OTC’s Weekly Retrospect 08/05–12/05/2023

Each week we bring you a round-up of the most important Bitcoin and virtual asset-related stories making waves in the cryptosphere.­­­­

Major news stories this week;

1. Smart Contracts Have Arrived on the Bitcoin Blockchain — Will BTC Become a DeFi Powerhouse?
2. Emirates NBD partners with PWC and Fireblock to launch Digital Asset Lab
3. PayPal Discloses Nearly $1B of Crypto Assets on Balance Sheet
4. Crypto exchange Bittrex files for bankruptcy after SEC complaint
5. Binance Restarts Withdrawals of Bitcoin After Second Halt

Story Summaries;

1. A group of developers deployed a suite of Uniswap smart contracts directly onto the Bitcoin blockchain. Uniswap is a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange (DEX) that operates on multiple smart contract-enabled blockchains like Ethereum and Polygon and operates based on automated market maker (AMM) smart contracts. The new Bitcoin-based DEX, called Trustless Market, allows its users to swap so-called “Smart BRC-20 tokens”, provide liquidity and earn a 2% transaction fee and issue new Smart BRC-20 tokens, according to @punk3700, one of the developers behind the DEX.
2. UAE-based Emirates NBD Bank partners with PWC Middle East and digital asset custodian FireBlocks to launch its Digital Asset Lab.
   The collaboration aims to shape the future of digital assets in the region, with both PWC and FireBlocks as founding council members.
   This partnership could potentially lead to the introduction of crypto transactions and wallets at Emirates NBD as the bank continues to support blockchain technology and digitization
3. PayPal disclosed nearly $1 billion in cryptocurrencies on its balance sheet in a 10-Q filing with the SEC.
   The company indicated that it holds $943 million worth of customer assets in bitcoin BTC, ether ETH, bitcoin cash BCH and litecoin LTC on its balance sheet.
   A 10-Q filing is a quarterly financial performance report mandated by the SEC to disclose financial information.
4. May 8 (Reuters) — Cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex Inc filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, three weeks after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused it of operating an unregistered securities exchange.
   Seattle-based Bittrex ceased operations in the United States on April 30, and it said the bankruptcy filing would not impact Bittrex Global, which serves customers outside the United States. The company’s non-U.S. operations are based in Liechtenstein.
5. Binance restarted withdrawals of Bitcoin after citing congestion on the token’s blockchain for two halts in less than 12 hours, suspensions that weighed on cryptocurrency markets.
   The company said higher fees have been applied to pending transactions so they get picked up by Bitcoin miners — the computer rigs that operate the network. Withdrawals had been down for over two hours on Monday in Asia.

And that’s all for this week’s news! Wishing you a great weekend ahead!