OKX adds Uniswap in bid to eliminate gas fees

Japanese consumer electronics conglomerate company Sony appears to be gearing up for a cryptocurrency exchange relaunch following its acquisition of WhaleFin. That’s according to a press release published by Japanese public relations company PR Times. Last year, Sony bought Amber Group, a Singapore-headquartered digital asset and crypto financial services firm, which operates crypto exchange WhaleFin. It now appears that the company plans to revamp the local trading platform.  S.BLOX crypto exchangeAmber Group has been renamed to S.BLOX Co. A statement from WhaleFin confirmed the name change. The rebranding has occurred following the acquisition in August 2023 of Amber Group by Quetta Web, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It also outlined plans to upgrade the service in terms of user experience through a user interface (UI) design refresh. Furthermore, the service plans on releasing new applications going forward.  Part of the strategy is to leverage Sony Group businesses in order to further bootstrap the crypto exchange. Using this approach, the company believes that it can create new added value in cryptocurrency trading services.  The precise launch date of the renewed WhaleFin crypto exchange has yet to be announced. S.BLOX is registered with the Kanto Local Finance Bureau of the Ministry of Finance. Furthermore, it’s a member of the Japan Virtual and Crypto Assets Exchange Association (JVCEA), which oversees cryptocurrency trading within the Japanese jurisdiction from a regulatory and compliance perspective. The exchange business is understood to have a current capitalization of 1,708,179,531 yen (around $10.5 million).Photo by James Feaver on UnsplashWeb3 focusSony has made a concerted effort to expand its activity in the Web3 space. In March 2023, the company filed a patent that aims to enable players of Sony gaming products to access interactive Web3 gameplay. That application will focus on the use use of NFTs. A month earlier, Sony Network Communications, its internet provider division, partnered with the Astar blockchain development team in order to create an incubation program for startups who are working on decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and NFT-based innovation. The same subsidiary partnered with Japanese blockchain firm Startale Labs last September in order to build Sony’s own public blockchain network. The CEO and founder of Startale Labs, Sota Watanabe, took to the X social media platform on July 1, clarifying that Startale’s external director will be heading up Sony’s new crypto exchange. While Sony has dipped its toe in the water previously relative to Web3 projects, this latest development will see it become more deeply involved in the crypto and Web3 space.  Amber Japan was bought out by crypto finance firm Amber Group in 2022 when it was known at that time as DeCurret. Last year, Bloomberg reported that Amber Group was working towards selling off the enterprise due to difficulties in navigating the strict regulatory environment it encountered within the Japanese market. In a related development, it emerged last month that leading Japanese crypto exchange bitFlyer had acquired FTX Japan, the Japanese subsidiary company of the failed global crypto exchange business.

A settlement agreement between failed crypto lender BlockFi and bankrupt Singaporean crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) has received approval from a U.S. judge. However, the specifics of the settlement remain sealed, citing concerns raised by yet another failed crypto platform, FTX. Dispute resolvedDuring a hearing on Feb. 6, New Jersey Bankruptcy Court Judge Michael Kaplan resolved the dispute, which saw BlockFi claiming $129 million owed by 3AC, while the Singapore-based firm contended that BlockFi owed it $280 million. Judge Kaplan's decision to keep the settlement agreement sealed stemmed from a perspective that unsealing it would be counterintuitive. BlockFi had filed a motion to seal the settlement terms last month. The U.S. Trustee objected to the seal, asserting that the debtors hadn't provided sufficient justification for sealing the agreement.Photo by mk. s on UnsplashSensitive settlement termsBlockFi justified the need for confidentiality, citing the sensitive commercial nature of the terms, which could potentially impact ongoing litigation involving FTX. The approval of the settlement now paves the way for BlockFi to proceed with distributions from the lending estate to its 100,000 creditors, with the firm owing up to $10 billion. Central to the dispute were preferential payments, transactions made just before bankruptcy that could have given the recipient more than they would have received through court proceedings. The resolution of counterclaims between BlockFi and 3AC follows mediation ordered by Judge Kaplan in October, likely culminating from a two-day hearing starting on Jan. 5 aimed at resolving the matter conclusively. This settlement follows another agreement between 3AC and Genesis, settling $1 billion in claims by 3AC. The company filed for bankruptcy in July 2022, attributing the extreme fluctuations in cryptocurrency markets as the reason for its collapse. Projected 46% 3AC creditor recoveryAccording to a December report to creditors by Teneo, it's estimated that 3AC creditors will receive approximately 45.74% of their claims from the bankrupt estate. As of Dec. 18, 2023, 3AC's assets were valued at $1.16 billion, while recognized claims for distribution stood at $2.7 billion. In an ongoing effort to secure 3AC's assets, a British Virgin Islands (BVI) court froze $1 billion in assets belonging to 3AC's founders, amid the liquidation process. This move is part of a broader strategy to seek recoveries from the founders and Kelly Chen, wife of one of the co-founders. 154 claims totaling $3.4 billion were filed against the 3AC estate, with $200 million not admitted for distribution and $322 million rejected or expected to be rejected. Additionally, claims worth $76 million are currently under dispute. BlockFi, along with eight affiliates, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2022. The firm cited significant exposure, including obligations owed to BlockFi by FTX-linked hedge fund Alameda Research, assets on the FTX platform and an undrawn credit line from FTX. 3AC’s collapse in June 2022, followed by FTX's downfall, led to BlockFi's bankruptcy filing in late November 2022. In a separate development, OPNX, a crypto bankruptcy claims platform launched by 3AC co-founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, announced its cessation of operations, with plans to shut down by Feb. 14.  

