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Tag: Crypto News

  • Matrix Partners India Leads $4M Funding Round for Blockchain Supply Chain Platform Emtech

    Matrix Partners India Leads $4M Funding Round for Blockchain Supply Chain Platform Emtech

    Investment firm Matrix Partners India has led a $4 million seed funding round for New York-based Emtech, a fintech company focused on modernizing central banks for financial inclusion and resilience. Other investors in this round include BTN, VestedWorld, Equity Alliance, and Lofty.

    Emtech will use the newly acquired funds to further develop its infrastructure tools catering to central banks and fintech companies, as stated in an official statement.

    Having secured $10 million in funding thus far, Emtech had previously raised $5 million in a seed round from Level Up Ventures in November last year, followed by a recent $2 million extension.

    Founded in 2019 by Carmelle Cadet, a former Executive at IBM Finance, Blockchain & Technology, Emtech offers an API-First Platform that facilitates connections between central banks and fintechs for embedded regulatory compliance and central bank digital currency integration. The company is at the forefront of building the next generation of central banking infrastructure for the Web3 era.

    Emtech’s success lies in its development of Regtech and CBDC stack solutions utilizing distributed ledger technology (DLT) and blockchain. These solutions have been successfully deployed and utilized by the Central Banks of Ghana, Nigeria, and the Bahamas, significantly advancing their respective Regtech and CBDC agendas. Furthermore, Emtech collaborates with fintechs in these regions, providing valuable insights from both a regulatory and innovation perspective.

    Aakash Kumar, Principal at Matrix Partners India, said, “Digital assets and programmable currency in the form of regulated CBDCs can turbocharge financial inclusion. Emtech’s vision of shaping blockchain powered fintech infra for CBDCs and solutions for fintech regulation is compelling and we are excited to partner with them on their journey.”

    On the fundraise, Carmelle Cadet, Founder & CEO of EMTECH shared, “EMTECH’s adoption of blockchain technology enables the democratization of finance, bringing financial freedom and inclusivity to individuals and businesses of all sizes. With the support of our investors, we are well positioned to expedite our growth, diversify our product offerings and continue to drive transformative change across the financial services landscape.”

  • CoinSwitch Publishes 2nd Edition of Proof of Reserves, Showing Higher Crypto Assets and INR Balances Than Users

    CoinSwitch Publishes 2nd Edition of Proof of Reserves, Showing Higher Crypto Assets and INR Balances Than Users

    CoinSwitch, India’s largest crypto-investing platform, has published the second edition of its Proof of Reserves (POR), demonstrating the transparency and verifiability of the platform’s claimed assets. The independent review and on-chain validation showcase that CoinSwitch’s overall holdings of crypto and INR balances are higher than those of its customers.

    The INR equivalent value of the total holdings of CoinSwitch, including crypto and fiat, is INR 1944.8 crore. User holdings, including crypto and fiat, with CoinSwitch stand at INR 1431.30 crore. According to the proof of reserves, CoinSwitch maintains a holdings ratio of 1:1 or more.

    A ratio of 1:1 or higher means that the platform holds all user assets and fiat balances, allowing users to redeem or withdraw them at any time.

    “As the largest crypto platform in the country, transparency is at the core of our values, and we take our responsibility toward all stakeholders very seriously,” said Ashish Singhal, Co-founder and CEO of CoinSwitch. “This led us to be the first of the crypto organizations in the country to announce POR last year.

    Through an independent review of our holdings and on-chain validation via our crypto wallet addresses, we ensure there are no blind spots, providing our users with complete visibility into our holdings.”

    The review was carried out as per the standards prescribed by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (SRS 4400) on March 31, 2023, which is the closing day of the financial year 2023.

    The POR findings verify the following:

    • CoinSwitch’s total holdings are greater than its users’ assets.
    • CoinSwitch maintains a holdings ratio of 1:1 or more.
    • CoinSwitch’s cash and cash equivalent balance are 6.79 times the INR balance of its users.

    The higher ratios are on account of CoinSwitch’s own crypto assets and INR balance.

  • Bitget Launches Crypto Loans For Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and more as a Lending Services

    Bitget Launches Crypto Loans For Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and more as a Lending Services

    Bitget, top crypto derivatives and copy trading platform, has entered the rapidly expanding cryptocurrency loan sector with the launch of its native Crypto Loans product. The new offering is intended to attract a new audience of users dissuaded by traditional credit institutions and seeking alternative means of funding via digital assets.

