Today in Crypto: Stellar Buys Minority Stake in MoneyGram, Adidas and BAPE Reveal Limited Sneakers Auctioned via NFT Passes, Three Key Silvergate Execs Set to Leave the Company

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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Investment news

• The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) became a minority investor in payments provider MoneyGram International, CEO and Executive Director Denelle Dixon announced on Tuesday. The decision to provide funds to MoneyGram “was an easy one,” Dixon said. According to the blog post, the investment was made out of SDF’s cash treasury, using the assets set aside to support the SDF operations, rather than the Enterprise Fund, used to invest in startups and earlier-stage companies. “It is the first investment of its kind made from SDF’s treasury,” she added. Dixon also got a seat on Moneygram International’s Board of Directors representing the SDF.  
• Layer-one blockchain ZetaChain closed a $27 million equity funding round from a range of participants, including Blockchain.com, Human Capital, VY Capital, Sky9 Capital, Jane Street Capital, VistaLabs, CMT Digital, Foundation Capital, Lingfeng Capital, GSR, Kudasai, Krust, and others. “ZetaChain’s purpose is to simplify managing assets and data across multiple blockchains, which remains a complicated and fragmented process that’s hindering hundreds of millions of new users joining the web3 ecosystem,” said Ankur Nandwani, ZetaChain core contributor. “Our EVM-compatible cross-chain smart contracts alleviate these issues by allowing decentralized app developers to build services that are faster, more secure, and easy to use.”

Metaverse news

• Major apparel brands adidas Originals and BAPE revealed “the highly limited Forum 84 BAPE Low Triple-White sneaker.”  Supported by the adidas /// Studio (Three Stripes Studio), and in partnership with the crypto payments infrastructure provider Moonpay, the limited number of sneakers will be auctioned off and paired with a non-fungible token (NFT) version. “The 100 holders of the adidas Originals x BAPE Fresh Forum Access Pass NFT will be able to redeem the complementary physical pair of the adidas x BAPE Forum Low 84 Triple White sneakers and digital twin via adidas COLLECT on September 26th,” said the announcement. 

Career news

• Crypto-friendly bank Silvergate CEO Alan Lane, chief legal officer John Bonino, and chief financial officer Antonio Martino are set to leave the company amid the ongoing liquidation and lawsuits. According to an August 15 filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the bank’s parent company Silvergate Capital said that the departures are a part of “its previously disclosed plan to wind down the operations of and voluntarily liquidate” Silvergate Bank – not due to a dispute. The three executives will not be entitled to any further compensation under their respective employment agreements, “but each will receive certain severance benefits provided to Bank employees being discharged in the course of the Bank Liquidation,” it added. 

Banking news

• Kapital Bank and Ravnaq Bank, both private banks in Uzbekistan, received approval from the National Agency for Perspective Projects (NAPP) to participate in the digital sandbox of crypto regulation. The two will issue crypto cards, called UzNEX, powered by Mastercard, said the press release. These are two of the only three registered participants in the national digital sandbox, with the information and communication technologies UZINFOCOM being the third.

Payments news

• The Central Bank of Ireland approved MoonPay Technology Services Limited’s application for registration as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) to provide the activity of exchange between virtual assets and fiat currencies, the announcement stated. “With this new approval in Ireland, we are excited to make our mark in the country,” said CEO Ivan Soto-Wright. 

Exchange news

• SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) became the first private distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based financial market infrastructure to adopt The Digital Token Identifier Foundation (DTIF)-managed ISO 24165 DTI standard, said the press release. The financial industry is increasingly adopting the DTI ISO standard, a unique identifier for digital ledgers, tokens, and cryptocurrencies, which regulators can use to watch digital asset trades, ensure compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing requirements, and monitor risks associated with global stablecoins and other digital assets, it explained. Head of Digital Securities Alex Kech stated that “SDX uses DTIs to identify currently crypto currencies and soon digital securities on our platform. The last will be even more critical as we start exploring issuance or administration of digital securities on private and public blockchains”.

Security news

• SwirlLend, a lending project operating on the Ethereum Layer 2 networks Base and Linea, reportedly executed an exit scam, taking some $460,000 in user deposits. The team drained $290,000 in crypto from Base and $170,000 from Linea, transferring the funds to Ethereum, per security firm PeckShield. “SwirlLend rugged both on Base and Linea. The scammer has already bridged ~94 ETH from Linea to Ethereum via Orbiter Finance: Bridge and is currently in the process of transferring the stolen funds from Base to Ethereum,” PeckShield said on Wednesday.