Sep 25, 2023

Franklin Templeton shares roadmap for crypto products During a panel discussion titled “The Future of Cryptocurrency as an Asset Class,” Jenny Johnson, president and CEO of Franklin Templeton, shared her conviction in Bitcoin. She highlighted the cryptocurrency’s potential to revolutionize traditional financial services. Additionally, Johnson discussed the limitations of traditional ETFs, as the prices are determined and updated only twice during the trading day. Franklin Templeton is exploring the possibility of introducing mutual funds that operate on blockchain technology. This move is driven by the belief that utilizing on-chain data can create fresh investment opportunities and reduce operational costs. Franklin Templeton has already obtained approval from the SEC for the Franklin US Government Money Fund, an on-chain fund which will use the Stellar and Polygon blockchains to process transactions and record share ownership. An incredible rug pull during the event JPEX , a Hong Kong-based crypto exchange, had a booth at TOKEN2049 that it abandoned on the second day, after being issued a warning by Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). Live from token 2049 Singapore! Yesterday soliciting depositors and not to be seen today + WITHDRAWALS PAUSED @ExchangeJpex This is why you need insurance whenever you use custodian, and smart contract coverage when you use DeFi Watchdog is needed, Watchdog is coming pic.twitter.com/Z58LG3i3CW Subsequently, JPEX’s withdrawal fees were raised to 980 USDT as users scrambled to withdraw their funds from the platform. The police revealed at least 83 complaints related to the platform had been received, involving virtual assets worth about HKD 34 million (USD 4.3 million). In Hong Kong, crypto exchange licenses have been granted only to HashKey Group and OSL for retail investors. Unlicensed exchanges like JPEX are prohibited from soliciting customers in Hong Kong. JPEX was offering high annual percentage yields with its JPEX Earn products for Ethereum (21%), Bitcoin (20%), and Tether (19%). These high returns, while attractive, could be unsustainable and may have been inflated to entice users to deposit their assets on the platform. This incident underscores the importance of regulatory compliance in the crypto space. Hong Kong is aiming to establish itself as a dominant player in the Web3 industry and recently extended an invitation to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, following concerns he had raised about the stability of the city’s crypto climate. Binance CEO shares views on on-chain social media platforms and crypto mass adoption Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance , spoke virtually during a fireside chat with Balaji Srinivasan, founder of The Network State, during which he expressed his aspirations for the development of an on-chain social media platform. We’re familiar with on-chain code and on-chain data, but what other applications and developments can we expect beyond ‘traditional DeFi? Here’s what @cz_binance is looking forward to ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/PkpecnzwRE While transaction fees on the Ethereum network can be costly, the emergence of Layer-2 scaling solutions built atop Ethereum has been instrumental in alleviating network congestion and reducing user fees. A decentralized social network currently making waves is Friend.tech , which leverages Base , a Layer-2 network built by Coinbase . Users on the platform can purchase “keys” of any X (formerly known as Twitter) account, which may grant them benefits such as access to private chats with account holders. A fee is charged whenever a user trades a “key” of any creator, splitting it equally between the platform and creator. The platform generated the second-highest fee earnings among decentralized platforms in the past 24 hours (on September 25, 2023), amounting to approximately USD 770,000. Zhao also shared his insights regarding the barriers to onboarding the next billion individuals into crypto. Lastly, what will it take to onboard the next billion people into crypto? Hear it from CZ 👇 pic.twitter.com/rNzW2F7GR6