Crypto Weekly Highlights

1. Blackrock x Coinbase Partnership

🗞️ BlackRock partners with Coinbase to make it easier to manage and trade Bitcoin.
🗞️ This will help BlackRock clients oversee their Bitcoin exposure, further solidifying BlackRocks long term vision for crypto.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-04/blackrock-teams-up-with-coinbase-in-crypto-market-expansion

2. BlackRock offers Direct Bitcoin Exposure

🗞️ Fresh off partnership with Coinbase, BlackRock has launched a spot bitcoin trust for U.S. institutional investors.
🗞️ The trust is BlackRock’s first to offer direct exposure to bitcoin.
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/08/11/blackrock-fresh-off-coinbase-tie-up-offers-direct-bitcoin-exposure/

3. US Treasury Sanctions Tornado Cash for money laundering

🗞️ The United States Department of Treasury sanctions Tornado Cash for laundering more than $600 million.
🗞️ Tornado Cash has been reportedly used to launder billions worth of virtual currency since its creation in 2019.
https://www.state.gov/imposing-sanctions-on-virtual-currency-mixer-tornado-cash/

4. Tornado users unleash chaos in response to US Treasury's sanctions

🗞️ Tornado users have started sending crypto to celebrity wallets to protest against the US DoT sanctions against Tornado.
🗞️ The celebrities in the list include Jimmy Fallon, Shaq, Beeple, Randi Zuckerberg, Ben Horowitz, Brian Armstrong and many more.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericmack/2022/08/09/us-treasury-sanctioning-tornado-cash-unleashes-max-chaos-in-the-crypto-universe/?sh=2daced8062be

5. Dutch police arrest alleged Tornado Cash developer

🗞️ The Netherlands Crime Agency (FIOD) announced it had arrested a “suspected developer” of Tornado Cash, recently sanctioned by the US Treasury for alleged money laundering.
🗞️ In the days following the announcement, many prominent figures in the crypto industry condemned the Treasury’s decision, decrying the ban not just as illegal, but as an existential threat to user privacy.
🗞️ Among these figures, Vitalin Buterin has claimed that he had used Tornado Cash with the intent of protecting the recipients, not himself.
https://decrypt.co/107314/dutch-police-arrest-alleged-tornado-cash-dev-more-arrests-not-ruled-out-financial-crimes-unit

6. Iran makes first import order using cryptocurrency

🗞️ The order was a first step towards allowing the country to trade through digital assets that bypass the dollar-dominated global financial system.
🗞️ The purchase, worth $10 million, also shows Iran's dedication to allow crypto to become a legal trading asset.
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/iran-makes-first-import-order-using-cryptocurrency-tasnim-2022-08-09/

7. Day to Day first grocery store in UAE to accept crypto payments

🗞️ Day To Day Hypermarket, a well-established discount store in the UAE, considers crypto to be the next step into the future of payment solutions.
🗞️ Crypto payments will be accepted for both physical branches as well as Day To Day Hypermarket's online shopping website (daytoday.ae).
https://gulfnews.com/business/corporate-news/day-to-day-hypermarket-is-the-first-in-uae-to-accept-cryptocurrency-payments-1.1659433503267

8. Hotbit crypto exchange suspends services

🗞️ Hotbit has suspended trading, deposits, and withdrawals from after senior management has been subpoenaed.
🗞️ Hotbit claims the project was against their internal principles and unknown to them at the time.
https://watcher.guru/news/hotbit-crypto-exchange-suspends-service-after-subpoenas

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