The Iranian government will allow licensed cryptocurrency miners to resume operations today following a three-month ban imposed by former President Hassan Rouhani on May 26th, 2021. The initial ban was put into effect due to concerns over the stability of the country’s unreliable power grid. The middle eastern country experienced widespread power outages in the summer, which former President Rouhani attributed to extreme heat. On some days, the heat topped 120 degrees Fahrenheit, or nearly 49 degrees Celsius.

Global payments giant Visa has introduced a project that aims to be a “universal adapter” of blockchains that can connect multiple cryptocurrencies, stablecoins as well as central bank digital currencies (CBDC). According to an official announcement on Thursday, Visa’s research team is working on a “Universal Payment Channel” (UPC) initiative, a blockchain interoperability hub connecting multiple blockchain networks and enabling transfers of digital assets from different protocols and wallets. “Imagine splitting the check with your friends, when everyone at the table is using a different type of money — some using CBDC like Sweden’s eKrona, and others preferring a private stablecoin like USDC,” Visa wrote, adding that such a tool “well may be a reality” in the “not-too-distant future” with the UPC project.

The national postal service of Switzerland is working to bridge the gap between physical stamps and the digital cryptocurrency industry by introducing tradable digital stamps. On Sept. 20, the Swiss Post officially announced the upcoming launch of the “Swiss crypto stamp,” a digital collectible linked to a physical stamp issued by the postal service worth 8.9 Swiss francs. The Swiss crypto stamp will provide a digital representation for a physical stamp and will be stored on a blockchain. “Each design forms a nonfungible token and is stored in the Polygon Blockchain,” a spokesperson for the Swiss Post told Cointelegraph.

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The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has extended the deadline of four Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) on Friday for 45 days, citing the requirement for additional time to decide whether to accept the 19b-4 applications.  The approval of four Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs — Global X Bitcoin Trust, Valkyrie XBTO Bitcoin Futures Fund, WisdomTree Bitcoin Trust and Kryptoin Bitcoin ETF — was rescheduled to Nov. 21, Dec. 8, Dec. 11 and Dec. 24, respectively. In its official statement, the SEC outlined:

Orlando Bravo, co-founder and managing partner of private equity firm Thoma Bravo, expressed his unwavering endorsement of the cryptocurrency market in an interview at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha 2021 conference on Wednesday, revealing that he is “very bullish” on his personal investment in Bitcoin (BTC). The billionaire businessman owns one of the world’s largest private equity firms, which boasts assets under management (AUM) of $83 billion as of June 30, 2021. Questioned on the potential of digital assets, Bravo spoke with delight on the emergence of the space: Thoma Bravo participated in FTX’s $900-million Series B funding round — the largest in crypto exchange history — alongside 60 venture capital and crypto firms, including Sequoia Capital, Coinbase Ventures, VanEck and the Paul Tudor Jones family. The funding resulted in FTX’s value soaring to a colossal $18 billion, establishing the exchange as a decacorn.

Welcome to the latest edition of Cointelegraph’s decentralized finance (DeFi) newsletter. DYdX surpassed Coinbase in daily trading volume for the first time this week. Read on to discover why this was a seminal moment for the project’s founder. What you’re about to read is the concise version of this newsletter. For the full breakdown of DeFi’s developments over the last week — released with more anticipation than a layer-two airdrop — register below.

The Biden administration is reportedly considering a new legal framework for stablecoin issuers that would put them in the same category as banks, raising questions about the future of crypto regulation in the country. Citing people familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the administration is looking to convince Congress to create a new “special-purpose charter” for stablecoin issuers and other companies that fall within the same category. Although it’s not entirely clear how the legislation will look, it’s expected to be tailored specifically to these types of business models. Policymakers have been sounding the alarm over stablecoins in recent months because they believe these dollar-pegged assets aren’t properly regulated. Earlier this week, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told the Financial Services Committee that stablecoins like Tether (USDT) and USDC Coin (USDC) should be regulated within the same parameters as money market funds like bank deposits. Nevertheless, he remained steadfast in stating that no blanket ban on Bitcoin (BTC) or other digital assets was in the cards.

Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg has told a local industry event that Australia’s digital asset plan to create cryptocurrency-related legislation is “coming” soon and could be enacted in 2022. He also backed plans to run the sector on renewable energy as part of the government's yet-to- be-established goal of achieving ‘net zero’ carbon emissions. Speaking at the virtual NFT Fest event supported by Blockchain Australia on Thursday, Bragg stated that the select Senate committee investigating the topic will publish its report by the end of October and that it will include regulatory recommendations that can be legislated over the next 12 months.

Singapore’s principal financial regulator, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), has officially approved two companies to offer cryptocurrency services in the country. MAS issued licenses to Australian crypto exchange Independent Reserve and DBS Bank’s brokerage arm, DBS Vickers (DBSV), allowing them to provide digital payment token services under the Payment Services Act (PS Act), on Friday. According to an announcement by Independent Reserve, the firm became the first Australian cryptocurrency exchange available to retail and institutional investors in Singapore. Founded in Australia back in 2013, the company started setting up its first overseas operations in Singapore in late 2019, offering digital asset exchange and over-the-counter trading services to people and institutions.

New research by analytics platform DappRadar has revealed the extent to which decentralized finance (DeFi) and nonfungible token (NFT) markets have grown this year. In its Thursday “Value Flow Report,” DappRadar reported that recent trends have seen sizable growth in NFTs and blockchain gaming but that DeFi is also still generating substantial value. The research delved into Ethereum-based DeFi, which is still the dominant force in the sector despite the emergence of rival networks such as Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Solana and Avalanche. Value has continued to flow in with wrapped Ether (wETH) up 400% since July 2020 and stablecoins Tether (USDT) and Dai increasing by 1,300% and 500% over the same period, respectively.

