White Star Capital Digital Asset Fund - newsletter #35
ETH reaches new highs, a16z's $1bn crypto fund III, art auction houses continue to embrace crypto, and more!
ETH reaches new highs as adoption ticks up across DeFi and NFTs
🔦 Portfolio Spotlight
Announcing our investment in Safello, whose upcoming IPO is oversubscribed by 1,240%
We are extremely pleased to announce that our Digital Asset fund has invested in existing White Star Capital portfolio company Safello, in a pre-IPO round which also saw participation from Digital Currency Group and Northzone. In our years of working with Frank, CEO and co-founder, and the broader team, we have been extremely impressed by Safello’s traction, progress and best-in-class compliance approach. We are excited to support the team beyond its IPO and as it continues to expand beyond the Nordics and into broader Europe through our Digital Asset fund. Our excitement is clearly shared by the market, as the Swedish crypto broker announced that its IPO has been oversubscribed by 1,240%.
Congratulations to Safello on the successful IPO!
We are thrilled to share that our portfolio company Safello went public today on the Nasdaq First North with a market cap of > 600m SEK after a successful and highly oversubscribed pre-IPO fundraising round. We are proud of what Safello has achieved since our initial investment and have been very impressed with Co-founder and CEO Frank Schuil and the team he has built.
Announcing our investment in ParaSwap in a $3m funding round
ParaSwap, a decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator, has raised $3 million in a seed extension round. The round was led by Blockchain Capital, White Star Capital, and DeFi Alliance, with participation from Andre Cronje, founder of Yearn Finance; Michael Egorov, founder of Curve Finance; and Fredrik Haga, founder of Dune Analytics.
Paraswap reaches new record monthly volumes
May 2021 volume already at record levels for Paraswap with less than half of the month being completed.
Rally raises $57m for community treasury to fund community-driven growth, and announces new hires and new NFT product
Rally announced $57m in funding for its community treasury through community approved sales of $RLY. The nature of this fundraise was unique — it was approved and led by the decentralized Rally community to fund the treasury that the community fully controls. In addition, Rally has expanded its community appointed leadership team to include former Patreon executive Bremner Morris as CMO/CRO to assist the Rally community with go-to-market strategy and drive creator adoption and success. Former Facebook and Patreon exec Michelle Vautier has joined the Rally project as VP Payments & Platform Partnerships, and former Twitter and BratTV executive Nick Millman has joined as VP Creator Partnerships. Finally, the Rally Network will soon unveil a one-stop-shop for creators to launch their own social tokens and also create and sell NFTs via their social token and USD.
Our overall takeaway
Big week for Digital Asset related portfolio companies at White Star Capital with successful Safello IPO, new investment into Paraswap and Rally adding up funding.
🏦 Enterprises & Institutions
Visa CEO says payments giant is moving into crypto in a 'very big way'
Visa CEO Al Kelly discussed the payments giant's crypto ambitions during the firm’s latest earnings call, describing the firm as "extremely well-positioned" to do so. Kelly again drew a distinction between the different elements of the broader plan, citing the spending and purchase of cryptocurrencies, crypto-related APIs for financial institutions, settlements via stablecoins and CBDCs. "So our focus is on five different opportunities that we see in this space and I would say that this is space that we are leaning into in a very big way and I think are extremely well-positioned," Kelly further stated.
Asian video game publisher Nexon buys $100m in bitcoin
A South Korean-Japanese video game publisher said it made a $100m purchase of bitcoin, adding itself to the ranks of companies such as Tesla and MicroStrategy that used corporate cash to load up on the leading cryptocurrency.
JPMorgan, DBS, and Temasek form new blockchain firm to improve cross-border payments
Banking giants JPMorgan and DBS, along with Singapore state investor Temasek, have formed a new blockchain company to improve cross-border payments. Dubbed Partior, the company aims to resolve pain points or frictions of payments, trade, and foreign exchange settlement through blockchain technology. Partior would develop a "blockchain-based wholesale payments infrastructure where information and value can change hands around the world in a 24/7, frictionless way".
