Need to know what happened in crypto today? Here is the latest news on daily trends and events impacting Bitcoin price, blockchain, DeFi, NFTs, Web3 and crypto regulation.
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In Asia, there’s hope that account abstraction or Ethereum “smart accounts” could onboard a billion users to Web3. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has reminded crypto firms to tighten up their crypto ads or face “robust” consequences and Voyager creditors have been stung with $5.1 million in legal fees. Here’s what happened in crypto today.
Account abstraction to lead Asia’s Web3 explosion: ConsenSys
One billion users from Asia could onboard to Web3 due to “smart accounts,” also known as account abstraction, Laura Shi, the director of strategic initiatives at ConsenSys told Cointelegraph.
Account abstraction — as proposed by Vitalik Buterin and other developers in September 2021 — offers more “bank-like” features than a regular crypto wallet which Shi claims would increase adoption in the Asia-Pacific region:
“The development of account abstraction will facilitate the onboarding of the billion-level users in APAC to Web3.”
Shi said the Ethereum and Web3 ecosystem had a strong expansion in Asia so far this year and many dApps are “improving UX for the Asian market, including introducing Asian language support.”
The primary drivers of the expansion are zero knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) rollups and the mass adoption of Optimistic rollups.
Adoption in Asia is also driven by social and Web3 gaming according to Shi, who pointed to South Korea and China as examples. She added both use cases will rely heavily on zkEVM roll ups and account abstraction development.
U.K. FCA reminds crypto firms of looming deadline for marketing compliance
The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned crypto companies they must comply with the country’s new financial promotions regulations by October 2023 — or risk “robust action” by the regulator.
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The new regulatory regime applies to all promotional campaigns via digital form, including “websites, mobile apps, social media posts and online advertising,” FCA clarified.
Currently, FCA lists 42 crypto firms as being compliant with its new guidelines, including Bitstamp, MoonPay and Galaxy Digital UK.
Voyager Digital creditors billed $5.1M in legal fees
New York-based law firm McDermott Will & Emery billed $5.1 million to the creditors of bankrupt crypto brokerage firm Voyager Digital for legal services offered between March 1 and May 13, 2023.
The court documents revealed that the law firm charged Voyager Digital an hourly rate of $1,026.76 for its services during the said period.
This was the third and final bill from McDermott Will & Emery, amounting to a total compensation of $16.48 million between July 5, 2022, and May 19, 2023, of which more than half, $8.97 million, has already been paid by the creditors