Sat 02/03

Good Morning. Binance terminates WazirX wallets, SAKEC launches Web3Samaj in their university, IMF is working with the govt. to regulate crypto and Binance is making big moves in Korea. Happy Saturday and enjoy today’s letter!

Shah & Anchor Kutchhi Engineering College (SAKEC) Launches Web3Samaj University Club. A huge thanks to Ansh for making it such a success. We can’t wait to do amazing things at SAKEC.

WazirX Told to Move Funds Out of Binance: Binance has reached out to Zanmai Labs, the entity behind WazirX, to negotiate the withdrawal of any remaining assets kept in Binance wallets, as stated in a blog post on Friday. This resolution is expected to ease concerns about the fate of customer funds if Binance and WazirX were to end their partnership, but it has reportedly escalated the conflict between the two cryptocurrency exchanges. Binance has "invited Zanmai to work out arrangements" to withdraw the assets before the "near" deadline on February 3rd, due to the fact that users of WazirX might have legitimate worries about what will happen to their holdings in light of these events.

IMF Is Working With India To Regulate Crypto: For the first time since becoming the leader of the G-20, India has disclosed information about the ongoing effort to regulate cryptocurrency. The IMF is working on a report in collaboration with India that will concentrate on "the monetary policy and the policy approach to crypto assets," as stated by Ajay Seth, the Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs. Seth also mentioned that the IMF had held a meeting with representatives of growing economies to discuss the report in January. There will be a 135-minute seminar on cryptocurrency policy during a G-20 meeting later this month, and the IMF will be presenting a final version of the report as its basis, Seth added.

Russia-based Sberbank To Launch Defi Platform On Ethereum: Russian banking giant Sberbank has hinted at plans to launch a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform on the Ethereum blockchain by May 2023, according to Interfax news. Konstantin Klimenko, Sberbank's Director of the Blockchain Laboratory, revealed that the bank is at an advanced stage of developing its DeFi platform, which is currently in beta testing and will be open for testing in March. To use the Ethereum-based platform, users will require a MetaMask cryptocurrency wallet. Klimenko expressed his optimism that DeFi platforms have the potential to lower banking costs and eventually replace traditional banks.

Binance Acquires S. Korea-based Gopax Exchange: Binance has purchased a majority stake in the South Korean GOPAX exchange, as reported by Bloomberg. The company has been trying to re-establish itself in the South Korean market since it temporarily ceased operations in 2021. The acquisition was made possible after Binance completed the necessary evaluations on January 2nd. They bought 41.2% of GOPAX from its major shareholder, Lee Jun-hung. The funds for the acquisition came from the $1 billion Industry Recovery Initiative, a joint investment project headed by Binance, according to Bloomberg.

Finnish Fintech Membrance Launches Euro-based Payment Network: Finland-based fintech company Membrance Finance launched EUROe on Feb. 2, which claims to be the first EU-regulated stablecoin and payment network, according to the announcement posted on EUROe’s website. The EUROe operates as a full-reserve stablecoin by transforming a fiat Euro into a 1:1 pegged digital currency, as described in the announcement post. The fiat reserves of the currency are held in a financial institution or a bank located in Europe, with a guarantee from Membrance Finance that these funds won’t be spent.

What Is A DAO? : Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are an organizational structure used to run and oversee projects in Web3 in a decentralized manner. Although some projects are run in a more traditional company structure, the importance of decentralization for many Web3 contributors has caused DAOs to become a more common structure.

LMAO