• Russia’s Rosbank is offering cross-border crypto payments despite the nationwide ban.
• Kakarot zkEVM secured backing from StarkWare and Vitalik Buterin in pre-seed round.
• The Blockchain Association filed an amicus brief to support a CoinCenter case defending coin mixer Tornado Cash.
Russia Offers Cross-Border Crypto Payments
Russia’s Rosbank has started offering cross-border crypto payments, despite the nationwide ban on cryptocurrencies by the government. This move has been made possible due to increasing demand for digital assets and decentralized finance (DeFi).
Kakarot zkEVM Secures Backing
Kakarot zkEVM has secured backing from StarkWare and Vitalik Buterin in its pre-seed round. Kakarot is a virtual machine that enables developers to build privacy-preserving smart contracts on Ethereum’s public blockchain using zero knowledge proof technology.
China Publishes National Blockchain Standard
The Chinese government has published a national blockchain standard which will serve as the basis for all future developments in the country’s blockchain industry. The standard covers all aspects of blockchain development, including security, privacy, scalability, interoperability and governance among others.
Regulators Warn OpenAI Against Collecting Sensitive Data
Japanese regulators have warned Artificial Intelligence (AI) startup OpenAI against collecting sensitive data without proper authorization from authorities or private individuals. The warning follows reports that OpenAI was collecting Japanese users’ personal information through its “GPT3” language model, which uses machine learning algorithms to generate human readable text based on input data.
Coinbase Derivatives Exchange Unveils Bitcoin & Ethereum Futures
Coinbase Derivatives Exchange recently unveiled Bitcoin and Ethereum futures contracts on both its web platform and mobile app. This marks an expansion of Coinbase’s product offerings beyond spot trading into derivatives markets for cryptocurrency traders.