Oman’s Crypto Mining Expansion Signals Further Economic Diversification

Terraform Labs Accuses Citadel Securities of Stablecoin SabotageTerraform Labs, the bankrupt Singaporean blockchain firm, is pointing fingers at American market maker Citadel Securities, alleging that it played a role in an orchestrated effort to destabilize Terraform’s TerraUSD (UST) stablecoin back in May 2022.In its pursuit of justice, Terraform Labs has now called upon the United States District Court in the Southern District of Florida to compel Citadel Securities to furnish vital documents concerning their trading activities during that critical period, when the stablecoin underwent a depegging crisis, now referred to as TerraUSD Classic (USTC).Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on UnsplashAllegations of intentional destabilizationThat’s according to a motion filed by Terraform in the United States District Court in the Southern District of Florida, earlier this week. As alleged by Terraform Labs, the catastrophic depegging event in May 2022, which saw UST plummet from $1 to a mere $0.02, was not solely due to inherent instability in the algorithm supporting the UST stablecoin. Instead, the firm contends that it was a result of the deliberate and collaborative actions of specific third-party market participants who engaged in “shorting” to trigger the depegging.Terraform stated in its motion:“Movant [Terraform] contends that the market destabilization that occurred did not result from instability in the algorithm underlying the UST stablecoin. Instead, Movant contends that the market was destabilized due to the concerted, intentional effort of certain third party market participants to ‘short’ and cause UST to depeg from its one dollar price.”The motion also alludes to “publicly available evidence” hinting at Citadel’s intention to short the stablecoin at the time of the depegging event. In particular, it references a Discord channel chat screenshot where a pseudonymous trader purportedly had a conversation with Citadel head Ken Griffin. Griffin allegedly remarked:“They were going to Soros the f*** out of Luna UST,” seemingly drawing a connection to George Soros’ trading strategies, which often involve highly leveraged, one-way bets.Citadel refuted allegations previouslyNotably, Citadel Securities has previously refuted allegations of trading the TerraUSD stablecoin in May 2022, according to Forbes.In its motion, Terraform refers to the importance of these documents for its defense in a lawsuit filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in February. The SEC lawsuit alleges that Terraform Labs and its founder, Do Kwon, played a significant role in orchestrating a multi-billion dollar cryptocurrency securities fraud.The motion concludes with Terraform arguing that its defense would be substantially hampered if Citadel Securities were to successfully withhold the requested information. In the event that the court fails to compel Citadel, Terraform has requested that the matter be transferred to the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.The matter has been the subject of debate within the crypto community in recent months. In May a community member stated:“As I’ve been saying. People blamed Citadel et al. This was nothing but a rug pull. Wake up. Do Kwon says the dissolving of Terraform Labs in Korea days before the $LUNA and $UST crash is ‘purely coincidental.’”With the matter now being raised in the courts, it looks like the legal system will be the final adjudicator regarding the issue.

