Coinbase partners with BlackRock
White Star Capital Digital Asset Fund - newsletter #94
The world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, has partnered with Coinbase to provide its institutional clients access to the digital asset market.
BlackRock x Coinbase
BlackRock is the largest asset manager in the world with nearly $10t in assets under management. BlackRock recently announced that they are partnering with Coinbase to provide their institutional clients access to the digital asset market. The partnership is more specifically linking Aladdin (BlackRock’s end-to-end investment management platform) to Coinbase Prime (Coinbase’s platform for institutions). Coinbase Prime will provide crypto trading, custody, prime brokerage, and reporting capabilities to Aladdin’s institutional client base. Partnering with Coinbase allows BlackRock to provide its clients with access to crypto without the need to build its own crypto capabilities the way that some asset managers have. The partnership is limited to bitcoin for now, however, it is likely that if the partnership is successful that further product offerings will be added. Coinbase stated that “BlackRock and Coinbase will continue to progress the platform integration and will roll out functionality in phases to interested clients.”
BlackRock’s exposure to crypto
BlackRock has given its investors opportunities to gain exposure to crypto previously in less direct ways than buying and trading it themselves. The asset manager listed its iShares ETF earlier this year which is a blockchain and tech ETF, giving investors exposure to crypto companies. Coinbase is included in the ETF amongst other firms such as PayPal (which launched its crypto services in 2020) and Marathon Digital Holdings (a bitcoin mining company).
BlackRock also owns a 7.3% stake in Microstrategy, the cloud software firm, whose founder - Michael Saylor - is one of Bitcoin’s biggest bulls. Microstrategy own roughly 129,218BTC. On a second-quarter earnings call this year, BlackRock announced that institutional clients were showing interest in trading crypto. Crypto as an industry is maturing and BlackRock is making sure to get involved as institutional clients’ interest in the field grows. In April, BlackRock made an investment into Circle, the company behind the stablecoin USDC, the funding round also included Fidelity, Marshall Wace LLP and Fin Capital.
Importance of Institutional Investors
As institutions delve into crypto, they can gain exposure to a promising alternative asset class with a higher yield. Institutional adoption helps the market mature as it creates demand for institutional-grade products which creates a positive feedback loop in that with institutional-grade products available, more institutions are likely to participate in the market. Institutions bring new liquidity that abstracts away volatility over time, improving the asset class also for retail investors. When institutional adoption increases and the volatility is reduced, the speculative side of the crypto industry will dampen as a result of high-quality use-cases being implemented and used at scale.
🔦 White Star & Portfolio Spotlight
The ALEX Orderbook Testnet is live
ALEX has sent testnet tokens to over 3.2k users who participated in the whitelist
ParaSwap introduces its new Multichain Limit Orders Protocol
ParaSwap is re-inventing the limit orders game by launching its multichain Limit Order Protocol, available in Ethereum, Polygon, Binance Smart Chain, Fantom, Avalanche, and Arbitrum.
Cometh’s Space Cup #2 is live
Cometh’s Space Cup is in its second edition, with USDC 3000 in prizes to be won.
Superfluid is now integrated with LI.FI
With this integration, Superfluid users are now able to swap tokens from any LI.FI supported chain into a Super Token!
🏦 Enterprises & Institutions
Binance and Mastercard Launch Bitcoin Rewards Card in Argentina
Binance and Mastercard have launched a prepaid rewards card in Argentina to help people spend crypto on everyday goods in a country where the native currency suffers from one of the world’s highest levels of inflation.
Instagram Introduces NFT Feature to 100 More Countries, Adds Coinbase Wallet, Flow Blockchain
Meta-owned Instagram has announced that the NFT feature will now be available “in 100 more countries,” along with the integration of Coinbase Wallet, Dapper Wallet, and Flow blockchain.
Citigroup is hiring a DeFi and stablecoin risk manager as part of crypto push
This comes as part of Citi’s broad push to hire up to 100 individuals to build out a digital assets division within its Institutional Client Group.
Tiffany & Co. NFT Sale Sells out, Luxury Jewelry Retailer Rakes in $12.5M in Ethereum
Tiffany’s sold 250 Nftiffs for 30 ethereum per Nftiff raking in more than $12.5 million from the sale.
