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- World Coin Unveils World ID 2.0: Empowering Digital Identity with Apps 🌐🪪
World Coin Unveils World ID 2.0: Empowering Digital Identity with Apps 🌐🪪
PLUS: Uniswap is Coming to Bitcoin. Coinbase launches spot trading for non-US institutional clients.
Manan Vora
December 14, 2023
Snapshot Web3
December 11, 2023
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Regulatory and Legal News
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has granted approval to Bitnomial, a crypto derivatives company, to register as a derivatives clearing organization in the United States. This approval enables Bitnomial to settle margined futures and options contracts. The CFTC commissioners voted 2-1 in favor of Bitnomial's application. Bitnomial already had approval to operate as a designated contract market and as a futures commission merchant. Bitnomial CEO Luke Hoersten expressed the company's intention to offer a broad spectrum of physical and digital commodities and focus on expanding its product offering and customer base.
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Innovation and Launches
World Coin has unveiled World ID, a digital identity concept prioritizing privacy. The upcoming World ID 2.0 introduces "Apps," allowing users flexible identity authentication across platforms. The Worldcoin App Store centralizes various Apps for popular platforms like Reddit, Discord, and Minecraft. World ID emphasizes decentralization and user control, a departure from centralized identity verification methods. The user-centric design aligns with blockchain ethos, empowering users in the evolving digital age. World ID 2.0 signals a significant stride toward a future where individuals have greater control over their digital presence.
GFX Labs plans to integrate Uniswap with Bitcoin using their trading platform, Oku. Uniswap V3 smart contracts will be deployed on the Rootstock (RSK) sidechain, bringing DeFi functionalities to the Bitcoin network. Oku aims to provide users with decentralized trading access, combining Bitcoin's security with Uniswap's DeFi capabilities. This integration may introduce new opportunities for liquidity provision, yield farming, and decentralized trading within the Bitcoin ecosystem. The move signifies a significant step toward merging the strengths of different blockchain networks, emphasizing the industry's commitment to interoperability and innovation.
Coinbase has expanded its non-US spot markets offering to institutional investors, introducing spot trading markets for Bitcoin and Ethereum on its Coinbase International Exchange. Non-US institutional clients will have access to BTC/USDC and ETH/USDC pairs starting December 14, 2023. The expansion is aimed at addressing the unique needs of Coinbase's global user base, with plans to gradually extend the product to retail investors and add more crypto assets in the coming months. Coinbase International Exchange, launched in May, has seen over 100 institutions onboarded, registering nearly $10 billion in trading volumes for perpetual futures in Q3 2023.
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NFT, Gaming and Metaverse
FIFA is re-entering the NFT space with a unique approach, offering 100 rare collectibles initially, followed by 900 more. The highlight is the chance for fans to win tickets to the 2026 World Cup final, adding tangible rewards to the digital collectibles. FIFA has partnered with Modex for a seamless user experience and will use the Polygon blockchain for this initiative. This innovative approach aims to strengthen FIFA's connection with football fans globally, introducing a new era of fan engagement through digital assets.
Immutable, a Web3 gaming company, plans to eliminate gas fees for gamers through its zkEVM scaling platform. The zero-knowledge proof-based technology aims to provide a frictionless onboarding experience for users by allowing game developers to sponsor gas fee payments, making transactions free for Immutable Passport users. This move addresses a significant barrier to Web3 gaming adoption and aims to enhance the user experience for mainstream players. Over 20 gaming studios, including GameStop and Kongregate, have pledged support for the beta launch of Immutable's zkEVM.
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Scams and Hacks
Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Yearn.finance experienced a significant loss of $1.4 million due to a multisignature scripting error, resulting in the draining of a large portion of the protocol's treasury. The error occurred during the conversion of yVault LP-yCurve (lp-yCRVv2) tokens into stablecoins on the decentralized exchange CowSwap. Yearn is now appealing to arbitrage traders who profited from the error to return some of the funds, emphasizing that the affected tokens belonged to the protocol's treasury, and customer funds were not impacted. To prevent similar incidents in the future, Yearn plans to implement additional measures and safeguards.
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Interesting Reads
Hitachi Research & Development and Concordium Foundation are collaborating on a "proof of technology" for a biometric crypto wallet. The wallet will generate seed words through fingerprints or facial scans, eliminating the need to store or remember them. Users can reimport their wallet accounts through a biometric scan. The project, in early development, aims to enhance user access and security for blockchain networks, with potential applications beyond the Concordium network in the future.
Bitwise's senior research analyst, Ryan Rasmussen, predicts Bitcoin will reach $80,000 in 2024, while stablecoins are anticipated to settle more volume than Visa payments. Stablecoins' market cap is expected to grow significantly, reaching $137 billion in 2024. Rasmussen also speculates that the first spot Bitcoin ETF will be launched, capturing $72 billion in assets under management within five years. Ethereum's revenue is predicted to double to $5 billion, and Coinbase is forecasted to achieve 100% revenue growth in 2024. The stablecoin market is gaining momentum, with Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire citing a "huge appetite" for digital dollars.
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Miscellaneous
Giddy and Stripe integration offers users a fast and reliable crypto gateway with support for various payment methods. Giddy also expands its groundbreaking multi-factor private key solution to include native support for the Bitcoin network.
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The information provided in this newsletter is for informational purposes only and should not be interpreted as investment advice, endorsement, or recommendation. Cryptocurrency investments carry significant risk due to their volatility. You should consider your financial situation, investment goals, and risk tolerance before making any investments. We strongly recommend consulting a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
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