RAK Properties has signed a strategic agreement with Hubpay that will allow international buyers to pay for homes in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) using digital assets, the real estate developer said in a Sept. 1 statement on its website. Under the arrangement, customers can settle property purchases with major cryptocurrencies, including USDT, Bitcoin (BTC), and Ethereum (ETH). Payments will be processed on Hubpay’s regulated platform, converted into UAE dirhams, and transferred directly to RAK Properties’ account. The company said it will not handle digital assets directly. Instead, all transactions will be processed by Hubpay and its partners, who are licensed by Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), to ensure compliance and transparency. The initiative is aimed at drawing new categories of overseas investors to Ras Al Khaimah, the UAE’s sixth-most populous city, including the developer’s Mina waterfront community.Photo by Precondo CA on UnsplashUAE’s crypto market expands amid rising risksThe move comes amid growing crypto activity in the UAE. A Chainalysis report last year ranked the Middle East & North Africa as the seventh-largest crypto market and noted that the UAE’s decentralized finance adoption was above the global average, citing regulatory clarity. From July 2023 to June 2024, crypto inflows to the UAE leaned heavily toward stablecoins, which represented 51.3% of value received, compared with 44.7% worldwide. Bitcoin’s share was smaller than the global average at 16.5% versus 22.3%, while altcoins and Ethereum showed little difference at 24.4% and 7.8%, respectively. At the state level, the UAE itself has emerged as a significant player. Based on Arkham’s tracking, it is the world’s fourth-largest government Bitcoin holder, with about 6,352 BTC ($703 million). In contrast to the U.S. and U.K., whose holdings largely stem from law enforcement seizures, the UAE’s reserves come from mining through Citadel Mining. The firm is majority-owned by 2PointZero under the International Holding Company (IHC), which is chaired by Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the UAE’s national security adviser and a prominent member of the ruling family in Abu Dhabi. As crypto use has grown, so too have the risks. In the first half of this year, the UAE recorded the world’s largest average per-victim losses from crypto crime, with nearly $80,000 stolen per individual, according to Chainalysis. Only the U.S. came close to that figure, while Chile, India, Lithuania, Japan, Iran, Israel, Norway, and Germany rounded out the global top ten. Harmonizing crypto rulesAmid a shifting crypto landscape, regulatory structures in the UAE are continuing to evolve. At the federal level, the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) supervises virtual asset services, while the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) oversees payment tokens. The Dubai International Financial Centre and the Abu Dhabi Global Market operate their own frameworks. Last month, the SCA and VARA introduced a cooperation framework to harmonize oversight and allow mutual recognition of licenses, though the system stops short of automatic passporting in order to preserve national security controls. In related developments, the National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah (RAKBANK) became the first bank in the UAE to partner with Bitpanda Technology Solutions, a Vienna-based crypto exchange and digital assets infrastructure provider. The partnership, which builds on earlier work exploring the issuance of digital payment tokens, is expected to give RAKBANK customers access to a variety of crypto use cases.