Digital Assets
Digital assets are about more than just Bitcoin. The global adoption of blockchain, expansion of cross-border payments, new investment vehicles tied to intellectual property, and more, could one day establish a global market of digitized assets worth $50 trillion. This channel provides access to the latest developments, opportunities, risks, and thought leaders in the growing Digital Assets space.
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Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD) has launched its Crypto app in the European Union (EU), allowing eligible customers to engage in crypto trading with the added incentive of earning Bitcoin rewards. Customers stand to receive up to 1 BTC as a reward when signing up and can earn an additional 1 BTC for each successful referral. The platform claims to be the sole custodial crypto platform in the EU offering customers a percentage of their trading volume back every month, paid in Bitcoin.
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More Stories on Digital Assets
Digital Assets: El Salvador’s Bitcoin Protestors Burn Chivo ATM
Thousands of El Salvador residents have taken to street protests against the government’s move to make bitcoin legal tender in the country. In unfortunate timing with its 200th independence anniversary, El Salvador has erupted in protest against President Nayib Bukele’s move to make bitcoin legal tender alongside the US dollar with effect from September 7….
Digital Assets: Interactive Brokers Offers Low-Fee Crypto Trading
Global brokerage Interactive Brokers (NASDAQ: IBKR) anounced earlier this week the launch of crypto trading on its platform via Paxos Trust Company, a regulated blockchain infrastructure platform. US residents can therefore trade cryptos such as bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), litecoin (LTC) and bitcoin cash (BCH) along with other assets including stocks, ETFs, futures, options, and bonds from a single screen.
Digital Assets: MicroStrategy Adds To Bitcoin Hoard With $243M Purchase
Michael Saylor, crypto proponent and CEO of business software and intelligence company MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) tweeted about the company’s fresh purchase of bitcoin today that brought the market value of its stockpile of the leading cryptocurrency to over $5 billion.
Digital Assets: Switzerland’s SIX Digital Exchange Gets FINMA Approval
Swiss stock exchange SIX has received the green signal from FINMA, the country’s regulatory body to launch an exchange and depository for blockchain-based securities. The SIX Digital Exchange, or SDX, can now go live with a fully regulated, integrated trading, settlement, and custody infrastructure for digital securities following the approval, said to be a landmark in the world of cryptoassets.
Venture Capital: Massive $500M+ Rounds From Snyk And Varo Bank
Lately chartered U.S. neobank Varo Bank announced Thursday its raise of a $510 million Series E at a valuation of $2.5 billion. Today, Israeli cloud security startup Snyk said it collected $530 million comprising $300 million in new money and $230 million in secondary funding. Snyk’s valuation was a solid $8.5 billion – up sharply from $4.7 billion in March when it raised $300 million.
FinTech: Eyeing Cryptos, Mastercard Acquires CipherTrace
As Mastercard (NYSE: MA) ventures deeper into the digital assets ecosystem, top of mind are security and fraud detection. It announced Thursday its acquisition of CipherTrace, which obtains cryptocurrency intelligence from its analysis of huge amounts of validated blockchain transaction attribution, for an undisclosed amount.
Digital Assets: Private Equity Firm 10T Closes On $750M For Investing In Crypto Companies
Dan Tapiero led 10T Holdings, the Greenwich, Conn.-based private equity fund which focuses on crypto-asset companies, has closed $750 million in a fundraising round that commenced at the end of last year. 10T’s three funds, the 10T Fund, LP and 10T DAE Expansion Fund mopped up $389 million between them. Co-investment and sub-advised vehicles accounted for the balance.
Digital Assets: Bitcoin Makes Bumpy Debut As Legal Tender In El Salvador
Bitcoin’s baptism as a country’s adopted currency was marred by glitches. September 7 marked El Salvador’s date with destiny when the country’s citizens got to legally and freely use bitcoin as a currency alongside the US dollar. The rollout, a pet project of President Nayib Bukele, was marred, however, by technical problems and a citizens’…
Digital Assets: Oil Drillers And Bitcoin Miners Hold Hush-Hush Confab In Texas
Nearly 200 people from the oil and gas and bitcoin mining industries met in Houston, Texas, last week to join forces on the long-standing problem of natural gas flaring. Excess and wasted gas from drilling sites in Texas has to be flared if the site is not within reach of a gas pipeline – this is so-called ‘stranded gas.’ The process of flaring is a waste of energy and has climate activists in arms for the harm it does to the environment. Instead, capturing the gas and using it to mine bitcoin is climate friendlier, curbs energy waste, and earns dollars for both driller and miner.