    Bitget’s Crypto Loans product is based on a dual-coin approach, allowing users to stake one coin from their holdings as collateral in exchange for the ability to borrow a corresponding amount in another coin. Each loan is issued at a specific interest rate to pay, with the borrowed amount determined by the market value of the staked collateral. The loans are issued within a predetermined period, users can choose to repay before or at the predetermined deadline.

    Crypto loans  have been gaining attention in recent years thanks to the overall growth of the digital lending sector, which surpassed the $8.5 billion mark in 2022 and is predicted to grow by a CAGR of 20.5% from 2023 to 2032. The report by Global Market Insights highlights the increasing reliance on traditional lending and its potential to drive the demand for digital lending products. As this trend continues, the smooth onboarding of traditional users will play a crucial role in the adoption of these solutions.

    With this in mind, Bitget has streamlined the loan process to not only facilitate user onboarding but also replicate the familiar procedures found in traditional financial institutions. The first step involves staking collateral, followed by the automatic disbursement of the loan amount, ensuring a user-friendly and efficient experience for borrowers. After the loan has been received, users will have the flexibility to utilize the funds as needed, as well as adjust the collateral by adding or withdrawing based on their circumstances or individual requirements.

    “Bitget’s new product highlights the flexibility of collateralized currency usage, enhancing capital utilization. Users now have the opportunity to stake less-demanded coins, enabling them to obtain loans in more liquid assets for investment purposes. Our platform’s flexible borrowing and repayment mechanism is designed to cater to the needs of all users, accommodating their requests and ensuring convenience,” Gracy Chen, Managing Director of Bitget.

    The platform also stresses the support for withdrawals and the swift review process on loan applications as selling points for the new product. Considering the high degree of security that Bitget boasts, as well as its market reputation as a reliable financial platform, users can be certain that security guarantees are in place and the safety of their collateral is ensured.

    The Bitget exchange has been expanding its lineup of services in recent months, adding new products across a wide spectrum of cryptocurrency and traditional financial sectors. The recent investment in BitKeep and its subsequent rebranding into Bitget Wallet is one of the latest steps Bitget has undertaken to penetrate the Web3 space and create a single access gateway for users resorting to its ecosystem of products aimed at global crypto adoption.

  • SphereOne Raises $2.5M to Build Crypto for Grandmas

    SphereOne Raises $2.5M to Build Crypto for Grandmas

    SphereOne, a crypto payment platform that allows users to make purchases with any cryptocurrency, across any blockchain, today announced that they’ve closed a $2.5M seed round led by Distributed Global and participation by Newark Venture Partners, Zero Knowledge, as well as angel investors Leore Avidar of Alt.xyz and Lob.com and Eric Feldman of Bolt.com. The SphereOne platform prioritizes immediacy in transactions and features include a 1-click checkout, as well as the ability to simplify swapping fiat to crypto and vice versa.

    “The user experience for consumers using crypto for payments is fragmented,” said Christopher Ries, COO and Co-founder of SphereOne. “Web3 consumers continue to give us feedback that moving liquidity across different chains to purchase things is complicated, time-consuming, and risky.” 

    According to Chainalysis an estimated “$2 billion in cryptocurrency has been stolen across 13 separate cross-chain bridge hacks, the majority of which was stolen this year.” Consumer confidence has been shaken and an increased security presence is critical for the next wave of users to feel good about using crypto payment rails.

    SphereOne’s founding team has unique credentials in both security infrastructure and early-stage products to create a platform able to protect the consumers of tomorrow. Ries previously served as an initial product hire at Cylance Inc. (acquired for $1.4B) and later managed a portfolio of security infrastructure products at Oracle. Ries also worked in the public sector securing critical infrastructure for the Pentagon. McNutt has a background in product development and is an accomplished 3X founder with multiple exits. As the Founder and CEO of ApplyAll (an AI-startup), he scaled the business to over 100K MAUs and has successfully managed robust, global engineering teams.

    “We’re so focused on creating the best user experience for first-time crypto users that I often joke with Chris that we’re building crypto for grandmas since we want anybody to participate in Web3,” said Ryan McNutt, CEO and Co-founder of SphereOne.

    SphereOne helps merchants increase conversion rates and retain customers by making it easy for customers to make purchases with any cryptocurrency. Early adopters of the SphereOne crypto payment platform are from a variety of verticals (including traditional e-commerce), but the Web3 gaming segment has been the most compelling.

    “If you’re a Web3 game publisher, it’s important to focus on onboarding experience for Web2 players since that’s where much of the opportunity is. SphereOne is an integral part of our payment stack because it creates an abstraction layer for users not familiar with crypto infrastructure and allows us to incorporate different blockchains without building out direct support,” explained Jacob Sloan, CEO of MetaOps (a popular first-person-shooter game on Fractal.is).     

