Autor Cointelegraph By Sam Bourgi

Celo ecosystem projects raise $77.3M in support of interoperability, ReFi

Celo ecosystem projects raise $77.3M in support of interoperability, ReFi

Uverejnil používateľ | okt 27, 2022 |

Projects building on the Celo blockchain have collectively raised $77.3 million in support of various business initiatives, underscoring the growing adoption of the payments-focused developer network. Celo announced Thursday that projects impactMarket, Loam, Tatum, Circular Impact, Sanergy, Hyperlane, RedStone and Jia had secured the funding to further the adoption of Web3 business models. The biggest raise came from blockchain development platform and early Celo Foundation grant recipient Tatum, which secured $41.5 million. Hyperlane, an interchain communication protocol focused on interoperability, secured $18.5 million in seed funding led by venture firm Variant. Projects focused on regenerative finance (ReFi), including impactMarket, Loam and Sanergy, raised a combined $6 million. ReFi is an emerging paradigm within the crypto community focused on using blockchain and Web3 technology to address environmental and social issues. On the decentralized finance (DeFi) side, RedStone secured $7 million and Jia added $4.3 million in pre-seed funding.Celo was founded in 2017 by former GoDaddy executives Rene Reinsberg and Marek Olszewski. The Celo platform provides payment infrastructure for digital assets through the use of mobile devices, with phone numbers acting as a proxy for private keys. In 2018, the company raised $6.5 million with backing from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and Citigroup chairman Dick Parsons, among others. Related: FTX and Visa partner to permit crypto payments in 40 countriesWhile crypto remains in a bear market, blockchain developers continue to attract venture financing in aniticpation of growing ecosystem adoption in the future. Andreessen Horowitz, one of the biggest investors in the space, remains committed to the crypto sector despite incurring billions of dollars in short-term losses due to the bear market. 

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Fireblocks launches crypto payment engine with Checkout.com and Worldpay as pilot partners

Fireblocks launches crypto payment engine with Checkout.com and Worldpay as pilot partners

Uverejnil používateľ | okt 24, 2022 |

Following a successful pilot phase, digital asset custody platform Fireblocks has launched its new payment engine for merchants, opening up pathways for businesses to settle and accept cryptocurrency transactions across jurisdictions. Fireblocks’ new Payments Engine is said to provide “turnkey solutions” for businesses that want to integrate digital assets into their operations, the company announced Monday. The platform allows payment service providers to incorporate new crypto payment rails and accept, settle and process digital asset transactions instantly. The platform also supports cross-border internal settlement, micropayments and merchant adoption with lower processing fees. Ran Goldi, Fireblocks’ vice president of payments, told Cointelegraph that the solution is “token-agnostic,” meaning that payment service providers can incorporate whatever type of digital assets they want. “They can use any of the 42 blockchains and 1,300+ tokens that Fireblocks supports,” he said. Goldi also clarified that, due to a confluence of factors, including regulatory changes, stablecoins have emerged as the front runner for digital asset payments. Payments Engine was piloted by payments processor Checkout.com, which settled $1 billion in merchant transactions using the solution. On Monday, Fireblocks announced that FIS, the world’s largest merchant acquirer, would also begin piloting the solution. FIS manages Worldpay, a multi-billion-dollar payment processing company it acquired in 2019. [embedded content]Fireblocks expanded its infrastructure offerings to include crypto payments when it acquired First Diigtal, a stablecoin settlement platform, in February 2022. As reported by Cointelegraph, the estimated $100 million acquisition allowed Fireblocks to add business-to-business, business-to-consumer and cross-border payment support services. The acquisition came at a time when more retailers were signaling their intent to adopt crypto payment services shortly. A survey of 2,000 senior retail executives in the United States conducted by Deloitte in December 2021 revealed that 75% of respondents were planning to accept both stablecoin and cryptocurrency payments within 24 months. Related: Walmart CTO says crypto will become a ‘major’ payments disruptorMeanwhile, a 2022 study of merchants with an annual income of at least $1 billion revealed that the vast majority of businesses were already pivoting to digital assets. The survey, which was conducted by PYMNTS and Bitpay, found that 85% of merchants were looking to adopt crypto payments to grow their customer base.On the topic of merchant adoption, Goldi said those using crypto payments generally fall into two camps: crypto natives and traditional merchants. Crypto native merchants “are used to handling crypto on a day-to-day basis and most likely have vendors who are willing to accept crypto as payment,” he said. “Traditional merchants are curious and interested in leveraging crypto. They understand the benefits and are now trying to figure out how to incorporate the technology into their legacy systems.”

