Dubai's VARA Suspends It’s First Crypto Exchange BitOasis

TL: DR

• Dubai's VARA suspends BitOasis' crypto exchange license over unmet conditions.
• The suspension hinders BitOasis's pursuit of a Full Market Product license.
• VARA continues to monitor BitOasis for compliance rectification.
• BitOasis' license was Dubai's first for a crypto exchange.

Stop work 🛑: It appears that BitOasis, the first crypto exchange in Dubai to receive an operational license, has run into a regulatory roadblock. Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) has suspended BitOasis' conditional license for failing to meet the stipulated conditions within the required timeframe. The specifics of these conditions haven't been disclosed, leaving a cloud of mystery over what exactly led to the suspension.

Terms and conditions: BitOasis had received an initial operational license back in April, which would allow it to provide broker-dealer services to qualified institutional and retail investors in Dubai. However, this license was conditional on meeting certain criteria within 30-60 days, a requirement BitOasis seemingly failed to fulfill. Now, the exchange will have to satisfy those conditions to become operational again, and to eventually apply for a full market product (FMP) license.

This isn't VARA's first regulatory shake-up. Back in April, the authority reprimanded Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, co-founders of the defunct crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, for operating their new OPNX crypto exchange in Dubai without the necessary license. As for BitOasis, VARA has stated it will continue to oversee the situation for any remediation of regulatory compliance. At the time of writing, neither BitOasis nor VARA have made additional comments on the matter.

In other news,

• Did Coinbase knowingly violate securities, The SEC thinks so.
• The UK FCA has shut down 26 crypto ATMs since 2023

7-Day Market Moves

Bitcoin experienced a slight gain of 0.79% in the last 24 hours, trading at $30,392, although it's still down 2.35% for the week. The cryptocurrency has been fluctuating around the $30,000 mark but saw a decline last week due to uncertainties regarding the approval of Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds.

🔥However, Standard Chartered bank's optimistic prediction of Bitcoin reaching $50,000 by the end of 2023 and $120,000 by the end of 2024 has brought some positivity to its pricing outlook.

🚀Ether rose by 1.00% to $1,880, and Polygon's Matic emerged as a winner, jumping 6.97%.

The total crypto market capitalization increased by 0.81% to $1.18 trillion.

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U.S. stock futures traded higher, boosted by Federal Reserve officials' comments hinting at the end of the monetary tightening cycle.

Eyes on the price(s)

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Steady at 30K: Bitcoin experienced a fresh decline below the $30,500 support level but found support near $30,214. It is currently attempting to break above $30,600, with the next resistance at $30,700.

To establish a steady increase, Bitcoin needs to surpass $31,000 and target the $31,400 and $32,000 levels. On the downside, immediate support is at $30,200, followed by a crucial level at $30,000.

Key turning point: Ethereum maintained stability above the $1,825 support level and started a gradual recovery. It broke above the 100-hourly Simple Moving Average and the $1,890 resistance.

However, facing resistance near $1,900 and a major bearish trend line, Ethereum needs to close above $1,900 to initiate a significant increase towards $1,975 and potentially $2,000. Failure to clear the $1,900 hurdle may result in another decline, with initial support at $1,865 and further support at $1,825 and $1,740.

Listings

Delisting

Bitfinex delisted 12 tokens incluning LUNA and REEF. See the delisted tokens

Ongoing IDO/ICO

Upcoming IDO/ICO

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Arkham Launches Snitch-To-Earn Service

TL: DR

• Arkham Intelligence launched a service revealing digital wallet owners, sparking privacy concerns.
• The firm allegedly leaked customer email addresses via its referral program.
• Arkham's new bounty marketplace for anonymous wallet identities amplified controversy.
• The firm's new coin (ARKM), launched with Binance, has received mixed reactions.

Arkham Intelligence, a crypto data firm is feared to be doxxing its users. This week, the company introduced a service designed to reveal the owners of digital wallets, which did not sit well with privacy-focused crypto users. Even more concerning, allegations arose that Arkham may have been exposing its own customers’ private information.

The heart of the problem lies in Arkham's weblink referral program. Users have the ability to invite others onto the platform by sharing a unique referral URL. However, this URL, which appears to end in a random series of characters, is an easy-to-decode version of the user's email address, encoded in Base64. As a result, any user who shared their unique referral link may have unknowingly exposed their email address.

Alongside this, Arkham introduced the Intel Exchange, a marketplace designed for placing bounties on the identities of anonymous crypto wallets, causing further controversy. While similar services exist, Arkham's plans for a bounty-focused marketplace has particularly disturbed the crypto community. These concerns have been heightened by Arkham's collaboration with Binance for the launch of a new coin (ARKM), which to some, is an invasion of user privacy.

