Happy Friday! In today’s Daily, we look at the launch of Worldcoin human verification technology in Malaysia, the “promising” increase in spot Bitcoin ETF inflows, the decline in illicit on-chain crypto activity, and more.
Let’s get started.
Worldcoin begins operations in Malaysia
Malaysian citizens can now use Worldcoin technology to prove they are human through an iris scan.
- A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Worldcoin Foundation, Tools for Humanity, and the Malaysian Government to launch Worldcoin operations in Malaysia.
- The WorldCoin project aims to preserve the future of the Internet by distinguishing between human and non-human actors, and provide individuals with a World ID through an iris scan.
- Despite facing privacy concerns, Worldcoin has expanded its partnerships globally, including recent agreements with countries such as Austria.
- The MOU includes discussions on manufacturing iris scanning beads in Malaysia and integrating Worldcoin’s World Chain protocol with Malaysia’s blockchain infrastructure.
- The MOU was signed by Malaysia’s MIMOS Berhad following a meeting between Worldcoin co-founders Sam Altman and Alex Blania and Malaysian officials in April.
‘Promising’ Spot Bitcoin ETFs See Inflows
- Coinbase analysts noted that despite Bitcoin’s underperformance, increasing inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs suggest continued interest from new pools of capital.
- In Q2 2024, institutional ownership of Bitcoin ETFs increased from 21.4% to 24.0%, driven by increased interest from investment advisors.
- The decline may reflect cash and carry arbitrage strategies, as hedge funds’ holdings of Bitcoin ETFs have declined. Open interest in Bitcoin futures on the CME rose 15% in the second quarter to $2.75 billion.
Illegal cryptocurrency activity on-chain reduced by 20%
According to Chainalysis’ annual cryptocurrency crime report, illicit cryptocurrency activity has decreased by 19.6% since the beginning of 2024, with inflows dropping from $20.9 billion to $16.7 billion.
- The report highlighted that global adoption of cryptocurrencies continues, highlighting that inflows into legitimate cryptocurrency services have reached their highest levels since the 2021 bull market.
- Despite the overall decline in cryptocurrency crime, stolen funds and funds from ransomware surged to $1.58 billion and $459.8 million respectively.
- The report also noted that the average value of stolen cryptocurrency has increased due to the rise in the price of Bitcoin, and warned that a new record for ransomware payments could be set in 2024.
Bitcoin Sidechain Developers Release BitVM2 Whitepaper
- The white paper outlines efforts to improve transaction efficiency on the Bitcoin network, focusing on improved transaction processing and updated cryptographic methods.
- BitVM2 aims to increase Bitcoin’s transaction capacity without changing its core principles by leveraging optimistic computation to scale with sidechains.
- Additionally, this whitepaper introduces a system to dispute suspicious transactions without permission, and improves BitVM Bridge by reducing capital requirements and asset lock-up periods, while increasing the speed of transfers between networks.
SERA Leverages Base for NFT Drops That Can Send Holders into Space
- Holders can purchase NFTs to participate in SERA’s astronaut selection program, giving them the opportunity to win one of six seats on the New Shepard rocket and accelerate the selection process.
- The astronaut selection and voting process will be conducted on the blockchain, ensuring transparency and fairness while furthering SERA’s mission of democratizing access to space.
Let’s take a look at next week
Web3 Summit kicks off in Berlin on August 19th, and Coinfest Asia kicks off in Bali on August 23rd.
The Eurozone Consumer Price Index (CPI) will be released on August 20.
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About the Author
MK Manoylov has been a reporter for The Block since 2020, joining just before Bitcoin first broke $20,000. Since then, MK has written nearly 1,000 articles for the publication, covering all aspects of crypto news but with a penchant for NFTs, metaverse, web3 games, fundraising, crime, hacking, and crypto ecosystem stories. MK holds a graduate degree from the Science, Health, and Environment Reporting Program (SHERP) at New York University and has also covered health topics for WebMD and Insider. You can follow MK on X @MManoylov and on LinkedIn.