DailyCryptonews by cryptoborges - 17/02/2021

By Francisco Borges | CryptoNews by cryptoborges | 17 Feb 2021

Hi huys hope you enjoy your daily dose of crypto news.

Coinbase, Readying for Public Listing, Gets $77B Valuation From Nasdaq Private Market

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, which is preparing to trade publicly in the next few months, is being valued at $77 billion, based on trading of the company’s privately held shares on a secondary market.

Those shares in the largest crypto exchange in the U.S. are changing hands on the Nasdaq Private Market at $303 a piece, according to two people with knowledge of the auction.

“The third weekly transaction closed on Friday and the clearing price was $303 a share,” said a source. “The first week it was 200 bucks a share, the second week it was $301 a share, and the third week it was $303 a share. So you can kind of see price discovery happening.”

The Coinbase private market is running an anonymous order book ahead of the company’s direct public listing, a date for which is still unknown. The sale allows current and former employees, as well as investors in Coinbase, to take some cash off the table. Around 254 million shares in Coinbase will be outstanding and available to trade when the firm goes public, according to sources with knowledge of the offering.

However, the secondary selling of shares sponsored by Coinbase over the past three weeks has seen “meaningful amounts” change hands, according to a source.

“It’s not like a handful of shares being exchanged at $300 a share. Each week it’s tens of millions of dollars, a pretty sizable amount,” said the source.

Mastercard Launches Prepaid Card for World’s First CBDC in Bahamas

CBDC-> Central Bank Digital Currency

The Bahamas Sand Dollar, the world's first CBDC, can now be converted into traditional Bahamian dollars using a prepaid Mastercard, enabling users to pay for goods and services wherever Mastercard is accepted worldwide.

The CBDC aims to spur financial inclusion by addressing the expense and difficulty of moving cash between the Bahamas' 700 small islands.

The Mastercard development will also open the Sand Dollar to more users, as it has previously only been available to individuals and businesses domiciled in the Bahamas.

The Sand Dollar carries the same value as the Bahamian dollar, itself pegged to the U.S. dollar.

Chinese bank tests biometric hardware wallet for digital yuan payments

Another Chinese banking institution has created a hardware wallet for the country’s central bank digital currency.

According to news agency Xinhua, the Postal Savings Bank of China has created a biometric hardware wallet for the project.The biometric hardware wallet enables easy identity verification for users via fingerprint sensors on the card.

Consumers participating in the CBDC trials in Beijing are also able to use the card to access healthcare services.

Indeed, the Postal Savings Bank of China said the hardware wallet, which is still in the testing stage, was designed to provide easier access to the CBDC and healthcare services for the elderly without needing to use smartphones, adding:
“With this card, it is much more convenient to enter and exit public places, and you can pay with just one touch. It is especially suitable for the elderly who have difficulty using smartphones.”

US charges three North Korean hackers over crypto attacks and WannaCry ransomware
On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced charges against three North Korean operatives.

Making the announcement, Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers condemned the North Korean program, the most famous branch of which is Lazarus Group. Demers said:
"North Korea’s operatives, using keyboards rather than guns, stealing digital wallets of cryptocurrency instead of sacks of cash, are the world’s leading bank robbers."

With a country largely sequestered from the international economy, North Korea's hacking program has been a critical source of revenue. Many have linked hacking income from sources like the WannaCry malware and crypto exchange CoinCheck with the nuclear weapons program. Demers elaborated:

"The DPRK cyber threat has followed the money and turned its revenue generation sights on the most cutting edge aspects of international finance, including through the theft of cryptocurrency from exchanges and other financial institutions"

North Korea's hacking program has been the subject of extensive scrutiny, both from the U.S. and internationally. As the country has no widespread internet access, many cite China's role in training North Korean hackers. Indeed, the U.S. sanctioned two Chinese affiliates of Lazarus Group back in March.