WAO ART #240

Ethereum gas fees have reached their lowest point since October 2022, as activity in DeFi and NFTs has dropped. The decline in gas fees can be attributed to a decrease in users on DeFi applications, NFT trading volumes, and activity on Telegram bots.

Stellantis and Samsung have announced plans to build a second electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in Kokomo, Indiana. The joint plant is scheduled to open in 2027 and could employ 1,400 workers. The companies will have a combined annual production capacity of 67 gigawatt hours at the Indiana site.

Jumia, an e-commerce platform, has partnered with Starlink, a satellite internet service, to bring high-speed internet to underserved regions in Africa. The agreement will initially cover Nigeria and then expand to other African countries where Jumia operates.

The Australian government has announced plans to introduce a draft law that would allow the central bank to regulate digital payment providers such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. Currently, these providers are not designated as payment systems, leaving them outside of financial regulatory system.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a research paper on decentralized finance (defi) as part of its. The paper highlights that while defi remains small compared to the total crypto-asset market, it requires close monitoring due to its speculative nature

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao and three local executives in Brazil may face indictment for alleged financial crimes related to cryptocurrency pyramid schemes. A congressional committee has recommended intensified scrutiny into Binance's tax compliance, potential money laundering activities.

JPMorgan has successfully executed the first blockchain-based collateral settlement for BlackRock using its Tokenized Collateral Network (TCN). The transaction involved converting BlackRock's money market fund shares into digital tokens on JPMorgan's Ethereum-based Onyx blockchain.