According to a Wall Street Journal report on Thursday, crypto-focused media firm CoinDesk is closing in on a deal to sell itself to a syndicate of investors for $125 million.
In 2016, Coindesk was acquired by Digital Currency Group (DCG) for $500K. However, DCG has suffered from the bankruptcy of its Genesis Global Capital lending arm following an industry-wide downturn last year. Following the instability at its parent company, Coindesk has been on the market since January.
Here are major crypto stories from around the world this week.
OpenSea launches NFT swap feature
NFT marketplace OpenSea announced on Thursday that it’s rolling out ‘Deals’- a peer-to-peer NFT swap function to help traders bolster their collections and engage with other collectors directly.
In a tweet, Opensea stated that Deals will allow collectors to trade NFTs among each other and include wrapped ether to “sweeten the deal.”
Additionally, the product aims to make the NFT swapping trustworthy, fending off “sketchy DMs and websites” that many collectors fall victim to when trading NFTs.
Kuwait bans crypto operations
On Tuesday, Kuwait’s main financial regulator, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), issued a circular on the country’s supervision and issuance of virtual assets.
In the circular, the CMA confirmed the commitment to “absolute prohibition” on major use cases and operations involving cryptocurrencies, including payments, investments, and mining.
Also, the CMA required customers to be cautious and aware of the risks associated with virtual assets. The regulator particularly flagged cryptocurrencies, arguing that they “don’t carry a legal status and are not issued or supported.”
“It is not linked to any asset or issuer, and that the prices of these assets are always driven by speculation that exposes them to a sharp decline.” – the circular said.
Coindesk nears sale
A consortium of investors is reportedly in the final stages of purchasing CoinDesk, one of the largest crypto news outlets in the world.
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According to the report by The Wall Street Journal, the consortium of investors is led by Matthew Roszak of blockchain-focused venture capital firm Tally Capital and Peter Vessenes from Captial6, a venture capital and private equity firm.
Per sources familiar with the matter, the deal, which is valued at $125 million, is in the final stages. CoinDesk’s parent company DCG will reportedly retain a stake in the crypto news outlet.
According to WSJ, DCG’s stake in CoinDesk would cover media, events, data, and index business and the current management is expected to be retained by CoinDesk’s new owners.
UK will not treat crypto like gambling
The United Kingdom government has rejected a proposal made by the House of Commons Treasury Committee to regulate crypto retail trading in the same way it oversees gambling, highlighting that it “firmly disagrees” with the committee’s stance.
In a May 17 committee report, a panel of British lawmakers called for regulating the United Kingdom crypto market similar to gambling. In a Thursday response to the committee, UK Economic Secretary to the Treasury Andrew Griffith rejected the proposal and said that the treasury firmly disagrees with the “Committee’s recommendation to regulate retail trading and investment activity in unbacked cryptoassets as gambling rather than as a financial service.”
The government added that it is already working on regulating the crypto market, and proposed regulatory legislation was put before parliament and debated last month.
Indonesia launches crypto exchange
According to a statement by Indonesian Commodity Futures Trading Supervisory Agency (Bappebti), the national crypto exchange announced by the Indonesian government a week ago has begun to function.
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On Thursday, Bappebti confirmed the exchange’s opening and confirmed that the platform will be the only space in the country where the legal exchange of digital assets is allowed.
That’s all from us this week, see you same time next week.