Whales, watch out: The launch of what Arkham calls the world’s first "on-chain intelligence exchange" has provoked mixed responses, with critics likening the Intel Exchange to a system that rewards revealing anonymous users. There are fears that such a system could be misused and put a target on the back of crypto whales. So far, Arkham has not responded to these concerns.

BTW

• The multimillion-dollar exploit of cross-chain bridge protocol Multichain could have been an internal rug pull, says Chainalysis.

It’s No Longer a Smooth Sail Aboard The Yacht

TL: DR

• ApeCoin, related to Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, has declined 15% recently, hitting a low of $1.85.
• From its peak market cap of $7.6 billion, ApeCoin is now down nearly 93%.
• Bored Ape NFT prices have also decreased significantly from their peak.
• ApeCoin's current market cap is in line with other metaverse project tokens.

The ongoing NFT winter is hard on our furry frens at BAYC. ApeCoin (APE)—the crypto token of Yuga Labs' coveted Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection—is feeling seasick. Over the past 2 weeks, APE took a 15% hit, scraping past an all-time low of $1.85 last Friday, as per CoinGecko. While Bored Ape NFTs have bounced $10,000 off their recent multi-year lows, ApeCoin flirted with a new nadir on Monday.

Downward spiral: When it launched in March 2022, ApeCoin saw a smooth sail, touching an all-time high of $26.70 by April and amassing a market cap of nearly $7.6 billion. However, the coin now hangs nearly 93% down from its peak. Similarly, Bored Ape NFTs, once flaunted by celebrities as the ultimate digital status symbols and buoyed by visions of Yuga Labs' anticipated metaverse game, Otherside, have seen prices slip from an ATH of $429,000 (152 ETH) to around $52,000 worth of ETH.

Not alone: ApeCoin has a crucial role in Otherside as the standard virtual currency, and the token's administration rests with the APE Foundation, functioning as the DAO's daily overseer. Despite ApeCoin's current price dip, its market cap of roughly $700 million aligns with the value of tokens in other metaverse projects, like The Sandbox's SAND ($769 million) and Decentraland's MANA ($699 million). The question is, can ApeCoin rally as the NFT market finds its balance?

Down the rabbit hole,

• The Ethereum NFT collection, Gutter Cat Gang, and its co-founder's Twitter accounts were recently hacked, resulting in the loss of between $750,000 to $900,000 in assets.
• Wimbledon has joined forces with tennis legend Andy Murray and digital artist Refik Anadol to launch a unique NFT artwork, "The Exposition" which will be based on Andy Murray’s tennis data.
• Yesterday, the number of new inscriptions on Bitcoin Ordinals surpassed 3.5 million, following the launch of the BRC-69 token standard. This is approaching the previous record of 4 million achieved in May. This rise in activity indicates growing interest and engagement with Bitcoin NFTs as users leverage the inscribing process to create unique digital assets.

Stepn Is Moving On to a New MMO Game

TL: DR

• Find Satoshi Lab (FSL) is developing a new MMO game, Gas Hero, with enhanced social interaction and improved UX/UI.
• Gas Hero's backstory is set in a post-apocalyptic 2084, involving rogue AI and the creation of "Gas Heroes".
• FSL is hosting a contest to design game characters, with prizes including shares of NFT sales and a portion of a 2 million GMT prize pool.
  

Find Satoshi Lab (FSL) - the brains behind the move-to-earn game Stepn is moving into the MMO universe with a new web and mobile game, Gas Hero, slated for release later this year.

Their USP: A first look into Gas Hero's gameplay reveals a unique, socially driven player-versus-player (PVP) environment. According to FSL's COO, Shiti Manghani, players can earn power, fame, and money through engaging interactions. In light of current crypto gaming criticisms, a particular focus is on refining the game’s UX/UI. Set in a post-apocalyptic 2084, the game's lore involves the aftermath of a rogue AI-induced nuclear strike, the launch of "Operation Spark" by the UN, and the genesis of the "Gas Heroes".

The cherry on top of FSL's gaming sundae is the “Shape the Legends, Shape the Glory” competition. Until September 9, gamers can submit character designs to win part of the Gas Hero Genesis Hero NFT collection's secondary sale royalty, an FSL t-shirt, and a piece of the 2 million GMT prize pool. “Winners will be selected based on the originality of the theme, design quality, and background story,” the company said in a statement.

In other news,

• The game The Machines Arena (TMA) is starting its first in-game "season" Today. Players can get special limited edition rewards that will be minted as NFTs in the future.