    Perhaps the largest opportunity for SphereOne is in developing countries where crypto payments have thrived in the absence of traditional finance offerings.

    McNutt concluded, “We’re really excited about launching our mobile application internationally for peer-to-peer transactions, especially in developing countries. There will be some great applicability for our crypto payment technology with users in those regions given our low fee structure.”

  • Texas Bitcoin Miners Turn Off to Conserve Power for the Grid

    Texas Bitcoin Miners Turn Off to Conserve Power for the Grid

    The Texas Blockchain Council, a trade association representing the bitcoin mining industry in Texas, announced today that the bitcoin miners responded to the conservation notice that was issued by ERCOT yesterday. Some facilities shut down while many will ramp down in the afternoons this weekend when power is in high demand but then turn back on overnight when demand subsides.

    “In addition to bringing jobs and tax revenue to rural areas of Texas, many of which are in need of economic revitalization, the bitcoin mining industry also provides greater grid resilience by acting as a controllable load,” said Lee Bratcher, the President of the Texas Blockchain Council. “Bitcoin miners can turn off within just a few seconds which makes them a perfect resource for the grid regarding frequency balancing and demand response.”

    Samantha Robertson, Business Development lead at Bitdeer stated, “Due to unseasonably hot temperatures and unexpected drop in generation within the ERCOT system, Bitdeer powered down the entirety our datacenter in Rockdale on Friday, except for capacity enrolled in responsive reserves. We expect that capacity to be called back and will immediately respond when prompted by ERCOT.”

    Miners that were already enrolled in ancillary services within ERCOT are standing ready to power down at ERCOT’s direction. As the bitcoin mining industry matures, more and more load will have the technical capability to take advantage of demand response and controllable load resources thereby creating more dispatchable load that can be used by all Texans at times of peak demand.

  • Crypto Startup Moralis Raises $40 Mn in Fresh Funding

    Crypto Startup Moralis Raises $40 Mn in Fresh Funding

    Moralis, a platform that provides developer tools for web applications built on top of blockchains, is to announce a $40 million funding round on Wednesday.

    According to persons familiar with the data who asked not to be identified because the information is confidential, Moralis, which debuted its platform last June, is now valued at $215 million.

    Coinbase Ventures, the investment arm of crypto exchange Coinbase Global Inc., joined EQT Ventures, Fabric Ventures, and Dispersion Capital as investors in the startup’s Series A funding round. The company did not reveal the principal investor in the financing.

    Although Liljeqvist and his co-founder, Chief Operating Officer Filip Martinsson, are both Swedish, Moralis is a remote-first firm situated in Stockholm. According to Martinsson, the business seeks to make blockchain development more accessible to those who aren’t tech knowledgeable. A blockchain is a decentralised digital ledger that keeps track of transactions. Individual developers, crypto wallet providers, nonfungible token exchanges, and gaming firms are among the company’s users

  • CoinDCX launches venture investment arm CoinDCX Ventures

    CoinDCX launches venture investment arm CoinDCX Ventures

    CoinDCX, an Indian crypto exchange, has announced the creation of CoinDCX Ventures, an investment effort that will fund early-stage crypto and blockchain firms, bolstering India’s digital asset ecosystem and speeding up the digital economy’s transformation.

    The initial fund is estimated to be worth Rs 100 crore, with funds coming entirely from the company’s financial sheet and being allocated over a 12-month period.

    CoinDCX Ventures believes it has a unique vantage point in its access to both users/customers and the Web3 developer community because India has the largest retail crypto base globally and will potentially have the largest number of Web3 developers in the future, according to a statement from the exchange.

    CoinDCX CEO and Co-Founder Sumit Gupta stated: “This is a huge step forward for CoinDCX as we continue to impact the Web3 sector as a whole, putting India on the map as a worldwide powerhouse for crypto and blockchain innovation.” We appreciate the value and necessity of such support, having worked directly with venture capitalists in the field, prompting our decision to contribute to the still-nascent industry as it solidifies its position

  • Naomi Osaka, World-Renowned Tennis Player and Activist, Becomes Global Ambassador and Shareholder of FTX

    Naomi Osaka, World-Renowned Tennis Player and Activist, Becomes Global Ambassador and Shareholder of FTX

    FTX Trading Limited, and West Realm Shires Inc., the companies behind FTX.US and FTX.COM respectively announced a long-term partnership with four-time Grand Slam singles champion, Naomi Osaka. In addition to becoming an FTX global ambassador, Osaka will receive an equity stake in FTX Trading Limited and will be receiving compensation in crypto.

