Blockchain & Digital Assets

February 16, 2023 @ 6:48 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Ironblocks, the “first-ever” blockchain-native cybersecurity platform, announced today that it has raised $7 million in seed funding. This investment round is “co-led by Collider Ventures and Disruptive AI, with additional participants including ParaFi; Quantstamp; Samsung Next; Balaji Srinivasan, ex-CTO of Coinbase and former general partner… Read More

February 15, 2023 @ 2:37 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

VRRB Labs, a decentralized protocol that combines speed, scalability, and decentralization without sacrificing security, announced that it has raised $1.4 million in pre-seed funding to support its development of “an innovative blockchain that will make it easy and financially sustainable for developers to build user-friendly… Read More

February 15, 2023 @ 12:35 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at Coinmetro has announced that their firm has acquired Ignium.io, a blockchain-native fundraising platform for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), for EUR 4 mil.” Ignium was “created to address the pressing issue of 60 million small businesses world-wide lacking optimum financial services.” The… Read More

February 15, 2023 @ 6:54 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has used its powers “to enter and inspect several sites around Leeds suspected of hosting illegally operated crypto ATMs.” The FCA gathered evidence from several sites “around the city as part of a joint operation with West Yorkshire Police’s Digital… Read More

February 14, 2023 @ 9:53 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

In line with the vision of H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Presidential Court, and Chairman of the Central Bank of the UAE’s (CBUAE) Board of Directors, the CBUAE launched its Financial Infrastructure Transformation Program (FIT program)… Read More

February 14, 2023 @ 3:19 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Bakkt Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: BKKT) announced that it is “furthering its focus on providing scalable business-to-business technology solutions and will be sunsetting its consumer-facing app.” Bakkt will “continue its core focus of providing businesses with crypto and loyalty experiences for their customers through SaaS and… Read More

February 14, 2023 @ 3:08 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

T-Systems and Commerzbank have signed a cooperation agreement “for collaboration in the industrial sector.” Together, the two companies are “developing a solution for fully automated supply chains with integrated financial services.” The Telekom subsidiary and the Frankfurt-based bank are “employing technologies such as 5G campus… Read More

February 14, 2023 @ 10:17 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Coincover announced $30M in funding, “led by Silicon Valley’s Foundation Capital with follow-on investment from CMT digital.” The fresh capital will “accelerate recruitment, product updates, and partnerships to safeguard the crypto ecosystem – preventing, compensating, and protecting against crypto threats.” Founded in 2018 and launched… Read More

February 14, 2023 @ 8:30 am By JD Alois  |  

tZERO, perhaps best known for pursuing a digital asset marketplace for regulated securities as well as certain cryptocurrencies, is going all in on digital securities. First, as was recently reported, tZERO is no longer pursuing crypto trading. This is probably a savvy move in the… Read More

February 13, 2023 @ 1:47 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

As more of the crypto ecosystem adopts proof of stake over the more energy-intensive proof of work protocol, crypto users around the world are “being introduced to the benefits of ‘staking,” according to an update from Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN). Paul Grewal, Chief Legal Officer at Coinbase,… Read More

February 13, 2023 @ 12:57 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

FalconX, a digital assets platform for institutional investors, announced that Baris Cetinok has joined the team as Chief Product Officer. As a product and technology veteran with more than 25 years of experience, Cetinok has played an integral role in “shaping important business initiatives and… Read More

February 13, 2023 @ 11:47 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Paxos, the regulated blockchain and tokenization infrastructure platform, announced it will end its relationship with Binance “for the branded stablecoin BUSD.” Effective February 21, Paxos will “cease issuance of new BUSD tokens as directed by and working in close coordination with the New York Department… Read More

February 13, 2023 @ 11:37 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Archax, the first FCA-regulated digital securities exchange broker and custodian, announced a partnership with ScribeStar, the digital capital markets documentation and compliance platform, in order “to create a fully digital issuance and admissions experience for companies accessing the Archax markets.” Archax’s institutional-grade, regulated exchange and… Read More

February 13, 2023 @ 10:21 am By JD Alois  |  

The SEC’s takedown of Kraken’s staking service continues to generate after-shocks as the digital asset industry ponders its ability to provide services to US customers. Kraken paid a $30 million penalty to make the issue go away without admitting or denying any guilt regarding the… Read More

February 13, 2023 @ 9:15 am By JD Alois  |  

Bitpanda, launched in Austria but now serving a broader European market, has set up a holding company in Switzerland, according to a report. Bitpanda provides both a labeled and white-labeled Fintech as a service platform offering crypto trading, payments as well as traditional investments. Bitpanda… Read More

February 12, 2023 @ 9:58 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

BANXA Holdings Inc. (TSXV:BNXA), the on-and-off ramp solution for Web3, announced an integration with ConsenSys’ self-custody Web3 wallet, MetaMask, “to simplify on-and-off ramping fiat to crypto.” On top of global users being able to purchase crypto via standard methods such as credit cards and Apple… Read More

February 12, 2023 @ 9:01 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Uppsala Security, a provider of security tools and services for Crypto AML/CTF, Transaction Risk Management, Regulatory Compliance, and Transaction Tracking, announced that it has signed a Virtual Asset Customization (Consignment) contract with Korea Digital Asset (KODA). Through this contract, KODA’s virtual asset consignment system “will… Read More

February 12, 2023 @ 6:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Crowdfund Insider recently connected with Mike Taormina, Alluvial’s Co-Founder Chief Operating Officer. As COO of Alluvial, he works with industry professionals to build Liquid Collective, an enterprise-grade liquid staking standard. Alluvial is the software development company supporting the implementation of the Liquid Collective protocol. Alluvial… Read More

February 10, 2023 @ 6:32 pm By JD Alois  |  

Representative Bill Huizenga, the Chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, part of the House Financial Services Committee, has sent a letter to SEC Chair Gary Gensler demanding he hand over documents surrounding Sam Bankman-Fried and the collapse of the crypto exchange. The letter… Read More

February 10, 2023 @ 5:38 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Vaultavo Inc. has developed a patent-pending crypto custody solution “to address the security requirements of the institutional market and its clients.” The Vaultavo Custody Solution “combines the world’s first biometric digital asset custody smart card with state-of-the-art proprietary vaults and secure SaaS digital platform and… Read More