, to pursue an initial public offering of its American unit. But for a company founded on secrecy — as cryptocurrency firms typically are — the going could be slow and fitful.”

“PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL ) today announced the launch of a new service enabling its customers in the UK1 to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency with PayPal. This new service starts rolling out this week. Customers can choose from four types of cryptocurrencies—Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. By accessing their PayPal account via the website or the mobile app, they can view real-time crypto prices, access educational content to help answer commonly asked questions, and learn more about cryptocurrencies, including the opportunities and risks.”

“U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler warned that decentralized finance (DeFi) projects aren’t immune to oversight by the markets’ regulator. DeFi projects have features that make them look like the type of entities regulated by the SEC, Gensler said in an interview Wednesday with the Wall Street Journal.Even though they are decentralized, with no central entity in charge, DeFi projects that reward participants with incentives or digital tokens could enter territory that is subject to SEC regulation, he said.”

“Walmart is looking for a director-level executive to oversee digital currency and cryptocurrency products. In a LinkedIn job listing posted early in the morning of Sunday, Aug. 15, Walmart is advertising the new position of digital currency and cryptocurrency product lead. According to the posting, the new position will be responsible for “developing the digital currency strategy and product roadmap.””

“Hackers have started returning some of the $600 million they stole in what’s likely to be one of the biggest cryptocurrency thefts ever. The cybercriminals exploited a vulnerability in Poly Network, a platform that looks to connect different blockchains so that they can work together.”

“PayPal-owned Venmo is expanding its support for cryptocurrency with today’s launch of a new feature that will allow users to automatically buy cryptocurrency using the cash back they earned from their Venmo credit card purchases. Unlike when buying cryptocurrency directly, these automated purchases will have no transaction fees associated with them — a feature Venmo says is not a promotion, but how the system will work long term. Instead, a cryptocurrency conversion spread is built into each monthly transaction. Cardholders will be able to purchase Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash through the new “Cash Back to Crypto” option, rolling out now to the Venmo app.”

“The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday Poloniex has agreed to pay roughly $10.4 million to settle charges of operating as an unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange. The U.S. regulator said Poloniex agreed to settle without admitting or denying the charges. Launched in 2014, Poloniex was acquired in 2018 by Circle, a payments and digital currency firm whose backers include Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) .”

“The Securities and Exchange Commission brought and settled its first case against a firm in the so-called decentralized-finance or DeFi sector , the latest sign of intensifying regulatory scrutiny for cryptocurrency markets. The SEC said Friday it had charged two Florida men, Gregory Keough and Derek Acree, and their company, Blockchain Credit Partners, with making materially false and misleading statements in selling more than $30 million of unregistered securities using smart contracts , which are digital consent agreements, and DeFi technology.”

“Ethereum’s much-hyped and somewhat controversial “London” hard fork has just activated. So far, news of the successful upgrade has coincided with a runup in the price of ether, the native token of ethereum’s blockchain. The cryptocurrency is at $2,620, up 3.9% in the last 24 hours.  A big part of the enthusiasm has to do with the fact that the software upgrade means a few big — and necessary — changes are coming to the code underpinning the world’s second-biggest cryptocurrency.”

“The chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday called on Congress to give the agency more authority to better police cryptocurrency trading, lending and platforms, a “Wild West” he said is riddled with fraud and investor risk. Gary Gensler said the crypto market involves many tokens which may be unregistered securities and leaves prices open to manipulation and millions of investors vulnerable to risks.”