Crypto Scoop: Bitcoin Ascends to $24,000 and ETH to $1,700

With BTC and ETH trading in green, we see innovations and crypto initiatives among countries. In this edition of the crypto scoop, we review the following:

• Price gains among top cryptocurrencies
• Cardano’s stablecoin DJED launch
• Crypto initiatives across the globe
• Premier league’s NFT partnership
• Amazon’s NFT initiative

Cardano DJED Stablecoin Goes Live

Cardano’s stablecoin DJED pegged to the US dollar and backed by Cardano’s native cryptocurrency, ADA, went live on Jan 31. According to the announcement, DJED recently completed a successful security audit and has been in development for over a year before going live. 

DJED attracted over 27 million Cardano (ADA) tokens as backing less than 24 hours after its launch. At the time of writing, DJED has a reserve ratio of almost 600%; that is, each DJED is backed by six times its value in ADA. 

Tron founder Justin Sun has also expressed his intention to get TRON (TRX) accepted as legal tender in 5 countries. While SUN admitted the goal might seem ambitious, he asserted he was confident it could become a reality. Sun also noted it was essential to look beyond the US to get TRX adopted as legal tender. He explained, “The US is just one country, and while it may be a major player in the crypto world, it’s not the only one.”

Crypto Adoption and Initiatives Across The Globe

The central bank of Ghana has invited unlicensed fintech startups and registered financial institutions to apply for inclusion in its regulatory sandbox. The Bank of Ghana (BOG) asserts that the sandbox will support innovations such as "new digital business models not currently covered explicitly or implicitly under any regulation." The sandbox will support innovations that aim to address the problem of financial exclusion.

The Central Bank of Nigeria announced that its regulatory sandbox was operational. Interested innovators can now submit "expressions of interest to participate in the regulatory sandbox to explore novel applications of technology and innovation on behalf of our customers and stakeholders," the bank announced.

On Jan. 26, legislators in New York submitted a bill to the state senate that would permit state institutions to accept cryptocurrency as legal tender. In certain situations, such as rent, tax, penalties, and fines, cryptocurrencies will be accepted as payment if the New York Assembly Bill 2532 becomes law.

Indonesia's Ministry of Trade plans to launch a national cryptocurrency exchange by June 2023. Local media reports state that the government is evaluating which businesses satisfy the requirements to become a part of the exchange.

The Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, supported blockchain as a potential remedy for the nation's technological problems. According to Kishida, there are different possibilities for using Web3 in Japan. In order to revitalise areas and promote "Cool Japan," the government of Japan, he continued, could make use of elements like nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs).

English Premier League Enters Partnership with Sorare

NFT Platform Sorare and the English Premier League have agreed to a multi-year agreement for a licence to provide NFTs of league player cards.

As part of the agreement, which was initially estimated to be worth £30 million, the Paris-based startup will permit its 3 million users to play its fantasy football game with Premier League-specific player cards. Fans can buy, sell, and trade virtual cards of their favourite players. A fantasy football league supported by NFT and featuring star players from the Premier League is included in the multi-year agreement.

Amazon Announces Plans for an NFT Initiative

According to a Blockworks report, e-commerce giant Amazon will begin an NFT initiative in the spring of 2023 that will concentrate on blockchain gaming and related NFTs.

Although the project is still in the planning stages, Blockwork reports that April is the target date for its launch. Blockwork sources note that one of the use cases will let Amazon customers play games based on the blockchain and get free NFTs.