Layer-two scaling protocols for Ethereum have surged in adoption in recent months as gas prices climb again, and the L2 ecosystem is now processing more daily transactions than the Bitcoin network according to recent findings. According to CoinMetrics data collated by industry analyst and Week In Ethereum News founder Evan Van Ness, there were more transactions on Ethereum layer-two than on the Bitcoin network on Sept. 6. Layer-two protocols processed around 250,000 transactions for the day whereas there were around 210,000 on BTC. Fun fact:There are already more daily transactions on Ethereum's layer2 (~250k) than on Bitcoin (~210k yesterday per @coinmetrics) $ETH layer2 is just getting started

After witnessing the parabolic growth of the nonfungible token (NFT) ecosystem since the turn of the year, popular cryptocurrency exchange FTX has become the latest crypto platform to announce the launch of a native NFT marketplace. Exclusive for United States-based customers, the platform will enable users to mint, buy and sell NFTs — all traded cross-chain across the Ethereum and Solana blockchains. Deposits and withdrawals are also expected to be launched in the coming weeks, opening up the capability of depositing external NFTs onto the platform. In a public display of the new feature, the exchange has launched a word-art style image that simply reads “Test.” The image has a current bid of $1,100 and a remaining time of 19 hours.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission published a new alert about investment scams related to digital assets and cryptocurrency.  The announcement, shared by the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy and the Division of Enforcement’s Retail Strategy Task Force, highlighted the “devastating losses” faced by retail investors due to scams. The SEC attributed the “rising popularity” of initial coin offerings, including cryptocurrencies, as the main reason for growing scams and exploits.

Blockchain cybersecurity company GK8 will be offering custody and tokenization services to the Stellar network, a move that could spark institutional interest in the Stellar Lumen (XLM) token.  By integrating with Stellar, customers of GK8 can access XLM investments in a custodial setting, opening the door to offline transactions of the digital currency, the company announced Monday. GK8 has said that its infrastructure eliminates the risk of cyberattacks while also providing scalable, high-frequency transactions. GK8 co-founder and CEO Lior Lamesh said the partnership enables XLM’s institutional investors to “generate new revenue streams, digitize assets, trade, and transform currency as it’s sent.”

According to data from eth.btc.com，ethereum network's hashrate is651,589.78 GH/s，mining difficulty is8,737.76T. ETH's price ：$ 3,922.36 Avg Gas Price：286.00Gwei Pending Txs ：126751

Global cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced Sunday that it will roll back product offerings in Singapore amid warnings from financial regulators that the company may have violated payments laws.  Beginning Sept. 9, Singaporeans will no longer be able to trade cryptocurrencies or receive payments denominated in the Singapore dollar, better known as SGD, according to a Sunday blog post. The Binance mobile app will also be removed from Singapore’s Apple and Google Play stores. The exchange said all SGD trading pairs will be removed at 04:00 UTC on Sept. 9, with users advised to complete all peer-to-peer trades 24 hours in advance of the deadline.

While originally spruiked as a futuristic city inspired by the Marvel movie Black Panther that would emerge as a “beacon of innovation and human development” and bolster the West African and Senegalese economies by Akon in 2018, there are few signs of the city’s development beyond a ceremonial stone that was laid in a field near Mbodiene 12 months ago. According to a report from Agence France-Press, the project has not progressed beyond the stone’s erection, with a small placard promoting Akon City having since fallen from its perch on top of the block. Akon had predicted that the city would boast a police station, waste center, solar power plant, shopping center, hospital and school by 2024, anticipating the project would be completed in its entirety by 2030.

Nonfungible tokens (NFT) depicting cartoon lobsters in suits have raised more than $4 million to support lobbying efforts supporting the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. On August 5, nonfungible token platform and community Universe sold out if its Lobby Lobster NFTs in less than one hour, raising roughly $4 million. Wow Already $4m raised for lobbying efforts in DC. Let’s go Lobby Lobsters community. pic.twitter.com/VeT1XymMoL

According to data from eth.btc.com，ethereum network's hashrate is656,462.20 GH/s，mining difficulty is8,732.61T. ETH's price ：$ 3,925.51 Avg Gas Price：104.00Gwei Pending Txs ：164336

Bloomberg’s senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone has doubled down on call for six-figure Bitcoin (BTC), arguing that the first-born cryptocurrency is well on its way to becoming a global reserve asset that complements the United States dollar.  The September edition of Bloomberg’s Crypto Outlook called $100,000 BTC and $5,000 Ether (ETH) the “path of least resistance” after the two assets survived a more than 50% correction through the summer. “Crypto-assets appear in a revived and refreshed bull market with the 2H benefit of a steep discount from previous highs at the start,” wrote McGlone, referring to the second half of 2021. He said portfolios lacking BTC or ETH exposure are “naked,” as evidenced by the relative underperformance of gold and government bonds:

According to data from eth.btc.com，ethereum network's hashrate is638,878.21 GH/s，mining difficulty is8,521.01T. ETH's price ：$ 3,891.75 Avg Gas Price：208.00Gwei Pending Txs ：157194

Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky has detected more than 1,500 fraudulent entities targeting potential crypto investors and miners just in the first half of 2021. Kaspersky’s research shows that 0.60% of users from South African countries have already been targeted by malicious crypto miners. The report also suggests that the most common methods of duping unwary users involved false s claiming to sell mining equipment and fake websites posing as crypto exchanges. Kaspersky’s data based on anonymized statistics revealed that 0.85% of crypto investors from Kenya and 0.71% Nigerians were targets of crypto-miner malware, while investors from Ethiopia (3.68%) and Rwanda (3.22%) faced the most number of threats in this regard. Bethwel Opil, Africa’s enterprise sales manager at Kaspersky, warned that the low percentages do not mean that the threat is insignificant:

United States-based e-commerce platform Shop.com is the latest site to adopt cryptocurrency payments.  The company, which is owned by Market America, announced its partnership with crypto payment service provider BitPay, which will allow it to accept payments in several cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC). The new partnership enables Shop.com users to select the BitPay option during checkout to pay via their crypto wallets. Currently, users have the option to pay with Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ether (ETH), Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), Dogecoin (DOGE) and Litecoin (LTC), as well as five U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins.

Gathering together the most recent data on the cryptocurrency and blockchain job market, a new report suggests that higher levels of institutional adoption have spurred greater demand for expertise in the sector. According to the employment website Indeed — cited Thursday in Korea IT Times — as of mid-July 2021, the overall share of crypto and blockchain job postings on the platform has grown 118% compared with early September 2020.  This solid growth has also come with a shift in the roles being sought after, with the share of management posts in crypto and blockchain increasing 29.87% year-on-year as of July 16. Human resource accounts have risen 200% over the same time frame, whereas software development jobs have dropped down to 29.7% of all crypto and blockchain posts compared with 34.8% the previous year. All data on the allocation of roles has reportedly been drawn from the crypto trading simulator Crypto Parrot. 

In 2021, financial institutions operating in Nigeria have been the subject of a government crackdown on cryptocurrencies, beginning with February’s notorious ban on lenders that provide services to crypto exchanges by its central bank. With much of the Nigerian crypto market peer-to-peer by necessity, Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) now aims to introduce regulations that could regularize the industry and offer investors better protection. According to a Sept. 2 report, the SEC has established a dedicated fintech division tasked with studying crypto and blockchain investments and products — knowledge it could then marshal into a future crypto regulatory framework. Director-General Lamido Yuguda told Reuters this week that the agency is “looking at this market closely to see how we can bring out regulations that will help investors protect their investment in blockchain."  Nigeria’s SEC, which says that all crypto assets ”are securities, unless proven otherwise,” will only be able to establish a regulatory framework if crypto is once again integrated into the country’s banking system.  The agency is also reportedly looking to work with fintech firms to strengthen the domestic market for securities to dissuade capital flight, which continues to beset multiple sectors.

The Dallas Mavericks, the NBA franchise owned by Mark Cuban, have started a cashback rewards program to incentivize merchandise and ticket payments in Dogecoin (DOGE). The rewards program is dubbed “Mavs Cryptomania,” and customers who spend more than $150 worth of Dogecoin in one transaction will receive a $25 e-gift card that they can use for online purchases in the Dallas Mavericks shop. The program is to run until Sept. 30. At the time of writing, users will need to outlay 505 DOGE in order to receive the e-gift card.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly investigating the startup behind the world’s largest decentralized cryptocurrency exchange, Uniswap. The U.S. securities regulator has initiated a probe into Uniswap’s main developer, Uniswap Labs, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The report says that enforcement attorneys are now looking for information about Uniswap’s marketing and investor services, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

Decentralized exchange aggregator 1inch has partnered with an animated series that pokes fun at startups in a Silicon Valley-like setting. In a Friday announcement, 1inch said it would be sponsoring the nonfungible token, or NFT, series Take My Muffin in addition to providing its technical expertise for the show and introducing team members to projects in the decentralized finance, or DeFi, space. The series follows the exploits of a team of creatures who attempt to get startup projects off the ground — with general wackiness and blockchain-based solutions aplenty — and is scheduled to be released in the first half of 2022. “A partnership of this kind comes as no surprise,” sai 1inch co-founder Anton Bukov. “Take My Muffin was financed by the crypto community from the very beginning. It’s actually the very first crypto-funded animated series.”

Welcome to the latest iteration of Cointelegraph’s decentralized finance newsletter. Just as quickly as the summer departed from our calendars, millions of funds were hacked from the wallets of Cream Finance. This has been another jam-packed week in the DeFi space. Here are some top picks for the biggest stories in what is my debut appearance as Finance Redefined’s newsletter writer.

While regulators have often targeted projects in and out of the crypto space, the fines levied against digital asset exchanges are a fraction of those against traditional financial institutions. According to data from Good Jobs First’s violation tracker, the platform analyzed 50 of the biggest fines regulators levied against major banks, investment firms, and brokers over the last 20 years. Bank of America accrued roughly $82 billion covering 251 different fines including securities violations, while JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup were also some of the most fined banks in the U.S. since 2000 with penalties totaling $35.9 billion and $25.5 billion, respectively. While both major banks and crypto exchanges have often been penalized for securities violations, data suggest that enforcement actions from U.S. regulators against those in the crypto space cost those firms less than 1% of that in traditional finance. Cointelegraph previously reported that from 2009 to early 2021, fines for crypto-related violations have totaled $2.5 billion in the United States, while Good Jobs First’s data shows there were $332.9 billion in penalties from banks, investment firms, and brokers in the last 20 years.