Autor Cointelegraph By Brian Quarmby

Colorful billionaire’s Dubai real estate firm now accepts BTC and ETH

Colorful billionaire’s Dubai real estate firm now accepts BTC and ETH

Uverejnil používateľ | apr 28, 2022 |

Multi-billion dollar Dubai-based real estate developer DAMAC Properties has started accepting Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) payments for its luxury abodes. DAMAC Properties was founded by colorful billionaire Hussain Sajwani in 2002, and the firm has conducted business throughout the middle east, Canada and the U.K. It also owns high-end fashion and jewelry brands Roberto Cavalli and De-Grisgono. Sajwani is known for extravagant marketing tactics such as giving away free Lamborghinis to property buyers. He also teamed up with Donald Trump in 2013 to launch multiple Trump-branded golf courses in Dubai. The firm, valued at roughly $2.1 billion, may be looking at crypto as a way to attract some attention after a couple of underwhelming years. DAMAC reportedly posted net revenues of $816 million in 2021, but overall saw a net loss of $144.6 million amid a year plagued by the global pandemic. The year prior the firm’s losses also tallied $176 million. According to an April 27 announcement, alongside accepting payments in BTC and ETH, the firm will also facilitate the conversion to fiat for the seller if needed. DAMAC’s general manager of operations Ali Sajwani noted that the firm is paying particular focus to evolving technology such as crypto: “It is crucial for global businesses like ours to stay at the top of evolution. Offering yet another transactional mode is exciting, and we are glad to recognize the value this technology brings to our customers.”DAMAC also highlighted that Dubai is “becoming a crypto hub” thanks to the government’s crypto-friendly regulations and virtual asset licenses, with top exchanges such as Bybit, Binance and FTX Europe all recently setting up shop there. Kraken also obtained a license earlier this week. The firm noted that it is keen on “fueling” Dubai’s ambitions by rolling out further crypto initiatives.Related: Web3 solutions aim to make America’s real estate market more accessibleSajwani also noted in February that the company holds ambitious plans to launch its own NFT-backed Metaverse platform. “So, while most use the term Metaverse loosely we think it is much more and we have come up with a solution where we bridge the physical and digital assets to allow for cross-utilization.”“We have formulated a solution to integrate the different platforms under DAMAC, whether real estate, fashion, jewelry bringing all onto the metaverse,” he added.

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Robinhood axes almost 1 in 10 staff members as stock hits all-time low

Robinhood axes almost 1 in 10 staff members as stock hits all-time low

Uverejnil používateľ | apr 27, 2022 |

Popular retail trading platform Robinhood has fired 9% of its workforce amid a firesale of its stock that has seen HOOD plunge to all-time lows. In the past 30 days alone, HOOD has tanked roughly 38% to sit at $9.99 at the time of writing, marking the lowest price since the initial public offering (IPO) launch in mid-2021. The decline is part of a longer-term bearish trend that has seen the price of HOOD continually decrease since its all-time high of roughly $70.39 on Aug. 4 2021 according to TradingView. Robinhood publicly announced its staff readjustment via an April 26 blog post by CEO and co-founder Vlad Tenev. He noted that after going through a “period of hyper-growth” between 2020 and H1 2021, the firm’s headcount had increased nearly six times, from 700 to nearly 3800 employees. However, Tenev suggested that too many job roles at the company have since become unnecessary, stating that: “This rapid headcount growth has led to some duplicate roles and job functions, and more layers and complexity than are optimal. After carefully considering all these factors, we determined that making these reductions to Robinhood’s staff is the right decision to improve efficiency.”“We will retain and continue to hire exceptional talent in key roles and provide additional learning and career growth opportunities for our employees,” he added. Related: Robinhood CEO outlines how DOGE could become ‘currency of the internet’Crypto to help drive the recovery?Moving forward, Robinhood stated in the announcement that it is positioned well for the future with more than $6 billion worth of cash on its balance sheet, while also noting that it will continue to introduce “key new products across Brokerage, Crypto, and Spending/Saving” in 2022. The firm’s total revenue last year totaled $1.82 billion, up 89% compared to 2020, and a significant part of Robinhood’s performance was due to revenue generated from crypto services.Crypto transaction revenue totalled $419 million in 2021 marking a whopping 1451% increase compared to the year prior. In Q2 2021 in particular, crypto accounted for 41% of Robinhood’s total revenue, however it’s worth noting that the figure dropped down to around 13% by Q4. Robinhood doesn’t appear to be losing interest in the sector this year however, and has made many moves geared towards expanding its crypto offerings of late. On April 19, Cointelegraph reported that Robinhood acquired British crypto-asset firm Ziglu to help its expansion plans into U.K. and European markets, something which Tenev highlighted will “continue to accelerate” this year. Earlier this month, Robinhood also rolled out its highly anticipated crypto wallet to 2 million waitlisted users, outlined plans to integrate the Lighting Network, and it listed Shiba Inu (SHIB) after months of campaigning from its supporters.

