Today in Crypto: Police Looking for the Killer of MobileCoin Exec Bob Lee, MicroStrategy Acquires Additional 1,045 BTC, Fashion Giant Ralph Lauren Enables Crypto Payments in Miami Store

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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Crime news

• San Francisco, US, police said that they are searching for the killer of Bob Lee, the chief product officer of MobileCoin, creator of Cash App, and the former CTO of payments company Block (previously Square). On April 4, “officers arrived on scene and located a 43-year-old adult male victim suffering from apparent stab wounds,” said the press release. Lee succumbed to his injuries. The incident is being investigated by the SFPD Homicide Detail, and the investigation remains active.

Investment news

• Software firm MicroStrategy acquired an additional BTC 1,045 between March 24 and April 4, worth around $29.3 million, at an average price of approximately $28,016 per bitcoin, it said on Wednesday. As of April 4, MicroStrategy and its subsidiaries held an aggregate of some BTC 140,000, acquired at an aggregate purchase price of $4.17 billion and an average purchase price of $29,803 per bitcoin, the company added.

Payments news

• American fashion company Ralph Lauren opened a new luxury store in Miami’s Design District, which will become the first Ralph Lauren store to accept crypto as a form of payment in partnership with BitPay. It is also planning to collaborate with Web3 community Poolsuite to gift a non-fungible token (NFT), co-designed Ralph Lauren x Poolsuite, to all existing Poolsuite community members, unlocking exclusive access to attend a special event, said the announcement.
• The DigitalBits blockchain announced that its cryptocurrency, XDB, will be accepted at all Nuvolari retail stores through Coinbar Pay, a service provided by Coinbar that offers payment solutions for in-store or e-commerce sales and supports a wide range of cryptocurrencies, said the press release. The announcement comes just weeks after the company revealed that their currency will also be accepted at AS Roma flagship stores, offering consumers a new route for loyalty rewards, it added.

Banking news

• PostFinance, a financial services firm owned by the Swiss government, has partnered with digital asset bank Sygnum to offer its customers a range of regulated digital asset banking services via Sygnum’s B2B banking platform, said the press release. PostFinance’s customers will be able to buy, store, and sell major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).

Security news

• Cybersecurity firms Halborn and major blockchain analysis company Chainalysis announced a strategic partnership to enhance the safety offering for their enterprise and native Web3 clients. “This partnership combines Halborn’s preventative security and smart contract auditing with Chainalysis’ ongoing monitoring and investigative tools to equip Web3 companies to prevent and respond to security threats at any phase of attack,” said the announcement.

Blockchain news

• IOTA announced L1 innovation network Shimmer’s partnership with Multichain (formerly known as Anyswap), a cross-chain router protocol for seamless interoperability between IOTA and Shimmer. Per the announcement, this enables Shimmer and IOTA tokens to be bridged between the two networks, with future cross-chain solutions between Shimmer and other major blockchains supported by Multichain.

DeFi news

• Fordefi, a financial technology and software company, alongside blockchain scaling company StarkWare Industries, announced an integration, bringing MPC support to StarkEx dApps, which enables institutions to sign transactions on StarkEx dApps with Fordefi’s Wallet API adjusted to STARK signatures, without running the risk of improperly storing or exposing the private key. This integration “will enhance the access of institutions to StarkEx dApps, enabling end users to benefit from a secure MPC wallet solution. […] Institutional clients will also gain access to Fordefi’s security platform, offering granular policy control, smart contract clarity, and dApp verification,” said the press release.