Coinbase, PayPal Priorities for Kraken EU Clients and Other Crypto Events

We have collected the most important news from crypto industry participants for the week.

Coinbase Decides on Directions for Geographic Expansion

Coinbase Vice Presidents of International Business and International Policy Nana Murugesan and Tom Duff Gordon identified the EU, UK, Canada, Brazil, Singapore and Australia as “priority markets in the near term.”

The choice is due to a well-developed regulatory framework. The company will focus on “acquisition of licenses, registration, establishment and strengthening of operations” in these jurisdictions. The initiative is part of the second phase of the Go Broad, Go Deep expansion program.

Globally, countries are vying to become crypto hubs. Regulatory clarity has emerged in the EU, UAE, China (HK), Singapore, Australia and Canada, to name a few.

— Coinbase 🛡️ (@coinbase) September 7, 2023

Coinbase Ventures made the first investment from the Base Ecosystem fund in six projects:

• Avantis and BSX are decentralized exchanges;
• Onboard is developing a non-custodial wallet with a focus on emerging markets;
• OpenCover is working on insurance data aggregation for L2 protocols in collaboration with Nexus Mutual;
• Paragraph builds online content platform;
• Truflation is a blockchain oracle network that specializes in generating independent daily inflation data.

Investment amounts are not disclosed. The structure aimed at supporting the Base L2 solution received over 800 applications.

Kraken adds support for PayPal deposits for EU and UK residents

Kraken has added support for PayPal deposits for users in the UK and Europe, with the exception of Hungary and Croatia. Funds are credited to your account almost instantly.

At the time of writing, the service is available in the new version of the platform’s mobile application. Limits of £1000 ($1250) per day apply.

Kraken previously added support for PayPal USD (PYUSD).

OKX and Circle Implement USDC in OKX Wallet and OKX DEX Aggregator

The USDC issuer, Circle, and the OKX crypto exchange have integrated the stablecoin into the OKX Wallet and the OKX DEX aggregator.

From September 7 to October 5, 2023, OKX Wallet smart account users will be able to transact in USD without network fees. This feature is based on account abstraction technology. Users also gained the ability to exchange US dollars on various networks using the built-in exchange feature.

Through the collaboration, users will also be able to cross-chain USDC swaps between Ethereum, Avalanche, Arbitrum, and Optimism. The possibility is implemented thanks to the CCTP protocol.

BitGo has agreed with South Korea’s Hana Bank to launch a crypto-custodial service

South Korea-based Hana Bank has partnered with crypto custodian BitGo to launch a digital asset custody service in the second half of 2024.

The collaboration includes the possibility of creating a joint venture to leverage the bank’s expertise in financial services and compliance, and Bitgo’s expertise in cryptosecurity.

In June 2023, the South Korean Parliament passed a law to protect users of digital assets. The document brought together 19 different bills related to cryptocurrencies. It introduces the concept of “digital assets” and defines liability for offenses such as the use of insider information, market manipulation and unfair trading practices.

In August, BitGo closed a $100 million funding round, valuing the company at $1.75 billion.

Binance and Bitget Reveal Fresh Reserve Estimates

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has released a monthly Proof-of-Reserves (PoR) report — it holds 618,126 BTC (~$15.9 billion) on its balance to secure 588,171 BTC (~$15.1 billion) of customer deposits.

Only 31 tokens out of 350 listed on the platform are listed on Binance. To conduct PoR, the exchange uses a special type of zero-knowledge proof – zk-SNARK. This method prevents the leakage of personal data of customers.

The reserve confirmation report was also presented by Bitget. The overall reserve ratio was 208%, according to the document.

Also on ForkLog:

What to read on the weekend?

Cryptocurrencies as a means of payment are developing at a rapid pace. In some countries, it has already become a habit to read a QR code at the checkout and pay with stablecoins for purchases. ForkLog looked at the statistics and spoke to businesses of all sizes to share how the adoption of the technology is progressing:

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