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Crypto Evening Briefing: Kraken Asks San Francisco Court to Intervene Against IRS Demands

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Top Stories

Google Ads Data: $4M Stolen Through Crypto Phishing URLs

Malicious phishing websites promoted on Google ads have stolen over $4 million from users, according to Web3 anti-scam service provider ScamSniffer. The ads prompt users to fraudulent websites that request wallet login signature requests that compromise users’ addresses.

Kraken Asks San Francisco Court to Intervene Against IRS Demands

Kraken is requesting a federal court in San Francisco to intervene in the issue and ask the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to back off from its demand for customer information. 

Japan’s Largest Bank MUFG Completes Blockchain Interoperability Settlement Trial for Progmat Coin Stablecoin

Japan's largest bank, MUFG, has concluded a cross-blockchain trial to settle digital securities using a stablecoin, with DataChain as the interoperability tech provider. This is part of MUFG's development of Progmat, a blockchain infrastructure for digital securities, which requires settlement through stablecoins. 

Reality Labs’ $4B Loss Contributes to Meta’s Ongoing Metaverse-Related Struggles

Meta's Reality Labs division recorded a loss of $4 billion in Q1 2023, following an annual loss of over $13 billion in 2022. Despite this, Meta remains committed to the metaverse, though its ambitions have been scaled back, and the company has carried out cost-cutting measures, including layoffs. 

HKMA Encourages Banks to Adopt “Risk-Based Approach” in Account Opening for Virtual Assets Related Entities

The HKMA has also issued a circular clarifying possible misinterpretations by banks in respect of CDD and shared some past cases and good practices. The regulator will also jointly organise a roundtable with the Securities and Futures Commission for the banking industry and regulated virtual asset service providers (VASPs) to exchange views on account opening. 

Market Watch 

As of press time, according to Cointime data:

BTC 's live price is $28,938.09 USD, dropped by 3.15% in the last 24 hours;

ETH’s live price is $1,882.28 USD, dropped by 3.90% in the last 24 hours;

BNB’s live price is $329.93 USD, dropped by 4.22% in the last 24 hours;

XRP's live price is $0.4588 USD, dropped by 4.56% in the last 24 hours.

Fundraising News

Bitget Pledges $10M for Fetch.ai Ecosystem Amid ChatGPT Boom

Bitget has pledged $10 million for the development of Fetch.ai's ecosystem, which provides infrastructure to build autonomous services using AI agents.

Zodia Custody, Standard Chartered’s Crypto-Focused Unit, Raises $36 Million

Zodia Custody, a crypto-focused subsidiary of Standard Chartered, has raised $36 million in funding from SC Ventures and SBI Holdings, among other investors, as it pursues international expansion.

Getaverse Has Completed a Financing Round With LD Capital

Getaverse has completed a financing round with LD Capital. This financing will be used to expand the DID platform, develop the DID credit management system and AI components, and enhance user experience.

Native Raises $2M to Scale its Project-Owned DEX Infrastructure

Native, a financial infrastructure layer that transforms exchange into a feature, has raised $2 million in a seed round led by Nomad Capital. The funding will be used to support product development, with a focus on flexibility, modularity, and interoperability.

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