Wealthfront to offer direct crypto investing in 2021
California-based investment app Wealthfront is offering cryptocurrency to its clients later in 2021 as it rides new retail interest in digital assets like bitcoin and ether. The announcement was part of a broader shift the company revealed on Wednesday where it would allow users to customize their portfolios. Prior to this, Wealthfront would choose a portfolio to fit the customer’s risk profile.
Toy company Hasbro is ‘actively developing’ NFT opportunities
In a Q1 2021 earnings call, Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner said the toy company is pursuing non-fungible token opportunities — especially in the digital gaming sphere.
“We have really our arms around this and see multiple opportunities on the NFT side,” Goldner said in the call. “We are actively developing our opportunity here, and we do see it as substantial.”
Commerzbank and Deutsche Börse team up for tokenized real estate and art marketplace
Two cornerstones of the German financial landscape, Deutsche Börse, and Commerzbank are working together to create a blockchain-based marketplace for real estate and art. Deutsche Börse and Commerzbank will work with fintech firm 360X to build a digital asset marketplace with the first reference transaction (minimum viable product) for each tokenized asset class planned for later this year.
Fidelity announces digital asset analytics tool for institutional investors
Fidelity Investments announced SherlockSM, a digital asset data and analytics tool geared toward institutional investors. Users can see data from blockchain, development ecosystem, market, and social media, then use this information for modeling and back-testing purposes off the platform. With that “incredibly successful” custody business, according to the firm’s CEO Abigail Johnson, the new tool could provide another way to service its bitcoin-enthusiastic institutional clients.
Mastercard highlights applications beyond payments for central bank digital currencies
Mastercard's chief executive discussed the payments firm's ambitions in the area of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) during the company’s latest earnings call. Though the company has long been clear about its interest in serving as a private-sector partner for CBDCs -- Mastercard unveiled a testing environment platform for central banks last fall -- CEO Michael Miebach's comments, according to a transcript, added a new degree of specificity and suggested that this work could extend beyond the realm of payments.
New Jersey Devils ink marketing partnership with fan token platform Socios
Socios, the social engagement arm of sports-focused blockchain firm Chiliz, is expanding its offerings to the U.S. The firm is starting with hockey, announcing a marketing partnership today with the New Jersey Devils. Socios has thus far enabled European soccer teams to directly engage with their supporters via fan tokens. The firm has brought fan tokens, which allow supporters to cast votes for certain club decisions, to teams like Juventus and FC Barcelona among others.
ETH could hit $10k, according to FundStrat
Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, could see further gains towards $10k this year after reaching a new all-time high >$3k – a roughly threefold increase forecasted by FundStrat, a market research firm, who has successfully been long ETH/BTC these past weeks.
CME launches bitcoin micro futures
Exchange giant CME Group has launched micro bitcoin futures, smaller-sized derivatives contracts, opening the door for a broader customer base. The micro bitcoin futures are 1/10th the size of one bitcoin and will be settled in cash. CME first revealed the product in March.
Nasdaq-traded Mogo buys ETH and BTC and plans to allocate up to 5% of its cash and investment portfolio to cryptocurrencies
Nasdaq-traded Mogo, a digital payments/fintech company, said it bought about 146 ether (ETH) at an average price of $2,780 as part of its plan to allocate up to 5% its cash and investment portfolio to cryptocurrencies. Mogo said it's already purchased about 18 bitcoins to date in open-market transactions at an average price of $33,083.
PayPal has held exploratory talks about launching a stablecoin
PayPal announced its foray into crypto services last fall and is now exploring launching its own stablecoin. Indeed, the Block reports that that PayPal has made the rounds among some of the industry’s stablecoin protocol developers — suggesting the payments giant may be leaning towards working with a third-party company.
eBay exploring crypto payments and NFTs
E-commerce giant eBay is looking at crypto as a payments option, CEO Jamie Iannone told CNBC in a recent interview. It could preview the online auctioneer’s return to crypto since abandoning Facebook’s Libra stablecoin project in 2019. Iannone cited crypto as one form of new payment rails eBay is considering but did not give any specifics. He also said eBay is looking at how to get into the non-fungible token (NFT) game.
