“Following the revelation that the small Himalayan kingdom has been quietly accumulating crypto, the country is also mining Bitcoin. Moreover, the country of less than 800,000 people leverages green energy to power its Bitcoin mining operations.
First reported in an exposé in local Bhutanese news and followed by inquiries from Forbes, Bhutanese officials confirmed that mining began when the price of Bitcoin was around $5,000 in April 2019. The kingdom has reportedly explored partnerships to expand its mining operations further. Notably, it is negotiating with Nasdaq-listed mining company Bitdeer to secure 100 megawatts of power for a Bitcoin mining data center in Bhutan.
The scale of Bhutan’s mining operations remains a mystery, with little information available about the location, size and profitability of its mining farms. Some Druk Holding and Investments (DHI) employees have listed “crypto mining” as their tasks and skills on their LinkedIn profiles.”
“The American banking giant JPMorgan Chase is set to acquire First Republic Bank’s (FRB) assets after early efforts to rescue it failed. JPMorgan will assume all assets of First Republic Bank, including uninsured deposits. FRB currently has $229.1 billion in assets and $103.9 billion in deposits. All depositors of FRB will become a part of JPMorgan and have access to their total deposits insured by FDIC.
The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation closed FRB on May 1 and entered into an agreement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as the receiver. The FDIC then entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with JPMorgan to protect depositors.
Apart from the transfer of assets, a loss-sharing agreement was also agreed upon between the FDIC and JPMorgan for residential and commercial loans acquired by the FRB. The losses and any recoveries on the loans covered by the loss-share agreement will be split between the FDIC, in its capacity as receiver, and JPMorgan.”
See Also: Bitcoin Drops Below $28K; JPMorgan Takes Over Embattled First Republic Bank
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“Art auction house Sotheby’s is expanding its non-fungible token (NFT) art offerings through the release of a specially curated, peer-to-peer secondary marketplace. Sotheby’s Metaverse will now offer a curated, peer-to-peer marketplace via the Ethereum and Polygon networks, and users can pay in either native token ETH or MATIC.
The opportunity to expand Sotheby’s Metaverse with a fully on-chain peer-to-peer market is an important step forward in our evolution within the digital art and collectible space.
Artists featured on Sotheby’s secondary marketplace will rotate every few months. The platform will launch with works from 13 leading digital artists.”
See Also: NFT Marketplace Blur Launches Blend, a Peer-to-Peer Lending Platform
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“Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission is considering allowing tokenized coin offerings backed by equity, debt or property – but “not crypto” – on licensed digital asset exchanges, Bloomberg reported Monday. The regulator is also processing applications for digital exchanges on a trial basis, intending them to undergo one year of “regulatory incubation”.
We always like to start, as a regulator, with a very simple, clear proposal before we go into the complex ones.
Despite the central bank’s resistance, there have been attempts to include crypto in the scope of regulations, with a new bill in the works that could recognize crypto as capital for investment.”
See Also: Industry heavyweights respond to UK’s crypto asset regulatory framework proposal
“Crypto price tracking site CoinMarketCap is diving into the world of reality TV, releasing a competition show called “Killer Whales” that draws inspiration from the popular TV series “Shark Tank.”
In partnership with Web3 entertainment company Hello Labs, the new program will allow entrepreneurs to pitch their projects to the “Killer Whale” judges made up of entrepreneurs, influencers and founders of Web3 companies. Filming for the show begins in June, and the show is slated for release across major streaming services.
Our aim is to open the door to the next billion users into Web3 by entertaining and educating them on all things crypto.”
“Mediation is underway to resolve the outstanding issues between DCG, Genesis, and Gemini. For Earn users, Gemini said, two important dates to keep in mind are May 8, before which two mediation meetings are planned to take place, and May 9 to 11, the period during which DCG is expected to pay the Genesis bankruptcy estate a sum of $630 million.
The mediation will be narrowly focused on DCG’s economic contribution to the bankruptcy estate for the benefit of all creditors, including Earn users, and is designed to bring resolution to the Genesis bankruptcy plan.”
See Also: Crypto Exchange Poloniex Agrees to $7.6M Fee to Settle Sanctions Violation Charges
The Disrupt 