TL;DR: Welcome to In Case You Missed It (ICYMI), a daily crypto news update. CME options volume beats Bakkt. Coinbase pays $1 million to settle class-action lawsuit. Twitter to add native tipping to its platform. PayPal blocks Iran-related donations to the Grayzone. US Treasury tests blockchain system to track grants, and Lloyds Bank blocks user’s account for purchasing crypto.



CME Beats Bakkt’s Options Volume

The CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange), the exchange who just launched bitcoin options recently, already bested the volume reported by Bakkt. The ICE-parent rival launched their bitcoin options contracts last December 9. CME announced, however, 55 contracts were traded in the company’s first day, valued at nearly $2.1 million. That’s compared to a little more than $1 million Bakkt’s options managed to trade in more than a month. This marks the start of a more robust market for bitcoin derivatives generally, now relying on institutional grade exchanges.

Coinbase to Pay Almost $1 Million to Settle Class Action Lawsuit

Coinbase, one of the most prominent US-based cryptocurrency exchanges, agreed to pay $962,500 to settle a class-action lawsuit involving Cryptsy, a defunct cryptocurrency exchange. The lawsuit alleged Coinbase unlawfully aided and abetted the conduct of Cryptsy and its CEO Paul Vernon by allowing them to have accounts on the Coinbase platform, and allowing the system to be used as a way to launder the funds of the Cryptsy exchange.

Twitter Considers Adding Native Tipping

Twitter is considering adding native tipping to its platform, according to an article published by The Information. This would be part of a slew of changes the social media platform is trying to implement this year, along with the ability to moderate who is capable of answering tweets. However, it is still uncertain if this feature will link Twitter with Square, another company founded by Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO, for funding the tips or if this will rely on another service.

PayPal Blocks Iran Related Donations to the Grayzone

PayPal is blocking donations related to the Iran coverage from a news site called The Grayzone. Three donations that were revised and then reversed used the word Iran in the explanation, and one even referred to free speech. Ben Norton, the assistant director of Grayzone, declared, “PayPal automates the process of reviewing donations to make sure that they conform with US government sanctions, highlighting particular keywords,” but the company has not answered the accusations.

US Treasury Tests Blockchain Tool for Grant Tracking

The US Treasury is testing a blockchain-based tool that will be used to track grant recipients and to simplify the management and accountability of these grants. The system will use a tokenized letter of credit that grant recipients will receive in an electronic wallet linked to a cash account. However, the blockchain for issuing these letters won’t be public. “This isn’t the Bitcoin network, where everything is visible,” declared Craig Fischer, Innovation Program Manager at the agency.

Lloyds Blocks Customer Bank Account for Purchasing Crypto

A Reddit user named matcheek, also a client of Lloyds Bank UK, had his bank account locked twice in two days for purchasing cryptocurrency. Matcheek bought a small volume of cryptocurrency and had his account frozen for 10 minutes until he called the bank and explained the incident. But when he bought cryptocurrencies for a second time, he insisted the bank “locked my account (not just the card) again but this time it was a 2nd level fraud suspicion – needed to physically go to the bank to unlock it.”

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