Sotheby’s to accept crypto as payment for Banksy artwork
Sotheby’s will accept cryptocurrency as payment for an artwork by pseudonymous artist Banksy in a first for the 277-year-old auction house. Payment for the work called “Love is in the Air” – estimated to fetch $3-$5m – will be accepted in bitcoin and ethereum, as well as US dollars. Cryptocurrency transactions relating to the sale are being enabled by Coinbase via its merchant blockchain service, Coinbase Commerce. The auction house further announced its second NFT sale set for June.
FIS and Stone Ridge backed NYDIG announce bid to help banks offer bitcoin to their customers
Fintech firm FIS and NYDIG, the bitcoin-focused subsidiary of investment firm Stone Ridge, have partnered on a new service offering that lets banks offer bitcoin capabilities to their customers. NYDIG will manage the bitcoin transactions side of the offering while FIS, via its Digital One Mobile tool, will offer the digital experience element.
e-commerce giant MercadoLibre discloses $7.8m bitcoin purchase
Latin American e-commerce giant MercadoLibre disclosed a $7.8m bitcoin purchase on Wednesday, making it the latest publicly traded company to park bitcoin on its balance sheet. The Argentina-based company said in an earnings report the purchase happened in the last quarter and was part of its treasury strategy. MercadoLibre trades on Nasdaq as MELI.
Enabling crypto withdrawals: phase one of Revolut's plan to go 'full crypto'
Revolut's UK users can now withdraw their bitcoin to personal wallets, making it the first major FinTech to enable a non-custodial crypto offering. In addition to working with Fireblocks, the digital bank has partnered with crypto analytics startup Elliptic. It is now looking ahead to adding more tokens and allowing crypto customers to earn income on their funds.
Goldman Sachs moves to let investors bet on bitcoin's price with new derivatives
Goldman Sachs has moved to offer derivatives products tied to the price of bitcoin to its clients, according to Bloomberg. The derivatives in question are non-deliverable forwards, which are contracts between two parties that agree to settle at a certain date the difference between the spot price and the contracted price. In essence, these NDFs allow Goldman clients to speculate on the price of bitcoin. The contracts pay in cash, and on Goldman's side, the firm "protects itself from the digital currency's famous volatility by buying Bitcoin futures in block trades on CME Group Inc. using Cumberland DRW as its trading partner," per Bloomberg. According to the report, Goldman quietly began offering these derivatives to its clients last month.
Square reports $3.51bn in bitcoin revenue via its Cash app for first quarter of 2021
Square hauled in $3.51bn in bitcoin revenue during 2021's first quarter, according to Thursday's earnings release. That resulted in $75m in gross profits during the same period. On a broader scale, Square said it made $964m in gross profits for the period, meaning that the gross profits from its bitcoin offering contributed 7.7% to the total. The Q1 total exceeds Q4 2020's total of $1.76bn in bitcoin revenue.
Citibank is considering launching crypto trading and custody services
Banking giant Citigroup is considering launching crypto trading, custody, and financing services. Itay Tuchman, Citi's global head of foreign exchange, told the Financial Times in a report published Friday that the bank had seen a "very rapid" accumulation of interest in bitcoin from large clients since last August.
TSX-traded bitcoin miner Bitfarms scores approval to list on Nasdaq
Bitfarms, a publicly-traded bitcoin mining firm, announced on May 7 that it had won approval to list on the Nasdaq Global Market. Bitfarms said that it would also utilize the BITF ticker for its Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) listing as well.
UBS exploring ways to offer crypto to wealthy clients
Swiss financial giant UBS Group is in the early stages of planning to offer digital currency investments to affluent clients, according to a Bloomberg report.
Ebay Allows Sale of NFTs on Platform
Ebay is allowing the sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for digital collectibles such as trading cards, images, and video clips on its platform, according to Reuters.
Our overall takeaway
From gaming to large financial institutions, e-commerce, auction houses, and everything in between, digital asset adoption continues to become increasingly widespread, and use cases are multiplying.
⚖️ Government & Regulation
Proposed legislation in Germany could allow up to $425bn to flow into crypto
A new German law could theoretically bring as much as €350bn (~$425bn) of institutional investment into the cryptocurrency market. Under the legislation, wealth managers known as Spezialfonds would be able to invest up to 20% in digital assets. The bill, which was approved by Germany’s parliament last week, is expected to take effect on July 1 if it is approved by the upper house, the Bundesrat.
