Twitter has started seeking regulatory licenses in the US and is developing software to introduce payments on the platform. Twitter CEO Elon Musk has said the system will be first and foremost a fiat currency system, but it will include crypto functionality.

Digital asset manager Osprey Funds has filed a lawsuit against its rival Grayscale Investments in Connecticut Superior Court, accusing Grayscale of “false and misleading advertising” for its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) since late 2020.

Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has launched a set of new security features for its Coinbase Wallet product, ia self-custody solution allowing users to control their own private keys and interact with smart contracts on various networks.

 Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Twitter Considering Adding Crypto Payments
• Osprey Funds Sues Grayscale Over GBTC Advertisement
• Coinbase Wallet Adds New Security Features
• Chart of the Week: Bitcoin’s Monthly Return in January

Twitter Considering Adding Crypto Payments

Twitter has started seeking regulatory licenses in the US and is developing software to introduce payments on the platform. Twitter CEO Elon Musk has said the system will be first and foremost a fiat currency system, but it will include crypto functionality.

Allowing payments through the microblogging platform is reportedly a critical part of Elon Musk’s plan to open up fresh revenue streams for it. The platform’s $5 billion-a-year advertising business has cratered since Musk acquired the platform.

Musk has said he wants Twitter to offer fintech services such as peer-to-peer transactions, savings accounts, and debit cards. The features are a part of his plan to launch an “everything app” that combines messaging, payments, and commerce.

In a May pitch deck reported on by the Financial Times, Musk stated his goal of generating $1.3 billion in payments revenue for Twitter by 2028. The move into payments will see Twitter face significant regulatory oversight.

Companies involved in money transfers, currency exchange, or check cashing must report unusual activity to authorities. To monitor for fraud and suspicious transactions, user accounts must be tied to a user's identity, said Lisa Ellis, a payments expert and senior equity analyst at research company MoffettNathanson.

Osprey Funds Sues Grayscale Over GBTC Advertisement

Digital asset manager Osprey Funds has filed a lawsuit against its rival Grayscale Investments in Connecticut Superior Court, accusing Grayscale of “false and misleading advertising” for its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) since late 2020.

Grayscale, according to the complaint, presented that GBTC would be converted into an exchange-traded fund (ETF) as a “foregone conclusion, when it knew that access was never likely to happen.”

Regulators in the US denied Grayscale’s application to convert the fund into an ETF, prompting the firm to sue the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Osprey alleges that because of its “unfair trade practices,” Grayscale has been able to get 99.5% of assets in trust-based crypto products, despite having a fee four times higher than a similar offering from Osprey.

A Grayscale spokesperson said that the lawsuit is “frivolous” and that the conversion of GBTC into an ETF is the “best long-term product structure for Grayscale’s investors, and approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF would directly benefit our industry peers.” The spokesperson added:

“At Grayscale, we remain confident in our common sense, compelling legal arguments, and we look forward to a final decision from the DC Court of Appeals by Fall 2023.”

Grayscale’s GBTC was launched back in 2013, while Osprey’s Bitcoin trust was created in 2019. Osprey currently manages around $100 million in assets.

Coinbase Wallet Adds New Security Features

Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has launched a set of new security features for its Coinbase Wallet product, a self-custody solution allowing users to control their own private keys and interact with smart contracts on various networks.

The new security features come after a number of high-profile non-fungible token (NFT) thefts and includes more clarity on how third-party smart contracts are expected to interact with the assets within users’ wallets.

Coinbase Wallet will now allow users to preview how transactions are expected to change their balances as they send and receive tokens. Moreover, it will include a blocklist, warning users that some decentralized applications may have been flagged as malicious.

The wallet will also maintain a database of malicious addresses, and hide airdropped assets from them to keep users safe. It also added new layers of permission management, support for multiple addresses, and expanded compatibility for hardware wallets.

Late last year, Coinbase launched a tool to help customers recover more than 4,000 currently unsupported Ethereum-based tokens sent to its users’ addresses.

Chart of the Week: Bitcoin’s Monthly Return in January

This week’s Chart of the Week showcases the upward trend of Bitcoin, which is currently on track to record its highest monthly return in January since 2013.

As of January 29th, the cryptocurrency saw a 43.7% rise from December, marking its best monthly return since December 2020.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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