investments
Trouble in the Bahamas following FTX collapse: Report
Following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, which was headquartered in the island country of Bahamas, Bahamians are reportedly still trying to find a way to make sense of everything, while remaining optimistic about the future. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, the island country — which had encouraged cryptocurrency companies to feel at home with their “copacetic regulatory touch” — has been rocked by the implosion of FTX. The Bahamas was hard hit by Hurricane Dorian in 2019 and the pandemic shortly afterward in 2020 and was already struggling to find ways to strengthen its economy, which relies heavily on tourism and offshore banking for a bulk of its gross domestic product. It appeared that the prime minister of the Bahamas, Philip Davis, and his gover...
How bad is the current state of crypto? On-chain analyst explains
Despite the market downturn and the widespread negative sentiment in the industry in the wake of the FTX collapse, on-chain data still show reasons to be bullish on Bitcoin (BTC). As pointed out by on-chain analyst Will Clemente, it’s enough to look at the positions of long-term holders, which reached an all-time high despite their profitability being at an all-time low. “Long-term holders buy heavily into the bear market. They set the floor, […] and then those long-term holders distribute their holdings to new market participants in the bull market,” he told Cointelegraph in an exclusive interview. Another positive trend worth noticing after the FTX collapse, in Clemente’s opinion, is that the average crypto user is increasingly turning away from exchanges and taking self-cust...
Crypto lender Matrixport seeks $100M funding despite lending crisis
Matrixport, the cryptocurrency firm founded by Bitmain co-founder Wu Jihan, is in the process of raising $100 million in funding despite the ongoing crypto market crisis. Lead investors have already committed $50 million for Matrixport’s new funding round at a $1.5 billion valuation, Bloomberg reported on Nov. 25. The deal has yet to be finalized as Matrixport is still looking for investors for the other half of the round. We’re excited and look forward to engaging with participants, on similar terms, in the other half of the #funding round. Appreciate the trust and confidence our investors continue have in Team #Matrixport.@business https://t.co/DqQhsYucUy — Matrixport (@realMatrixport) November 25, 2022 According to the company, the new round is part of Matrixport’s usual funding a...
Crypto lender Matrixport seeks $100M funding despite lending crisis
Matrixport, the cryptocurrency firm founded by Bitmain co-founder Wu Jihan, is in the process of raising $100 million in funding despite the ongoing crypto market crisis. Lead investors have already committed $50 million for Matrixport’s new funding round at a $1.5 billion valuation, Bloomberg reported on Nov. 25. The deal has yet to be finalized as Matrixport is still looking for investors for the other half of the round. We’re excited and look forward to engaging with participants, on similar terms, in the other half of the #funding round. Appreciate the trust and confidence our investors continue have in Team #Matrixport.@business https://t.co/DqQhsYucUy — Matrixport (@realMatrixport) November 25, 2022 According to the company, the new round is part of Matrixport’s usual funding a...
Casper Association launches $25M grant to support developers on its blockchain
Scalable blockchain network Casper announced the launch of its new Casper Accelerate Grant Program on Nov. 23, created to support developers and innovators who are building apps to support infrastructure, end-user applications, and research innovation on its blockchain. JUST IN from @nextblockexpo: We’re glad to announce the launch of a $25M Casper Accelerate Grant Program. This fund will support learning, development, and innovations in Infrastructure, #dApps, #DeFi, #Gaming & NFTs. Learn more https://t.co/jClYyYxRVW pic.twitter.com/V8KszHEjM3 — Casper (@Casper_Network) November 23, 2022 The Casper Network is a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) enterprise-focused blockchain designed to help businesses to build private or permissioned apps, aimed at accelerating businesses and the adopti...
DeFi protocol raises $10M from Bitfinex, Ava Labs despite turbulent market
The ongoing crypto bear market has proven itself to be a builders market as investments continue to find projects with promise. Onomy, a Cosmos blockchain-based ecosystem, just secured millions from investors for the development of its new protocol. The project merges decentralized finance (DeFi) and the foreign exchange market to bring the latter on-chain. According to the developers, the latest funding round garnered $10 million from big industry players such as Bitfinex, Ava Labs, the Maker Foundation and CMS Holdings among others. Lalo Bazzi, co-founder of Onomy, said the underlying goal of building a decentralized autonomous organization with a public infrastructure should serve the “core tenant of crypto — self-custody — without sacrificing on the user experience.” Both DeFi and self...