Accenture’s Digital Dollar Project plans the first 5 pilot projects for US CBDC
The US-based Digital Dollar Project is kicking off a handful of pilot projects to test how a Federal Reserve-issued central bank digital currency (CBDC) may operate. The organization, which is led by former US regulators and executives from the consulting firm Accenture, announced its intention to launch within the next year its first five pilot projects to evaluate different aspects of a digital dollar.
US Office of Foreign Assets Control is seeking blockchain analytics tools
Public records indicate that the US Office of Foreign Assets Control, which is part of the Treasury Department, is on the hunt for blockchain analytics capabilities. Details of OFAC's interest in this area were revealed in a May 4 "sources sought" notice, which is used by federal agencies to garnered interest from would-be contractors. Per the notice, OFAC is looking for "one to two tools that provide access to five (5) users each, either as individual licenses or one concurrent license."
Peter Thiel's Palantir Technologies now accepts bitcoin for payments
Peter Thiel's data analytics company Palantir Technologies now accepts bitcoin as a form of payment from clients. Palantir revealed the news in a Q1 earnings call on Tuesday, according to a CNBC report. The presentation from the call is not publicly available on Palantir's website.
Bank of England begins hiring for central bank digital currency team
The Bank of England, the central bank of the United Kingdom, is advertising job openings for a team dedicated to the exploration of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The news comes shortly after the Bank of England, together with HM Treasury, announced the creation of a joint task force to assess the possibility of launching a digital pound – a type of CBDC which has already been dubbed the “Britcoin” by commentators.
Our overall takeaway
Central banks and financial regulators continue to staff up and get smarter about decentralized and digital currencies, building permanent infrastructure to support the fast growing adoption of Crypto.
💰 Funding & Exits
Alkemi announces $4.6m investment round and officially launches
Alkemi Network is launching out of stealth as a decentralized liquidity network to offer institutional DeFi. After closing a $4.6m investment round with over $5m of liquidity deposits seeded to the network, Alkemi is live on mainnet.
Solana-based NFT project Burnt Finance raises $3m in seed funding
Burnt Finance, a Solana-based non-fungible token (NFT) minting and auction protocol, has raised $3m in a seed funding round. The funding was secured via a private token sale round, according to Burnt Banksy, the pseudonymous founder of the project. The round was led by Alameda Research, with participation from Multicoin Capital, Mechanism Capital, DeFiance Capital, Vessel Capital, HashKey, Spartan, Polygon COO Sandeep Nailwal, Terra CEO Do Kwo, and others. Burnt Finance was incubated by Injective Protocol.
Fantom secures fresh $15m investment from HyperChain
HyperChain Capital, a digital assets management company, announced it bought an additional $15m stake in the Fantom ecosystem through the purchase of FTM, the platform’s native token, on top of the $2.5m investment it made in Fantom in 2018.
Bumper, a DeFi-based crypto volatility protection plan, raises $10m
Bumper, a kind of insurance policy against cryptocurrency’s roller-coaster volatility borrowing techniques used in decentralized finance (DeFi), has raised $10m from Alphabit, Autonomy, Beachhead, ChainLayer and others in a private token sale.
Hashflow, DeFi’s ‘un-automated’ market maker, launches with $3.2m in funding
Hashflow, a hybrid approach to decentralized finance (DeFi) trading, is launching its private alpha with $3.2m in funding from Electric Capital, Dragonfly Capital and Alameda Research. The project looks to take on automated market makers (AMMs) like Uniswap and SushiSwap with a novel approach that relies on their real-world counterparts: the professional market makers paid to make sure various crypto assets have baseline liquidity.
DeFi lending startup Notional Finance raises $10m in Series A round
Ethereum-based crypto lending startup Notional Finance has raised $10m in a Series A funding round led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Parafi Capital, 1Confirmation, Spartan Group and more.
