White Star Capital Digital Asset Fund - newsletter #62
ConstitionDAO update: crypto group loses bid to buy rare US Constitution copy in 'record breaking' Sotheby's auction 📜
ConstitionDAO update: crypto group loses bid to buy rare US Constitution copy in 'record breaking' Sotheby's auction
Sotheby's said Thursday night that a rare copy of the U.S. Constitution was sold for $43.2m at auction -- but unfortunately, the win did not go to a week-in-the-making community that raised tens of millions of dollars for just this purpose.
Organizer Julian Weisser confirmed the loss amid a chaotic online viewing party both on social media as well as the ConstitutionDAO Discord, during which some reports indicated that the crypto group had actually won.
"We did not win the bid for the copy of the U.S. Constitution," Weisser wrote. "While this wasn’t the outcome we hoped for, we still made history tonight with ConstitutionDAO. This is the largest crowdfund for a physical object that we are aware of—crypto or fiat. We are so incredibly grateful to have done this together with you all and are still in shock that we even got this far."
The sometimes hasty-appearing effort drew its share of supporters and critics in the past week. The pace of donations gathered steam in the run-up to the auction date. According to Weisser, "we had 17,437 donors, with a median donation size of $206.26. A significant percentage of these donations came from wallets that were initialized for the first time." The group raised about $47 million in total.
Looking ahead, the group will begin processing refunds -- minus the cost of transacting on the Ethereum network -- to participants.
"You will be able to get a refund of your pro rata amount (effectively minus gas fees) through Juicebox," Weisser wrote. "Please expect more details from us about this tomorrow – our team has not slept in the past week, and we are giving people the night to get some rest before we’re back at it tomorrow AM."
🔦 White Star & Portfolio Spotlight
The ParaSwap DAO is now live!
🏦 Enterprises & Institutions
TIME Magazine to hold ETH on balance sheet as part of Galaxy Digital metaverse deal
The publication is rolling out a “TIME 100 Companies” list for the metaverse and a weekly newsletter as part of the partnership.
Digital Currency Group raises $600m in new credit facility
This marks the firm’s first entry into the debt capital markets.
Citigroup appoints new head of digital assets for institutional clients as it eyes up to 100 new hires
American banking giant Citigroup has promoted Puneet Singhvi from head of blockchain and digital assets in the global markets division to lead its institutional clients group (ICG) in the space.
⚖️ Government & Regulation
Indian Central Bank may pilot test CBDC in 2022
The CBDC may help governments airdrop money directly into the pockets of the needy during times of stress like last year’s coronavirus-induced, country-wide lockdown.
US Congressmen introduce Bill to modify crypto tax provision in infrastructure law
U.S. President Joe Biden signed the infrastructure bill into law last week.
El Salvador to create ‘bitcoin city,’ use $500m of planned $1bn bond offering to buy more crypto
The issuance of the tokenized bond, which was developed by Blockstream, will be processed by Bitfinex.
South Korea's financial regulator lays groundwork for ICO regulations
South Korea’s 2017 ban on initial coin offerings (ICOs) may soon be overturned following calls by the country’s financial regulatory agency to include crypto token fundraising in the country’s Capital Market Act.
💰 Funding & Exits
Snapshot Labs raises $4m in seed funding to build DAO governance solutions
1kx, Coinbase Ventures, StarkWare, MetaCartel, Gnosis, and Scalar were the investors involved in the capital raise.
Blockchain Association raises $4m to grow its presence on Capitol Hill
Kraken, Digital Currency Group (DCG) and the Filecoin Foundation participated in the round.
“Syn City” play-to-earn mafia game raises $8m
The round was led by Twitch co-founder Justin Kan and Goat Capital, with additional backing from A&T Capital, Hack VC, Animoca Brands and Spartan Group.
a16z leads $13m funding round for privacy tech startup Nym
Other participants in the round include Digital Currency Group, Tayssir Capital, Huobi Ventures, HashKey, Fenbushi Capital and others.
Circle leads $13.5m Crowdcube raise to build out its investment marketplace
Existing investors Balderton Capital and Molten Ventures also participated in the round.
ORIGYN Foundation secures $20m funding for NFT-based authentication certificates
Backers include Bill Ackman’s Table Management, Polychain Capital, and American singer and media personality Paris Hilton.
Solana-based sports betting protocol BetDEX closes $21m seed funding round
Crypto exchange FTX and crypto investment firm Paradigm led the raise.
Anoma Foundation raises $26m to simplify exchanging cryptocurrencies
Polychain Capital led the round, which valued Anoma at $260 million.
a16z, The Chainsmokers back 3LAU's NFT platform Royal in $55m Series A
Royal aims to provide artists with a way for music artists to share ownership in their music with fans by issuing digital collectibles and non-fungible tokens.
ConsenSys closes $200m raise at $3.2bn valuation
ts investors include HSBC, Coinbase Ventures and Marshall Wace. ParaFi and Thirdpoint also invested in the raise.
Crypto exchange Gemini has $7bn valuation after $400m funding round
Morgan Creek Digital is leading the capital round, which also includes 10T, ParaFi, Newflow Partners, Marcy Venture Partners and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, among others.
Payments infrastructure firm MoonPay raises $555m at a $3.4bn valuation
The round was led by Coatue and Tiger Global
Mines of Dalarnia, My Neighbor Alice and Chromia launch an $80m metaverse grant program
The program will make a total of $80m available to developers who wish to create add-ons, utilities, and standalone games that interact with the two flagship titles and the Chromia gaming ecosystem at large.
KuCoin Labs launches $100m fund for metaverse projects
The KuCoin Metaverse fund will invest in gaming and NFT projects.
Oasis launches $160m ecosystem fund with backing from Jump Capital and others
The fund will be used to seed early stage projects building on Oasis, including “DeFi, NFTs, metaverse, data tokenization, data DAO, data governance” and other projects.
Pantera Capital raises $600m for new crypto fund
About 75% of the capital came from institutional investors, such as endowments.
Jihan Wu's bitcoin mining outfit Bitdeer plans public listing via $4bn SPAC merger
Bitdeer has entered into a “definitive merger agreement” with blank-check firm Blue Safari Group Acquisition Corp.
🚀 Project Launches & Updates
NFL dabbles with NFT ticket collectibles on Polygon
The league is exploring NFT ticketing through the launch of its “Virtual Commemorative Ticket” collection on the Polygon blockchain.
🔥 Other Bits We're Excited About
Crypto.com is spending $700m in cash to rename Staples Center in Los Angeles
Staples Center, the official home to four professional sports franchises — basketball’s Lakers, Clippers and Sparks, and ice hockey’s Kings — will be renamed to Crypto.com Arena. The center has also hosted over 15 GRAMMY Awards shows. The upcoming GRAMMY Awards in January will also be held at the same center.