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The Central Bank of Iran is reportedly working with Russia to issue jointly a new stablecoin to facilitate payment for cross-border transactions. According to Alexander Brazhnikov, the executive director of the Russian Association of Crypto Industry and Blockchain, the new stablecoin will be pegged to gold. The crypto would operate in a special economic zone in Russian city Astrakhan. However, a Russian lawmaker emphasized that the project would only be implemented when the country’s digital asset market becomes fully regulated.

Binance Nordics AB, which is the crypto exchange Binance’s local arm in Sweden, has reportedly received approval from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority on 10 January to manage and trade digital currencies in the country. The decision comes after Binance obtained similar regulators’ approval in France, Bahrain, Spain and Dubai to provide crypto services. The exchange stressed that great care had been taken to ensure that the local unit had adopted risk and AML policies to meet the regulatory standards in both the EU and Sweden.

Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com announced on 13 January that it will lay off 20% of its global workforce. The co-founder and CEO Kris Marszalek said the ongoing economic headwinds and unforeseeable industry events were part of the reasons leading to the decision. However, he stressed that the decision was not related to the exchange’s performance and that it was necessary to position the company for long-term success. The exchange cut 5% of its staff in June 2022.

According to a report from the blockchain data platform Chainalysis, the total value of illicit crypto transactions in 2022 is $20.1 billion. The value is at an all-time high, and is slightly higher than the value in 2021 and is far more than the $8 billion recorded in 2020. The platform attributed the increase to the crypto sanctions launched by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control last year, which resulted in a surge in the number of sanction-related transactions.

Nigeria-based crypto exchange Roqqu has reportedly received a virtual currency license for the European Economic Area. The exchange currently operates in Nigeria with 1.4 million users and it hopes to increase its user base to 5 million by the end of 2023. It also plans to provide services in South Africa, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania in the coming months. Roqqu CEO Benjamin Onomor is bullish about the exchange’s business opportunity in Europe. He cited the data that there was foreign remittance of over $5 billion sent to people in Africa annually and he believes crypto could help reduce fees of such foreign remittance.

Bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital has received initial court approval on 10 January for the proposal to sell its asset at around $1 billion to Binance.US. The US court permitted the crypto lender to enter into such agreement and to obtain creditor’s approval, though the issues would not be finalized until a future court hearing. Voyager attorney Joshua Sussberg said the company was addressing authority’s national security concern over the deal in order to expedite the review process. It is estimated that the customers will be able to recover 51% of the value of their deposits at the time the company filed bankruptcy application if the deal is executed.

UK crypto app Tap Global announced in a press release on 10 January that it became the first listing on the Aquis Stock Exchange in 2023. The listing was achieved through the acquisition of the crypto app by a listed company Quetzal Capital, which traded $24.9 million of its own stock in return for control over the company. Quetzal also issued new shares to raise a further $3.8 million. Tap Global CEO David Carr said the company determined to continue the listing process despite the negative market sentiment as it would like to provide a regulated option for UK residents.

Crypto exchange Crypto.com will reportedly delist Tether for Canadian users starting from 31 January to comply with Canada’s regulatory requirements. The exchange has signed a Pre-registration Undertaking with the Ontario Securities Commission, which prohibits crypto exchanges operating in Ontario from listing banned Tether. The exchange would convert its users’ Tether into USD Coin if they neither withdraw nor covert their Tether by 31 January. A retrieval fee may also be charged if the customers deposit Tether from external wallets after the deadline.

US-based crypto exchange Coinbase announced another round of layoffs on 10 January as part of the exchange’s restructuring plan to keep the appropriate operational efficiency after it cut 18% of its workforce in June 2022. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said it planned to lay off 20% of its staff to help achieve the goal of lowering the firm’s operating costs by around 25%. The exchange would also terminate several projects with a lower probability of success. He reassured the customers that the exchange was well-capitalized and crypto was not going anywhere.

Osprey Fund, a digital asset manager which provides access to crypto-focus investment products for accredited investors, has reportedly dismissed 15 of its staff since last year summer. The last round of layoff leaves the firm’s current workforce with fewer than 10 people. Osprey Fund CEO Greg Kling said that the move was consistent with the market downtown and that the company was not in danger of ceasing operations. Many crypto firms have been experiencing operational difficulties over the past few months. Crypto exchange Kraken also laid off 30% of its staff in November 2022.

Crypto exchange Huobi has reportedly cut its workforce by 20%. The layoff is part of the firm’s efforts to restructure the business after Justin Sun took over the exchange. According to the exchange’s spokesperson, the move aims to optimize its structure and improve efficiency in the midst of crypto winter. Sun has previously denied allegations of the firm’s purported insolvency and said user assets were fully protected. He also promised that the exchange will fully respect the legal demands of local employees.

The global installation of Bitcoin ATMs has only recorded a slight increase in the second half of 2022. Compared to the total of 4,169 Bitcoin ATMs installed in the first six months of 2022, only 94 ATMs have been added since July 2022. It is believed that the geopolitical tensions, global inflation and continuance of the crypto winter have discouraged countries from adding more Bitcoin ATMs. The United States and Canada remain the top two countries with the largest Bitcoin ATMs network.