The Weekly Wrap - 20th May 2022

FTX To Launch Zero-Commision Stock Trading     

Centralised Exchange Moves Into Traditional Stocks

Centralised exchange FTX has announced that the firm plans to move into zero-commission stock trading. Competitors to FTX such as Coinbase and Binance have been less keen to participate in offering traditional stock trading. Coinbase announced it had no plans to offer US securities and Binance shut down stock-tied token trading last year. This hesitance is likely in part due to fears of breaching financial regulation. 

FTX users will be able to fund their stock-trading accounts with the stablecoin USDC. The move also comes shortly after FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried acquired a 7.6% stake in Robinhood last week - a commission-free stock trading platform. 

Nansen.ai Acquires ‘Ape Board’   

DeFi Tracking Giant Expands Market Dominance 

Popular DeFi tracking platform Nansen has acquired rival tracking platform Ape Board to increase its market dominance following a $75M series B funding round - Blockworks reports. The terms of the acquisition are unknown. Ape Board was founded last year and allows data from around 400 protocols across 33 blockchains to be tracked. It also allows DeFi yield earning positions to be tracked by connecting user wallets.  

CEO of Nansen Alex Svanevik stated that the acquisition will allow Nansen to become “the definitive information super-app of web3”. The company is also looking to drastically expand its team size, and focus on offering institutions its analytics services. 

OpenSea Disables Trading on Bored Ape Amid Legal Dispute  

NFT at the Centre of Heated Legal Battle

The High Court of Singapore has blocked the trading of a token in the BAYC NFT collection amid an ongoing legal dispute. Bored Ape #2162 was used as collateral in a loan between Rajesh Rajkumar and a pseudonymous NFT collector known as ‘Chefpierre’. 

The lending agreement (which was agreed upon on the 19th of March) was broken after Chefpierre foreclosed on loan repayment and had the token returned to his wallet. OpenSea has now flagged the token for ‘suspicious activity’ - effectively blocking it from being sold or having offers placed on it. The case may set precedent for how NFT disputes are settled legally in the future.

Panama Hesitates With Recently Passed Crypto Bill

President Cortizo Gets Cold Feet On Crypto Regulation

Last month, the Panama National Assembly passed a bill to regulate the crypto space and allow its use to be fully legalised in the country. However the country’s premier - President Laurentino Cortizo - has now announced that he will not yet be signing the bill to pass it into law.
It was implied during his speech at the Bloomberg New Economy Gateway Latin America conference that the bill did not take sufficient action to prevent money laundering for Presidential endorsement. Cortizo stated that his team would be analysing the bill further to determine what amendments would need to be made.