Drama ensues at DefiLlama whilst adult-themed payment service SpankPay prematurely ends
While our news feed covers the top stories and market trends of the week, here's a summary of other developments in the crypto sphere that deserve our attention.
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MetaMask Institutional Launches Staking Marketplace
MetaMask Institutional, in partnership with Allnodes, Blockdaemon, and Kiln, has launched an institutional staking marketplace designed to simplify and provide access to institutional staking, which aims to boost Ethereum network security by simplifying ETH staking for organizations.
SpankPay Shuts Down
The adult-themed payment service SpankPay has announced that it will shut down after its payment processor, Wyre Payments, terminated its agreement with the company in February, citing “violations of any third-party payment processor or network rules.”
SpankPay claimed that its contract was singled out and stated that this was a targeted shutdown by Wyre because its new payment processor, Checkout.com, does not work with adult businesses.
"Operating SpankPay in a hostile banking environment has always been challenging, but the escalating attacks have become untenable for our small team and the niche market we serve," the company said in a Tweet this week.
SpankPay was launched in August 2019 by Spankchain, an adult industry blockchain, to allow fans to pay for adult content instantly and discreetly using cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Monero.
However, the adult industry has a long history of conflict with the traditional financial system, which has forced many content creators and platforms to turn to cryptocurrency as a way to get around Visa/Mastercard payment limitations and censorship. Despite the closure of SpankPay, the company says it will focus on its other products and push for legislative change to address the discrimination the industry faces.
Related: Payment Processors Banned These Sex Workers – They’ve Turned to Crypto
Circle Eyes EU
Circle, the digital financial technology firm that issues USDC and EUROC, has announced that it has filed applications in France to become a licensed Electronic Money Institution and a registered Digital Asset Service Provider.
"We are committed to expanding our presence and engagement with regulators in the European market, with our operations in France being critical to this," Dante Disparte, chief strategy officer and head of global policy, said in the statement.
Disparte was also the subject of Twitter account this week, in which a series of tweets from the hacked account appeared to offer USDC holders a "one-time bonus" of free cryptocurrency.
Related: Delving Deeper Into the Circle Debacle
DefiLlama Settles Internal Dispute, Apologizes
Decentralized finance analytics firm DeFiLlama faced an internal conflict last weekend, which the team has since apologized for.
In an update on Twitter, the team cited “poor communication and a misunderstanding” for the dispute that occurred between pseudonymous co-founders – 0xLlam4 and 0xngmi.
0xLlam4 allegedly wanted to launch a DeFiLlama without the approval of the team, whilst the rest of the DeFiLlama team maintained its stance against a token launch. 0xLlam4 nonetheless controls the firm's Twitter and domain, through which critics felt the founder "held the team hostage."
One day later 0xngmi stated that “everything has been solved” and the firm declared it "would like to apologize for the events that unfolded", clarifying that "no LLAMA token currently planned."
Metaverse & NFT News
IRS Wants Your NFT Profits
The proposed changes mean NFTs may be subject to a higher capital gains tax rate (long-term capital gains tax for collectibles is capped at 28%). The guidance does not address tax implications for NFT creators.
In October 2020, the IRS expanded its instructions for tax forms to include NFTs and cryptocurrencies.
Trump NFTs pump on possible arrest
The value of NFTs related to Donald Trump has surged over 30% in value in the past week as the former US President Donald Trump faces possible indictment and arrest.
Trump's avatar-style NFTs depict the former US president in various outfits, including a Superman costume and a Top Gun-style fighter pilot jumpsuit. Issued at a mint price of US$99, the 44,000 items sold out, bringing in a total of US$4.4 million.
Reports suggest that Trump is expected to be indicted in the coming days on charges stemming from an alleged hush money payment made to adult actress Stormy Daniels at the height of the 2016 election.
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