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Crypto Briefs is your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptocurrency and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.

Exchanges news

Poloniex has announced the creation of a new token-launching platform, dubbed LaunchBase . According to the announcement, it will collaborate with projects, community members and industry-wide partners to promote crypto adoption worldwide, including via the sale of tokens to eligible participants on Poloniex. The exchange, co-owned by Tron‘s Justin Sun, said it has selected as its first project a Tron-based stablecoin lending platform called JUST , and promised to disclose more details in the next few days.

has announced the creation of a new token-launching platform, dubbed . According to the announcement, it will collaborate with projects, community members and industry-wide partners to promote crypto adoption worldwide, including via the sale of tokens to eligible participants on Poloniex. The exchange, co-owned by Tron‘s Justin Sun, said it has selected as its first project a Tron-based stablecoin lending platform called , and promised to disclose more details in the next few days. Binance appears to have removed mentions of Visa from a blog post from late March. The post’s author originally wrote “The Binance Card is issued by Visa and accepted by more than 46 million merchants in 200 regions and territories, which makes shopping with crypto easier than ever before,” but the words “is issued by Visa” appear to have been removed from the text, leading many observers to question if Visa’s role in the project has changed. Cryptonews.com has reached out to both Binance and Visa for comment on this story, and will update should a response be forthcoming.

appears to have removed mentions of from a blog post from late March. The post’s author originally wrote “The Binance Card is issued by Visa and accepted by more than 46 million merchants in 200 regions and territories, which makes shopping with crypto easier than ever before,” but the words “is issued by Visa” appear to have been removed from the text, leading many observers to question if Visa’s role in the project has changed. Cryptonews.com has reached out to both Binance and Visa for comment on this story, and will update should a response be forthcoming. Meanwhile, Binance has launched Hedge Mode on the Binance Futures trading platform, enabling traders to hold positions in both long and short directions at the same time under the same contract. Per the press release, users will now be able to switch between one-way mode and hedge mode in the Preference settings.

Markets news

Data compiled in a CryptoCompare report has found that that the March 13 market crash saw the “highest daily volumes ever” at crypto exchanges, hitting the USD 75.9 billion mark. The report’s authors also stated that derivatives volumes reached an all-time high last month, and noted that volumes had “soared” at derivatives exchanges such as Binance and FTX (co-owned by Binance).

Stablecoins news

Another South Korean town says it will launch a local stablecoin, as blockchain-powered tokens pegged to the Korean won rise in prominence in the country. Jeongeup, a popular tourist destination in North Jeolla Province, says – per media outlet Special Kyungjae – that its solution, which will let merchants process sales via a QR code on smartphones, will be developed in conjunction with blockchain and stablecoin provider the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation.

Steem (STEEM) has executed a soft fork in order to freeze some 20 accounts that are owned by the network’s former witnesses, which together hold some 17.6 million STEEM, c. USD 3.08 million. The author of the post proposing the soft fork stated that Steem needs to be protected from these former top witnesses, which are now a part of the Hive community.

Legal news

Police in South Korea have made 10 arrests in the ongoing Telegram Nth room case, whereby a man allegedly distributed graphic sexual exploitation and rape videos on the chat app in exchange for cryptocurrency. After a search of at least five crypto-related companies and two brokerages, Newsis reports that police are now seeking warrants that will allow them to search and seize data from a further 20 South Korea-based crypto exchanges and brokerages.

Crypto startup Blockvest and its founder Reginald Buddy Ringgold III have asked a California federal judge to reject a bid for summary judgement by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a suit that alleges the company had fraudulently advertised that its initial coin offering (ICO) had the SEC’s approval, reports Law360. The founder argues that triable issues of fact still remain surrounding the ICO.

and its founder Reginald Buddy Ringgold III have asked a California federal judge to reject a bid for summary judgement by the (SEC) in a suit that alleges the company had fraudulently advertised that its initial coin offering (ICO) had the SEC’s approval, reports Law360. The founder argues that triable issues of fact still remain surrounding the ICO. The SEC has hit an ex-priest and his wife with fraud charges, per an official release. The SEC says the duo cheated hundreds of investors out of some USD 500,000 by fronting a bogus alkaline water-backed cryptocurrency named TeshuaCoin, as well as a fake crypto mining project and the sale of forged stock certificates. The pair, says the SEC, were specifically “targeting the African-American community.”

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