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The Fed will publish its rate decision and quarterly economic projections on Wednesday at 18:00 UTC. A half hour later, Powell will speak at the post-meeting conference, offering more cues about the path forward.

Decentralized derivatives exchange GMX has community support over deploying the protocol on Coinbase’s (COIN) recently-announced layer 2 blockchain, Base.

Stablecoin issuer Circle has applied for a French crypto asset license as part of a wider growth strategy for Europe. 

The Boston-based firm filed separate applications to be a registered digital asset service provider and a licensed electronic money institution, Circle said in a statement. A successful registration will mean Circle can offer its products to customers in France, and “onshore” its euro-backed stablecoin EUROC, the statement said.

“We are excited to kick our European growth strategy into high-gear with this application,” said Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of Circle.

France recently tightened its crypto licensing rules ahead of the introduction next year of a European Union-wide digital assets framework called Markets in Crypto-Assets. Circle already holds licenses from various U.S. states and in Singapore and is best known for its dollar-backed USDC stablecoin.

Circle’s model was tested recently after USDC de-pegged from the dollar due to some of the stablecoin’s reserves being parked at Silicon Valley Bank as it headed for collapse. Had the government not backstopped all deposits at the struggling lender there was a risk that Circle and other account holders would have taken a haircut.

Circle senior policy specialist Tarleton Watkins recently told a conference at the Warwick Business School that one solution would be for stablecoin reserves to be parked at central banks using a central bank digital currency as the backing instrument.

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

The stablecoin issuer wants to expand European operations and prepare for new reserve requirements under the EU’s MiCA law.

The agreement with the Belgian market maker is part of Talos’ ongoing expansion into Europe.

Ethereum scaling project Polygon and web3 gaming blockchain project Immutable are working together to launch a Layer 2 blockchain network called Immutable zkEVM. The network aims to leverage ZK-Rollup technology for compatibility with Ethereum apps while operating separately from Immutable’s existing StarkEx-based Layer 2 chain, Immutable X.

A zkEVM, or zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine, is a Layer 2 scaling solution that leverages zero-knowledge proofs to enable faster and more efficient transactions on the Ethereum network. It’s designed to work in conjunction with Ethereum’s mainnet, providing a secure and scalable off-chain solution for processing transactions and executing smart contracts.

Immutable X currently provides fast and cheap transactions for gaming apps, but lacks native compatibility with the Ethereum blockchain. Its new network, Immutable zkEVM, will offer compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine, allowing developers to use established Ethereum tools to build smart contracts with a focus on gaming applications.

In the future, Immutable zkEVM will be secured by validators who stake Matic, the native token of Polygon’s sidechain network, noted Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal. The Immutable zkEVM blockchain is set to go live in Q2 2023, initially using a single sequencer for transaction processing and later transitioning to a staking model, Nailwal added.

“Gaming is going to be the largest txn generator in Web3,” Nailwal said. “Immutable zkEVM chain, even though it is starting as a single operator chain, will migrate into a Polygon staked multi-validator chain where the stakers and delegators will earn the transaction fees.”

The announcement comes just a week before the anticipated mainnet beta launch of Polygon’s own zkEVM chain, which has been under development for a year. Over the past year, several blockchain projects, including Polygon, Starknet, zkSync, and Scroll, have been competing to develop a functional ZK-based Layer 2 solution capable of natively supporting Ethereum apps.

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

MetaMask has expanded its partnership with web3 payment company MoonPay in Nigeria to enable users to buy crypto tokens directly from their wallets, ConsenSys announced on Tuesday.

MetaMask users in Nigeria can purchase crypto using local bank transfers. They can select Nigeria as their region when buying crypto and selecting the MoonPay quote associated with their purchase amount. The purchased tokens can then be stored in their MetaMask wallets.

ConsenSys says the integration is to make it easier for Nigerians to buy crypto. MoonPay already offers localized peer-to-peer crypto purchases for users in the country. This offering also relies on local bank transfers, with MoonPay partnering with African fintech outfit Yellow Card.

Despite being a center of significant crypto transaction volume, Nigerians are not easily able to purchase cryptocurrencies. This is due to a ban by the country’s central bank that prohibits commercial banks from servicing crypto exchanges. Many Nigerian banks have also suspended using their debit cards on international websites, thus making it more difficult for users to pay for crypto on centralized exchanges.

These restrictions have forced Nigerians to rely on peer-to-peer transactions for crypto purchases. This avenue is not without its disadvantages, as it opens the door for scammers to defraud unsuspecting victims, as well as the possibility of bank account closures by the central bank.

MoonPay’s chief product and strategy officer, Zeeshan Feroz, says the integration solves this problem. “We have rolled out an innovative document-less KYC solution, leveraging governmental databases,” Feroz told The Block. “This will allow users to onboard faster and more safely with MoonPay, by providing their Bank Verification Number.”

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

New vault contracts aim to protect users against liquidity pool exploits.

A put option that expires at $2 is selling for 76 cents on options marketplace Clober.

The U.S. trading hours continue to be a major source of bullish pressure for bitcoin.