    The four time Grand Slam singles champion will focus on bringing women onto the platform and into the future of Web3. In addition to her record-breaking tennis career, Osaka is known for championing social justice causes and raising mental health awareness. Advocating for women to get in on the ground floor of the rapidly growing crypto industry is an extension of her work towards equality and pushing the culture forward.

    “We have seen the statistics about how few women are part of crypto by comparison, which kind of mirrors the inequality we see in other financial markets,” Osaka said. “Cryptocurrencies started with the goal of being accessible to everyone and breaking down barriers to entry. I’m excited to partner with FTX to get back to that mission and to innovate on new ways to reach more people and further democratize the space.”

    A global icon, Naomi Osaka will become one of the first major female professional athletes to partner with FTX. Osaka is taking an equity stake and will have an active role with FTX to further solidify its status as the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange. Osaka will also creatively direct and produce content alongside FTX, specifically with a lens towards a global audience given Osaka’s Haitian and Japanese cultural heritage and background. In addition, Osaka will debut the FTX logo on her looks for the Miami Open. Finally, FTX will help Osaka with her continued involvement with the growing crypto industry, with Osaka investing and trading cryptocurrencies of her choice.

    Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX, concluded, “Just as FTX is at the forefront of crypto markets, we want to be at the forefront of social change. Our partnership with Naomi Osaka will further our goal of getting more diverse voices involved in the future of digital currency and Web3. I am excited to work with Naomi as we look to educate those groups and create a positive impact in the world. “

  • Binance Awarded Specialist License By Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority

    Binance Awarded Specialist License By Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority

    Binance today announced that it has been granted a Virtual Asset License to enable it to operate within Dubai’s ‘test-adapt-scale’ virtual asset market model as a base for expansion into the region. Under the Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) initial regulatory phase, which includes rigorous regulatory oversight and mandatory FATF compliance controls, Binance will be permitted to extend limited exchange products and services to pre-qualified investors and professional financial service providers. All licensed VARA service providers will be monitored progressively to open access to the retail market. In addition to its exchange operations, Binance will anchor a blockchain technology hub in the Dubai World Trade Centre, to seed new talent and build a vibrant blockchain ecosystem.

    Changpeng Zhao (CZ), founder and CEO of Binance, said: “High standards of regulation and compliance are critical to the development and maturing of the global crypto and blockchain industry, which is why our team has been working tirelessly to demonstrate how we meet and exceed the requirements of regulators such as the Dubai Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority.”

    “Binance is appreciative of being awarded this license in such a progressive regime, targeting uncompromised governance and market security. The collaborative way in which Binance has been engaged to bring proven industry compliance leading experience to the Dubai ecosystem is indicative of the unique operating model that the VARA is creating for the global industry.”

    Commenting on Binance joining the new Virtual Asset ecosystem, Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General of Dubai World Trade Centre Authority that houses VARA said, “The new VARA is symbolic of Dubai’s confidence in the potential of this future economy driver – if introduced with prudence and legitimacy. To this end, our regime is structured to catalyse collaboration, foster innovation, and most critically secure public interest. Onboarding Binance within the VARA is reflective of their commitment to the Dubai agenda – to provide the global industry the certainty of governance, enabled by ‘shared industry responsibility’ and legislative security for society.”

    Dubai is the first global economy to have set up a specialised regulator for the VA sector and will be further developing this VARA governed ecosystem of credible, reputable and innovative international leaders. The VARA issued Virtual Asset Exchange License ensures Binance will be able to operate its regional business from Dubai in the newly announced regulatory ecosystem that is subject to comprehensive legislation and internationally applicable policy frameworks.

  • Polygon raises $450M from Sequoia India, Galaxy, Tiger Global and SoftBank

    Polygon raises $450M from Sequoia India, Galaxy, Tiger Global and SoftBank

    Polygon (previously Matic Network), an Ethereum scaling project, has raised $450 million in its first major venture capital round, led by Sequoia Capital India, with participation from Tiger Global, SoftBank, Galaxy Digital, Republic Capital, Makers Fund, Alameda Research, Alan Howard, Alexis Ohanian, Steadview Capital, Elevation Capital, Animoca Brands, Spartan Fund, Dragonfly Capital, Variant Fund, and Kevin O’Leary.

    Polygon’s native MATIC cryptocurrency will be sold privately to raise the funding. At the time of publication, the Web3 startup had a market capitalization of $14.4 billion.

    Polygon has attracted some of the most important Web3 initiatives, including DeFi protocols like Aave and luxury brands business Dolce & Gabbana, as well as NFT marketplaces like OpenSea and Mark Cuban’s Lazy.com.