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VC Roundup: Web3 dev, EVM sharding and crypto banking headline blockchain funding deals

VC Roundup: Web3 dev, EVM sharding and crypto banking headline blockchain funding deals

Uverejnil používateľ | okt 22, 2022 |

Web3 dominance within crypto funding rounds has been well documented by Cointelegraph Research. In addition to the Web3 mega funds announced recently, venture capital has also been making smaller, more targeted investments in the sector. In this week’s Venture Capital (VC) Roundup, we chronicle the latest Web3 funding initiatives and draw attention to a sharding platform, nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace, crypto banking solution and co-ownership infrastructure provider. Related: Blockchain games and metaverse projects raised $1.3B in Q3: DappRadarGamers, athletes and content creators back WWVentures WWVentures, a boutique crypto venture firm, has raised $15 million for its Web3 fund — putting the company on track to invest in metaverse, decentralized finance and blockchain gaming startups. The funding round was backed by a slew of notable gamers, content creators and athletes, including former UFC Champion Michael Bisping and Trent Alexander Arnold of Liverpool F.C. The fund will focus exclusively on startups with a “community-first approach” to development and will aid their growth through social capital and community-building support. Happy to be involved with this project and a proud investor. Let’s go! @WW_Ventures https://t.co/q6td5fiDna— michael (@bisping) September 27, 2022Scalability-focused blockchain raises $18.2MEthereum Virtual Machine-based blockchain Shardeum has received $18.2 million in seed funding from over 50 investors, including venture firms Jane Street, The Spartan Group and DFG. Shardeum is a proof-of-stake network focused on solving one of blockchain’s biggest pain points: scalability. As the name implies, the platform uses sharding — a type of database partitioning — to increase throughput capacity. Shardeum claims that its scaling capacity is superior to other layer-1 blockchains. Avalanche-native platform rises $6M for NFT marketplaceMyna Swap, a luxury collectible marketplace that allows users to convert their physical assets into digital twins via NFTs, has raised $6 million in seed funding. Investors include Polygon Studios, Blizzard Avalanche Fund, Spartan Capital and Wave Financial. The platform, which offers trading and vaulting services, is geared toward collectors of sneakers, sports cards and watches and was built on the Avalanche blockchain. Myna Swap is set for launch later this year. Alexis Ohanian backs Antic in $7M raiseWeb3 co-ownership infrastructure provider Antic has raised $7 million in funding led by Sheva and Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six venture studio, with additional participation from Pantera Capital, Sound Ventures and Dapper Labs. Antic described co-ownership technology as an emerging concept within the Web3 community that allows companies to establish blockchain-based ownership models more easily. Crypto banking platform closes $18M Series AWeb3 banking platform Juno has raised $18 million in Series A funding led by ParaFi Capital, with additional participation from Hashed, Jump Crypto and others. Juno provides a crypto-native checking account that allows users to bank with their digital assets more easily. Following the investment round, Juno is planning to expand its product offerings and launch a tokenized loyalty program that allows users to earn coins for taking their paycheck in crypto or spending digital assets with their Juno card. Related: FTX and Visa partner to permit crypto payments in 40 countriesWintermute Labs leads Zerion funding roundWeb3 wallet and DeFi aggregator Zerion has closed a $12.3 million Series B funding round led by Wintermute Labs, the venture arm of liquidity provider Wintermute. Zerion will use the funding to further develop its Web3 wallet by integrating advanced data and enabling better cross-chain identity management for Ethereum-compatible blockchains. Zerion claims that its trading volume has grown from $47 million in 2019 to more than $1.5 billion. The growth of the Web3 VC industry is showing no signs of slowing down. Polygon founder Sandeep Nailwal is the latest to join the party after raising $50 million for a new startup fund. https://t.co/XqEuvk5PV3— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) August 25, 2022

thirdweb lands $24M from major VC investorsWeb3 developer platform thirdweb achieved a lofty valuation of $160 million following its Series A funding round that landed the company $24 million. The Series A funding was led by Haun Ventures and included several notable investors such as Coinbase Ventures, Shopify, Polygon and Protocol Labs. Founded in 2021, thirdweb is developing the infrastructure layer for Web3 that could enable more seamless app development across blockchains.

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Crypto Biz: Bear market claims another casualty

