Business

The national postal service of Switzerland is working to bridge the gap between physical stamps and the digital cryptocurrency industry by introducing tradable digital stamps. On Sept. 20, the Swiss Post officially announced the upcoming launch of the “Swiss crypto stamp,” a digital collectible linked to a physical stamp issued by the postal service worth 8.9 Swiss francs. The Swiss crypto stamp will provide a digital representation for a physical stamp and will be stored on a blockchain. “Each design forms a nonfungible token and is stored in the Polygon Blockchain,” a spokesperson for the Swiss Post told Cointelegraph. Buyers will be able to discover a digital twin of their physical stamp online through a QR code printed next to the physical stamp. The crypto stamp’s image will show...

Global payments giant Visa has introduced a project that aims to be a “universal adapter” of blockchains that can connect multiple cryptocurrencies, stablecoins as well as central bank digital currencies (CBDC). According to an official announcement on Thursday, Visa’s research team is working on a “Universal Payment Channel” (UPC) initiative, a blockchain interoperability hub connecting multiple blockchain networks and enabling transfers of digital assets from different protocols and wallets. “Imagine splitting the check with your friends, when everyone at the table is using a different type of money — some using CBDC like Sweden’s eKrona, and others preferring a private stablecoin like USDC,” Visa wrote, adding that such a tool “well may be a reality” in the “not-too-distant future”...

Decentralized finance (DeFi) interest rate protocol Compound Finance has reported a token distribution bug within its newly implemented Proposal 062, which is over-rewarding suppliers into the tens of millions of dollars.  The upgrade was designed to “split COMP rewards distribution and bug fixes” and was fully verified without issues. However, within hours, the team noted “unusual activity,” stating that “Compound Labs and members of the community are investigating discrepancies in the COMP distribution.” Despite the developments, the team has stressed that no funds either supplied or borrowed are at risk. Users of the protocol are reporting sizable windfalls, one claiming a deposit of 70 million COMP tokens into their account, equivalent to $20 million. The founder of Compound Labs,...

Kraken Security Labs has said that a “large number” of Bitcoin ATMs are vulnerable to hacking as the administrators never changed the default admin QR code. In a Sept. 29 blog post, Kraken posted research from its Security Labs team which found that there are “multiple hardware and software vulnerabilities” in the General Bytes BATMTwo ATM range. “Multiple attack vectors were found through the default administrative QR code, the Android operating software, the ATM management system and even the hardware case of the machine,” the post read. Kraken’s security team stated that if a hacker gets their hands on the administrative code, they can essentially “walk up to an ATM and compromise it,” while also highlighting issues with the BATMtwo’s lack of secure boot mechanisms, as well as “critical...

Twitter has unveiled an in-development tool that will enable users to display a verified NFT as their profile picture. Mada Aflak, a senior software engineer at Twitter, shared a video demonstrating functionality that allows users to add NFTs to their accounts. Users can simply edit their profile, connect a cryptocurrency wallet, and import their OpenSea collection. Then, they can choose an avatar from their collection of non-fungible token (NFT) digital art. The profile picture will also be marked with a badge to verify that the image is the genuine article, thereby allowing them to flex their hugely expensive CryptoPunk or Bored Ape profile picture and have everyone know it’s legit. Aflak stated that the run-through was just an experiment using a mock-up, so anything could change, and sh...

Layer two protocols have seen monumental growth this year and one of them has briefly surpassed the network it is a scaling solution for, in terms of active addresses. The number of daily active unique addresses on layer two aggregator Polygon has surpassed those on the high fee layer one Ethereum according to protocol co-founder Mihailo Bjelic. According to his stats, Polygon had 351,000 daily active addresses on Sept. 27 whereas Ethereum had 326,000. Another huge milestone for @0xPolygon! We eclipsed Ethereum L1 in daily active addresses for the first time! This is just the beginning. We are working round the clock to improve our tech, strengthen our ecosystem and increase adoption. Let’s bring the world to Ethereum! pic.twitter.com/K4sAF1y3LT — Mihailo Bjelic (@MihailoBjelic) Sept...

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has charged 12 New York-based crypto options businesses with allegedly failing to register with the regulatory body. In a Sept. 29 press release, the CFTC outlined that it is charging 14 entities in total, with the 12 crypto-focused firms all on the hook for failing to register as futures commission merchants (FCMs). All of the firms were “allegedly based in New York.” The other two companies have allegedly posted misleading information about their National Futures Association (NFA) membership and registration with the CFTC. The listed crypto options providers include relatively unknown names such as Bitfxprofit, Star FX Pro, Smarter Signals and BinanceFx Trade — the latter of which is unaffiliated to the major global exchange Bin...