Digital Assets: Bloomberg’s Mike McGlone Charts $100K Path For Bitcoin
Crypto-assets appear in a revived and refreshed bull market, the analyst writes. Senior Bloomberg Commodity Analyst Mike McGlone weighs in with a very bullish prognosis for crypto-assets in the September edition of Bloomberg’s Crypto Outlook 2021. Considering cryptos such as bitcoin and ethereum are lifting off in the second half of the year from levels…
Digital Assets: Belgian Startup Seety Enables Crypto Payments For Parking
Seety, a Belgian startup focused on digital parking has made it possible for users to pay for parking in Antwerp and Brussels with cryptocurrencies. Seety founders Hadrien Crespin and Nicolas Cognaux (pictured above) have the vision that more and more people will use cryptos for everyday purposes as the coins become more climate-friendly.
Digital Assets: Standard Chartered Offers Blockchain Trade Finance Platform
Standard Chartered (LON: STAN) has joined forces with Linklogis, a supply chain finance tech solution provider from China, for the launch of Olea, a digital trade finance platform. Olea will match up institutional investors looking to deploy funds into alternative credit with businesses in need of supply chain (or working capital) financing.
Digital Assets: El Salvador Readies For Bitcoin-USD Convertibility With $150M Trust
The Finance Commission of the El Salvador Legislative Assembly is going ahead with the creation of a US$150 million bitcoin trust to ease convertibility between the cryptocurrency and the US Dollar, the country’s adopted currency that serves as legal tender.
Digital Assets: A Brussels Bar With An Anarchic Past Will Accept Bitcoin
This colorfully attractive bar on a Brussels street has come a long way since its checkered history of anarchism. Unsurprisingly, its street frontage is a bright red, and inside, it has a cosy, eclectic décor, music, and a great choice of local beers. But it’s moving with the times and now offers “pints” for “coins,” that is to say, bitcoin.
Digital Assets: Citi To Trade CME Bitcoin Futures
Citigroup (NYSE: C) has succumbed to clients’ demand for exposure to crypto-assets and is now working on obtaining the necessary approvals to trade CME bitcoin futures, according to Coindesk, which quoted anonymous sources.
Digital Assets: Coinbase Integrates Solarisbank’s KYC Platform For German Customers
Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) has tied up with Solarisbank, a fintech owning a German banking license, for its fully digital KYC platform to enable customer identification in Germany. The German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) awarded Coinbase Germany a licence for crypto custody and trading in June.
Alternative Investments/Digital: Bloomberg Analysts Believe A Bitcoin Futures ETF Could Arrive October
Bloomberg analysts James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas have homed in on the sudden withdrawal of applications for futures-based Ethereum ETFs by VanEck and ProShares last week. Reading the tea leaves, the analysts say the withdrawals augur well for the SEC’s approval of a futures-based bitcoin ETF.
Digital Assets: Perma-Bull Michael Saylor-Led MicroStrategy Adds $177M To Bitcoin Bet
MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR), the business data company that pioneered parking corporate treasury reserves in bitcoin, has added another tranche of the cryptocurrency to its already massive hoard, according to a filing today (August 24, 2021).
Digital Assets: Bitcoin Is Back Above $50K
Bitcoin barreled through the $50,000 price level over the weekend, touching a high of $50,495.95, and putting on about 3% over the last 24 hours, according to Coindesk data. As at the time of writing, it is marginally off that high and is trading at $49,612.46.
Digital Assets: $500M Of Cryptocurrencies (Or More) To Replace Fiat On Coinbase’s Balance Sheet
It’s a huge plug for the cryptoeconomy, which Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) envisions as a future where economic transactions would be based on crypto assets. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong revealed today that the company’s board had approved the investment of a massive $500 million in crypto. Armstrong also said that going forward the company, which is the largest digital exchange in the US by trade volume, would invest 10% of its quarterly profits in crypto.
Alternative Investments/Digital: Wells Fargo Offers Bitcoin Fund To Richer Clients
Wells Fargo’s (NYSE: WFC) Form D filing with the SEC on Thursday for a fund titled FS NYDIG Bitcoin Fund I, LP, a pooled investment fund the bank it will offer to its well-heeled clients for exposure to bitcoin.
Digital Assets: United Wholesale Mortgage Will Accept Payment In Bitcoin
United Wholesale Mortgage (NYSE: UWMC) has announced plans to accept cryptocurrencies in payment for home loans from the third quarter of this year, starting with bitcoin. Other cryptocurrencies, such as ether, are under evaluation, too. The move by UWMC is a first for the mortgage industry.
Digital Assets: Coinbase Launches In Japan; Ties Up With Mitsubishi UFJ
Japan is one of the largest markets by crypto trading volumes globally. Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) announced today the launch of digital assets trading in Japan, a country that was among the first off the block to embrace cryptos. The company said it intended to be a fully compliant and most trusted crypto exchange in Japan…
Digital Assets: Rural Texas Shaping To Become A Mecca For Bitcoin Mining
Dickens county, in rural Texas, has a population of 2,300, and in the words of Kevin Brendle, a top county official, “is mostly improved pasture and grassland.” Yet, its idyllic environs will soon be home to a 320-acre crypto facility where hundreds of computers will be used to mine bitcoin, each currently worth about $45,000. The draw: Texas’ cheap power.