The Weekly Wrap-Up - Friday 1st Oct

The Latest Crypto and DeFi News - Every Friday

Swiss Financial Authorities Approve First Crypto Fund

Switzerland’s Crypto Adoption Accelerates

(Image: PYMNTS)

On Wednesday (29th Sep), the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) announced that the Crypto Market Index Fund would be the first legally approved crypto fund in the country. The market watchdog stated that investment will be restricted to only qualified investors, and that the fund will only be authorised to invest in leading cryptocurrencies with sufficiently high volumes. The authority also stated that:

the investments must be made through established counterparties and platforms that are based in a member country of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and are subject to corresponding anti-money laundering regulations.

(https://www.finma.ch/en/news/2021/09/20210929-mm-genehmigung-schweizer-kryptofonds/)

Compound Smart Contract Bug Causes Erroneous Payout

Crypto Lending Platform Wrongly Pays Lenders $80m In Rewards

(Image: Compound.finance)

On Wednesday (29th Sep), automated crypto lending platform Compound mistakenly made $80m worth of cryptocurrency claimable as rewards as a result of an error in the platform’s smart contract. As of the time of writing, 168,000 COMP tokens (worth around $50m) have already been wrongly claimed. The bug is believed to have been introduced with the ‘Proposal 062’ update - which sought to split the ratio of borrowers and lenders into platform-set ratios as opposed to 50/50. The platform tweeted that:

No supplied/borrowed funds are at risk. Compound Labs and members of the community are investigating discrepancies in the COMP distribution.

Affirm Announce Upcoming Crypto-Trading Service

Online Lending Platform Moves Into DeFi

Affirm CEO Max Levchin (Image: Business Insider)

Affirm announced during an investor presentation on Tuesday (28th Sep) that the platform will soon be releasing a service that will allow users to trade in cryptocurrencies. Affirm achieved revenue of $870m for its 2021 financial year, and is forecasted for continued growth. The company’s CEO Max Levchin said the platform’s strengths lie in “developing sophisticated, scalable technology, risk management and highly efficient access to capital.” Operating in the buy now pay later (BNPL) field offering short term loans for consumers, the platform now pushes further into the financial services and DeFi spaces. No time-frame has yet been specified for the release of the service.

South Korean Financial Regulators Leave Jobs For Crypto

Regulators Being Poached By Private Sector

(Image: Skalex)

Many members of South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) have reportedly been leaving their positions to seek roles in the crypto industry. According to information provided by the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee, in 2021 alone at least 28 FSS roles have been left including three high level roles. Roughly one in three of those leaving these roles were employed elsewhere immediately - with many employed in the crypto sector.(https://cryptonews.com/news/south-korean-regulators-deserting-jobs-for-posts-in-crypto-fintech-and-finance.htm). Just a week ago, the Sep 24th deadline set by the FSS for crypto trading platforms to meet legal requirements or be made to cease operation was passed. As a result of the regulation, only four crypto trading platforms remain in South Korea.

Miami Coin Hits $7M In Revenue

Miami Is Paving The Way For City-Based Digital Currencies

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (Image: Bloomberg)

‘Miami Coin’ has now generated $7m in revenue for the city of Miami, after its launch in August. Mayor Francis Suarez launched the initiative in collaboration with CityCoins to combat societal and economic inequality - with hopes of generating an additional $60m over the course of 2022. CityCoins is a non-profit organization that allows people to purchase crypto-based stakes in municipalities. Smart contracts allocate 70% of the currency’s value to miners with the remaining 30% granted to the designated municipality (https://www.citycoins.co/). Mayor Suarez is also pushing for plans to allow government workers to be paid in Bitcoin if they desire and is seeking to make Miami a “hub for crypto innovation”.