⚖️ Government & Regulation
Feds Blacklist Tornado Cash, Ban Ethereum Mixing Tool in US
The U.S. Treasury Department today sanctioned Tornado Cash, an Ethereum coin mixing tool.
British Bipartisan Group Launches Inquiry Into Regulating Crypto
Led by chairperson Lisa Cameron, the APPG is seeking recommendations into how best to regulate crypto in the UK.
Japan may see a reduced 20% tax on crypto earnings with new proposal
The proposal calls for a separate 20% tax on crypto earnings and exemptions of any tax on crypto gains, with losses carried forward for up to three years.
UK parliamentary group calls for submissions in new crypto asset inquiry
The U.K.’s Crypto and Digital Assets All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) announced it will launch an inquiry into the crypto and digital asset industry.
Iran Inks First Import Order Paid With Crypto
Iran will commonly use crypto to settle import orders by the end of next month, tweeted the head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization.
💰 Funding & Exits
Crypto.com expands Korean reign: Acquires PnLink, OK-Bit
Singapore-based cryptocurrency platform Crypto.com has acquired two startups in South Korea — payment service provider PnLink and virtual asset provider OK-BIT — for an undisclosed amount.
Halliday Raises $6 Million for 'Buy Now, Pay Later' Ethereum NFTs
As more game studios look to incorporate digital assets and collectibles into their properties, Web3 startup Halliday has raised $6 million in a new seed round led by Andreesen Horowitz (a16z).
Cosmos liquid staking protocol Stride raises $6.7 million within months of founding
Cosmos staking protocol Stride announced the closing of a $6.7 million seed round co-led by investors North Island VC, Distributed Global and Pantera Capital.
Former Palantir engineers raise $20M to simplify web3 tooling
Kurtosis, a crypto-focused developer tool system, has raised $20 million in a Series A round led by tech-focused hedge fund Coatue.
CreatorDAO raises $20 million from investors including a16z, Paris Hilton and The Chainsmokers
CreatorDAO, a decentralized organization that provides financial and technological support for creators, has raised $20 million in seed funding.
NFT media management platform Pinata raises $21.5 million in combined seed and Series A funding
Greylock, Pantera Capital, Offline Ventures, Volt Capital, Opensea and Alchemy participated in Pinata’s funding.
Tiger Global joins $12 million funding round for gamer infrastructure startup Lysto
Lysto, a blockchain startup that is building verification tools for gamers, has raised $12 million in a pre-Series A funding round.
Former Coinbase employee secures $4.5 million in funding for his web3 data startup Coherent
Kindred Ventures, Matchstick Ventures, and Foundry Group co-led the round, with Coinbase Ventures, Alchemy, Chapter One, and Dan Romero, an early employee at Coinbase, among other investors.
OpenSea backs NFT minting platform Fair.xyz in $4.5 million round
Venture capital firm Eden Block led the round while OpenSea, NFX and First Minute Capital also participated.
MetaverseGo raises $4.2 million to ease onboarding for blockchain-based games
Mobile gaming platform MetaverseGo has closed a $4.2 million seed funding round led by Galaxy Digital's Galaxy Interactive unit.
🚀 Project Launches & Updates
Brevan Howard Scores Largest Crypto Hedge Fund Launch Ever
Brevan Howard Asset Management has pulled off the largest crypto hedge fund launch yet.
GSR Capital opens crypto funds for new investors
Two funds are now open to investors seeking to enter crypto markets.
Arnault-backed VC firm Aglaé Ventures to launch €100 million web3 fund
Aglaé Ventures — backer of tech giants like Airbnb, Netflix and Slack — is set to launch a €100 million fund dedicated to investing in crypto startups.
Lattice Capital Raises $60M for Second Crypto Fund
The early-stage focused fund is three times larger than the inaugural fund last year.
🔥 Other Bits We're Excited About
Starbucks Teases Web3 Updates to Its Popular Rewards Program
The global coffee company looks to digital collectables to better engage customers.
Chinese municipal bank issues first-ever digital yuan loan using intellectual property as collateral
The unnamed recipient of the loan said the e-CNY transaction was fast and efficient; they received an equivalent of 500,000 CNY, which was $74,020 at the time of publication.