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SkyBridge goes all in on crypto, betting on ‘tremendous growth’ ahead

SkyBridge goes all in on crypto, betting on ‘tremendous growth’ ahead

Uverejnil používateľ | apr 25, 2022 |

SkyBridge Capital is working on pivoting the majority of its assets under management (AUM) to digital assets, as the sector represents “tremendous growth” for the firm. The hedge fund was founded by former U.S. politician Anthony Scaramucci in 2005, and first delved into Bitcoin (BTC) in late 2020. The firm also has money deployed in other hedge funds, late-stage private tech companies and real estate, with its total AUM reported being around $7.3 billion. Skybridge now manages a $7 million Bitcoin Fund among others and has been actively working to get a spot BTC exchange-traded fund (ETF) approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Speaking with Bloomberg in the lead up to the annual SkyBridge Alternatives Conference (SALT) this week, Scaramucci said that the firm is repositioning itself to “eventually be a leading cryptocurrency asset manager and adviser”“We made a decision during the pandemic that we had to relitigate our entire portfolio. There’s a pre-pandemic world and a post-pandemic world, and a post-pandemic world has a lot more government deficits—it has a lot more uncertainty related to growth.”“For us, we think the cryptocurrency markets represent tremendous growth. It comes with volatility, certainly, but I think over the three to five years, we’d like that trajectory,” he added. SkyBridge’s director of business development John Darsie noted that the firm’s growing focus on crypto was brought about due to a “huge drawdown in the credit portion” of the firm’s hedge fund manager portfolio. Seeking out investments in stronger growth-oriented managers, the firm is now looking for allocations across many crypto assets and blockchain projects, with Darsie noting that the SkyBridge is “extremely bullish on the sector.”“What we decided to do was a portion of that capital that was previously allocated to credit managers was invested directly into crypto assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum—but then also rotate capital into crypto-asset managers like Multicoin, Polychain, Pantera, people of that nature,” he said. The bullish comments come just weeks after Scaramucci noted that the blockchain industry has a very bright future, but was concerned by some “absolutely despicable” U.S. politicians that could hamper the growth of the local sector. Related: GBTC premium nears 2022 high as SEC faces call to approve Bitcoin ETFSpeaking on the SEC with Bloomberg however, Scaramucci seemed relatively optimistic that the agency will approve a spot BTC ETF once a few more factors fall into place, while also noting that its application denial in January was not necessarily “specific” to them. “I think the SEC is taking the position that because the cash trading of Bitcoin is happening all over the world, that they don’t have a one-market clearing for all buys and sells. So they’re worried about price manipulation.” “But over time, because of the transparency of the markets, I think they’re going to get more comfortable with it,” he added.

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Columbia Uni professor heads up a16z's new crypto research unit

Columbia Uni professor heads up a16z's new crypto research unit

Uverejnil používateľ | apr 22, 2022 |

Theoretical computer scientist and Columbia University professor Tim Roughgarden has been appointed the head of Andreessen Horowitz’s (a16z) new crypto research unit. Roughgarden’s resume includes more than three years as a professor of computer science at Columbia University in New York, along with a 14-year stint at Stanford. He has also served as a research partner at a16z since February last year. a16z is one of the most active venture capital firms in crypto, with its funds reportedly worth around $9 billion. Partly guided by the firm’s new unit which was announced earlier today, Roughgarden has stated that its funding into crypto research will grow by “many multiples of the next couple of years.”“We’re currently in a particular moment in time, witnessing a new multidisciplinary field (spurred by web3) blossom before our eyes. There are enormous opportunities to shape this field through research and education.”8/ As a research lab within a VC firm, a16z crypto research represents a new funding model for basic research—one that seems obvious in hindsight (with the long-term focus necessary for fundamental research already hard-wired into the firm’s business model).— Tim Roughgarden (@Tim_Roughgarden) April 21, 2022The firm highlighted Roughgarden’s experience in computer science, research and economics, along with his crypto and blockchain course at Columbia as one of the “best and most popular” introductions to crypto online. Roughgarden was one of the first to provide a formal analysis on the fee mechanism for Ethereum’s EIP-1559 upgrade. According to a16z, the research team will form a multidisciplinary lab that will work with the companies in its portfolio and others to solve “the important problems in the space,” increase user adoption and advance Web3 science and technology. Stanford University professor of computer science and electrical engineering Dan Boneh will also be joining Roughgarden as the senior research advisor. Boneh has worked with a16z for the past four years as a portfolio research advisor and also teaches applied cryptography at the Stanford Center for Blockchain Research. Major announcement from us today: we’re launching a16z crypto research to advance the science and technology of the next generation of the internet, led by the incomparable @Tim_Roughgarden https://t.co/KtvmP7fSkh— cdixon.eth (@cdixon) April 21, 2022

