Crypto Flipsider News – FTX Launches Stock Trading; Terra Amends Revival Plan; USDT Backed by Non-U.S. Bonds; Ethereum Merge to Happen in August; Singapore Court Blocks BAYC Sale

Read in the Digest:

FTX launches stock trading platform against stablecoins in the U.S.

Terra amends Do Kwon’s revival plan – Terra crash as bad as Mt. Gox, according to Avalanche founder.

Tether claims USDT stablecoin is backed by non-U.S. bonds.

Vitalik Buterin and ETH developers confirm that the ‘Merge’ will happen in August.

Singapore court bars the sale and transfer of a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT.

FTX Launches Stock Trading Platform Against Stablecoins in the U.S.

The U.S.-based subsidiary of crypto exchange FTX has announced that it will be launching a stock trading platform. The platform, ‘FTX Stocks’, will allow investors to trade crypto and stocks against stablecoins.

FTX Stocks will offer free stock trading, starting with a select number of U.S. customers who will be chosen from a waitlist. In addition, the exchange will not charge any fees for brokerage accounts, and there will have no minimum balance requiry for operating an account.

The stock trading service will be offered directly through the FTX U.S. trading app, and the service will allow users to trade and invest in hundreds of U.S. exchange-listed shares and exchange-traded funds (ETF).

FTX boasts of becoming the first platform to allow retail investors to fund their accounts with fiat-backed stablecoins like USDT and USDC. FTX will also be routing all operation orders through Nasdaq to ensure transparent trade execution and fair pricing.

Flipsider:

The launch of FTX Stocks comes after the company invested in New York-based stock exchange IEX, and acquired a 7% stake in popular trading app Robinhood.

Why You Should Care

By introducing FTX Stocks, the exchange aims to offer its users a full suite of asset class options in a one-stop investment shop.

Terra Amends Do Kwon’s Revival Plan – Terra Crash as Bad as Mt. Gox, According to Avalanche Founder

Following the shocking collapse of the Terra (LUNA) and TerraUSD (UST), the ecosystem’s founder, Do Kwon, released a revival plan to save the Terra ecosystem. The Terra (LUNA) blockchain team has since made three revisions to Kwon’s revival plan.

First, Terra has proposed increasing genesis liquidity from 15% to 30%. Liquidity will be shared among pre-attack UST holders, post-attack LUNA holders, and post-attack UST holders.

LUNA wallets with less than 10,000 coins will have 30% unlocked at launch, while the remaining 70% will be vested over two years. Lastly, the allocation for post-attack UST holders has been decreased from 20% to 15%.

Flipsider:

Emin Gün Sirer, the founder of Avalanche, has said that the severity of the Terra ecosystem crash on investors is worse than the infamous Mt. Gox incident of 2014.
Sirer believes the Terra situation will lead to more regulatory scrutiny over the crypto industry.

Why You Should Care

The genesis liquidity adjustments have been made to ensure that de-peg related allocations are on par with pre-attack LUNA allocations.

Tether Claims the USDT Stablecoin Is Backed by Non-U.S. Bonds

Since the de-pegging of TerraUSD (UST), which led to the collapse of the Terra ecosystem, sending shockwaves throughout the crypto market, regulatory scrutiny of stablecoins has intensified.

Tether, the issuer of the world’s biggest stablecoin, USDT, has boasted that its stablecoin is now backed in part by “non-U.S.” government bonds. This marks the first time Tether has bought government debt from countries outside the U.S.

In Tether’s latest “attestation” report, the company announced that its holdings of U.S. Treasury bills ros by 13% to $39.2 billion in the first quarter of 2022. Tether also revealed that it has holdings in U.S. government debt.

Additionally, Tether disclosed that the amount of commercial paper (short-term loans to companies) it owns dropped by 17% to $20.1 billion in Q1, and has declined a further 20% since April 1st.

Flipsider:

Tether is currently a defendant in two ongoing legal cases, the outcomes of which are pending.

Why You Should Care

Tether promises that the USDT is 100% backed and that the quality of those reserves will ensure that the stablecoin remains stable.

Vitalik Buterin and ETH Developers Confirm That the ‘Merge’ Will Happen in August

Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin has suggested that the network’s long-awaited migration to a Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, initially scheduled for June, could happen in August.

Buterin made the announcement at the ‘Ethereum Shanghai Summit‘. However, he cautioned that the event could be moved to September or October if the Ethereum development team encounters potential risks.

The date was also confirmed by Preston Van Loon, a core developer on the Ethereum network. Van Loon said at the ‘Permissionless‘ conference that the transition could take place sometime in August “if everything goes to plan.”

Justin Drake, an Ethereum researcher, remarked that the Ethereum team has a “strong desire to make this happen before the difficulty bomb in August.” ETH developers expect the Merge to happen before the next difficulty bomb, or they will otherwise need to deploy an additional update to delay the bomb.

Flipsider:

Ethereum is on course to complete a major milestone and perform the merge on its major testnet, ‘Ropsten’, on June 8th.

Why You Should Care

In addition to introducing PoS, implementing the ‘Merge’ will prepare the Ethereum network for its final landmark on the roadmap?—the sharded chains upgrade.

Singapore Court Bars Sale and Transfer of a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT

In an ongoing court case, the Singapore High Court has granted an injunction to freeze the sale and transfer of ownership of an NFT in the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection.

The injunction was given on behalf of Singaporean investor Janesh Rajkumar against an unidentified defendant. The item in question is Bored Ape BAYC #2162.

According to the law firm, BAYC #2162 was used as collateral for a loan agreement entered into on March 19th 2022 via the NFTfi platform. Rajkumar was unable to pay back the loan at the due date, but had the option to extend the repayment period.

However, the defendant, going by the online alias ‘chefpierre‘, did not abide by the extension agreement and foreclosed on the loan. Thus, gaining ownership of the NFT. Following this recent ruling, the item will now be disabled for sale until after the resolution of the case.

Flipsider:

Following Singapore’s high court ruling, OpenSea has disabled trading for BAYC #2162, with a “reported for suspicious activity” tag on the NFT.