WAO ART #330

El Salvador's decision to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender has paid off, with its sovereign bonds surging 200% and outperforming Bitcoin's price surge. The country's 2035 dollar bond has rallied from 25 cents to 77 cents, defying the IMF's warnings.

Coins.ph, a cryptocurrency platform based in the Philippines, is expanding into Australia in 2024. The company has acquired an Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (AUSTRAC) Digital Currency Exchange registration, allowing it to set up crypto exchange services in the country.

South Korean crypto exchange Upbit has obtained a Major Payment Institution license from the MAS for its local branch, Upbit Singapore. The license allows Upbit Singapore to expand its services in the country and provide crypto and fiat-related services to Singaporeans without transaction limits.

The SEC has published notices of filing updates for spot Bitcoin ETFs, with eight amendments to 19b-4 filings listed so far. The filings include proposed rule changes from Cboe BZX, NASDAQ, and NYSE Arca, among others.

Gabriel Attal, 34, has been named as France's youngest-ever prime minister. Attal, who previously served as government spokesman and education minister, is seen as a fresh start for President Emmanuel Macron's term amid growing pressure from the far right.

Even if you have no interest in crypto, the current frenzy around Bitcoin ETFs is interesting to purely as a matter of competitive strategy. There is a brand new market up for grabs that will be worth billions—perhaps trillions—and at least 13 companies are vying to get a piece of it.

Cameroonian fintech startup Koree has raised $200,000 in pre-seed funding led by the co-founder of Nigerian payments company Duplo. The funds will be used to launch a marketplace that rewards users for their purchases. Users can earn a percentage of the amount they spend across the Koree app's 14 categories.