Crypto Flipsider News – Mastercard Enters NFT Space, SEC Investigates Terra, ETH Activity Falls, VeChain UFC Partnership, Lithuania Amends AML

Read in the Digest:

Mastercard Partners with Marketplaces to Enable “Easier and Safer” NFT Purchases

The SEC Opens Terra Investigation Over Collapsed TerraUSD Stablecoin

Ethereum Address Activity and Network Growth Falls to Two-Year Low

VeChain Foundation Signs a $100 Million Partnership Deal with UFC

Lithuania to Tighten Crypto Regulation and Restrict Anonymous Crypto Accounts

Mastercard Partners with Marketplaces to Enable “Easier and Safer” NFT Purchases

To build an eMarket that supports the easy and safe purchase of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and digital goods, Mastercard has announced partnerships with several NFT marketplaces.

Mastercard has been working over the past year to support the direct purchase of NFTs with their debit or credit cards via the companies’ marketplaces or using their crypto services.

On June 9, Raj Dhamodharan, an executive vice president of Mastercard, announced that the company had partnered with Immutable X, Candy Digital, The Sandbox, Mintable, Spring, Nifty Gateway, and MoonPay to enable NFT commerce.

When fully released, the 2.9 billion issued Mastercards in circulation will be able to purchase NFTs with the fiat in their accounts. This will create an alternative to the restrictive process that involves purchasing NFTs with crypto.

Flipsider:

Alibaba Cloud has launched three NFT solutions to help developers build NFT marketplaces in a fast and reliable way.

Why You Should Care

The initiative from Mastercard will create an opportunity for more people to get access to purchase and trade NFTs.

The SEC Opens Terra Investigation Over Collapsed TerraUSD Stablecoin

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has opened an investigation into Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) and whether it violated federal investor protection rules.

According to reports, enforcement attorneys of the SEC are now investigating whether Terraform labs broke the rules for securities and investment products when it marketed the UST stablecoin.

The SEC insists that Terra broke multiple counts of federal investor protection regulations. The SEC is also reportedly looking into money-laundering allegations of up to $80 million by Do Kwon.

Reports of the SEC investigation follow an order from a U.S. District Court of Appeals for Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon to comply with an SEC subpoena by turning over documents and providing testimony about Mirror Protocol.

Flipsider:

Following the collapse of TerraUSD, Terra has launched a new blockchain, Terra 2.0, excluding the algorithmic stablecoin.

Why You Should Care

The investigation from the SEC and South Korea may provide information on what really happened to the UST collapse.

Ethereum Address Activity and Network Growth Falls to Two-Year Low

The successful June 8 merge on Ropsten sparked bullish predictions for Ethereum (ETH). However, the event caused no significant change in the price of ETH.

On-chain data from Santiment shows that Ethereum’s address activity and network growth have dropped to their two-year lows amidst bearish pressure from the broader crypto market.

Ethereum Network Growth: Source: Santiment

Santiment reported that new Ethereum addresses are at their lowest point in the last 2 years. This represents a 62% drop from its all-time high recorded in April 2020.

On-chain data suggests that ETH is more susceptible to bearish pressure with declining network activity. The price of Ethereum (ETH) has now fallen back under $1,800 after losing 1.7% in the last 24 hours.

The 24-hour price chart of Ethereum (ETH). Source: CoinMarketCap

Flipsider:

Despite Ethereum’s declining price, investors are bullish that the mainnet merge would spark a major bull run for ETH.

Why You Should Care

Although ETH is failing to show any positive price movement, inching closer to the PoS migration is a colossal landmark for the project and the broader crypto sector.

VeChain Foundation Signs a $100 Million Partnership Deal with UFC

In a historic event, the UFC has announced a $100 million marketing partnership with VeChain Foundation. The deal makes VeChain the first official layer 1 blockchain partner for mixed martial arts organization UFC.

As part of the 5-year partnership, VeChain’s marketing assets and brand will be integrated across the UFC in live events, in-arena promotion, social media, and other areas.

Sunny Lu, VeChain’s co-founder and CEO, said that the deal is a strategic move to help boost VeChain’s brand visibility and expand its reach around the world.

The partnership is set to start immediately, and VeChain assets will be displayed during the June 11 UFC event in Singapore. UFC is the largest promoter and event organizer for Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), with an estimated 900 million global viewers.

Flipsider:

The news has driven the price of VeChain (VET) up by 4%, making it the biggest top gainer among the top 40 cryptos.

The 24-hour price chart of VeChain (VET). Source: CoinMarketCap

Why You Should Care

The strategic partnership deal will drive the visibility and adoption of VeChain, possibly benefiting the entire crypto sector.

Lithuania to Tighten Crypto Regulation and Restrict Anonymous Crypto Accounts

To protect its rapidly growing crypto sector, Lithuania’s Ministry of Finance has moved to tighten its oversight of crypto. It published an amendment to the “Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.”

The proposal would ban the opening of anonymous accounts and expand the requirements for customer identification in Lithuania.

The initial capital for authorized crypto service providers and exchanges has been increased to 125k euros. If passed into law, this would take effect on January 1, 2023.

In addition, the identities of management staff would be disclosed, and they would need to have a permanent address in Lithuania. The amendments will need to be approved by the Seimas, Lithuania’s legislature, before it is passed into law.