1. California DMV puts car titles on Tezos blockchain, consumer applications on the way
📰 California’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is partnering Tezos blockchain and Oxhead Alpha, a crypto-focused software development firm to digitize car titles for California drivers and streamline title transfers between owners.
📰 Ajay Gupta, the chief digital officer at the California DMV, said that the agency hopes to finalize its “shadow ledger,” or a full replication of the state’s title database on the blockchain, within the next three months before building consumer-facing applications, including digital wallets that hold car title NFTs.
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2. New York State Takes a Step Toward Cryptocurrency Adoption with New Bill
📰 The state of New York has announced a new bill that would allow agencies to accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment for fines, civil penalties, taxes, fees, and other payments charged by the state.
📰 Introduced on January 26 by Democratic Assembly Member Clyde Vanel, the New York State Assembly Bill A523 legislation suggests changes to the state’s current financial law to allow for the use of cryptocurrencies in payments to state agencies.
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3. Arizona Senator Introduces a Bill to Make Bitcoin Legal Tender in the State
📰 Arizona Senator Wendy Rogers has introduced a bill that would make Bitcoin legal tender in the state.
📰 The bill, titled SB 1235, aims to amend the current list of legal tender within Arizona and adding the popular cryptocurrency.
📰 Another bill, titled SB 1239, aims to allow a variety of civil duties to be paid with Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, or Bitcoin Cash, allowing citizens to use crypto to pay fines, rent, taxes, and more.
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4. Amazon NFT Initiative Coming Soon
📰 Amazon is launching a digital assets enterprise, according to four sources familiar with the matter, who said that an NFT initiative is expected in the spring.
📰 According to sources, Amazon has been exploring partnerships with several entities such as layer-1 blockchains, blockchain-based gaming startups and developers and digital asset exchanges, with a focus on blockchain-based gaming and related NFT applications.
📰 One example in the works, per one source: getting Amazon customers to play crypto games and claim free NFTs in the process.
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5. Hackers Take Over Robinhood Twitter Account To Promote Scam
📰 The Twitter account of the Robinhood exchange was hacked on Wednesday.
📰 In a now-deleted tweet, the hacked account was used to promote a scam offering crypto tokens and NFTs on the Binance Smart Chain through the PancakeSwap decentralized exchange.
📰 According to sources, the scammers were able to make off with 26.95 BNB tokens, around $8,200.
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