GRVT snags license to become world’s first regulated DEX

Bitcoin is facing growing uncertainty as it trades near $90,000, down nearly 30% from its October peak of $126,000. While the cryptocurrency remains under pressure, investors are increasingly focused on Tokyo, where a potential change in monetary policy could tighten global liquidity. According to CoinDesk, which cited a report from Nikkei, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) is expected to raise its policy rate by 25 basis points to 0.75%, a move that would push borrowing costs to their highest level in nearly three decades. Historically, a stronger yen has often been associated with weaker Bitcoin performance amid tighter global liquidity.Photo by Kanchanara on UnsplashYen carry trade in focusThe report suggested that higher rates could unwind the yen carry trade, a strategy in which investors borrow cheap yen to fund positions in higher-yielding assets such as stocks and U.S. Treasuries. A similar dynamic played out following the Japanese central bank’s July hike, which precipitated a market-wide selloff that dragged Bitcoin from roughly $65,000 down to $50,000. However, CoinDesk noted that a recurrence of such volatility cannot be assumed. It added that speculative positioning is already skewed toward yen strength, while steadily rising Japanese bond yields suggest monetary policy is adjusting to prevailing market realities. Institutional skepticism toward BitcoinBeyond the macroeconomic landscape, fundamental skepticism remains entrenched among traditional finance heavyweights. John Ameriks, Vanguard’s global head of quantitative equity, said at Bloomberg’s ETFs in Depth conference that the asset behaves more like a speculative digital collectible, comparable to a Labubu toy, than a conventional investment, citing its lack of income generation, compounding, and cash-flow characteristics. Ameriks’ comments follow Vanguard’s move earlier this month to permit trading of select third-party crypto ETFs. He said the decision was based in part on the funds’ ability to establish a track record since their January 2024 launch. While acknowledging that Bitcoin could theoretically offer value during periods of high inflation or political instability, he maintained that its history remains too short to draw conclusions. Bullish case for BitcoinA contrasting view was offered by Katherine Dowling, president of the Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company. Speaking with DL News, Dowling projected that Bitcoin would surge to $150,000 by the end of 2026. She pinned this bullish outlook on favorable U.S. regulatory shifts, increased liquidity from Federal Reserve rate cuts, and sustained institutional adoption via ETFs.The perceived influence of institutional flows was also underscored by a recent weekly survey of 2,000 South Korean investors conducted by CoinNess and Cratos. The data showed that 42.3% of respondents view flows into and out of spot Bitcoin ETFs as the primary price driver. Monetary policies in major economies like the U.S. and Japan ranked second at 26.7%, while 16.3% pointed to shifts in equity markets. Another 11.5% attributed price action to the halving cycle, and 3.4% said they could identify no specific catalyst.

LightLink, the Singapore-based Layer 2 startup, has recently clinched $4.5 million in seed funding, spearheaded primarily by Asian investors. A strategic alliance has also been forged between LightLink and Animoca Brands, a trailblazer in digital property rights within the open metaverse and gaming sectors.Photo by cottonbro studio on PexelsThai-led fundingT&B Media Global, a prominent Thai media entity, and MQDC, a Bangkok-headquartered real estate developer, led the funding round, which amounted to $4.5 million. In addition to T&B Media Global and MQDC, the seed round saw participation from more notable investors within the Asia Pacific (APAC) and Oceania regions, such as digital asset-focused Australian investment manager JellyC, Aweh Ventures, Singapore’s Blue7 and Australian Web3 venture capital fund B3V. While the capital funding is early stage and lower end from a dollar amount perspective, the broad spectrum of investors underscores a certain level of excitement surrounding LightLink's innovative product offering. The startup’s product offering enables enterprises and decentralized applications to conduct gasless, real-time user transactions within the Ethereum ecosystem through the use of optimistic rollups within LightLink’s established architecture. The infusion of funds will be used to bolster LightLink's efforts to further develop a groundbreaking "multiverse project" dubbed Translucia, a venture that attempts to seamlessly merge virtual and physical realms. Dr. Jwanwat Ahriyavraromp, founder and CEO of T&B Media Global, lauded the partnership, citing a shared vision to cultivate a harmonious and interconnected digital universe that radiates joy worldwide. Animoca collaborationNews of this funding infusion comes off the back of LightLink’s announcement last month of a collaboration with Web3 firm Animoca Brands. This collaboration will witness Animoca integrating LightLink's Ethereum Layer 2 technology into select initiatives, accompanied by advisory support to bolster LightLink's tokenomics strategies and market outreach. The synergy between these entities provides great potential for the delivery of a more seamless Web3 experience, eliminating transaction fees and streamlining blockchain integration for users. LightLink's Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain offers a host of benefits, enabling gasless transactions and frictionless transfers of assets within a public blockchain environment. Its utilization extends to over 25 affiliates, including notable entities like Grapes and The Red Village, with integration into the Translucia project underway. Roy Hui, co-founder and CEO of LightLink, expressed optimism about the partnership's potential to democratize blockchain technology, fostering global connectivity and enabling diverse communities to embrace decentralized solutions. Yat Siu, executive chairman and co-founder of Animoca Brands, echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the alignment between LightLink's gasless transactions and their mission to decentralize the digital realm. Pellar Technologies, the development powerhouse behind LightLink, boasts a track record of over 50 blockchain projects across the APAC region since 2017. LightLink itself ranks among the top 10 in transaction volumes among rollups, boasting over 215,000 unique wallet addresses operating on-chain. Hui reiterated LightLink's commitment to simplifying blockchain adoption. Using the seed funding announcement as an opportunity to set out the firm’s primary objective, he stated:”Our aim is to bridge the digital economy with millions of users across the globe. The funding we've received enhances our focus on making blockchain as intuitive as traditional web platforms, with an emphasis on gasless transactions.” The seed funding marks a significant milestone in LightLink's journey, propelling it towards playing its part in the further roll-out of Web3 innovation.  

