Payment Expert’s Blockchain Bulletin analyses how the world of blockchain is constantly evolving and heavily impacting the payments industry, with cryptocurrencies, NFTs and the metaverse revolutionising the space.
This week, Binance Founder and former CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao has been sentenced for four months in a US federal prison, although he escaped further time.
Binance Founder CZ escapes lengthy prison stint
At the Western District Court of Washington, Binance Founder and ex-CEO Changpeng Zhao was sentenced to four months in a federal prison over his role in the cryptocurrency’s violation of the Bank Secrecy Act.
The four month stint is significantly lower than the US Department of Justice’s 36 month recommendation after Judge Richard Jones found “no evidence that the defendant was ever informed” of illegal activity within Binance.
Despite a shorter prison sentence than expected, questions continue to rise in the US crypto sector. Zhao becomes the second crypto billionaire to serve time in prison over breaking US financial regulations after Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years, albeit, for being found guilty to several charges of fraud and wirefraud.
XRP seeks to flourish in Japan
Ripple Labs and HashKey DX have come together to provide the XRPLedger to available Japanese financial institutions in a bid to progress blockchain adoption across the country.
The collaboration will run through SBI Ripple Asia and seek to open possibilities in off chain finance, with SBI Japan entities becoming the initial companies to be offered the service.
Emi Yoshikawa, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Ripple, said: “We are excited to join forces with HashKey DX and SBI Ripple Asia to introduce XRP Ledger-powered solutions to Japan. This collaboration exemplifies our shared commitment to advancing blockchain technology and delivering tangible value to businesses.”
Ex-Revolut executives raise $6.5m for hybrid crypto exchange
X10, a crypto exchange aiming to resolve DeFi deficiencies, recently raised $6.5m in a funding round to accelerate its expansion.
The platform was founded by alumni from the UK fintech Revolut. Led by Ruslan Fakhrutdinov, investors in X10 include Tioga Capital, Semantic Ventures, Cherry Ventures, and more.
The company has taken a testnet product live and is encouraging interested traders to participate in the trial, confident in its offering’s ability to combine traditional DeFi exchange capabilities with the speed and features of a centralised exchange.
OKX & Man City release second limited edition digital collectible shirt
Over the last two weeks, Manchester City and its official cryptocurrency partner OKX have embarked on the ‘Unseen City Shirts’ campaign, featuring two limited edition City shirts that can be minted as NFTs.
The most recent release, the ‘Blue Moon’ shirt, dropped 29 April and follows on from the initial ‘The Roses and Bee’s’ limited edition shirt, with each shirt enabling fans of the club to collect and win exclusive prizes dependent on the varying rarity level.
Zumo striving for a greener crypto future
In a bid to reduce carbon emissions, Zumo will leverage Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute (CCRI) Oxygen solution for its partners to measure the carbon footprint of their digital asset activities.
The digital asset firm will now work in partnership with CCRI to help more financial institutions address the carbon footprint of the new wave of Bitcoin ETFs and other financial instruments coming to the global market.
