Autor Cointelegraph By Brayden Lindrea

Cathie Wood's ARK adds $12.1M in Coinbase shares amid turbulent markets

Cathie Wood's ARK adds $12.1M in Coinbase shares amid turbulent markets

Uverejnil používateľ | nov 11, 2022 |

Amid the FTX and crypto market chaos, Cathie Wood-led Ark Investments has increased its Coinbase (COIN) holdings with a purchase of 237,675 COIN shares worth about $12.1 million on Nov. 9. Of the 237,675 COIN shares, Ark Investment Management added 207,527 shares to its ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), 22,416 shares to its ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), and another 7,732 shares to its ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF).The tech-focused investment firm’s purchase came after Coinbase stated in response to FTX’s liquidity crisis that it has “minimal exposure” to the now cash-strapped cryptocurrency trading platform with only $15 million on deposit to “facilitate business operations and customer trades.”Coinbase also added that it has no exposure to FTX’s native token FTT — which has fallen 84.08% since Binance announced its decision to liquidate its entire FTT holdings late on Nov. 7 — and its partner trading firm Alameda Research. Wood’s Nov. 9 purchase came following a 10.84% fall in COIN’s share price on Nov. 8, which was an expected result follow on from the FTX controversy, according to Owen Lau, a stock analyst at investment banking firm Oppenheimer:“While COIN has minimal exposure to FTX, before there is enough evidence that the contagion risk is contained, the pressure on crypto prices will likely weigh on COIN.” It was also the investment firm’s first trade for Coinbase since it sold off over 1.4 million COIN shares — which were then worth $75 million — across ARKK, ARKF and ARKW on Jul. 26. 2022. The large sell-off came in response to the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) conducting an investigation into allegations of Coinbase engaging in the insider trading of unregistered securities.Related: Breaking: Google taps Coinbase to bring crypto payments to cloud servicesHowever, Wood’s latest buying spree has brought the firm’s COIN shares tally back up to 7.625 million, which is about one million shares less than its peak of 8.675 million recorded on Jul. 20. 2022, according to data from Cathie’s Ark. Coinbase now has the 11th largest holdings in Ark’s main investment fund ARKK, which now represents 3.79% of the portfolio.COIN’s stock went up 10.74% on Thursday, increasing its share price to $50.92, according to Yahoo Finance.

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Sequoia Capital marks down entire $214M FTX stake to zero

Sequoia Capital marks down entire $214M FTX stake to zero

Uverejnil používateľ | nov 10, 2022 |

Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital tweeted out a letter sent to its partners on Nov. 10 revealing the firm had marked its $213.5 million investments in FTX and FTX US down to $0, claiming them as a complete loss.The letter said that the crisis facing FTX has “created a solvency risk” but claimed its exposure to the exchange is “limited” in its Global Growth Fund III, where its cost basis for the FTX portion of the fund totaled $150 million.Here is the note we sent to our LPs in GGFIII regarding FTX. pic.twitter.com/Cgp1Yxk1pz— Sequoia Capital (@sequoia) November 10, 2022Sequoia also reassured its partners that the writing off of FTX wouldn’t have a detrimental impact on the fund, saying it accounted for less than 3% of the capital committed to it, adding:“The $150M loss is offset by ~$7.5B in realized and unrealized gains in the same fund, so the fund remains in good shape.”The venture capital firm also reported to have invested $63.5 million into FTX and FTX US from its Sequoia Capital Global Equities Fund, however, the holdings represented less than 1% of the entire portfolio.Sequoia’s investments into the now cash-strapped cryptocurrency exchange came as part of FTX’s $900 million Series B investment round in July 2021 — which was the largest crypto investment ever recorded at the time. As for the investment decision, Sequoia reassured its partners that it extensively researches each and every investment with thorough diligence, and FTX was no different:“At the time of our investment in FTX, we ran a rigorous due diligence process. In 2021, the year of our investment, FTX generated approximately $1B in revenue and more than $250M in operating income.”“We are in the business of taking risk. Some investments will surprise to the upside, and some will surprise to the downside,” the letter explained. Related: Breaking: FTX’s Binance rescue deal falls apart in less than 48 hoursSequoia added that it would communicate its next movements to its partners when more information becomes available. Sequoia Capital currently has about $85 billion of assets under management, and has previously made early investments in tech giants Apple and Google and more recently Airbnb.

