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Brazil’s 2TM, a holding company for Mercado Bitcoin, the country’s biggest crypto exchange by market valuation, dismissed more than 80 employees this week.

The news was first reported on June 1 by Bloomberg. Some 12 percent of employees were impacted.

“The changing global financial landscape, rising interest rates and inflation have been having a major impact on technology-based companies,” 2TM said in a statement, CoinDesk reported.

According to their LinkedIn pages, Mercado Bitcoin has more than 580 employees, while 2TM has more than 80.

The cutbacks come about a week after Bitso, Mercado Bitcoin’s main competitor in Brazil, slashed 80 employees, CoinDesk reported earlier.

In January, 2TM Group had said that it planned to expand into Europe with the acquisition of Lisbon-based exchange CriptoLoja, The Block reported at the time.

© 2022 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.

Crypto exchange giant FTX has launched its Japanese cryptocurrency trading service called FTX Japan, the company announced on Thursday.

FTX Japan is the result of FTX’s prior acquisition of Liquid Group in February. Liquid was the parent company of Quoine Corp., one of the first crypto exchange platforms licensed in Japan in 2017.

The launch of the platform will see FTX able to migrate its existing customer base in Japan under the FTX Japan umbrella for crypto spot and perpetual contracts trading.

These supported cryptocurrencies include bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), and solana (SOL) among others.

Customers will also be able to make deposits and withdrawals using the Japanese yen.

The announcement marks Japan as the latest entry in FTX’s global expansion push. Japan remains one of the most tightly-regulated jurisdictions for crypto trading and was one of the first to create a formal licensing framework for exchanges.

FTX was the second-largest centralized crypto exchange in May, as previously reported by The Block. Sam Bankman-Fried, the company’s CEO, has stated plans to spend billions of US dollars on further acquisitions.

© 2022 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 Central African Republic (CAR) revealed the next step in its bitcoin adoption journey with plans to tokenize access to its natural resources, according to a statement released on Thursday.

The presidential news release said the CAR government will offer tokenized access to mineral resources to crypto and digital asset projects that establish a presence in the country. The natural resource tokenization drive will come under the auspices of Project Sango.

The government announced Project Sango in May, after passing a law recognizing bitcoin as legal tender the previous month. CAR is the first African nation to adopt bitcoin as a recognized form of currency and the second in the world after El Salvador.

In addition to petroleum, CAR possesses other mineral deposits including diamonds, copper and rhodium. The country’s natural resources also include gold, limestone, cobalt and manganese, among others.

The landlocked African nation still remains one of the least developed countries in the world, in spite of its abundant natural resources. For President Faustin Archange Touadera, the tokenization of these “massive geological treasures” represents a means of creating new investment opportunities in the country.

© 2022 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.

Binance Labs, the venture capital and incubation arm of crypto exchange Binance, has lost two top executives in recent weeks.

Bill Qian, the head of Binance Labs, is set to leave the firm soon, several people familiar with the matter told The Block. Nicole Zhang, the firm’s executive director, left last month, according to her LinkedIn profile.

A Binance spokesperson confirmed Qian’s move, saying: “We don’t comment on people moves at Binance as a matter of policy. However, we can confirm that Bill is leaving Binance for personal reasons.”

Another Binance spokesperson confirmed Zhang’s departure as well.

Both executives worked for Binance Labs for more than two years. Qian joined Binance Labs in March 2020 from China’s JD Group, where he worked as head of investment for more than five years, per his LinkedIn profile.

A Chinese national, Qian recently changed his surname to Chin, as can be seen in the Binance-Forbes deal announcement published in February. His previous LinkedIn profile with the Qian surname doesn’t exist anymore. He also seems to have deleted his Twitter account.

Qian did not immediately respond to The Block’s request for comment on the surname change.

Zhang, on the other hand, joined Binance Labs as its executive director in April 2020, according to her LinkedIn profile. She is now working as a partner at fintech-focused venture capital firm Lingfeng Capital, managing its Innovation Fund, per the profile.

Zhang declined to comment to The Block when contacted.

First outside capital

Qian’s and Zhang’s departures come as Binance Labs raised its first fund with outside capital earlier this week. The firm raised $500 million from backers including DST Global Partners, Breyer Capital and unnamed institutional investors.

Binance Labs was formed in 2018 and had been investing its own money. The firm has funded more than 100 startups to date, including Axie Infinity developer Sky Mavis, move-to-earn startup StepN, decentralized exchange aggregator 1inch, and blockchain audit firm CertiK.

Besides investments, Binance Labs also looks after Binance’s mergers and acquisitions deals. The firm has done over a dozen deals, including the acquisitions of crypto data provider CoinMarketCap, Indian crypto exchange WazirX and decentralized application analytics platform DappReview.

It is unclear who will replace Qian and Zhang. Binance Labs is currently helmed by Ken Li and Peter Huo in their director roles, according to the firm’s website.

© 2022 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.

Japan’s parliament introduced a legal framework for stablecoins guaranteeing that they are linked to the yen or another fiat currency and that holders have the right to redeem them at face value, Bloomberg reported today.

Governments are looking to ensure protection for stablecoin investors after TerraUSD’s implosion led to multibillion-dollar losses from an asset that had been touted as safe, the report said.

The legal framework for stablecoins will take effect in a year, Bloomberg said. Japan’s Financial Services Agency will devise regulations for stablecoin issuers in the coming months.

