Euroclear takes stake in Marketnode entering Asian market

Lack of Funds Sees Multichain Cease OperationsThe development team behind Multichain, a cross-chain protocol, has recently announced its decision to cease operations due to a lack of operational funds.This announcement follows a report by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, which suggested that insiders may have orchestrated a “rug pull” by withdrawing funds. The Multichain team took to Twitter on Friday to inform their community about the suspension of their business activities, citing a lack of alternative sources of information and operational funds as the primary reasons for their decision.One crucial factor contributing to the shutdown is the absence of communication with the CEO, Zhaojun, who had been missing and is now understood to be in the custody of Chinese authorities. The team explained that they had reached out to Zhaojun’s family and discovered that the police had seized his computers, phones, wallets, and mnemonic phrases.Photo by Christian Lue on UnsplashOperational controlThroughout the project’s lifespan, Zhaojun had maintained control over operational and investor funds. Consequently, the team, along with all their funds and access to servers, found themselves at Zhaojun’s mercy, as he now remains under police custody.Attempting to salvage the situation, Zhaojun’s sister initiated an asset preservation act and transferred some funds to addresses under her control. However, the team soon received news that Zhaojun’s sister, too, had been detained by the police and was now unreachable. Faced with these unfortunate circumstances, the team reluctantly announced the cessation of their operations.DeFi centralization risksThe debacle has raised concerns about the lack of decentralization demonstrated by the level of control Zhaojun had over the project. It prompted comment from Chris Blec, a DeFi Researcher & Analyst who has been highly critical of a whole host of DeFi projects on the basis that while many DeFi projects claim to be decentralized, they’re critically flawed and are centralized to a point that puts them at critical risk.Taking to Twitter, Blec stated: “Dude gets thrown in jail, admin keys to Multichain are on his computers, sister eventually uses his computer to steal money, now she’s in jail too. THIS IS WHY WE DECENTRALIZE.”The Multichain debacle traces back to May when the suspension of Multichain routes for an upgrade caused delays in fund transfers. The uncertainties surrounding the protocol prompted crypto exchange Binance to halt deposit and withdrawal support for certain Multichain bridged tokens.Adding to the platform’s woes, significant outflows from the Multichain MPC bridge platform raised concerns of an exploit. Observers analyzing the blockchain data reached a consensus on July 6 that the protocol had been hacked, as over $100 million worth of assets were withdrawn from the Fantom bridge on the Ethereum side.As Multichain now faces the unfortunate reality of halting its operations, it serves as a stark reminder of the challenges and risks inherent in the blockchain industry. The lack of operational funds, combined with the absence of communication with key figures and critical points of centralized failure have proven insurmountable for this cross-chain protocol.

Sui Token Debuts on Korea’s Top Five Crypto ExchangesThe native token of Sui, a layer 1 blockchain platform, has debuted on South Korea’s five leading cryptocurrency exchanges — Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax. This marks the first time a token has been listed simultaneously on all five exchanges, according to Korean news agency Newsis.Photo by Sigmund on UnsplashAptos’ successThe decision by these exchanges to list Sui may have been influenced by the success of the APT token, which belongs to Aptos, another scalable layer 1 blockchain platform also developed by former Meta employees. APT was listed on Binance two days after the launch of the Aptos’ mainnet on October 17 last year, and its price skyrocketed to $100 on the first day, a hundred times its listing price. Within a week, the trading volume of APT reached $1.3 billion.Sui’s mainnet launchWith the launch of its mainnet on May 3, Sui is garnering significant interest in the crypto sphere. An official from a notable Korean venture capital firm told Newsis that Sui and Aptos, both developed with the Move programming language, involve many top-tier investors and are highly anticipated by ecosystem participants.

While Russia had previously ruled out adding Bitcoin to its national reserves, the latest soundings from officials within the world’s largest country call for the creation of a crypto fund to hold and manage confiscated cryptocurrencies. According to a report published by Russian state-owned news agency TASS, Evgeny Masharov, a member of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, has put forward a proposal for the formation of a special fund that would hold and manage cryptocurrencies that had been confiscated as the proceeds of crime by the Russian authorities.Photo by Artem Beliaikin on UnsplashMasharov told TASS: "Cryptocurrency confiscated in criminal proceedings should work for the benefit of the state. For these purposes, a special fund can be created, on the balance sheet of which these cryptocurrencies would be located, the capitalization of which will significantly increase over time.” In the future, Masharov proposes that the funds could eventually be used for educational, social and environmental projects. Enabling asset confiscationMasharov supported moves to define digital assets as property within the realm of criminal procedure legislation previously. Since 2021, legislation has been proposed to lay out a properly defined framework to enable the confiscation of such assets in criminal cases. As of last month, Russia’s Supreme Court is currently working towards establishing this. The Civic Chamber official expressed his willingness to discuss his proposal with other stakeholders such as crypto industry representatives and officials from Russia’s Federal Taxation Service. If this proposal was to be implemented, it would match a position taken in the U.S. with regard to a Bitcoin reserve. Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a strategic Bitcoin reserve which will be funded mainly by confiscated Bitcoin. Central bank resistanceRussia’s central bank has been largely opposed to the use of cryptocurrencies within Russia in recent years. Last December, central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina stated that the bank had no plans to invest in cryptocurrencies. Earlier that month, Anton Tkachev, a member of Russia’s State Duma, had put forward a proposal to establish a national Bitcoin reserve. With the onset of sanctions as a consequence of the conflict in Ukraine, the Russian government has softened its position with regard to cryptocurrencies. Digital assets such as Bitcoin are now seen as a mechanism to enable cross-border trade and cross-border payments, circumventing the international banking system. It was reported last year that Russia’s central bank had changed course and with that, it was leading efforts to assist Russian companies to use cryptocurrency for international trade, bypassing Western sanctions. Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Russian oil firms are now using leading cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether in oil trade deals with their counterparts in China and India. In another development earlier this month, it emerged that the central bank is now allowing a limited level of crypto investment by investors. Faced with sanctions and current geopolitical realities, it’s understood that Russia had been considering the use of Bitcoin for reserve purposes, but for the time being, it has opted to concentrate on adding gold and the Chinese yuan to its sovereign wealth fund.