French stock market regulator, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), continues monitoring the cryptocurrency market to warn investors about unauthorized crypto services. On Friday, AMF updated its web portals, identifying those that offer crypto and foreign exchange (forex) investments through unauthorized entities. The list included four websites related to cryptocurrency derivatives investments alongside 12 forex-related sites. According to the regulator, the listed entities have been offering investment products without being authorized to provide such services. To protect investors from potentially fraudulent investments, AMF and French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR) regularly update the blacklist of unauthorized investment providers. Still, those lists are “not intended to be complete” as “new unauthorized entities appear regularly.”

Investors who survived the 2008 financial crisis understand the importance of liquidity. When an economic recession starts, deflationary pressure hits the market, and buyers disappear. Sellers frantically try to sell assets before their prices drop further, but buyers want to de-risk and go into safe-haven assets, such as treasury bonds and money market funds.  The lack of liquidity associated with nonfungible assets is the one reason why investors may think they are riskier than cryptocurrencies. When an investor wants to sell Bitcoin (BTC), they can easily sell to an order book of buyers at various price points. If a seller doesn’t sell their Bitcoin today, they can easily come back tomorrow and part ways with their Bitcoin in favor of willing buyers. In contrast, nonfungible tokens (NFT) are unique, and matching sellers with buyers is much more difficult. Cointelegraph Research analyzed what liquidity looked like for NFTs and whether some collections were traded more frequently than others. Cointelegraph Research is releasing its first-ever report on NFTs in October to answer exactly this question and many more surrounding the risks associated with NFTs. 

Brazil Stock Exchange (B3), one of the world’s few exchanges trading Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds, is exploring ways to provide data inputs for the country’s central bank digital currency, or CBDC. Luis Kondic, managing director of listed products and data at B3, claimed that the stock exchange is considering providing oracles to bridge external data with Brazil’s projected CBDC, the digital real. The executive provided his remarks at a CBDC-related online event hosted by the Central Bank of Brazil on Thursday, Cointelegraph Brasil reported. “We are looking at it and evaluating the best ways to interact and participate in this ecosystem. However, I believe this is something for us to evolve and move forward to meet the future needs of this programmable cash payments system,” Kondic said.

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has teamed up with legendary electronic dance music (EDM) DJ Paul Oakenfold to launch a tokenized album on Cardano. Oakenfold is a three-time Grammy Award nominee and his career in the music industry spans back to the early 1980s. His upcoming album dubbed “Zombie Lobster” was announced during the Cardano summit on Wednesday. Every aspect of the album will be tokenized on the Cardano blockchain, including cover art, tracks, sleeve notes and remixes. The album is part of a release from an NFT project named “Starship Universe,” which is operated by music entrepreneur Alon Shulman, who manages DJs such as Carl Cox.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) continues investigating the development of the global central bank digital currency (CBDC), publishing a new joint report with seven central banks. Released on Thursday, BIS’ latest CBDC report refers to joint efforts with the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the United States Federal Reserve, Sveriges Riksbank and the Swiss National Bank to explore a retail CBDC. The report provides an executive summary of progress made by the investigation since the October 2020 publication of a report that pointed out the common foundational principles and core features of a CBDC. The BIS also published three detailed CBDC reports related to CBDC system design and interoperability, user needs, adoption and financial stability implications.

Decentralized oracle service Umbrella Network officially launched on Ethereum on Friday, setting the stage for cross-chain transactions between the dominant smart contract platform and Binance Smart Chain, or BSC.  The cross-chain bridge connecting Ethereum and BSC was developed in-house at Umbrella Network, underscoring the need to transfer tokens and other crypto assets between the two networks. The cross-chain bridge also enables users to stake and farm crypto tokens on either blockchain. Umbrella said it’s planning future cross-chain integration with Polygon, Solana, Cardano and Avalanche, though no timetable was given. Although the blockchain industry has given birth to several oracle services, Umbrella claims that its protocol provides quick and affordable price feeds when compared with the leading competitors. Initially, the protocol will have over 1,200 data pairs on Ethereum, allowing users to integrate data from spot cryptocurrency, crypto derivatives and traditional financial markets.

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has reportedly suffered another security breach after attackers were able to bypass the company’s multi-factor authentication, or MFA, feature in a coordinated campaign earlier this year.  The attackers stole cryptocurrency from 6,000 accounts, though the monetary value of the theft wasn’t disclosed, according to a report from Bleeping Computer. Earlier this week, Coinbase reportedly notified affected customers that the theft occurred between March and May. To gain access to the accounts, the attackers must have known the affected users’ email address, password and phone number. It’s not clear how the attackers obtained this information, though phishing scams targeting exchange users are not uncommon. However, Coinbase did identify a vulnerability in the account recovery process that the attackers exploited to gain access to the accounts:

The Iranian government will allow licensed cryptocurrency miners to resume operations today following a three-month ban imposed by former President Hassan Rouhani on May 26, 2021. The initial ban was put into effect due to concerns over the stability of the country’s unreliable power grid. The Middle Eastern country experienced widespread power outages in the summer, which former President Rouhani attributed to extreme heat. On some days, the heat topped 120 degrees Fahrenheit, or nearly 49 degrees Celsius.

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