Crypto Biz: Bear market claims another casualty

Uverejnil používateľ | okt 21, 2022 |

Three Arrows Capital. Celsius. Voyager Digital. The list of crypto bankruptcies, shutdowns and trading freezes has been endless in 2022. And the year isn’t over yet. This week, German crypto bank Nuri urged its users to withdraw funds ahead of the company’s planned shutdown in December — at least Nuri’s users were given proper notice. The crypto bear has been relentlessly cleansing the market of excess, leverage, poor risk management and outright scams. If industry prognosticators are to be taken seriously, the market could see one final capitulation before conditions begin to improve. This week’s Crypto Biz chronicles Nuri’s shutdown, the latest drama surrounding Voyager Digital and Silvergate Capital’s difficult quarter. German crypto bank Nuri tells 500K users to withdraw funds ahead of shutdownAfter disclosing liquidity issues in August, Nuri informed its 500,000 users this week that it would cease operations on Dec. 18. That gives users two months to withdraw their funds before the company unwinds its operations due to the bear market. Nuri CEO Kristina Mayer assured users that “All assets in your Nuri account are safe and unaffected by Nuri’s insolvency.” Nuri going bust isn’t good for the industry, but they handled it much better than Celsius, which locked user withdrawals before filing for bankruptcy. Nuri is closing down its business operations. We ask our customers to withdraw their funds and assets as of 18.12.2022. Thank you for having been part of the Nuri community! Here is a letter of our CEO Kristina Walcker-Mayer: https://t.co/gdOOeoOKDs— Nuri (@NuriBanking) October 18, 2022Voyager Digital won’t sue its executives for incompetence, will claim insurance on themThe Voyager Digital saga took another surprising turn this week after the company opted not to sue its executives for incompetence for their role in facilitating the Three Arrows Capital debacle (and Voyager’s in the process). For those not up-to-date on the drama: Voyager issued a $675 million loan to Three Arrows Capital without proper due diligence. That loan was never paid back and became a key element in Voyager’s bankruptcy. So, why aren’t the executives being sued? According to reports, they received immunity from the lawsuit when Voyager’s assets were acquired by FTX US via auction in late September. Y’all. Voyager Digital filed an amended disclosure statement today in its chapter 11 bankruptcy case and its disclosure about 3AC is F*CKING bonkers. pic.twitter.com/zxYFmouerS— PETITION (@petition) October 18, 2022

Silvergate Capital’s crypto-to-fiat transfers decrease by $50B compared with Q3 2021Few stats convey just how brutal crypto winter has been than Silvergate Capital’s crypto-to-fiat transfers. The company disclosed this week that transfers on its network plunged by $50 billion year-over-year in Q3, which is an alarming sign for those banking on crypto mass adoption among financial institutions. But, there was a silver lining: Silvergate’s profits rose 84% year-over-year to $43.328 million. Investors responded to the news by dumping Silvergate shares, which plunged 20% on Oct. 18. Binance launches $500M lending project to support crypto minersCrypto exchange Binance is launching a new $500 million lending project to finance cash-strapped Bitcoin (BTC) miners during the bear market. The new Binance Pool will give miners access to loans over an 18-to-24-month term, where they will pay 5% to 10% in interest and put up physical or digital assets as security. Only “blue-chip” miners can qualify for the loan. “One of the requirements is that the applicant must be classified as a Binance VIP user and connect at least 500 PH/s to the Binance Pool for a minimum of 24 months after the loan is issued,” a Binance spokesperson told Cointelegraph. Before you go: When will the crypto bear market end?Are you sick and tired of the crypto bear market? How much longer until the market turns? While nobody has a crystal ball, I remain steadfast in my belief that Bitcoin will likely see a cyclical bottom in the next few months, followed by a prolonged accumulation phase. In this week’s Market Report, I sat down with fellow analysts Marcel Pechman and Benton Yaun to discuss crypto’s short-term outlook. You can watch the full replay below.[embedded content]Crypto Biz is your weekly pulse of the business behind blockchain and crypto delivered directly to your inbox every Thursday.

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ShapeShift moves closer to full decentralization with open-source mobile app

ShapeShift moves closer to full decentralization with open-source mobile app

Uverejnil používateľ | okt 19, 2022 |

ShapeShift, a noncustodial crypto exchange and decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), has taken additional steps toward complete decentralization by migrating users to a new open-source application — a move the organization said would enhance user mobility.The organization announced that as of Oct. 19, all native web users of the ShapeShift platform have migrated to a decentralized version of the application. The announcement also coincided with the release of a new mobile app that the organization said would provide an “authentic DeFi universe” experience. The new mobile app is said to provide users with additional flexibility, mobility and features when connecting their wallets and trading crypto. Willy Orgorzaly, who heads decentralization for the Fox Foundation — which oversees the ShapeShift DAO — said the mobile app is “fully open source” and that “the only backend is blockchain data,” which is also in the process of being decentralized. As part of its decentralization efforts, ShapeShift has expanded user options for investing and managing digital assets. It has also pledged to permanently erase users’ data once the company’s centralized infrastructure is fully wound down. Self-custody.Decentralization.Immutability.Each requires the former. This is the way.— Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) June 16, 2021As reported by Cointelegraph, ShapeShift announced its plans to decentralize its entire operations in July 2021. The decentralization pledge also included a massive airdrop of FOX tokens, the native asset of the ShapeShift platform, to over 1 million users. In the following months, the organization issued multiple airdrops and fully open-sourced its v2 platform code. Related: Tech’s good intentions and why Satoshi’s new ‘social order’ founderedWhile decentralization has been at the heart of the Bitcoin (BTC) revolution, the crypto industry does not uniformly accept the concept or apply it effectively. New efforts to promote decentralization have emerged within Web3, a broad concept that refers to some future iteration of the internet.

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