Wednesday, 10 August 2022

Partner(s)

Good morning!

Dennis here,

WhatsApp is making some major changes. Get ready for privacy 2.0. The company announced that it will be restricting screenshots (it's about time) and stopping people from seeing who is online. But the icing on the cake is that now, users will have up to a 60-hour window to delete a message. I am not religious but Hallelujah!

Below are the tech stories and news you need to know to start your day, carefully curated by Technext.

Summary of the news

Iran has placed the first crypto-funded import order, to the tune of $10M
WhatsApp has rolled out new privacy features including restricting screenshots and stopping people from seeing who is online
The global NFT sales volume declined by 26% in the past month
Crypto lender, Hodlnaut has joined other firms in freezing withdrawals

Iran for Crypto

Iran registered its first import order to be paid in crypto since the government, strapped for foreign currencies due to sanctions, amended digital assets legislation to allow locally mined cryptocurrencies to be used for purchases.

According to CoinBase, the order is valued at $10 million, the Tasnim news agency reported Tuesday.

The report cited a tweet from Alireza Peyman-Pak, an official at the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, which said (in Farsi) that by the end of September, Iran's "use of cryptocurrencies and smart contracts will be widespread in foreign trade with target countries."

In 2019, the government legalized crypto mining in the country. It still strictly regulates the sector and cracked down on local miners over energy use last year.

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WhatsApp rolls out new features

WhatsApp announced several new privacy updates yesterday, including the ability for users to check their messages without other people knowing.

According to CNN, the platform will soon allow people to control who can see when they're online, prevent others from taking screenshots of certain messages, and leave groups without notifying entire channels.WhatsApp has more than 2 billion users globally, and is owned by Facebook (FB) parent Meta. Announcing the changes on Facebook and Instagram, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company would "keep building new ways to protect your messages and keep them as private and secure as face-to-face conversations."

WhatsApp has long touted its use of end-to-end encryption, which means only the sender and recipient of a message can see its contents. And like other private messaging platforms, it already allows users to send messages that disappear after set periods of time.

Global NFT sales in decline

The Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) market has experienced a steady decline, in line with the general crypto market. According to data from CryptoSlam, the total volume of NFT sales across the Globe in July was $647.23 million. That is a 26% decline from the $879 million sold in June.

Technext reports that the decline is even more far-reaching when compared to the beginning of the year. In January 2022, global NFT sales volume was around $4.6 billion. The downturn has been attributed to decreased investor interest in digital collectables.

With a sales volume of less than $700 million in July, NFTs sales have hit a new low. The least number was sales was far back in June 2021 when NFTs were generating interest across the globe. The total sales volume was $327 million.

The report also indicates that the market has seen a decline of up to $4 billion since January 2022.

Crypto lender Hodlnaut freeze withdrawals

Cryptocurrency lender Hodlnaut is the latest firm to respond to tumultuous market conditions by halting withdrawals. In a post on its website, the Singapore-based company announced that it’s freezing withdrawals, token swaps, and deposits due to an uncertain economy that some say triggered a “crypto winter.”

The Verge reports that Hodlnaut is also rescinding its application to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for a regulatory license that would allow the company to offer digital payment token services in the city-state. As pointed out by Coindesk, the firm already received in-principle approval for the license in March, and its withdrawal means it can no longer offer token swaps. Hodlnaut says it’s also suspending its borrowing and lending services “for the avoidance of doubt.”

“This difficult decision was taken for us to focus on stabilising our liquidity and preserving assets, while we work to find the best way to protect our users’ long-term interests,” Hodlnaut states. “We are actively working on the recovery plan that we hope to provide updates and details on as soon as permissible.”