Logan Paul gets sued, Visa unveils crypto ambitions, Finland approves euro-backed stablecoin in EU first

• Logan Paul and Crypto Zoo sued for alleged fraud
• Visa announces plans to process crypto-to-fiat transactions
• OpenSea implements ‘Three Hour Hold’ rule on some NFT transactions
• Orion hack, Silvergate probe, GOPAX resurrected by CZ

Logan Paul sued over alleged NFT rugpull

Logan Paul and project Crypto Zoo are being sued for fraud by investor Don Holland in a class-action lawsuit. Cointelegraph reports the two (among others) are accused of executing a rug pull on investors. Holland alleges that the defendant promised his followers a host of benefits including exclusive NFT access. The lawsuit asserts that Paul never delivered on his promises, and yet kept customer funds. The case, which is based out of the Western District of Texas, was initiated by YouTube personality Attorney Tom, among other litigators. Paul, who walked back initial threats to sue one of his accusers, has tried to appease investors with a $1.5 million “recovery plan.”

Visa unveils crypto plans

Visa announced plans yesterday to allow the conversion of digital assets into fiat, marking a milestone in wider crypto adoption, reports Cointelegraph. The announcement came at Starkware Sessions 2023, where Visa executive Cuy Sheffield said customers “should be able to convert between digital tokenised dollars and traditional dollars.”

Opensea introduces three-hour hold period to mitigate theft-related risks

NFT marketplace OpenSea has introduced a new safety mechanism to prevent theft, reports Coinedition. On Feb 3, OpenSea announced the launch of the measure which affects some, but not all, sales and transfers of NFTs on its platform. The “three-hour hold” mechanism prevents sellers from accepting offers on items for said period, with the goal of “lessening the chance that buyers end up with an item that’s later reported stolen.” The new mechanism has garnered criticism from OpenSea users, though it remains to be seen which transfers and transactions fall under the mechanism’s umbrella.

Europe’s first EU-regulated full-reserve stablecoin launches

Membrane Finance, a Finnish fintech company, launched stable asset EUROe on Thursday. The company’s announcement claims it is the “first and only EU-regulated full-reserve stablecoin and payment network.” Various Euro-pegged assets such as Circle’s EUROC have come to market in recent years, but none have kept their reserves entirely within the EU regulatory system. EUROe received an “Electronic Money Institution Licence” from the FIN-FSA, Finland’s financial supervisory authority. Does this indicate a sliver of hope for those wary of Europe’s incoming MiCA legislation, or is it an early example of CBDC’s-by-another-name?

See our recent article on UK and EU crypto regulations here.

Orion Protocol exploited for $3 million

Security firm Peckshield tweeted trading protocol Orion late last week, highlighting a $3 million exploit. The attack is the fourth major attack/exploit this year, bringing the 2023 total to $123 million. The hack stats page on DefiLlama reveals all-time total exploited funds to be north of $6 billion, with much of the losses incurred over the past two years. Stay safe out there, Llamas, and remember — not your keys, not your coins!

Silvergate faces DOJ fraud probe over FTX and Alameda accounts

Silvergate Capital is in the DoJ’s sights, amid a probe of the firm’s connections to Alameda and FTX, Bloomberg reported. Silvergate hosted multiple accounts linked to Sam Bankman-Fried’s shattered crypto empire, and was among the worst-hit when FTX and its adjacent firms collapsed in November. The company was forced to take out billions of dollars in loans to stay solvent, preventing a bank run that would have left Silvergate’s customers financially stranded with the rest of FTX’s victims.

Binance invests in South Korean GOPAX Exchange

In a Friday announcement on Binance.com, the crypto behemoth celebrates investing an undisclosed amount in Korean cryptocurrency exchange GOPAX. Binance touts the investment as part of its Industry Recovery Initiative, created in November as a response to the domino-like fall of huge chunks of the industry over the year. Gopax was not immune to these losses as, in the very same month, the company was forced to halt withdrawals of principal and interest payments.

From around the web…

Luxury rehab centres are cropping up, promising to treat ‘crypto addiction’ - BBC

“You can expect a lot less noise from Team Crypto during Super Bowl LVII next Sunday” - CNN

StarkWare keeps with DeFi spirit, makes Ethereum scaling system open-source - CoinDesk