Hitachi collaborates with Concordium on biometric crypto walletJapan’s Hitachi Solutions, a subsidiary company of the Hitachi multinational conglomerate, has joined forces with the Concordium Foundation, unveiling a collaboration that centers on a state-of-the-art biometric crypto wallet.Photo by Nuno Antunes on UnsplashAlternative approach to securing cryptoAnnounced on Tuesday by the Concordium Foundation, a Swiss-based development team behind the Concordium layer one blockchain, this “proof of technology” initiative has the potential to fundamentally change how users access and secure their cryptocurrency accounts.Breaking away from traditional methods, the proposed biometric crypto wallet leverages users’ fingerprints or facial scans to generate a set of seed words, eliminating the need for users to store or remember them. This novel approach simplifies the restoration process, allowing users to recover their accounts with a mere biometric scan.Improving UXIf crypto and Web3 are to be adopted by ordinary people en-masse, user experience has long been identified within the sector as an area that still requires development. Making users responsible for the storage of a private key is fraught with difficulty, given the likelihood of private keys being lost or compromised.Various approaches are being taken to solve this issue. Tangem Wallet is one such alternative that utilizes near-field communication (NFC) in combination with an app and a card with an inbuilt chip, negating the need for the user to memorize a private key.This biometric-centered approach from Hitachi and Concordium represents another user-friendly approach to the problem of user authentication, harnessing the power of Hitachi’s Public Biometric Infrastructure (PBI) and Concordium’s self-sovereign identity framework. The result is an account creation process based entirely on biometric data, enhancing both security and user convenience.Complementary technologyConcordium’s network, with its stringent ID process for account creation to combat malicious activities, stands to gain substantial benefits from this technology. The biometric wallet will fortify users’ access to their IDs, a critical aspect of network security. Moreover, the technology’s applicability extends beyond Concordium, offering potential integration with any blockchain network.Users of the biometric wallet will have the flexibility to unlock their accounts either by regenerating seed words through a biometric scan or by decrypting a copy of the seed words. This dual-layered approach ensures that access is granted solely through the user’s unique biometric data, enhancing security and mitigating the risk of loss or theft.Developing this cutting-edge technology poses challenges, particularly in handling the inherent “fuzziness” of biometric data, where no two scans produce identical results, even from the same individual. Hitachi’s team addressed this by employing fuzzy key generation and specialized error correction technology, effectively distinguishing between scans.Unlike traditional crypto wallets that necessitate secure storage of seed words, the biometric wallet by Hitachi and Concordium, alongside solutions like multiparty-computation wallets and magic links, aims to overcome this hurdle. The goal is to resolve the issue of lost backup, a significant barrier to wider crypto adoption.This is not Hitachi’s first foray into the crypto/blockchain space. In mid-November the company announced a collaboration with the Japan Exchange Group (JPX), banking giant Nomura and Nomura portfolio company BOOSTRY to launch a $69 million digital green bond on the blockchain. In October Hitachi joined a consortium of Japanese companies with a view towards developing decentralized identity technology.