As Iran’s energy consumption rises during the winter, local energy authorities have decided to halt the operations of authorized cryptocurrency mining centers in a bid to reduce liquid fuel consumption in power plants amid decreasing temperatures.

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken is developing a marketplace that will allow its users to take out loans collateralized by their non-fungible tokens, according to the firm’s CEO Jesse Powell.

Binance has received in-principle approval from Bahrain’s central bank to be a cryptoasset service provider in the kingdom. The exchange still needs to go through a full application process that the exchange said would be completed “in due course.”

Sponsored: It’s Christmas and Bybit are going big with the gifts — their festive Santa sleigh includes a Tesla Model 3, iPhone 13, Amazon gift cards, and more!

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Iran Halts Authorized Crypto Mining to Save Energy
• Kraken’s Marketplace to Allow NFT-Collateralized Loans
• Binance Gets Regulatory Nod in Bahrain
• What is Avalanche (AVAX)?
• Sponsored: Christmas Fun with Bybit’s Jolly Jamboree

Iran Halts Authorized Crypto Mining to Save Energy

As Iran’s energy consumption rises during the winter, local energy authorities have decided to halt the operations of authorized cryptocurrency mining centers in a bid to reduce liquid fuel consumption in power plants amid decreasing temperatures.

According to Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi, chairman of the board and managing director of Iran Grid Management Company, Tavanir, authorities have started taking action to reduce energy consumption last month.

These actions include halting authorized cryptocurrency mining operations as well as “turning off lampposts in less risky areas and stringent supervision of consumption.” Authorities also called on citizens to reduce energy and gas consumption as much as possible.

The Iranian government has also been working to combat illegal cryptocurrency mining operations. In November, authorities seized 222,000 mining devices used for illicit mining  operations. Iran is home to an estimated 4.5% to 7% of Bitcoin’s global hashrate.

Kraken’s Marketplace to Allow NFT-Collateralized Loans

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken is developing a marketplace that will allow its users to take out loans collateralized by their non-fungible tokens, according to the firm’s CEO Jesse Powell.

During an interview with Bloomberg, Powell said:

"If you deposit a CryptoPunk on Kraken, we want to be able to reflect the value of that in your account. And if you want to borrow funds against that."

Kraken’s NFT marketplace is set to provide custody services and offer NFT holders services that allow them to go beyond collecting. The exchange currently serves 8.5 million customers, nearly double what it served last year.

Kraken’s larger rivals Binance and FTX have already launched their NFT marketplaces, while Coinbase has a waiting list of millions of people looking to join its NFT marketplace once it launches.

Binance Gets Regulatory Nod in Bahrain

Binance has received in-principle approval from Bahrain’s central bank to be a cryptoasset service provider in the kingdom. The exchange still needs to go through a full application process that the exchange said would be completed “in due course.”

If successful, the move would mark the first regulatory approval for a Binance entity within the Middle East or North Africa. The exchange has been attempting to expand its regional footprint, particularly in the Gulf.

Abdulla Haji, director for licensing at the country’s central bank, said the licensing is a “matter of formalities” once Binance completes the establishment requirement.

The exchange also registered Binance Canada Capital Markets with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), the country’s anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism finance regulator.

What is Avalanche (AVAX)?

Avalanche is an open-source blockchain for launching decentralized finance applications and deploying enterprise blockchains in an interoperable and highly scalable ecosystem. It allows anyone to launch or trade any form of asset and control it using smart contracts.

Avalanche’s mainnet was launched in September 2020 and developers claim it can process over 4,500 transactions per second while offering transaction finality in under one second. Its transaction throughput makes it stand out among other blockchains, while it offers security thresholds well above the 51% standard.

The cryptocurrency uses Snowball, a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm designed by Ava Labs that requires users to stake AVAX to become transaction validators, or to delegate their tokens to validators to participate.

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