White Star Capital Digital Asset Fund - newsletter #53
This week’s crypto conference + increased institutional crypto interest 🏙
This week’s crypto conference + increased institutional crypto interest
The conference circuit is in full swing with Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit concluding last week and Messari Mainnet ongoing this week. If we haven’t bumped into you at the conferences or any of the events, please reach out – we’d love to catch up!
Fidelity released a report with some exciting survey results on the crypto ecosystem. This year's survey tracked institutional investors' behavior in the face of an unprecedented health crisis and market turmoil, providing an exciting look at investors' preferences and perceptions of digital assets at a crucial inflection point for the industry. The results show that the market conditions of 2020 were a catalyst for many investors.
For 44% of investors surveyed, it increased their likelihood of investing in digital assets, and for 40%, it had no impact. For the second year in a row, the survey found that European investors have a more progressive view towards digital assets than Americans when comparing the responses across all categories. Even so, Asian investors, who we surveyed for the first time this past year, are by far the most accepting of digital assets, with more than 70% of investors surveyed currently invested in digital assets.
This trend in support of crypto could be driven by the recent availability of publicly traded, bitcoin-only investment products as well as investors’ interest in regulator-approved exchange-traded bitcoin funds (ETF).
62% of U.S. investors surveyed expressed a neutral-to-positive view about a potential bitcoin ETF.
A regulatory structure for exchange-traded products holding bitcoin exists in Europe and Asia and, not surprisingly, these products remain appealing to surveyed investors in these markets – only 33% of European and 22% of Asian investors found a bitcoin ETF unappealing.
🔦 White Star & Portfolio Spotlight
Rally has been making a splash at this week’s Messari Mainnet conference
Paraswap has been seeing significant growth in Avalanche trading
Multis and many of our portfolio companies are hiring! Please reach out if you know anyone that could be a good fit
🏦 Enterprises & Institutions
Major European bank said to be building crypto custody arm
CACEIS, the European custody bank with $4.96tr in assets under custody, is working with Swiss tech firm Metaco.
Coinbase seeks National Futures Association membership in bid to offer derivatives
Crypto exchange company Coinbase wants to offer futures trading, and it's seeking membership in the country's top derivatives self-regulatory organization (SRO) as part of that process.
Polygon has begun a partnership with EY
Banks oppose strict Basel rules targeting cryptocurrencies
Forum for lenders including JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank argues rules would push crypto trading into unregulated corners of the financial system
⚖️ Government & Regulation
Treasury preps stablecoin framework as officials fear stability, redemption risks
The Treasury report on stablecoins is highly anticipated. Hitherto, stablecoin regulation in the U.S. has happened almost exclusively at the state level. The coming report is expected to set the framework for a new federal approach to the industry.
El Salvador buys 150 more bitcoins, worth $6.8m
El Salvador now holds a total of 700 bitcoins, worth about $32m at current prices.
💰 Funding & Exits
Blockchain based play-to-earn game ‘Heroes & Empires’ raised $1.5m
Megala Ventures & Raptor Capital led the round along with Dao Maker, UG Ventures, Interchain Ventures and others.
Domination Finance raises $3.2m in seed round
The round was led by ParaFi Capital and included Dragonfly Capital, AU21, Shima Capital, LD Capital, Huobi Ventures and others.
Blockchain-based music platform Audius raises $5m from music industry giants
Investors in Audius include artists such as Katy Perry, The Chainsmokers, Nas, Jason Derulo, Pusha T and Mark Gillespie.
Stardust raises $5m to provide secure U.S. dollar payments for NFTs in games
Framework Ventures led the round.
Portal raises $8.5m to bring bitcoin-based DeFi to the masses
The funding round saw participation from Coinbase Ventures, ArringtonXRP Capital, OKEx, Republic.co, Shima Ventures and others.
MonoX raises $5m to launch single-token liquidity pools
Investors include the likes of Axia8 Ventures, Animoca Brands, Divergence Ventures, among others.
DeFi startup Domination Finance closes $3.2m seed round
ParaFi Capital led the raise, which also included Dragonfly Capital, AU21 and several other venture firms active in the DeFi space.
LayerZero adds $6.3m in Series A funding
The round was led by Binance Labs and Multicoin Capital.
Blockchain monitoring startup Metrika raises $14m
The round was led by Neotribe Ventures, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Samsung NEXT, Nyca Partners, and SCB 10X, among others.
Crypto fund One River Digital secures Series A investment
The firm had raised $41m at a valuation of $186m from new investors including Goldman Sachs Group and Coinbase.
Latin American crypto firm Ripio raises $50m to accelerate regional expansion
The round was led by blockchain investment firm Digital Currency Group.
Crypto wealth manager Abra bags $55m Series C raise
New investors such as Kingsway Capital, Tiga Investments and the Stellar Development Foundation also joined the round, alongside existing backers including Amex Ventures and CMT Digital Ventures.
Tiger Global leads $130m raise for open banking startup TrueLayer
The raise gives TrueLayer a valuation of over $1bn, vaulting the startup to ‘unicorn’ status.
Polychain and Three Arrows Capital lead $230m investment in Avalanche
Avalanche’s new investors bought into the network through a private token sale.
Fantasy soccer NFT platform Sorare scores $680m raise led by SoftBank
The fundraise values the Paris-based NFT startup at $4.3bn.
Asset manager Franklin Templeton files for blockchain venture fund
The firm's filing shows that the Franklin Templeton Blockchain Fund I, L.P. has raised $10m to date out of a projected $20m.
A16z-backed TrustToken acquires EthWorks
Following the purchase, TrustToken plans to expand EthWorks’ open-source projects, including Waffle and useDApp.
🚀 Project Launches & Updates
NFTX launched a decentralized NFT marketplace
This release includes multiple upgrades including buy/sell zaps and batch buys & sells, making the overall experience of buying, selling, and earning yield smoother for end users.
BitClout creator launches 'Decentralized Social' blockchain with $200m in funding from a16z and others
The DeSo blockchain supports traditional social media features like creating profiles and posts and blockchain-native features like social tokens, tipping, and NFTs. These features can then allow creators to earn money.
🔥 Other Bits We're Excited About
Fidelity Digital Assets finds 90% of surveyed investors find digital assets appealing
The study surveyed 408 American, 299 Asian, 393 European investors on their investment behavior and view of digital assets such as cryptocurrency. Of the survey participants, 312 were financial advisors and 302 were high net worth investors.