Australia Open to Idea of CBDC as Future of Money

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Ball Family Stars in NFT Game

Australia Open to Idea of CBDC

Tether freezes $873,000 USDT Linked to Terrorist Activity

Ball Family Stars in NFT Game 'StrayShot':

• NBA players LaMelo and Lonzo Ball, along with their family’s lifestyle brand Big Baller Brand (BBB), have partnered with the upcoming game StrayShot to be featured as playable NFT characters. The PC game, previously known as 0xBattleGround, is currently in public beta and is anticipated to be fully launched by February 2024.

• StrayShot, utilizing the Ethereum scaling network SKALE, will have major in-game elements recorded on-chain, including weapons, outfits, and special characters. All in-game items will be NFTs, and the game will also feature an ERC-20 token that players can win in tournaments. In-game transactions are designed in a manner that doesn't require players to sign with their crypto wallets.

• The Ball family, known for their basketball prowess and Big Baller Brand, faced scrutiny in 2018 with a poor rating from the Better Business Bureau. Though the brand’s rating has since improved, it still possesses some lingering complaints. In 2020, the brand was relaunched with LaVar Ball, the father of the Ball brothers, claiming it to be worth a billion.

Australia Open to Idea of CBDC as Future of Money:

• The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is considering the potential use of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) as the future of money. CBDCs would act as a digital representation of tokenized central bank reserves.

• Brad Jones, the RBA's assistant governor, in his speech titled “A Tokenised Future for the Australian Financial System,” discussed the evolution of financial instruments, the opportunities presented by tokenization, and how CBDCs could serve as a modern form of money.

• Jones highlighted that stablecoins backed by high-quality assets and issued by well-regulated institutions could be widely used for settling tokenized transactions. However, private party-issued stablecoins might pose increased risks due to regulatory ambiguities. Jones believes CBDCs, in the form of tokenized bank deposits, could be a viable solution for transaction settlements.

Tether Freezes USDT Linked to Terrorist Activity:

• Tether has frozen 32 addresses connected to terrorist activities in Israel and Ukraine, immobilizing $873,118 worth of USDT in collaboration with Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing.

• Paolo Ardoino, Tether's CEO, emphasized that the traceability of cryptocurrency transactions on blockchain platforms has empowered Tether to block USDT associated with terrorist funding. The company is dedicated to working globally to pinpoint and halt illicit fund movements.

• Tether has previously frozen assets worth over $360 million in 2022 and has thus far frozen an estimated total of $835 million in USDT, mainly tied to blockchain and cryptocurrency exchange breaches. Tether collaborates with 32 nations to combat illegal cyber activities involving its stablecoin. In June 2023, Israel confiscated crypto wallets linked to the Hezbollah terrorist organization, with $1.7 million in crypto seized using Chainalysis tools. Cybercriminal trends indicate a shift away from Bitcoin towards stablecoins and alt coins for online value transfers, likely due to their easier laundering potential on DEXs.

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