Decentralized finance (DeFi) giant Aave has unveiled plans to launch an overcollateralized stablecoin called GHO, subject to the community decentralized autonomous organization’s (DAO’s) approval. The announcement was made by Aave Companies — the centralized entity supporting the Aave protocol — on its Twitter page on Thursday, stating: “We have created an ARC for a new decentralized, collateral-backed stablecoin, native to the Aave ecosystem, known as GHO.” According to the governance proposal shared on Thursday, GHO would be an Ethereum-based and decentralized stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar that could be collateralized with multiple assets of the user’s choice. To obtain …

Staking software and investment firm KeyFi Inc. has filed a complaint against beleaguered crypto-lending firm Celsius, alleging the company had been operating in a Ponzi-style fashion and that it failed to honor a profit-sharing agreement “worth millions of dollars.” The complaint, filed on Thursday, alleges that Celsius has refused to honor a “handshake agreement” in which KeyFi would receive various percentages of the profits it made on Celsius’s behalf via a number staking and decentralized finance (DeFi) strategies. The complaint also accuses Celsius of “negligent misrepresentation” over its risk management controls and “fraud in the inducement” via misleading information of …

Days after pausing trading, withdrawals and deposits, crypto exchange Voyager Digital is filing for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 in the Southern District Court of New York. Voyager’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing indicated that it is on the hook for anywhere from $1 billion to $10 billion in assets to more than 100,000 creditors. The troubled crypto exchange wasted no time after the United States holiday to file for bankruptcy on Tuesday. In a Wednesday statement, Voyager explained that the move is part of a “Plan of Reorganization.” When implemented, the plan would enable clients to reaccess their accounts again, and …

MakerDAO is voting on a proposal that will bring a traditional bank into its ecosystem for the first time, allowing the bank to borrow against its assets using decentralized finance (DeFi). Currently 83% of voters are in favor of the proposal. Voting ends at 12:00 pm EST on July 7. The proposal involves creating a vault with 100 million Dai (DAI) for Huntingdon Valley Bank (HVB) as part of a new collateral type in the Maker Protocol. This will essentially allow the Maker Protocol to begin issuing real-world loans to borrowers through a fully backed traditional institution by meeting the …

The government of the United Kingdom is asking the public for input on the taxation of crypto asset loans and staking in the context of decentralized finance (DeFi). DeFi is an umbrella term that refers to financial applications that are built on top of blockchain technology. This could include anything from lending to borrowing and staking platforms. In particular, the government is interested in gathering information on the taxation of crypto asset loans and staking. Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) call for evidence paper, published on Tuesday, described its intention to study whether administrative hassles and costs may be …

Crypto contagion claims another casualty. In a statement, Singapore-based crypto exchange Vauld has made the “difficult decision to suspend all withdrawals, trading and deposits on the Vauld platform with immediate effect.” In what appears to be a run on the crypto bank, the group intends to “apply to the Singapore courts for a moratorium,” as Vauld customers have tried to withdraw an “excess of a $197.7 million since 12 June 2022.” The decision to suspend withdrawals is a screeching U-turn. Reportedly, Vauld boasted $1 billion assets under management in May this year, while on June 16, a company email stated …

FTX US has inked a deal with BlockFi that will give the crypto derivatives exchange the option to purchase the lending firm. In a Friday Twitter thread, BlockFi CEO Zac Prince said the crypto lending firm had signed agreements with FTX US for a $400-million revolving credit facility as well as the option to acquire BlockFi “at a variable price of up to $240 million based on performance triggers.” According to the CEO, the deal was reached as part of an effort “to bolster liquidity and protect client funds” at BlockFi. The agreements are still subject to shareholder approval. Prince …

Celsius’ lead investor BnkToTheFuture has outlined three proposals to save Celsius from bankruptcy while finding a good outcome for shareholders and depositors with funds stuck on the platform. Shared on Twitter by BnkToTheFuture CEO Simon Dixon on Thursday, the three distinct proposals include either two options of restructuring and relaunching Celsius or potentially co-investing in the platform alongside wealthy Bitcoin (BTC) whales. “Proposal #1: A restructuring to relaunch Celsius and allow depositors to benefit from any recovery through financial engineering.” “Proposal #2: A pool of the most influential whales in Bitcoin to co-invest with the community.” “Proposal #3: An operational …

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX is close to purchasing digital asset lender BlockFi's remaining assets for $25 million, according to CNBC. According to sources close to the matter, BlockFi's equity investors were wiped out and are now writing their positions off at a loss. In addition, the FTX deal could take multiple months to close, opening up the possibility that the price tag could shift over that period. In June 2021, BlockFi had a reported valuation of $5 billion. BlockFi CEO Zac Prince has since denied these rumors, taking to Twitter on June 30 to refute speculation that the company is being …

It’s been another day of watching the ripples of contagion spread through the crypto market. With Three Arrows Capital (3AC) being ordered into liquidation by a British court, details have also emerged on Thursday of BlockFi liquidating a $1 billion loan to 3AC, and the fallout from the insolvency was partly to blame for lending firm and market maker Genesis Trading facing losses of “a few hundred million dollars.” Withdrawals remain suspended at the possibly insolvent lending and borrowing platform Celsius, which was revealed to have had a highly risky 19 to 1 assets-to-equity ratio before it ran into liquidity …

African mobile banking platform Aella has partnered with Creditcoin Network to make credit histories transparent by integrating all its transactions into Creditcoin’s public blockchain. In an announcement sent to Cointelegraph, Creditcoin said that all Aella's credit transactions will be recorded on the Creditcoin blockchain, making it easy to audit and available for viewing through their block explorer. The recorded transactions will include the terms of the loans as well as payments and repayments. Creditcoin said that the partnership comes with the release of Creditcoin 2.0, an upgrade that makes the network more stable and easier to integrate with. Aella CEO …

Troubled cryptocurrency venture capital firm Three Arrows Capital (3AC) is facing more uncertainty amid new reports on the company’s liquidation. A court in the British Virgin Islands ordered the liquidation of Singapore-based 3AC on Monday, the British news agency Sky News reported on Wednesday. The information in the report refers to an unspecified person familiar with the matter. Three Arrows Capital did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment. Three Arrows Capital, also known as 3AC, is a Singaporean crypto hedge fund founded in 2012 by Kyle Davies and Su Zhu. The firm has reportedly failed to meet margin …