Digital Asset Spot Volumes Rise for the Fourth Consecutive Month + More Crypto News

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

In today’s edition:

• Digital Asset Spot Volumes Rise for the Fourth Consecutive Month
• Paxos Adopts Chainlink’s PayPal USD Price Feed
• The Hashgraph Association and Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia Launch $250M Deeptech Venture Studio

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Digital Asset Spot Trading Volumes Rise for the Fourth Consecutive Month

In January, the digital asset spot trading volumes on centralized exchanges increased by 4.45% to $1.4 trillion, recording the fourth consecutive increase in monthly spot trading volumes, according to the latest market report from on-chain analytics firm CCData.

The last time the digital asset sector experienced a similar trend was in May 2019, it added.

Binance kept its place as the largest spot trading exchange, with volumes rising 2.73% to $437 billion. It recorded a market share of 31.3%.

The second-largest spot exchange, OKX, saw its trading volumes fall 5.22% to $99.1bn. Hence, its market share dropped from 7.81% to 7.09%.

Also, Coinbase recorded a rise in its market share rise for the third consecutive month to 5.42%.

Meanwhile, the total derivatives trading volume on the CME rose 35.2% to $94.9 billion. This is the highest volume since October 2021.

The trading volume for BTC futures on the exchange rose 42.4% to $73.9 billion. This happened as institutional traders wound down their positions after the approval of the spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US, the report found.

The open interest of BTC futures on the CME exchange recently surpassed the open interest on Binance. However, it “has now reversed its trend.” It fell 8.50% to $4.42 billion.

BTC options traded on the exchange also fell 29.9% to $1.57 billion.

Meanwhile, the trading volume for ETH futures on the exchange rose 15.6% after the attention briefly shifted to a possible ETH ETF approval, with seven applicants waiting for the SEC decision later this year, CCData said.

Paxos Adopts Chainlink’s PayPal USD Price Feed

Regulated blockchain infrastructure and tokenization platform Paxos joined hands with the decentralized computing platform Chainlink to accelerate the adoption of PayPal USD (PYUSD).

According to the press release, Chainlink now supports a PYUSD Chainlink Price Feed on the Ethereum mainnet.

The new PYUSD Price Feed allows users to view accurate, reliable, and decentralized market data for PYUSD on the blockchain.

This enables users to gain the information they need to help create secure markets around PYUSD and adopt it as their preferred stablecoin to facilitate on-chain payments, said the announcement.

It added that,

“By securely delivering accurate PYUSD data on-chain, Chainlink Price Feeds help PYUSD to attract initial liquidity and kickstart ecosystem-wide adoption.”

Chainlink Price Feeds provide numerous features, such as high-quality data, secure node operators, economy of scale, decentralized network, and transparency.

Meanwhile. PYUSD is an open and programmable stablecoin backed by dollar deposits, US treasuries, and cash equivalents. It is issued by Paxos.

Moreover, the stablecoin is transferable on Ethereum, where it serves as collateral for DeFi projects and facilitates payments.

“Together, Chainlink and Paxos are advancing the use of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) and helping scale on-chain finance to billions of users across the globe,” the press release said.

The Hashgraph Association and Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia Launch $250M Deeptech Venture Studio

The Hashgraph Association,  the non-profit organization accelerating the broad adoption of the DLT network Hedera, has announced the signing of a strategic partnership with the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia (MISA) to launch a “DeepTech Venture Studio” in Riyadh worth $250 million over five years (2024-2028).

Per the press release, The Hashgraph Association was part of the Swiss Economic Delegation traveling to Saudi Arabia under the patronage of Guy Parmelin, Head of the Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER).

The custom-designed DeepTech Venture Studio will enable local Saudi companies and international portfolio companies seeking to establish operations in the country to develop innovative solutions, leveraging deep tech such as AI, DLT, Robotics, IoT, VR, and Quantum Computing.

The studio aims to onboard over 500 companies during the five-year program. It will receive dedicated support from the Ministry through the facilitation of entrepreneurial licenses and the entrance of companies under Saudi laws and regulations. This includes connecting with key government stakeholders, strategic partners, and investors, the announcement said.

The initial phase (Phase A) of the Venture Studio will focus on ramping up local operations within 12 months and onboarding the first batch of 100 projects.

The second phase (Phase B) will focus on accelerating the Venture Studio over 24 months, ensuring steady-state operations, and onboarding and investing in a new batch of 200 projects.

The five-year program’s final phase (Phase C) will focus on scaling up the Venture Studio operations into new strategic markets globally and onboarding the final batch of 200 projects.

Startups qualifying for the program will receive up to $250,000 in venture capital investment, with enterprises receiving up to $500,000.