DeFi Pioneer MakerDAO announces Aave competitor Spark protocol

Source: makerdao.com

Decentralized finance (DeFi) stablecoin platform MakerDAO has proposed Spark Protocol. The new system is based on the Aave lending protocol’s smart contracts.

It stated that Spark Protocol will “amplify the features of MakerDAO by enabling a liquidity market for supplying and borrowing scalable crypto assets with variable and fixed rates.”

Its first product will be Spark Lend. This builds on Aave v3, allowing users to borrow DAI at a set DAI Savings Rate (DSR), currently 1%. Spark Lend will support highly liquid crypto assets as collateral, such as ETH, DAI, and wrapped derivatives.

MakerDAO takes aim at rivals

MakerDAO has decided to go it alone with a new ecosystem. Furthermore, Aave is about to launch its DAI rivaling stablecoin, GHO. Compound also launched its version 3 with only USDC supported for borrowing, while other crypto assets are supplied as collateral, the researcher noted.

The developers of Spark, Phoenix Labs, aim to continue delivering new products and features. The ones scheduled on the 2023 roadmap include Spark Fixed Rates, Resilient Oracles, cross-chain support, Maker teleport support, and bootstrapping of EtherDAI.

Spark Protocol is expected to launch in April, pending a governance vote. It will open a DAI lending vault on Maker at that time with a $200 million debt ceiling.

Robinhood misses earnings and revenue expectations in Q4 report

Source: robinhood.com

Popular trading platform Robinhood has published the financial results for Q4 and the full year of 2022, and the results are underwhelming. The company missed its earning and revenue expectations, while its crypto revenue also declined.

The company’s revenue missed the expectation of roughly $389 million, hitting $380 million. The loss per share was 19 cents a share. The expectation was a loss of 15 cents a share.

Robinhood stated that a mistake in a small healthcare company was the reason for the sizable decline in earnings. It lost $57 million, or about 7 cents per share, for the error.

The crypto revenues of Robinhood also took a large fall, dropping 24% from the third quarter to $39 million. This revenue also declined in Q3 from the previous quarter.

Robinhood to buy back stake in FTX

Robinhood has also made headlines because its board of directors approved a plan to buy back a $578 million stake in the company. This stake was purchased by FTX co-founders Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang last year.

Crypto ATM operator Cash Cloud owes Genesis $116M, files for bankruptcy

Source: techcrunch.com

On Feb. 7, the company, which operates under the name Coin Cloud filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. It is the latest in a lengthening list of crypto companies to collapse in the bear market.

The filing was made in the U.S. bankruptcy court in Las Vegas. The firm stated that it hopes to secure new financing or sell the business following significant losses over the past two years.

The crypto ATM operator has assets between $50 million and $100 million. Furthermore, its liabilities are between $100 million and $500 million, and creditors number between 5,000 and 10,000.

Crypto ATM cool down

According to a November Bloomberg report, Genesis had provided an unsecured loan of around $100 million to Coin Cloud. The firm also hired advisers to help rework about $125 million of the ATM operator’s debt following the FTX collapse.

Kraken crypto exchange probed by SEC over offering unregulated securities

Source: kraken.com

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has come under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) radar. The regulator is looking at whether the said exchange offered unregistered securities to American clients.

Risks involved in trading unregistered securities

Dave Ripley, the new CEO at Kraken, wouldn’t register with the SEC despite calls from chairman Gary Gensler for crypto platforms to do so. Binance, the largest crypto exchange, has also faced repercussions for trading unregistered securities.

Once the investigation is complete and the SEC releases any findings, it’s easier to say the outcome. The investigation could lead to fines, penalties, or other punishments if the SEC finds violations of securities laws.

New cryptocurrency listing on Binance

Binance Options will list additional BTCUSDT monthly options (02.07.2023).
Binance Futures will launch USDⓈ-M MINA and HIGH perpetual contracts with up to 20X leverage (02.03.2023).
Binance adds AGIX on cross margin & isolated margin (02.02.2023).
Binance Futures will launch USDⓈ-M RNDR perpetual contracts with up to 20X leverage (02.02.2023).
Binance Options will launch BTCUSDT daily options (02.01.2023).
Binance adds HOOK on cross margin & isolated margin (02.01.2023).

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