Today in Crypto: BNB Chain Developers Reveal Public Launch of opBNB’s Mainnet, Nansen Launches New AI-Powered Version, Ripple Will do 80% of Hiring This Year Outside the US

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Blockchain news

• BNB Chain developers today announced the public launch of opBNB’s mainnet, after processing more than 35 million transactions on-chain and with over 150 dapps deployed on the testnet. Per the blog post, opBNB is the layer 2 (L2) of the BNB Smart Chain, compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and built on the Optimism OP Stack. It moves transactions to L2, alleviating congestion and reducing transaction costs with an average gas fee of $0.005 and 4k TPS. opBNB is “designed to revolutionize blockchain technology by dramatically reducing gas fees, making blockchain accessible to all,” it added.
• Blockchain analytics firm Nansen introduced a new version of its platform, powered by AI. “The aim of this updated version is to enhance accessibility to blockchain insights and facilitate well-informed decision-making through user-friendly navigation,” the firm said. It added that Nansen is now equipped to address security concerns in the crypto space by identifying suspicious trades and monitoring wallet-to-wallet transfers. Nansen 2 has already attracted 200,000 users who signed up for Early Access in less than 24 hours, waiting for the official launch to get access, the announcement said.

Regulation news

• Technology company Ripple will do 80% of hiring this year outside the US in the countries that offer more regulatory clarity, CEO Brad Garlinghouse told Bloomberg. He described the regulatory situation in the US as “super frustrating” and said: “You see markets like we have here in Singapore, certainly, even what we’re seeing in Hong Kong, the UK, Dubai, where the governments are partnering with the industry. And you’re seeing leadership, providing clear rules, and you’re seeing growth. And frankly, that’s why Ripple is hiring there. 80% of our hiring this year will be outside the United States.”

Wallet news

• Telegram, the popular chat app with 800 million monthly active users, and TON Foundation jointly announced a new self-custodial crypto wallet, called TON Space. According to TechCrunch, the TON-based wallet is the work of The Open Platform (TOP), which also includes a venture-building division, the TOP Labs. TON Space will be available to Telegram’s global users starting in November, without the need for any wallet registration. The feature will not be available in certain jurisdictions for now, such as the USA.
• The web platform Opera unveiled a non-custodial stablecoin wallet integrated into its mobile web browser, made available to its African user base. The MiniPay wallet is built on the Celo blockchain, “to onboard millions of mobile users across Africa to Web3,” said Celo, and added: “First launching in Nigeria, MiniPay is integrated w/ Opera Mini for dollar savings, fast txs & low fees!”

Investment news

• Investment giant WisdomTree released monthly metrics for August 2023, including assets under management (AUM) and flow data by asset class. It reported over $1.3 billion of net inflows in August, driven by robust flows into fixed income and all equity strategies, partially offset by weakness in commodity and currency flows; year-to-date net inflows eclipsing the $10 billion mark and driving a 19% annualized pace of organic growth relative to the company’s publicly traded asset manager peers; and the equity strategies (both US and non-US) generating a combined 15.5% year-to-date annualized organic growth, including 29% annualized organic growth in non-US equity strategies.