RIYADH: Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency internationally, traded higher on Tuesday, rising by 3.55 percent to $43,944 at 12:55 p.m. Riyadh time. Ether, the second most traded cryptocurrency, was priced at $3,101, up by 1.02 percent, according to data from Coindesk. Other News: Stablecoins are unlikely to be the future of payments, despite their increasing market value in the past two years, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York blog post. Stablecoins, which are usually linked to a government-backed currency such as the dollar or euro, have become a vital part of the crypto world. Investors use them to buy and sell other, more volatile digital currencies. Their market capitalization has increased from $5.7 billion in late 2019 to over $176 billion today, according to Bloomberg. However, the Federal Reserve and other US watchdogs said that stablecoins need more regulation, and should be issued by banks. The Federal Reserve discussed developing its own currency in a 35-page paper recently, saying that the paper was just a first step, and that it had no intention of moving forward without support from the White House and Congress. Nellie Liang, the Treasury undersecretary for domestic finance, is expected to testify at the House Financial Services Committee hearing on stablecoins on Tuesday. Adoption Canada-based KPMG, one of the four largest accounting firms in the country announced on Monday a first-of-its-kind investment for the company. KPMG has completed an allocation of crypto assets to its corporate treasury, the firm’s first direct investment in crypto assets, according to the company"s announcement. “The allocation includes bitcoin and ethereum, as well as carbon offsets to maintain a net-zero carbon transaction to deliver on the firm’s stated environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments,” KPMG said. The accounting firm acquired bitcoin and ether on its balance sheet through Gemini Trust Company LLC’s execution and custody services, according to Bitcoin.com. “This investment reflects our belief that institutional adoption of crypto assets and blockchain technology will continue to grow and become a regular part of the asset mix,” Benjie Thomas, managing partner of Advisory Services said. Kareem Sadek, cryptoassets and blockchain services co-leader added: “We’ve invested in a strong crypto assets practice. We will continue to enhance and build on our capabilities across decentralized finance (defi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse, to name a few. We expect to see a lot of growth in these areas in the years to come.” Funding Polygon, the operator of an eponymous protocol used by developers to make Ethereum transactions quicker and cheaper has successfully raised $450 million by selling its Matic crypto token to investors led by Sequoia Capital India, Bloomberg reported. Polygon is a layer 2 operator, providing tools for developers who want to build decentralized apps (dapps) and address network congestion, which is a growing problem on Ethereum as its popularity grows. Its token which has a maximum of 10 billion units is the closest analog to holding equity in the protocol. Matic traded at a high of $1.94 on Tuesday, according to data from CoinGecko. SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund 2, Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital, Tiger Global, Alexis Ohanian and Animoca Brands were among more than 40 investors participating in the funding. “One of the reasons for this funding was to get institutional visibility in the US,” co-founder Sandeep Nailwal said. Polygon says its protocol now has 7,000 dapps, more than 130 million unique users, over 3 million daily transactions and in excess of 3.4 billion transactions. NBA star Steph Curry minted his first non-fungible token- digital basketball shoes, commemorating his 3-point record, on the Polygon network in December. It also powered luxury brand Dolce & Gabbana’s NFT auction last year.