Today in Crypto: Kazakh Mining Firms Stop Machines and Ask the President to Cut Energy Prices, Chainalysis Finds ‘Notable’ Decline in Eastern Asia’s Crypto Activity

Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
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Mining news

• Eight crypto mining operators in Kazakhstan – BCD Company, TT TECH Limited, KZ Systems, AI Solutions, Green Power Solution, VerCom, Kinur Invest, and the Zhambyl branch of Kinur – signed an open letter to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, voicing their complaints about high energy prices. According to local media Digital Business, the companies claimed the digital mining industry in the country is in “extremely dire straits,” stating that: “Today, all the largest representatives of the industry have suspended their activities and plan to completely cease their business in the Republic of Kazakhstan by the end of the year.”

Trading news

• The value of cryptocurrency transactions in mainland China and Hong Kong dropped over the past year, as Beijing’s crackdown and the ban on digital assets continued, and amid an ongoing crypto market slump, according to research firm Chainalysis. Between July 2022 and June 2023, mainland China saw $86.4 billion worth of crypto transactions – a drop from $220 billion traded a year earlier. Hong Kong saw $64 billion in crypto transactions, a drop from over $70 billion in the same period a year prior. “Eastern Asia’s decline in cryptocurrency activity over the last few years has been notable – as recently as 2019, Eastern Asia was one of crypto’s top markets by transaction volume, largely powered by China’s huge trading activity and mining sector,” the report said. 

Gaming news

• Gaming firm Wemade announced its partnership with Chainlink Labs to “power a thriving interoperable Web3 gaming ecosystem and unlock novel cross-chain use,” said the press release. Wemade chose Chainlink Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) as the exclusive interoperability solution for unagi(x), the interoperability engine for the omnichain initiative: unagi. Chainlink Labs has also been granted official membership in COURT (Certified Organizations for Unagi Round Table), a consortium that is committed to joint research, development, and innovation. Through COURT, Wemade and Chainlink Labs aim to help connect previously isolated blockchain networks and enable seamless cross-chain communications and transfers of assets, they added.

Investment news

• Digital asset investment management company Valkyrie Funds announced “the first-of-its-kind” dual cryptocurrency futures exchange-traded fund (ETF): Valkyrie Bitcoin and Ether Strategy ETF (Nasdaq: BTF). According to the press release, the Fund, which will continue to offer investors exposure to Bitcoin Futures and now will offer exposure to Ether Futures up to 50%, will begin trading under the new investment strategy, effective October 3.
• Blockchain developer platform Alchemy has acquired Web3 subgraph indexing platform Satsuma. By combining forces with the Satsuma team, the announcement said, Alchemy will be able to solve some of the biggest issues facing Web3 developers, including slow sync times, massive operational overhead, high engineering costs, and poor reliability. Alchemy Subgraphs offer enterprise-grade reliability with a 99.9% API SLA and cut indexing speeds by up to 80%, it added.

Crime news

• Binance announced that it recently helped Thai authorities crack down on criminal networks. Per the announcement, the exchange’s Investigations team aided the Royal Thai Police and played a role in two investigation operations that led to the dismantling of criminal networks responsible for major crypto scams. These enforcement actions resulted in the arrests of principal members and substantial asset seizures, it said.