Japan’s parliament clarified the legal status of stablecoins as essentially digital money, meaning they can be issued only by licensed banks, registered money transfer agents and trust companies, the report said.

© 2022 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 New York Senate this morning passed a bill that imposes a moratorium on new proof-of-work crypto mining operations in the state.

The news means that all new proof-of-work mining operations that rely on carbon-based fuel to power their activities will face a two-year ban.

According to the bill, the State of New York will complete a “comprehensive generic environmental impact” of proof-of-work crypto mining operations.

The Senate voted 36-27 in favor of the bill, which had already passed through the New York State Assembly in April.

Legislators have been pushing to slow the growth of crypto mining in the state for several months. An earlier version of the bill, which called for a three-year moratorium on a broader scope of mining facilities, died in the Assembly in June of last year.

Opponents of the current iteration of the moratorium, such as Republican Assemblyman Robert Smullen, have described the bill as “anti-tech,” while others say it will dent New York’s standing as a hub for crypto firms.

“There are an increasing number of cryptocurrency mining operations in New York that are mining cryptocurrencies that use proof-of-work consensus algorithm, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum,” the new bill states. “Some cryptocurrency mining companies purchased retired fossil fuel plants and began operating at a much higher rate than the plants did previously. Those companies are essentially operating as an electric generating facility that uses fossil fuels.”

It continues: “We must determine whether the growth of proof-of-work authentication cryptocurrency mining companies that operate their own electric generating facilities and produce energy by burning fossil fuels is incompatible with our greenhouse gas emission targets established in law.”

© 2022 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.

Coinbase is rescinding some accepted job offers and extending an existing pause on hiring new candidates as part of an effort to adjust to the macro environment and general volatility in crypto, according to a blog post published Thursday evening. 

It’s unclear how many offers will be rescinded, but limited exceptions will apply, the company said.

Coinbase also didn’t specify how long the hiring pause will be.

“The extended hiring pause will include backfills, except for roles that are necessary to meet the high standards we set for security and compliance, or to support other mission-critical work,” the post, written by L.J Brock, Chief People Officer at Coinbase, explained. 

The news comes just two weeks after Coinbase launched an initiative to cut down on spending in an effort to grow revenue. It also came amid signs of belt-tightening across the crypto space, including layoffs at other firms. 

Coinbase stock closed Thursday at $73.82, up 7.56% on the day on Nasdaq.

© 2022 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.

Bitcoin miners faired better on the stock markets Thursday, with many recovering by a few percentage points.

Most notably, BIT Mining’s stock was up by +12.44%, Cipher Mining’s +11.78% and TeraWulf’s +10.86%.

On the other end, Argo Blockchain fell by -4.81% on the London Stock Exchange, Digihost by -4.79% and Northern Data by -1.83%.

CleanSpark announced production updates in regards to the month of May on Thursday. It mined 312 BTC last month and held a total of 550 BTC as of May 31. The company’s stock rose by +5.22% on Thursday.

Here’s how crypto mining companies performed on Thursday, June 2:

© 2022 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.

El Salvador’s leaders still do not think it is the right time to launch its highly-anticipated bitcoin bond, finance minister Alejandro Zelaya said during a national television news show on June 1, citing market conditions following the war between Russia and Ukraine. 

Initially, the $1 billion bond was supposed to launch between March 15 and March 20. But on March 22, Zelaya explained that the country was still waiting for the right time to launch them due to conditions including the war. At the time, the government still had yet to finalize legislation around a framework for regulating digital assets. 

Meanwhile, economists have raised concerns about the country’s ability to raise funds to cover its impending financial obligations, including an $800 million bond that will mature in January. “And as of now, the country is not guaranteed to get that money,” Central American Institute for Fiscal Studies (ICEFI) economist Ricardo Castaneda told The Block in a recent voice note. All in all, he estimates that the country needs to find about $3 billion when also considering the gap between income and expenses through 2024.

Zelaya also said during the interview that talks between El Salvador and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are ongoing and that there will be an update in the coming weeks.  

Analysts have raised questions about El Salvador’s strategy of continuing to purchase bitcoin considering recent price drops in the currency, estimating that the country has lost more than $35 million on its investments based on current prices and the value of bitcoin at the time of purchase. El Salvador purchased a fresh round of 500 bitcoin on May 9 during a price drop, bringing its total government purchases to 2,301 bitcoins.

The mechanics of El Salvador’s bitcoin transactions have not been totally clear. When asked whether the country has sold any bitcoin, Zelaya said that Bukele did sell “a part” of the country’s bitcoin to fund the Chivo Pets pet hospital. Bukele has said that the project was funded with a $4 million “surplus” based on fluctuations in bitcoin prices. Zelaya mentioned the role of the country’s bitcoin trust fund, which allows the country to maintain both U.S. dollars and bitcoin.

Zelaya then maintained that the country is holding onto its bitcoin. “We are not selling the coins that we have bought in this moment,” he said. 

© 2022 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.

Quick Take

• In this weekly series, we dive into some of the most interesting data and developments across the Layer 1 blockchain landscape, from DeFi and bridges to network activity and funding
• As the Ethereum merge approaches, concerns about technical and centralization risks have begun to arise
• In the Cosmos and Polkadot ecosystems, developers are continuing to build protocols that leverage interchain connectivity in order to tap into a broader user base

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