The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange disclosed the creation of a blockchain-based platform to expand its trading services to cryptocurrencies and other digital assets as part of a new strategic plan for 2023 to 2027. 

Additionally, the five-year plan will include developing and selling technological solutions and services to other exchanges and market participants, expanding its market reach, and transitioning to a private-firm model through the creation of a new publicly traded holding company with 100% ownership of the bourse.

Its subsidiaries will act as units of the new holding company. The new structure will consist of a holding company with several subsidiaries (both existing subsidiaries and subsidiaries that will be established to further the goals of the plan),” said TASE, which went public in 2019.

Within the new strategic plan, TASE’s management has set a five-year compound annual growth rate revenue target of 10% to 12% from organic growth. The reshaping of TASE’s ownership structure may also include the “implementation of a plan for strategic purchases and/or investments in its areas of activity and/or in areas that offer added value to its activity,” stated the company, referring to a possible acquisition plan of foreign and small exchanges.

The plan, which TASE claimed was based on an analysis of industry trends, came days after the company announced a partnership with Israel’s Ministry of Finance to test a blockchain-backed platform for digital bonds trading. Under the name Eden, the bonds will be issued by the Ministry of Finance, and the project aims to reduce costs and streamline the issuance of national bonds.

Freeway has halted some of its services, citing unprecedented volatility in the foreign exchange and cryptocurrency markets.

The platform announced they are halting buys, deposits and will not be buying Supercharger simulations until our new strategies are implemented.

According to the Freeway website, their Superchargers product can offer up to 43% annual yield rewards. Users can deposit fiat currencies and crypto, which are placed in regulated brokerage accounts which are leveraged for returns.

A centralized platform, Freeway advertises itself as combining the best of traditional finance with the best of decentralized finance (DeFi). Freeway has not provided any specific details about what its new strategies might involve, but said in the announcement there are plans to diversify its asset base and manage exposure to future market fluctuations and volatility.

The news about halting some services has seen their token Freeway drop more than 75% in the last 24 hours, according to Coingecko. In the wake of other high-profile issues with crypto firms and exchanges, users have been expressing their concerns on social media and in the Freeway Telegram group.

Kazakhstan has maintained its position as the third-biggest contributor to Bitcoin mining after surpassing Russia back in February 2021. 

Kazakhstan contributed to 13.22% of the total Bitcoin hash rate, positioned right after the historical leaders the United States (37.84%) and China (21.11%).

Along similar timelines, Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance data estimated that Kazakhstan’s absolute hash rate contribution was 24.8 exahashes per second. Meanwhile, the US and China contributed 71 Eh/s and 39.6 Eh/s, respectively.

The top three countries contributing to the Bitcoin hash rate continue to eat away the share of other players, such as Malaysia, Germany and Iran. Kazakhstan was among the first to welcome the displaced Chinese miners when the Chinese government imposed a blanket ban on Bitcoin and crypto mining and trading.

China resumed mining operations in September 2022, but the temporary mining ban stripped the country’s position as the biggest Bitcoin mining hub, placing the United States at the top ever since.