Blockchain & Digital Assets

January 12, 2022 @ 10:41 am By JD Alois  |  

Checkout.com has announced a $1 billion funding at a whopping $40 billion valuation. The Fintech said the Series D funding round garnered the participation of Altimeter, Dragoneer, Franklin Templeton, GIC, Insight Partners, the Qatar Investment Authority, Tiger Global, the Oxford Endowment Fund, and another large… Read More

January 12, 2022 @ 9:13 am By Omar Faridi  |  

NYDIG, a Bitcoin company, announced that its subsidiary Bottlepay, a Bitcoin-based international payments company, has been granted registration as a Cryptoasset Business from the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Bottlepay is one of a small number of crypto-asset companies to have secured this type… Read More

January 12, 2022 @ 3:40 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at ComplyAdvantage, an AI-enhanced financial crime detection firm, notes that from regime change in Myanmar and Afghanistan to a “spotlight on environmental crime at COP26 and the explosive Pandora Papers leak, 2021 has been another landmark year for compliance professionals.” ComplyAdvantage writes in… Read More

January 12, 2022 @ 2:09 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Autonomy Network, an “off-the-shelf” decentralized automation protocol, is pleased to launch AutoSwap, which is a dApp providing limit order, stop loss, impermanent loss protection, and recurring payment features for Binance Smart Chain (BSC)-based DEXes like PancakeSwap. The dApp will also be available on Ethereum, Polygon,… Read More

January 11, 2022 @ 10:30 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

As the crypto and blockchain space continues to grow steadily, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are becoming more common (because they provide a way to enable decentralized governance). After its MainNet launch back in June 2018, the 3-year-old TRON blockchain platform has developed its own DAO… Read More

January 11, 2022 @ 6:33 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at blockchain platform Qtum has shared important community and development updates from December 2021. Qtum writes in a blog post: “A very Happy New Year to all of you. … Now, as we [wrapped] up December, it is impossible to start with anything… Read More

January 11, 2022 @ 4:23 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

While the dollar values of cryptocurrencies associated with fraud and other illegal activities continues to row, it is important to keep those numbers in context, one industry watcher cautions. As cryptocurrency-based transaction volumes surge, the amounts associated with illegal activity are naturally going to grow…. Read More

January 11, 2022 @ 4:12 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Financial services have become a lot more accessible, seamless, and user-friendly in the past decade due largely to the rise of innovative Fintech platforms throughout the world. Traditional banking service providers have launched their own digital transformation strategies in order to remain competitive in a… Read More

January 11, 2022 @ 2:41 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Uppsala Security has announced the launch of TOMS 2.0, which is an updated version of the already deployed Threat Reputation Database On-premise Management System (introduced at the end of March 2021). As mentioned in a release, the product was initially created to “address an increased… Read More

January 11, 2022 @ 12:22 pm By JD Alois  |  

Genesis, a crypto prime brokerage, has published a report covering last month (December 2021). According to Genesis, their perspective shows that Bitcoin acts more like a “risk asset” than an inflation hedge – something many observers frequently ascribe to BTC. The firm said that the… Read More

January 11, 2022 @ 2:03 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Amber Group, a firm that helps clients buy and sell cryptocurrency products, earn yield, manage risk, and access liquidity, notes that one of the most “pressing” challenges that the Ethereum (ETH) network faces is scalability. In an extensive report, Amber Group explained that this issue… Read More

January 10, 2022 @ 9:37 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Zac Prince (Founder and CEO at BlockFi) and Flori Marquez (Co-founder and SVP of Operations at BlockFi), noted that  2021 was “not the year anyone predicted.” Prince and Marquez wrote in a blog post published by BlockFi: “Across the globe, we experienced challenges and joys… Read More

January 10, 2022 @ 9:31 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at digital asset platform CoinList is introducing their first-ever NFT collection: FiatWorks. As noted in an update, dated January 5, 2022,  CoinList started with “a small, dedicated base of true crypto believers that supported projects like Filecoin, Stacks, Solana, Algorand, and more.” As… Read More

January 10, 2022 @ 8:52 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Bitcoin-focused tech firm Blockstream notes in their Markets Weekly Report that BMN is launching a capital raise via Bitfinex Securities in the coming days. Meanwhile, El Salvador is preparing its regulatory framework for the upcoming BTC bond, and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) recently stated that BTC… Read More

January 10, 2022 @ 4:55 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Callie Cox, the US-based Investment Analyst at eToro, notes that she’s always thinking about how market moves and headlines affect your finances. Starting January 7, 2022, Cox confirmed that she’ll be publishing a weekly blog, titled The Bottom Line, which will look into what’s happening… Read More

January 10, 2022 @ 3:25 pm By JD Alois  |  

The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) has published its annual list of investor lists. NASAA is the lobbying-representative group that represents state securities regulators across the US as well as provincial regulators in Canada and Mexican regulators as well. Topping the list for 2022… Read More

January 10, 2022 @ 2:45 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at digital asset platform Kraken notes that they’re pleased to announce that Kraken now supports Kintsugi (KINT). Funding and trading for the Kintsugi (KINT) token is live (as of January 6, 2022), and trading will “begin shortly.” You may keep an eye on… Read More

January 10, 2022 @ 12:30 pm By JD Alois  |  

As has been widely reported, California is experiencing an exodus when it comes to innovators and entrepreneurs. The top replacement destinations are Texas and Florida – where multiple cities have benefitted from the migration (see Jax). South Florida, specifically Miami, has embraced this trend by… Read More

January 10, 2022 @ 9:41 am By JD Alois  |  

At least one former enforcement executive from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is predicting the demise of crypto – or at least a significant setback for digital assets. John Reed Stark, former head of the SEC’s Internet Enforcement team says that new rules from… Read More

January 10, 2022 @ 12:47 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief Fintech Officer at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), notes in the Global CBDC Challenge 2021 Report that history has shown that currency is a protean concept. Mohanty points out that from livestock around 9000 BC, to the introduction of paper money around… Read More