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Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
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Investments news
- Investment management companies Invesco and Galaxy Digital have jointly filed a registration statement for a physically-backed bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF), while investment advisory firm Amplify filed for a decentralized finance (DeFi) and crypto ETF. The Amplify ETF application would allow the fund to invest in bitcoin futures, Canadian bitcoin funds and companies that hold more than 50% of their net assets in bitcoin, ether (ETH) or another “liquid” cryptocurrency.
- BTC mining company Genesis Digital Assets has announced they have raised USD 431m in a funding round led by investment firm Paradigm. The capital will be used to expand their Bitcoin mining operations, working towards a goal of bringing 1.4 gigawatts online by 2023.
- Dapper Labs, the crypto company behind NBA Top Shot and the Flow blockchain, announced USD 250m in new funding, led by Coatue. The round brings together existing investors a16z, GV (formerly Google Ventures), and Version One Ventures with new investors including BOND and GIC, said the press release. Dapper Labs will use the new capital to continue to scale and support major additional brand-driven sports, entertainment, and music-based products coming online and being developed on the Flow blockchain, they added.
- Blockchain infrastructure platform Blockdaemon has announced they have raised USD 155m in a funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 that brought the company’s valuation to USD 1.26bn. The capital raised will help the company expand their team presence in Singapore, Japan, the UK, and Germany, as well as make strategic acquisitions and build their tech stack, they said.
- Digital asset management firm Osprey Funds has announced it has launched its fifth investment product of the year called the Osprey Polygon Trust, which invests exclusively into the MATIC coin native to the Polygon network. The Osprey Polygon Trust is currently available to accredited investors for subscription with a USD 10,000 minimum investment. The sponsor intends to pursue listing the fund on the OTCQX market as soon as possible and has also agreed to waive the management fee for all investors until January 2023.
- Orca, a Solana (SOL)-based decentralized crypto exchange (DEX), said it has raised USD 18m in fresh funding led by Polychain, Placeholder, and Three Arrows Capital. Other participants include Jump Capital, Sino Global Capital, Collab & Currency, DeFiance, Zee Prime, Coinbase Ventures, Solana Capital, and a number of angel investors. “These investors will jumpstart our path toward making Orca the go-to swap for the Solana ecosystem,” they said.
- Digital ID startup cheqd has raised USD 2.6m in a funding round backed by investors Outlier Ventures, Evernym, TitanBlock, and others. The raised funds are set to help the company launch their product later this year, which includes both a digital ID and a payment system so they can charge users a fee to cover the cost.
- Multi-asset investment platform eToro has announced that they are raising their stake in the non-profit organization GoodDollar’s universal basic income (UBI) protocol from USD 58,000 to USD 1m. The additional capital will fund the expansion of the protocol which works to further financial education and bridge the global wealth gap by combining smart contract mechanics, DeFi, and their reserve-backed crypto token.
- Kava Labs, an open-source and non-custodial developer of financial products and services for decentralized finance (DeFi), said it has launched a USD 185m fund to cultivate projects on the Kava Ecosystem. The platform claims it has three protocols, USD 2.1bn in assets on-chain, over 280,000 users, and USD 1.8bn in cross-chain transactions.
Marketing news
- Major crypto platform Crypto.com announced its first official jersey patch partnership with an NBA team, the Philadelphia 76ers. Crypto.com will also appear in-arena on the baseline apron and courtside LED screens, be present within the 76ers Fan Hub, sponsor rewards for fans, and present a Crypto.com school to educate fans on cryptocurrency, they added. Also, the 76ers will be launching their first-ever non-fungible token (NFT), available for fans to purchase through Crypto.com NFT.
Regulation news
- The UAE’s Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) and the Dubai World Trade Centre Authority (DWTCA) have entered an agreement to support trading of crypto assets and related financial activities within DWTCA’s free zone. The SCA will handle the regulatory oversight of the issuance, offering, listing, and trading of crypto assets as well as the licensing of the associated financial activities that fall under DWTCA’s jurisdiction, said the announcement.
- US-based major crypto company BlockFi said that the New Jersey Bureau of Securities has again postponed the effective date of its previous order, which calls for preventing the creation of all new BlockFi Interest Accounts (BIA), this time to December 1, 2021. All existing BIA clients continue to have access to their accounts, the company added.
CBDCs news
- Italian payments giant Nexi says it is working with the European Central Bank on its proposed central bank digital currency, CNBC reported. “We are engaging with the European Central Bank and contributing to the design of the future digital euro because we believe that can be a positive force in the evolution of digital payments,” Nexi CEO Paolo Bertoluzzo was quoted as saying.
Exchanges news
- Kraken has announced it has integrated Apple Pay and Google Pay into their Kraken App, allowing users to pay for their crypto using these payment methods. There is a minimum purchase amount of USD 10 and a maximum purchase limit of USD 7,500 during a seven-day rolling period.
Legal news
- Riccardo Spagni, the former lead maintainer of the privacy coin Monero (XMR), has announced that United States officials have released him after more than a month in custody. He has added that he is working with his attorneys on a way to return to South Africa as soon as possible in order to address the allegations against him.
- United States Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn has denied Ripple Labs’ motion to compel the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to produce records of its employees’ crypto transactions. According to the motion, Ripple met with the SEC four separate times, beginning on July 8, to request records of the agency’s employees’ crypto transactions “without progress.”
Mining news
- Crypto mining company BIT Mining said that it has entered into a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement with Viking Data Centers to jointly invest in the development of a cryptocurrency mining data center space in Ohio with access to power capacity of up to 85 megawatts. Development of the new mining site is currently expected to be fully completed in February 2022.
Career news
- Crypto and blockchain investment firm CoinFund has welcomed David Pakman as Managing Partner focused on expanding the firm’s growth-stage venture capital initiatives, said the press release. Pakman spent 13 years at Venrock, a major venture firm focused on investing in emerging technologies. He led the Series A and Series B rounds in Dollar Shave Club and sat on the board until it was acquired for USD 1bn, led the Series A round and sits on the board of crypto company Dapper Labs, and led the Series A round in the non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Rarible.
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