Shopify, a Canada-based e-commerce giant, has joined the Facebook-led Libra Association to help improve commerce, making it clear “payments and the value exchange of goods are not a solved problem.”

Malta’s financial watchdog has made it clear leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance “is not authorized” to operate in the country, although the trading platform has reportedly set up offices there.

The IOTA Foundation is set to reopen the network’s mainnet by March 2 in the aftermath of a $2 million hack that affected those using its Trinity wallet software.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• E-Commerce Giant Shopify Joins Libra Association in Bid to ‘Improve Commerce’
• Binance ‘Is Not Authorized' to Operate in Malta, Says Country's Financial Watchdog
• IOTA Foundation to Reopen Mainnet by March 2 after $2 Million Hack

At the time of writing, bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $9,773.27 (-1.36%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $2.07 billion. As for ether (ETH), it is trading at $268.25 (-1.24%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $1.33 billion. The MVIS CryptoCompare Digital Assets 10 Index is currently tracking at 3,842.65 (-1.35%)

E-Commerce Giant Shopify Joins Libra Association in Bid to ‘Improve Commerce’

Shopify, a Canada-based e-commerce giant that has reportedly helped over 1 million businesses launch an online store, has joined the Facebook-led Libra Association in a bid to “improve commerce.”

In a blog post, the company revealed it became a new member of the Association and that it will work to “build a payment network that makes money easier to access and supports merchants and consumers everywhere.” The blog post adds:

“We’re excited to be part of the Libra Association and look forward to how the project may improve commerce everywhere.”

In its announcement the company also states its mission is to “make commerce better for everyone” and that to achieve it, it spends time looking into how it can improve where money and banking “could be far better.”

As online commerce grows, Shopify added, it’s easy to forget that “payments and the value exchange of goods are not a solved problem.”

Binance ‘Is Not Authorized' to Operate in Malta, Says Country's Financial Watchdog

Malta’s financial watchdog, the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), has issued a statement claiming leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance “is not authorized” to operate in the country.

In the statement the regulator cites reports in the media referring to Binance as a “Malta-based cryptocurrency company” but noted the exchange “is not authorized by the MFSA to operate in the cryptocurrency sphere and is therefore not subject to regulatory oversight by the MFSA.”

Binance announced it was opening up an office in Malta in March 2018 after clashing with Japanese regulators, while in September 2018 it said it would work with the Malta Stock Exchange (MSX) to offer security token trading. An announcement from last year said the firm was providing funding for a new crypto-friendly Maltese bank. CoinDesk details press releases sent to it list Malta in the dateline as recently as Feb.11, 2020.

Binance’s CEO Changpeng Zhao responded to the story on social media, saying:

“There is a mix of truth, FUD & misconception. Binance.com is not headquartered or operated in Malta. This is old news & has always been the case.”

In its announcement the MFSA said it’s assessing if Binance “has any activities in Malta which may not fall within the realm of regulatory oversight” and reiterated that following the passing of the Virtual Financial Assets Act of 2018, businesses that trade or offer crypto must be fully licensed.

It’s unclear whether Binance has offices in Malta or not.

IOTA Foundation to Reopen Mainnet by March 2 after $2 Million Hack

The IOTA Foundation, the non-profit organization behind IOTA, has said it will reopen its mainnet by March 2, in the aftermath of a security breach that saw hackers take around $2 million worth of MIOTA from Trinity wallet users.

The organization is reportedly developing transition tools for users to transfer funds from their existing accounts to new ones, so it can reopen the network. After the attack the Foundation shut down the IOTA mainnet to prevent further losses, and started working with law enforcement agencies, including the German Center for Cybercrime and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Foundation is reportedly working on a remediation plan to refund victims of the attack, which was made possible by a vulnerability in its integration with a fiat-to-crypto onramp platform integrated with Trinity. It’s unclear how many users were affected, as the team was only able to identify 50 victims. The Foundation’s co-founder Dominik Schiener was quoted as saying:

"One important thing is obviously that this does not affect all IOTA users, but only affects Trinity users of the Trinity desktop wallet. So everybody else is safe and doesn't have to worry about this."

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