NFT startup RTFKT raises $8m seed round led by a16z
Non-fungible token (NFT) startup RTFKT Studios has raised $8m in a seed funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Other participants in the round included Mike Novogratz's Galaxy Digital, Ledger, Dapper Labs CEO Roham Gharegozlou, Hong Kong billionaire Adrian Cheng's C Ventures, Shrug Capital, NFT artist Fewocious, Genie founder Akash Nigam and several others.
Paradigm and 3LAU back $7.6m raise for ‘NFT social network’ Showtime
Crypto investment firm Paradigm and DJ and NFT pioneer 3LAU have backed a $7.6m funding round for non-fungible token (NFT) social network Showtime. Showtime’s aim is to offer a familiar social media interface to the crypto community, enabling them to discover and share NFT art.
Upshot’s NFT appraisal protocol nabs $7.5m from CoinFund and Framework
Upshot, a blockchain-based protocol that offers incentives to experts to give their honest opinion, raised $7.5m to help answer a foundational question of non-fungible tokens: what are they actually worth, and how should they be appraised? The Series A round of funding was backed by Framework Ventures, CoinFund and Blockchain Capital. It will be used for a new product called UpshotOne that solidifies Upshot’s transition to NFTs. The protocol launched in 2019 as an insurance-focused prediction market but saw more opportunity in pricing collectibles.
Goldman Sachs leads $15m series B round for Coin Metrics
Crypto data firm Coin Metrics has raised $15m in a Series B funding round led by Goldman Sachs. In addition to Goldman, the investment round also drew support from Acrew Ventures, BlockFi, Morningside Group, and Warburg Serres Investments. Coin Metrics said in a press statement that existing investors Castle Island Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, Fidelity Investments, Avon Ventures, Communitas Capital and Collab+Currency boosted their stakes in the firm.
Mina raises $18.7m in CoinList token sale
O(1)Labs’ first community-facing token sale generated $18.7m in four hours last month after a rush of CoinList users tried to buy up more MINA than the lightweight blockchain project was willing to sell. Only 12% of the sale’s 375,000 registrants were able to buy the 7.5% of outstanding MINA supply that O(1) made available which represents more registered users than CoinList Head of Sales Mike Zajko said he’d seen for a single token sale at that point in CoinList’s three-year history.
Finoa raises $22m series A funding
Finoa, a digital asset platform for institutional investors, has closed a $22m Series A funding round led by Balderton Capital, also an early investor in such European startups as Luno and Revolut. The firm plans to double down on regulation, earmarking some of the funding for building out its compliance function.
Ethereum 2.0 staking project Lido raises $73m in new funding led by Paradigm
Ethereum 2.0 (ETH2) staking protocol Lido Finance has raised $73m in fresh funding. The funding was led by crypto venture capital firm Paradigm, which bought $51m worth of LDO tokens from LidoDAO's treasury by paying the amount in 15,120 ether (ETH).
Genies raises $65m series B with backing from Dapper Labs, Coinbase and more
Genies, a startup that brings flair to your online persona has raised $65m – with notable participation from some of crypto’s rising stars. The Series B for Genies was led by Mary Meeker’s Bond Capital with participation from Dapper Labs, Polychain, Coinbase Ventures, Hashkey and others. The funding will be used to invest in the technology behind the Genies avatar system and to expand its digital goods and non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace on Dapper Labs’ Flow blockchain.
Paxos raises $300m at a $2.4bn valuation as it looks to onboard more large-sized clients
Paxos has raised $300m in fresh capital from a series D round led by Oak. The raise will help the firm—which powers PayPal’s crypto offering—onboard new large clients. The fundraise values Paxos at $2.4bn.
Tiger Global and Coatue back Bitso in $250m series C
Crypto exchange Bitso has wrapped up a $250m series C fundraising round, joining the roster of newly minted crypto unicorns. Tiger Global and Coatue Management co-led the round, which finished just a few months after Bitso announced its series B. Bitso joins a fast-growing list of new crypto unicorns—including Paxos, BlockFi, and Dapper Labs—that have raised eye-popping rounds this year. Its valuation stands at $2.2bn.