Komainu Partners with Copper to Enable Off-Exchange SettlementsKomainu, a well-established and regulated custody service provider and subsidiary of Japanese financial services conglomerate Nomura, has recently unveiled a new partnership with Copper, a digital asset solutions firm.This collaboration offers institutional clients of Komainu a means through which they can access off-exchange settlements. At a broader level, it is another significant development in progressing digital assets infrastructure.Photo by Gerd Altmann on PixabayClearLoop network accessKomainu, which was originally launched by Nomura in conjunction with Ledger and CoinShares, will be accessing Copper’s ClearLoop network as part of this collaboration. This partnership brings a host of possibilities for institutional clients of Komainu.What makes this collaboration particularly noteworthy is its ability to merge Komainu’s regulated, on-chain custody with the advanced off-exchange settlement capabilities of ClearLoop. As the institutional adoption of digital assets continues to gain momentum, the focus on managing custody and counterparty risk has never been more critical. Recent events, such as the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX alongside a plethora of crypto lending platforms, have served as stark reminders of the significance of robust custody solutions in this space.ClearLoop network growthClearLoop, with its distinctive feature of holding assets until just before a trade execution, effectively mitigates counterparty risk by seamlessly connecting multiple exchanges within a single trading network. This innovative approach eliminates the need to transfer assets to an exchange-based wallet, streamlining and fortifying the institutional trading process.UK-based Copper has been making market in-roads with its off-exchange settlement tool which it first launched in 2020. In March crypto exchange platform Huobi signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Copper with the intention of joining the ClearLoop Network. Bitstamp, the world’s oldest crypto exchange, followed in April with its intention to integrate with ClearLoop.Singapore’s Matrixport was next to join in May, followed by Seychelles-headquartered crypto exchange Bitget in August.The leaders of both companies, Nicolas Bertrand, CEO of Komainu, and Dmitry Tokarev, CEO of Copper, expressed their enthusiasm for this partnership. Bertrand highlighted the importance of diversifying counterparty risk and commended the partnership’s ability to offer clients the best of both worlds. He emphasized that by combining Copper’s proven processes and connectivity with Komainu’s on-chain, segregated, and regulated custody platform, this partnership is set to raise the industry’s standards significantly.UK regulatory approvalEarlier this month, Komainu achieved a further milestone when it received regulatory approval from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to operate as a custodian wallet provider. This achievement aligns with the regulatory framework established to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and fund transfers.In a landscape where institutions are increasingly embracing digital assets, the partnership between Komainu and Copper demonstrates that the industry is moving towards ushering in a new era of more secure, efficient, and trustworthy financial markets. With the FCA’s regulatory approval, Komainu is solidifying its attempts towards adhering to the industry’s most rigorous security and compliance standards.

Henan Province Establishes Metaverse FundAn administrative body within China’s Henan Province has established a 150 million yuan ($21.7 million) private equity investment fund which will be centered on financing metaverse-related projects.In a social media post on Thursday, the Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Henan, a state-owned body, said that the fund had been created last month. The objective of the fund is to promote the development of the virtual reality and metaverse sectors. Specifically, the agency wants to bring about the development of “internationally competitive digital industrial clusters.”Photo by Jéan Béller on UnsplashA metaverse strategyLast year, Henan province administrators released a plan, setting out the objective of achieving a local metaverse industry reaching a level of 30 billion yuan by 2025. The plan was titled “Henan’s metaverse industry development plan for the years 2022 to 2025.” Its authors set out the objective of creating an industrial metaverse, an energy metaverse, an education metaverse and a virtual human metaverse.Henan is one of a number of regions vying to capture the upside in terms of the promise of the development of innovation relative to the metaverse. Earlier in 2022 local government in Shanghai set out to establish an industry fund of 10 billion yuan (approximately $1.4 billion) in assets, focused purely upon metaverse-centric development and innovation.Earlier this year, a delegate attending one of the city’s most influential yearly political meetings called for efforts to be made to provide for adequate regulation to enable further metaverse development and effective supervision of the space.The Beijing-based and state-backed China Computer Industry Association (CCIA) also took an interest last year, forming a metaverse committee to draft industry standards. It too planned to establish a 1 billion yuan fund, while aspiring to help other regional authorities establish a blueprint to progress the industry.Not to be outdone, Hubei province’s Wuhan and Anhui administrative areas made a pledge to boost metaverse development over the course of the next five years. Within the Wuhan administrative area, city officials are said to be aiming to integrate the metaverse, cloud computing and blockchain into the conventional, real economy.Opposing viewsIt’s curious to note that when it comes to decentralized blockchain and cryptocurrency, China has been vehemently opposed to their development within its borders. In September 2021, the country banned cryptocurrency transactions. Prior to that, it had implemented a ban on cryptocurrency mining activity, forcing the large miners that had long since established there to move overseas.It’s difficult to see how it can be positive relative to the metaverse when a metaverse depends on the use of blockchain technology. To confuse matters further, over the course of the past six months, it seems to have given a mandate to the autonomous territory of Hong Kong to open its doors in facilitating the crypto and blockchain sector in total contrast to the stance taken within mainland China.Recently compiled industry and market research suggests that the metaverse industry in China is expected to grow by 39.5% in 2023, with the space having experienced significant growth in the country over the course of Q3 and Q4, 2022.