First Short Bitcoin ETF in US, FATF Not Happy With VASPs, Inactivity Fee on Bitstamp + More News

Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.

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Investments news

• Financial firm ProShares is ready to roll out the first US-listed short bitcoin (BTC) futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) this week, allowing investors to effectively bet against BTC. The fund, dubbed the Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF, will trade on the New York Stock Exchange and go by the ticker BITI.

Regulation news

• The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, said that there has been “some progress”, but not enough, in the implementation of the travel rule, which “leaves a significant gap that means the VASP [virtual asset service provider] sector is vulnerable for criminal misuse.” The full report by the FATF, to be published at the end of June, also provides an update on “emerging risks and market developments that FATF continues to monitor”, such as DeFi, NFTs, and the so-called “unhosted wallets.”

Career news

• Crypto exchange Bybit said it is exploring ways to remove overlapping functions and build “smaller but more agile teams to improve our efficiency.” “Starting from this week, some of the functions and roles will be reviewed to ensure we stay focused and agile,” a spokesperson for the company told Cryptonews.com. Bybit says it serves over 6m users in over 160 countries.
• UAE-based crypto exchange BitOasis laid off nine of its staff amid market turmoil, Reuters reported, citing an email from CEO and co-founder Ola Doudin. This represented nearly 5% of the company’s workforce, they added, citing an unnamed spokesperson.

Exchanges news

• Bitstamp announced an inactivity fee of EUR 10 per month in case the inactive user’s balance is less than EUR 200 and no transaction was initiated or other activity generating rewards occurred in the last 12 months. In case of such inactivity on the account with zero balance, the exchange will reserve the right to terminate the account, they said.
• Binance announced that it suspended deposits and withdrawals in Brazilian reals through the government’s payment system Pix, as it terminated a partnership with the local payment gateway Capitual which operated their Pix deposits and withdrawals.

Mining news

• The electricity of 118 authorized crypto-mining units in Tehran, Iran, will be cut off from Wednesday, June 22, due to a limited supply of electricity, Tehran Times reported, citing a spokesperson for the Iranian Energy Ministry.

Crime news

• Fraudsters who exploit professional social network LinkedIn to lure users into crypto investment schemes pose a “significant threat” to the platform and consumers, Sean Ragan, the FBI’s special agent in charge of the field offices in San Francisco and Sacramento, California, USA, told CNBC. The fraudster directs the LinkedIn user they’re in contact with to a legitimate investment platform for crypto, but after gaining their trust over several months, tells them to move the investment to a site controlled by the fraudster and drains the funds from their account.

Adoption news

• Airline Vueling said it will start accepting payments in 13 cryptoassets via payment services provider BitPay at the beginning of 2023.

Metaverse news

• Gaming company Admix announced a merger with metaverse construction company LandVault. The newly merged entity, also called LandVault, has more than 160 staff and USD 25m in growth capital from Admix’s previous Series B round, and it was valued at USD 300m.
• Blockchain solutions provider Ripple and NFT project FLUF World announced a partnership to bring to life “The Open Metaverse” via a new decentralized blockchain network called The Root Network.

Economics news

• In May, in Germany, producer prices for industrial products increased by almost 34% compared with May 2021, according to the German Federal Statistical Office DeStatis, which is the highest increase ever compared to the corresponding month of the preceding year. Mainly responsible for the increase of producer prices compared to May 2021 was the price increase of energy, they said.

Legal news

• Nick Patterson, a resident of Illinois, USA, sued Terraform Labs, its founder Do Kwon, and several venture capital firms that make up the Luna Foundation Guard in the wake of the Terra (LUNA) collapse on claims that the defendants violated federal securities laws and misled investors.