Alchemy raises $80m series B led by Addition and Coatue
Alchemy, the crypto firm that powers dozens of NFT and DeFi platforms with its developer tools, has raised $80m in a series B funding round. Coatue Management co-led the round alongside Addition LP, which was founded by Lee Fixel, a backer of Stripe, Warby Parker, and Spotify.
Volt Capital unveils $10m blockchain fund
Early-stage venture firm Volt Capital has been placing bets on crypto data, infrastructure, and decentralized finance (DeFi) startups through a $10m fund backed by CMT Digital, Balaji Srinivasan, Union Square Ventures’ Albert Wenger, Founders Fund’s Brian Singerman and others.
Polygon launches $100m fund to support DeFi adoption
Polygon, the Ethereum scaling project formerly known as Matic, has launched a $100 million fund aimed at making decentralized finance (DeFi) more accessible to end users. The so-called #DeFiforAll Fund will focus on efficiently onboarding users to decentralized products and platforms.
Gemini introduces the Gemini Frontier Fund
Crypto exchange Gemini has announced the Gemini Frontier Fund, a strategic venture fund focused on investing in early-stage crypto projects and startups. The Gemini Frontier Fund is another way for Gemini to help grow their ecosystem alongside the Gemini Opportunity Fund, which supports Bitcoin Core Development.
a16z to launch $1bn crypto fund III
Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is setting up a new fund to invest as much as $1bn in crypto and crypto start-ups, according to a report from the Financial Times.
Multicoin Capital announces new $100m fund
Crypto investment firm Multicoin Capital has launched a new fund worth $100m. The Venture Fund II would invest in several crypto sectors, including decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), Web3 applications, and crypto infrastructure projects.
Galaxy Digital to acquire crypto custodian BitGo for $1.2bn
Mike Novogratz's crypto merchant bank Galaxy Digital is set to acquire crypto custodian BitGo for $1.2bn. Announcing the news recently, Galaxy Digital said the deal would be made up of a mix of stock and cash — $265m in cash and the rest in 33.8m newly issued shares of Galaxy Digital. Once completed, the acquisition will make BitGo shareholders own approximately 10% of Galaxy Digital. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Coinbase acquires data platform Skew
Crypto exchange Coinbase announced that it will acquire data and analytics provider Skew for an undisclosed sum, its first acquisition deal following its blockbuster direct listing earlier this month.
Blockchain.com acquires AI firm AiX to expand the institutional offering
Cryptocurrency exchange and wallet provider Blockchain.com has acquired Artificial Intelligence Exchange (AiX). Terms have not been disclosed for the acquisition of the London-based developer of an AI negotiating and matching engine for OTC trading. The acquisition will help drive the rapid growth of Blockchain.com’s institutional offering.
Canada-listed payment company Nuvei to acquire crypto firm Simplex for $250m
Nuvei Corporation, a Canada-listed payment processing company with a market capitalization of nearly $10 billion, has agreed to acquire crypto firm Simplex for $250m. Simplex is an Israel-based crypto payment processor, providing on-ramp and off-ramp services to crypto exchanges and firms, including Binance and Huobi.
Crypto market firms pour another €10m into Bitpanda
Bitpanda, the Vienna-based crypto exchange and neo-broker, has topped up its recent $170 million Series B fundraise with another €10m (roughly $12m). Jump Capital and Wintermute Trading have invested in the company, alongside the venture capital firm LeadBlock Partners.
Dapp data tracker DappRadar raises $5m in Series A funding
DappRadar, a Lithuanian data tracking company for decentralized applications (Dapps), announced Friday that it raised $5m in Series A funding. Lead investors in this Series A round were Prosus Ventures, Blockchain.com Ventures, and NordicNinja VC.
Sienna Network Raises $11.2m to Build Out DeFi Functionality on Secret Platform
The Sienna Network, a privacy-focused, cross-chain decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, has raised $11.2m in a private and public token sale. Of the total amount, $10m came from long-term investors including NGC, Inclusion Capital, Lotus Capital, FBG, SkyVision Capital and others.
Babel Finance Raises $40m From Zoo Capital, Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global
The round marks the first steps into Asia’s crypto finance industry for Zoo Capital, BAI Capital and Tiger Global Management, according to an announcement Monday. As of February, the China-based startup had lent $2bn worth of cryptocurrency to more than 500 institutional clients, up from $380m in March 2020.