The firm noted that “new entrepreneurial idea for a Web3 application or protocol tends to uncover fresh research challenges” that are extremely important to solve in order to solidify the future of blockchain and crypto. Such challenges include the scaling and development of infrastructure, tokenomics that benefit all participants, and methods to build token economies in Web3 applications such as social media and gaming.“With the advent of Ethereum and other blockchains that are fully programmable, web3 has unlocked an extremely rich design space for innovation. It’s a space that we’ve only just begun to explore.”Related: a16z’s Chris Dixon tops ‘Midas List’ by turning $350M into $6B in 2021

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3 questions on financial literacy Bitcoiners flunk: Bank of Canada

3 questions on financial literacy Bitcoiners flunk: Bank of Canada

Uverejnil používateľ | apr 22, 2022 |

A study from the Bank of Canada found that Bitcoiners on average have lower financial literacy than those who don’t own Bitcoin (BTC). The study was compiled from four years of annual surveys from 2016 to 2020, with the sample sizes ranging anywhere from 1,987 to 3,893 respondents. The Bank of Canada’s full study is titled “Bitcoin Awareness, Ownership and Use: 2016-20” and was published on April 19. A key conclusion from the study was that: “Bitcoin owners displayed greater knowledge about the Bitcoin network than nonowners, yet they scored lower on questions testing financial literacy.”However the financial literacy testing was based on just three multiple choic questions that focused on interest rates, inflation and stock/mutual fund comprehension. The three Bitcoin questions focused on supply, the digital ledger and whether the network is backed by the government or not. Given the limited number of questions the idea they can accurately gauge someone’s financial literacy is arguable. On the other hand, the questions are pretty easy.Questions on financial literacy and Bitcoin: Bank of CanadaThe Bank of Canada’s researchers emphasized that the “interaction between financial literacy and participation in the market for crypto assets” is important to explore, as there are many risks associated with the sector that could be potentially avoided via further education. BitcoinersThe data found that over the four years, the average Bitcoin hodler fell in the demographic of young males aged between 18-and 34, and men accounted for at least double the number of women each year. The  gender gap has been a long-running and widely reported subject in crypto’s short history. “Overall, marginal effects are consistent with descriptive findings already discussed. We find that the probability of Bitcoin ownership decreases with being female, older and unemployed, but increases with education,” the report reads. In terms of a specific type of Bitcoin hodler, the report suggests that young educated men who scored low on financial literacy but earned more than $70,000 were the most typical type: “In particular, Canadians who were young, male, employed, had a university degree, high household income and relatively low financial literacy were more likely to own Bitcoin.”Related: 3.6M Americans to use crypto to make a purchase in 2022, research firm predictsNon-bitcoinersOn the other end of the spectrum, those that scored high on financial literacy were “more likely to be aware of Bitcoin but less likely to own it.”Notably, the reasons offered in the study for not owning Bitcoin that polled the most each year weren’t necessarily anti-Bitcoin, with a lack of understanding and current payment methods being satisfactory being the main answers. After those two reasons, the next highest reason each year was that respondents didn’t “trust a private currency that is not backed by a government.”“We find that between 2018 and 2020, the level of Bitcoin awareness and ownership among Canadians remained stable: nearly 90% of the population were aware of Bitcoin, while only 5% owned it.”An individual survey from this study dubbed “Cash Alternative Survey” was previously reported on by Cointelegraph, with the report suggesting that Canadians with a lower level of understanding of finance could be twice as likely to invest in crypto.

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