Approving a spot crypto ETF is ‘all about political power’ — Perianne Boring
Perianne Boring, founder and CEO of blockchain advocacy group Chamber of Digital Commerce, placed the lack of approval of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the United States squarely on Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler, suggesting politics played more of a role than economics. Speaking to Cointelegraph at the Texas Blockchain Summit in Austin on Nov. 18, Boring said the events surrounding FTX’s collapse may have “emboldened the regulation by enforcement approach” from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Treasury, with Republican lawmakers likely to focus on oversight using their House majority in the next Congress. According to the Chamber of Digital Commerce CEO, passing any kind of legislation — including bills on crypto, blockchain, and stablecoins — wil...
Crypto Twitter reacts to Binance CEO’s deleted tweet about Coinbase’s Bitcoin Holdings
Coinbase was trending on Twitter on Nov. 22 after Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, known also as CZ, sent out a tweet that appeared to question Coinbase’s Bitcoin holdings. In the since deleted tweet, CZ referenced a yahoo finance article that alleged that “Coinbase Custody holds 635,000 BTC on behalf of Grayscale.” CZ added, “4 months ago, Coinbase (I assume exchange) has less than 600K,” with a link to a 4 month old article from Bitcoinist. The Binance CEO made it clear that he was simply quoting “news reports”, and not making any claims of his own. However, his tweet was not received well by the crypto community. A screenshot of CZ’s since-deleted tweet. Shortly after, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong indirectly responded to CZ in a series of tweets, stating; “If you see FUD ou...
Binance CEO CZ begins working on Vitalik Buterin’s ‘safe CEX’ ideas
The collapse of numerous major crypto ecosystems in 2022 revealed the urgent need for revamping the way crypto exchanges operate. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin believed in exploring beyond “fiat” methods to ensure the stability of crypto exchanges, including technologies such as Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge (zk-SNARKs). Following a discussion with angel investor Balaji Srinivasan and crypto exchanges such as Coinbase, Kraken and Binance, Buterin recommended options for the creation of cryptographic proofs of on-chain funds that can cover investor liabilities when required, also known as safe centralized exchanges (CEX). Having a safe CEX: proof of solvency and beyondhttps://t.co/AKEweYZfj2 Big thanks to @balajis and staff from @coinbas...
Nickel Digital, Metaplex and others continue to feel the impact of FTX collapse
Nickel Digital Asset Management is not the only company feeling the effects of FTX’s collapse and bankruptcy. NFT protocol Metaplex also laid off “several members of the Metaplex Studios team” due to the “indirect impact” from the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. The co-founder and CEO of Metaplex Studios, Stephen Hess, shared in a thread on Twitter: “While our treasury wasn’t directly impacted by the collapse of FTX and our fundamentals remain strong, the indirect impact on the market is significant and requires that we take a more conservative approach moving forward.” (3/7) While our treasury wasn’t directly impacted by the collapse of FTX and our fundamentals remain strong, the indirect impact on the market is significant and requires that we take a more conservative approach moving fo...
SEC pushes deadline to decide on ARK 21Shares spot Bitcoin ETF to January 2023
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, has extended its window to decide on whether shares of ARK 21Shares’ Bitcoin exchange-traded fund could be listed on the Chicago Board Options Exchange BZX Exchange. In a Nov. 15 announcement, the SEC issued a notice for a longer designation period for the application of ARK 21Shares’ Bitcoin (BTC) ETF, originally filed with federal regulator on May 13. The SEC twice extended its window to approve or disapprove of the crypto investment vehicle in July with an extension and in August with a comment period. “The Commission finds that it is appropriate to designate a longer period within which to issue an order approving or disapproving the proposed rule change so that it has sufficient time to consider the proposed rule change and...
SEC issues subpoena to influencers promoting HEX, PulseChain and PulseX
Over several years, social media influencers have earned a bad rep among regulators for shilling risky and unvetted tokens to millions of investors. Pursuing the crackdown on such scenarios, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reportedly issued a subpoena to influencers who were found promoting cryptocurrencies such as HEX, PulseChain and PulseX. Swedish researcher Eric Wall shared an official letter from the SEC dated Nov. 1, which was addressed to influencers. It read: “We believe that you may possess documents and data that are relevant to an ongoing investigation being conducted by the staff of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.” The letter was accompanied by a subpoena that was issued as part of the investigation, which demanded the influencers in ques...
