The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk, replied “Yes” to a thread in AI researcher Lex Fridman’s tweet, which read: “Mars economy will run on crypto.” 

Though in jest, the entrepreneur has had a penchant for stirring excitement within the crypto space.

Bitcoin has risen to new highs thanks to renewed institutional interest. Now, analysis suggests that Ethereum could be next to enjoy the same large institutional inflows. 

Russell Okung, who plays offensive tackle for the Carolina Panthers, is set to be paid in Bitcoin. It’s the first time any player has received their wages in cryptocurrency in NFL history. 

Okung will receive 50% of his $13 million salary in BTC, and the Bitcoin payments startup Strike will facilitate the payment. 

He first expressed interest in receiving his paycheck in the digital currency in May 2019, when he tweeted the succinct phrase “Pay me in Bitcoin.” In light of the update, he posted a new tweet today confirming the news. 

Simplex, a payments service for exchanging fiat and cryptocurrencies, is set to begin issuing Visa cards. The move comes as the company launches its Simplex Banking service. 

Simplex is set to enable cryptocurrency users to spend their digital assets in the real world.

Indian DeFi project UniLend Finance has launched the Alpha version of its platform known as “Initium.” 

Coinbase is suspending trading for XRP on its exchanges.

The exchange’s Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, announced the news in a blog post this evening. The message reads:

“In light of the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple Labs, Inc, we have made the decision to suspend the XRP trading pairs on our platform.”

OKCoin has announced it will suspend trading and deposits of XRP on its exchange beginning on Jan. 4, 2021.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Stefan Qin, an Australian citizen, of cryptocurrency-related securities fraud.

According to a press release published today by the SEC, Qin has sold fraudulent crypto fund shares since 2018 through five business entities—namely Virgil Capital LLC and its affiliates.

Greenpro Capital Corp. plans to create a Bitcoin investment fund, as announced in a press release published today.

Cover Protocol lost almost $4 million to an exploit earlier today as hackers discovered a way to reward themselves COVER tokens at will. After the hackers sold the funds on 1inch, the token’s value tanked around 95% from $859 to $50 before recovering slightly.

The case saw further developments just hours ago when Grap Finance developers posted a tweet claiming responsibility for the attack.