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FTX website comes back online with message advising against deposits

FTX website comes back online with message advising against deposits

Uverejnil používateľ | nov 10, 2022 |

Financially-troubled crypto exchange FTX has brought its website back online following a period of intermittent downtime — with the trading platform now sporting a banner confirming withdrawals are halted and advising users against depositing.The FTX website returned online at approximately 9:00 pm UTC  on Nov. 9, after encountering five separate periods of network downtime spanning over two hours, according to the “IS IT DOWN OR JUST ME” website.The crypto community on Twitter has also noticed a new bright red banner that can be seen throughout the website that reads: “FTX is currently unable to process withdrawals. We strongly advise against depositing.”FTX’s notification on deposits and withdrawals on the trading platform. Source: FTX.comA pinned message on the official FTX Telegram Group on Nov. 8 also confirmed the halting of withdrawals, without any estimates about when they would return. “We are waiting for confirmation from our team to ramp it up. Right now we dont have an ETA but surely will communicate it as soon as we have it,” a member of FTX support staff wrote in the message. Attempting to sign up for a new account on the website also comes with an alert that “signups are paused” at this current time, Cointelegraph has discovered.This suggests that deposits, while “strongly advised against,” are only accessible to those who have existing accounts on the trading platform.[embedded content]Meanwhile, two websites linked to the crypto exchange including Alameda Research and FTX Ventures remain down at the time of writing.Related: Binance’s victory over FTX means more users moving away from central exchangesIt comes amid an ongoing liquidity crisis being faced by the crypto exchange. A Nov. 9 report from the Wall Street Journal claims that the exchange is facing a shortfall of $8 billion, and is unable to meet withdrawal demands without emergency funding.Binance initially signed a non-binding letter of intent to buy out the embattled exchange but pulled out less than 48 hours later, citing the mishandling of customer funds and alleged U.S. agency investigations as the reasons for its change in decision.Google search results for “FTX website” also saw a large spike over the last few hours following the reports that the FTX website was intermittently going down, according to Google Trends:Google searches for “FTX website'” over the last seven days. Source: Google Trends

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Middle East, Asia and Africa blockchain association launches in Abu Dhabi

Middle East, Asia and Africa blockchain association launches in Abu Dhabi

Uverejnil používateľ | nov 9, 2022 |

A new blockchain and cryptocurrency-focused association has been launched within Abu Dhabi’s free economic zone that aims to further the development of blockchain and crypto ecosystems across the Middle Eastern, North Africa, and Asian regions.The Middle East, Africa & Asia Crypto & Blockchain Association (MEAACBA) was officially launched on Nov. 8 in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), a free economic zone based in the center of the city subject to its own set of civil and commercial laws. The zone was designed to further the growth of fintech companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).The non-profit organization will aim to facilitate regulatory solutions, create commercial opportunities and invest in education to support industry growth, according to its website.The association will be spearheaded by board chairman Jehanzeb Awan, founder of an international risk and compliance consulting firm headquartered in Dubai. Other supporting the association include Binance’s regional head of Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Richard Teng, Crypto.com’s GM of Middle East and Africa Stuart Isted, and Ola Doudin, the CEO of BitOasis, a cryptocurrency exchange in the region.Awan said he hopes the organization will bring about a collaborative and community-based approach to further industry growth in the MENA region and “create wide-reaching benefits for this highly dynamic and exciting space.”“The industry will benefit from the Association as it provides a coordination mechanism between regulators, government agencies, banks, legal, tax, and advisory firms to address the most pressing challenges,” he added.ADGM’s Chairman Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi also stated that MEAACBA’s addition would contribute to a much more “progressive financial sector” in the region.Related: UAE Web3 ecosystem houses almost 1.5K active organizations: ReportMEAACBA’s launch comes as the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) — the financial regulator of ADGM’s free economic zone — published a set of “Guiding Principles” on its approach to navigate the regulatory complexities brought to it by the digital asset industry in September.The principles are said to be “crypto-friendly” whilst still complying with some of the strict international standards on Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Terrorism Financing (CFT) by the United Nations.The MENA region is also the fastest-growing cryptocurrency market in the world according to a recent study. During a 12-month stretch from Jul. 2021 and Jun. 2022, transaction volume in MENA reached $566 billion, an increase of 48% from the previous 12 months. The use case for cryptocurrencies in many of these emerging markets has come in the form of savings preservation and remittance payments to counter the effects of inflation in highly unstable economies.

