Joint Operation Dismantles $16M-heavy Crypto Fraud, Kraken Pro and Kraken NFT Go Live, OpenSea Blocks 30 Cuban Creators

Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
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Crime news

• The European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) announced that, with its support, authorities in Italy and Albania dismantled an online investment fraud involving crypto. Per the press release, €3 million ($3.2 million) worth of assets was seized during the operation. The total damage caused is estimated at €15 million ($15.9 million).

Exchange news

• Kraken announced the public launch of Kraken Pro, with a full suite of trading tools and access to spot trading, margin trading, staking, and portfolio management. Kraken Pro is specifically designed for advanced traders, and it comes with the Kraken Pro app, said the press release.
• Kraken also announced the public beta launch of Kraken NFT, the marketplace built from the ground up for collectors to explore, discover, and trade non-fungible tokens (NFTs), said the press release. At launch, Kraken NFT will feature over 110 of the highest-trading-volume NFT collections, they added. The marketplace includes zero fees, creator earnings, rarity rankings, and 200+ funding options.
• OKX published its second Proof of Reserves (PoR), saying it would publish PoRs monthly on approximately the 22nd day of each month. Per the press release, users can now view and self-verify the results of two PoRs on the website using open-source tools. New features also allow users to view OKX reserve ratios for new and historical data and download files containing that data.
• Crypto exchange Bullish and special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Far Peak Acquisition Corporation have agreed to call off their planned merger. Per a statement, the firms wouldn’t be able to satisfy the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requirements for the listing by the end of this year.

NFT news

• The accounts of more than 30 Cuban creators have reportedly been delisted on the OpenSea marketplace. “We comply with US sanctions law,” Artnet News reported, citing an OpenSea spokesperson who added: “Our terms of service explicitly prohibit sanctioned individuals, individuals in sanctioned jurisdictions, or services from using OpenSea.”

Regulation news

• The US Securities and Exchange Commission‘s acting chief accountant, Paul Munter, warned investors to take proof-of-reserve adults with a grain of salt. “We’re warning investors to be very wary of some of the claims that are being made by crypto companies,” Munter told The Wall Street Journal, adding: “Investors should not place too much confidence in the mere fact a company says it’s got a proof of reserves from an audit firm.” The SEC warned investors and audit firms that if it finds troublesome “fact patterns,” it will consider a referral to the division of enforcement.

Blockchain news

• BNB Chain announced that its decentralized applications (dapps) attracted over a million daily unique Web3 wallets in 2022, saying that it surpassed Ethereum (ETH) in the number of unique addresses. Per a press release, BNB Chain currently has 232 million unique addresses.

DeFi news

• Robodex, a company working to improve the fundamentals of automated market makers (AMMs), joined the Chainlink BUILD program, where it will receive benefits, including access to and integration of Automation nodes through Chainlink Automation, on-chain data security through Chainlink Data Feeds, and access to new Chainlink product alpha and beta releases, said the announcement. In exchange for these services, Robodex will make 3% of its total token supply at launch available to Chainlink service providers, including stakers, over a period of time.