Blockchain data project Covalent sells $10m of native CQT token
Blockchain data provider Covalent has sold $10 million worth of its native token, CQT, in a sale on distribution platform CoinList.
Thiel, Novogratz Back $10B Funding for Block.one’s New Crypto Exchange Subsidiary
The $10 billion funding includes an initial investment from Block.one of $100 million in cash, around $9 billion in bitcoin (BTC, +1.34%) and just under $200 million in EOS (+17.48%).
Our overall takeaway
Funding into digital asset related companies is showing no sign of slowing down, with more and more large investors coming into the space.
🚀 Project Launches & Updates
MetaMask hits 5m MAUs
Leading ethereum wallet MetaMask has hit a major milestone, reaching 5m monthly active users, and over $2bn transaction volumes through MetaMask Swaps.
CryptoPunks creator Larva Labs launches new NFT project, dubbed Meebits
Larva Labs, the creators of CryptoPunks, who are widely regarded as the first NFTs and have broken into the mainstream and are notably auctioned off at Christie’s, have announced a new project, dubbed Meebits. Meebits are 3D pixelated avatars that can be used in virtual worlds, gaming, and VR. 20,000 Meebits have been minted and sold over a 12 hour period, for a cumulative ~$80m.
Uniswap v3 goes live on Ethereum
The long-awaited third iteration of the leading decentralized exchange protocol Uniswap went live on Wednesday, May 5th. Unveiled in March, Uniswap v3 aims to make the on-network exchange of tokens drastically more capital-efficient. As reported at the time, the design hones in on a capability called concentrated liquidity by which liquidity providers (LPs) can make markets within customized price ranges.
Dfinity is finally launching its 'Internet Computer'
Dfinity features an “algorithmic governance system” that will onboard independent data centers and specially designed “node machines.” As of today, the network is supported by 48 data centers, which are running 1,300 nodes across North America, Europe and Asia, according to the foundation. It adds that by the end of the year there will be 123 data centers running 4,300 nodes.
Ubisoft selects blockchain startup for its Entrepreneurs Lab
Aleph.im, a blockchain-based storage and computing startup, has been selected to participate in the sixth season of Ubisoft’s Entrepreneurs Lab, offering further exposure to the emerging blockchain industry.
Our overall takeaway
Several new projects have been announced and great to see the wide captive and record size audience of 5m MAUs at Metamask.
🔥 Other Bits We're Excited About
Gaming fund Bitkraft teams up with Delphi Digital to invest in blockchain and crypto projects
Crypto is finding product-market fit within gaming, and gaming investors are taking notice! Indeed, Game- and esports-focused venture capital fund Bitkraft Ventures has created a strategic partnership with Delphi Digital, a blockchain advisory firm dedicated to advancing the understanding and development of the growing digital asset market.
Genesis quarterly report shows 'relentless' demand for dollars in crypto credit market
Since Genesis Global Trading launched a lending business in 2018, it has originated more than $40bn loans — and that growth doesn't appear to be slowing down. The firm, which releases a breakdown of its business across trading, lending, and derivatives every quarter, saw active loans outstanding on its platform increase 136% relative to the previous quarter, totaling $9.03bn. The sharp increase in outstanding loans illustrates the desire for credit, which is being driven by "relentless" demand for dollars among crypto market participants.
Ether’s Active Addresses Pass 2018 Peak as Cryptocurrency Soars to New Price Highs
Ether’s bull run appears to be backed by fundamentals, with active user participation in Ethereum’s network booming alongside the cryptocurrency’s price. The number of unique active ether addresses, either as sender or receiver, rose to a record high of 7.94 million on Sunday, topping the previous peak of 7.14 million reached on Jan. 16, 2018, according to data provider Glassnode.
Coinbase reaches #1 on U.S. Apple App Store for first time since 2017
On May 10, the Coinbase app topped the U.S. Apple App Store, a position the crypto exchange hadn’t been in since late 2017.
Our overall takeaway
We seem to be past the peak of 2017 / 2018 across all levels and showing no signs of slowing down at the current momentum.