Study Identifies the Top 10 States in America Most Interested in Bitcoin, Ethereum

September 4, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Virginia county Fairfax commits $35M to Van Eck crypto lending fund

July 6, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Virginia county Fairfax commits M to Van Eck crypto lending fund

Fairfax County continues its cryptocurrency investment endeavors through VanEck crypto lending fund, exploring the world of yield farming through the asset manager.

Virginia county Fairfax has begun investing a portion of a $35 million allotment into a cryptocurrency lending fund managed by global asset managers VanEck.

The firm announced that it had received an initial tranche of the investment commitment from Fairfax County, which is allocating funds from two retirement systems into a variety of cryptocurrency-focused investment avenues.

Fairfax County had previously hinted at delving into the world of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) yield farming as part of its progressive attitude towards the cryptocurrency space. The county began investing a small portion of holdings from its Employees’ Retirement System and the Police Officers Retirement into various cryptocurrency companies and ventures from 2018 onwards.

As Fairfax continues to diversify its cryptocurrency investment strategy, its foray into the world of DeFi has officially begun with its investment in VanEck’s New Finance Income Fund. The fund offers short-term lending arrangements with cryptocurrency companies, platforms and businesses.

According to the VanEck website, the fund lends out fiat currency and stablecoins to borrowers in the cryptocurrency space. Targeting accredited investors, the fund offers high-yield income exposure to cryptocurrencies and requires a $1 million initial investment. The investment manager touts ‘a simplified approach that alleviates the operational burden of direct digital assets lending.’

Fairfax County has slowly increased its financing into the space, committing funds to seven cryptocurrency-focused allocations. One of these allocations looks to profit from volatility in the space, with a hedge fund intending to leverage yield farming, basis trading and exchange arbitrage opportunities.

The County previously issued an update on its investments into the cryptocurrency and blockchain space, with the Employees’ and Police Retirement Systems investing $10 million and $11 million respectively into Morgan Creek’s Blockchain Opportunities Fund.

The capital allotment from both funds is less than 1% of their total assets under management - as the county slowly gauges the investment potential in the alternative asset class.

Finance Redefined: DeFi protocols lost $1.6B, EU to rethink DeFi approach and more

May 6, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Finance Redefined: DeFi protocols lost .6B, EU to rethink DeFi approach and more

Coin Telegraph

The week in DeFi saw European lawmakers write a new chapter on DeFi, Virginia county plans to put its pension fun in a DeFi yield, DeFi protocols lost $1.6 billion to exploits and more

The past week in the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem saw many new developments from an adoption perspective and protocol developments. The European Commission added a new chapter on DeFi, showing the growing impact of the nascent ecosystem, while a county in the United States State of Virginia wants to put its pension fund in a DeFi yield.

DeFi exploits became the center of attention again as recent research shows that in the first two quarters of 2022, DeFi protocols have lost $1.6 billion to various exploits. Rari Fuze hacker, who got away with $80 million worth of funds, was offered a $10 million bounty.

The DeFi tokens also made a bullish comeback toward the end of the past week. However, the overall weekly performance remained in the red.

European Commission report suggests rethink of the regulatory approach to DeFi

Analysts from the European Commission showed an unexpected understanding of how DeFi functions, having defined it as something different from the traditional financial system and acknowledging that it would require rethinking the approach to regulation.

On Monday, crypto venture adviser at Presight Capital and a long-term expert on European regulation Patrick Hansen shared some crucial details from the European Commission’s “European Financial Stability and Integration Review 2022.” The report, dated April 7, contains a 12-page chapter on DeFi, in which the authors demonstrate a sensible approach to the topic.

Virginia county wants to put pension funds into DeFi yield farming

The Northern Virginia county of Fairfax has already invested a part of its pension funds in crypto and blockchain startups. Now, it’s mulling over deeper involvement with the DeFi yield farming.

The Fairfax County Police Pension System’s chief investment officer Katherine Molnar said on Tuesday at the Milken Institute Global Conference that the system aims to fund two new crypto-focused hedge fund managers in the next three weeks. The next few days will see a decision made, which, if approved, would be the first time pension fund money was used in DeFi.