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Binance Proof-of-Reserve pledge gains support following FTX crisis

Binance Proof-of-Reserve pledge gains support following FTX crisis

Uverejnil používateľ | nov 9, 2022 |

Following the liquidity crisis and acquisition of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said his exchange will soon start a Proof-of-Reserves audit system to allow verification of its digital asset holdings.In a Nov. 8 Twitter post, Zhao pledged to implement a Proof-of-Reserve mechanism at Binance to provide “full transparency” through the use of Merkle Trees — a data structure used to encode blockchain data more efficiently and securely.All crypto exchanges should do merkle-tree proof-of-reserves. Banks run on fractional reserves. Crypto exchanges should not.@Binance will start to do proof-of-reserves soon. Full transparency.— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) November 8, 2022A Proof-of-Reserve audit is ordinarily conducted by an independent third party to ensure the custodian’s assets are owned as claimed.The Binance CEO’s intention to implement Proof-of-Reserves comes after Binance agreed to buy rival cryptocurrency exchange FTX on Nov. 8, who’s been rumored to be on the brink of financial collapse despite CEO Sam Bankman-Fried initially dismissing the claims. Cointelegraph contacted Binance to confirm if the exchange had begun implementing a Proof-of-Reserve system but did not immediately receive a response.Chainlink (LINK) CEO Sergey Nazarov expressed his views in a Nov. 8 tweet that a cryptographic-based Proof-of-Reserves mechanism could paint investors with a more clear picture of the solvency situation of a trading venue or financial firm, and “is becoming the new industry standard.”It is clear that cryptographically proving the solvency of trading venues and financial institutions is becoming the new industry standard. Proof of Reserves is a great example of a cryptographically guaranteed financial world that starts in crypto going on to mainstream finance. https://t.co/eZw1pj5706— Sergey Nazarov (@SergeyNazarov) November 8, 2022

Meanwhile, crypto exchange Kraken has already implemented its “advanced cryptographic accounting procedure” to allow users to verify their token balances since Feb. 2022. Crypto exchange OKX also announced its plans to roll out a Merkle tree-based Proof-of-Reserves audit system in a Nov. 8 Twitter post —- something they consider to be an “important step” in establishing a “baseline trust” in the industry. Related: Binance’s FTX acquisition seen as chess move by crypto communityThe idea of more Proof-of-Reserve audits received near-full backing from the Twitter community, with crypto industry figures weighing in on the move by Binance.Host of The Daily Gwei podcast, Anthony Sassano, and founder of open-source crypto exchange ShapeShift, Erik Voorhees, both suggested Proof-of-Reserves are already integrated into decentralized finance (DeFi) and automated by smart contracts.Transparent proof-of-reserves:✅ Wild West Defi❌ Regulated and Compliant Centralized Exchanges https://t.co/T8QxZ4VOTE— Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) November 7, 2022

The founder of crypto market intelligence platform Messari, Ryan Selkis, took things one step further, arguing that regulators should direct their attention to focus on the more centralized players in the industry.The fact we are debating DeFi protocol regulation before responsible disclosures like proof-of-reserves and liquidity from the mega-funds like a16z and Alameda shows just how far off the ball we are on policy right now.— Ryan Selkis (@twobitidiot) November 8, 2022

But not all agreed. Antonio Juliano, founder of crypto derivatives trading platform dYdX argued that a Proof-of-Reserves wouldn’t disclose all necessary information needed to verify an exchange’s holdings. The issue is that CEXs *can’t* do proof of reservesSo what if you show a wallet with $20B? How do you know the sum of user balances isn’t $30B?How do you know if the entity has outstanding loans? How do you know what contracts they’ve entered into? https://t.co/lbL6YGD5Ze— Antonio | dYdX (@AntonioMJuliano) November 8, 2022

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