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2021-09-18 12:40:20 ​​Binance Delisting The Latest Chapter In Cover Protocol’s Troubled Saga

Binance has just announced that it is delisting the Cover Protocol token (COVER) and its associated trading pairs COVER/ETH and COVER/BUSD. The announcement comes as part of an ongoing troubled phase for Cover Protocol.

Cover Protocol has had a troubled time recently, with the protocol being hacked in 2020, Yearn Finance canceling their partnership, and several important devs and team members leaving the protocol.

The Binance Announcement
Binance announced on its website that it would be delisting and ceasing trading on all trading pairs for the Cover Protocol’s COVER token from 2021-09-24 08:00 (UTC).

Binance will also be removing the trading pairs COVER/ETH and COVER/BUSD. Binance will carry out an automatic settlement, following which it will cancel all pending orders before delisting the COVER/BUSD isolated trading pair on 2021-09-22 08:00 (UTC).

Binance also stated in their announcement that withdrawals of COVER from Binance will be supported until 2021-12-24 at 08:00 (UTC), and any deposits of COVER made after 2021-12-24 08:00 (UTC) will not be credited into trading accounts.

Binance regularly conducts reviews of each digital asset that they list on their exchange. If a token does not meet the required standard, then Binance delists the token in question for the safety of its users. The team at COVER had announced the shutdown of the COVER and RULER protocol projects on 2021-09-05.

Core Developers Abandon Project
Core contributor DeFi Ted announced that the Cover Protocol is stopping all support and development after core developers parted ways with the protocol. The COVER token plunged by 16% following the announcement as COVER token holders scrambled to sell their tokens and exit. At the time of making the announcement, COVER had a market capitalization of $21 million, and within hours of the announcement, the token value fell from $269 to $220.

The Yearn Break-Up
Back in March, Yearn Finance had announced that it was ending its partnership with Cover Protocol. Yearn Finance announced the termination on Twitter, with Andre Cronje from Yearn Finance publicly expressing his disappointment. Yearn Finance and Cover protocol had partnered back in November, with the Cover protocol becoming Yearn’s backstop coverage provider, offering users reduced risk. While no official reason was given for the termination, it is highly speculated that it was due to the 2020 hack. Speaking of which...

The 2020 Hack Of Cover Protocol
The Cover protocol suffered a significant hack in 2020 when an unknown hacker tricked the protocol into minting 40 quintillion tokens. The hacker then cashed out the tokens before unexpectedly returning them and leaving a message for the Cover team. The Cover team back then immediately acknowledged the attack and set about with their investigation while also warning investors against buying the token. Open / Comment

2021-09-13 14:03:20 ​​South Korean Crypto Exchange Closures Could Leave Investors Empty-Handed

As two-thirds of South Korea’s cryptocurrency exchanges brace for closure due to regulatory overhaul, investors could lose up to KRW 3 trillion ($2.6 billion).
Foreign and local exchanges in South Korea have until Sept 24 to register as legal platforms, according to South Korea’s Financial Services Commission. However, most local exchanges struggle to meet the necessary conditions. As a consequence, almost 40 of South Korea’s roughly 60 crypto operators anticipate having to shut down.

“Huge investor losses are expected with trading suspended and assets frozen at many small exchanges as customer protection will not likely be the priority of those exchanges facing an imminent closure,” said Cho Yeon-Haeng, president of Korea Finance Consumer Federation.

Difficult requirements for crypto exchanges
One requirement necessary for a cryptocurrency exchange to become licensed as a legal trading platform is to partner with a local bank. They must do so in order to open real-name bank accounts for their customers. However, local lenders have been hesitant to do so over fears of exposure to money laundering.

Exchanges in other countries have also faced similar difficulties maintaining relationships with their financial institutions. For instance, in Australia, many cryptocurrency traders and exchanges have struggled to find new lenders after being dropped by their banks. Earlier this year, the Reserve Bank of India’s informal request for banks to sever ties with crypto companies led to payment processing issues for several of the country’s most prominent exchanges.

Kimchi coin killer
So far, about 20 exchanges have met some of the regulatory conditions by creating security systems for personal information. These include South Korea’s four biggest exchanges, Upbit, Bithumb, Korbit, and Coinone, which account for more than 90% of the country’s total trading volume. However, industry insiders say many will still struggle for survival, due to the limited size of their business.

The pervasive closure of smaller exchanges could also eliminate 42 “kimchi” coins, according to estimates by Kim Hyoung-Joong, head of the Cryptocurrency Research Center at Korea University. These alternative digital currencies are listed on local exchanges and traded mostly in Korean won. One expert anticipates a situation similar to a bank run up until the deadline, as investors rush to cash out their holdings of these locally traded altcoins.

According to the FSC, exchanges that do not expect to meet the regulatory conditions should notify their customers of any possible closure by Sept 17. Open / Comment

2021-09-10 18:06:43 ​​The automotive industry is yet another with its sights set on a crypto-filled future.

NASCAR, one of the world’s premiere auto racing and operating companies, is the latest example. The company is known for its extensive relationship with collectibles and NASCAR fans are all about them.

However, the next step for NASCAR is collectibles in the metaverse.

Recently, Speedway Motorsports, the corporation which owns 8 NASCAR tracks, partnered with GigLabs on a new NFT marketplace.The first NASCAR-centric NFT marketplace. It launches on Monday at 1 p.m. ET a week prior to the Cup Series playoff race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The chief strategy officer for Speedway Motorsports, Mike Burch, commented on the new development. “Collecting has always been a big part of NASCAR fandom, whether it’s die casts or people who have collected our event programs — all kinds of things,” he said. “So [we were] thinking, ‘How can we bring that over into our side of the world, our business?’”

Depending on the reaction from fans, Burch calls future opportunities “limitless”. This may include NFTs with other NASCAR entities, such as the IndyCar Series or NHRA.

When the new RaceDayNFT marketplace opens, 10,000 commemorative ticket NFTs for the following Bristol race will be available for free. Of those, 500 will randomly include golden tickets. The NFTs feature audio or sound effects according to Burch.

There are four races and therefore four components to the digital collectibles, with the commemorative ticket as one. Any attendees of the event can scan a QR code, which opens up more NFT possibilities.

Crypto and Cars
Already, NASCAR experienced crypto infusions into the industry. Earlier this year NASCAR driver Landon Cassill was the first in the company paid entirely with crypto. The company introduced digital tickets and race programs which garnered positive responses from fans.

Cassill himself commented on the impact of non-fungible tokens in the industry. “If NASCAR entities can create a way that’s understandable and is not intimidating and makes sense and gives those fans ownership over the things that they love — the drivers, the teams, the tracks that they love — I think it could definitely succeed, as long as it strengthens the community and empowers those race fans.”

In fact, these NFTs play a large role in connecting fans with the race and drivers like never before. The rarest NFT available in this series are two Winner’s Edition NFTs as digital coins. One goes to the winner of the race, the other to the highest bidder.

According to Douglas Dimola, GigLabs CEO and co-founder, “The coin has the track on one side and the winner and date on the other side. So the person who wins the auction will essentially have an NFT that they share with the winning driver.”

This past summer another automotive industry giant, BMW, launched its own NFT series. It focuses on digital collectibles of iconic models of their cars. Now with NASCAR’s own marketplace and NFTs, the industry continues its crypto acceptance. Open / Comment