Rari Fuze hacker offered $10M bounty by Fei Protocol to return $80M loot

DeFi platform Fei Protocol offered a $10 million bounty to hackers in an attempt to negotiate and retrieve a major chunk of the stolen funds from various Rari Fuse pools worth $79,348,385.61 — nearly $80 million.

On Saturday, Fei Protocol informed its investors about an exploit across numerous Rari Capital Fuse pools while requesting the hackers to return the stolen funds against a $10 million bounty and a “no questions asked” commitment.

More than $1.6 billion exploited from DeFi so far in 2022

DeFi space has been rife with hacks, exploits and scams so far this year, with over $1.6 billion in crypto stolen from users, surpassing the total amount stolen in 2020 and 2021 combined.

Analysis from blockchain security firm CertiK revealed the statistics on Monday showing the month of March having the most value stolen at $719.2 million, over $200 million more than what was stolen in all of 2020. The March figure is largely due to the Ronin Bridge exploit where attackers made off with over $600 million worth of crypto.

Solana and Moonbirds help NFT market reach $6.3B monthly trading volume: Report

According to the monthly DappRadar report, the NFT market recorded a multi-month trading volume high of $6.3 billion, surging by 23% from March, breaching the $6 billion mark only for the third time in its history.

Moonbirds contributed half a billion worth of trading volume while Solana blockchain recorded nearly $300 million in NFT trades with a 91% month-on-month increase.

DeFi market overview

Analytical data reveals that DeFi’s total value locked remained in a similar range to last week with $123 billion, despite a bullish surge toward the end of the week. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView reveals that DeFi’s top 100 tokens by market capitalization registered a week filled with volatile price action and constant bearish pressure.

Majority of the DeFi tokens in the top-100 ranking by turned green on the daily chart, but their weekly performance remained bearish, barring the Curve DAO Token (CRV) that surged by 4% over the past week.

Thanks for reading our summary of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Join us again next Friday for more stories, insights and education in this dynamically advancing space.

Virginia Passes Bill That Allows Banks To Provide Custody for Crypto Assets

March 7, 2022 The Daily Hodl

US Senate allows Virginia banks to offer crypto custody services

March 5, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Banks

Delegate Christopher T. Head introduced the bill (House Bill No. 263) back in January 2022, seeking an amendment to allow eligible banks to offer crypto custody services.

The United States Senate unanimously approved a bill amendment request that now allows traditional banks operating in the Commonwealth of Virginia to provide virtual currency custody services.

Delegate Christopher T. Head introduced the bill (House Bill No. 263) back in January 2022, seeking an amendment to allow eligible banks to offer crypto custody services:

“A bank may provide its customers with virtual currency custody services so long as the bank has 26 adequate protocols in place to effectively manage risks and comply with applicable laws.”

The bill passed Senate with a sweeping 39-0 vote and is waiting to be signed into law by Governor of Virginia Glenn Youngkin. Banks that intend to offer this service to clients will need to adhere to three specific requirements mentioned in the bill — implement effective risk management systems, possess adequate insurance coverage and launch an oversight program to address risks associated with cryptocurrencies.

However, the Senate will require the banks’ customers to retain direct control of their public and private keys associated with their virtual currency, adding:

“Acting in a fiduciary capacity, the bank shall require customers to transfer their virtual currencies to the control of the bank by creating new private keys to be held by the bank.”

Other states such as Wyoming have also recently seen an introduction of legislation for a state-issued stablecoin.

Just last month, the House Committee on Financial Services had a discussion about whether regulations on stablecoins and digital assets should be addressed at the state or federal level.

In this regard, North Carolina Representative and ranking committee member Patrick McHenry asked the committee to consider state-level regulatory frameworks in lieu of a comprehensive federal law on stablecoins.

Jean Nellie Liang speaking at Feb. 8 House Committee on Financial Services hearing

Quoting a report from the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, Jean Nellie Liang the undersecretary for domestic finance at the Department of Treasury, said that U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin issuers — both state and federally chartered banks — should be held to the same standards as insured depository institutions.

US Still Dominates Bitcoin Mining Sector, 30-Day Stats Show Foundry USA Takes Top Pool Position

January 24, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Virginia