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Web3 gaming and software giant Animoca Brands is set to debut a fund of up to $2 billion to invest in metaverse companies.

The fund, named Animoca Capital, is expected to make its first investment next year, co-founder and executive chairman Yat Siu said in an interview with Nikkei.

Animoca Brands is one of the most active investors in web3. It made over 60 investments in the first half of 2022, bringing its total to more than 340 as of September this year, according to The Block Research.

In addition to investments, its subsidiaries include metaverse gaming platform The Sandbox, Blowfish Studios, Grease Monkey Games and Eden Games.

The primary purpose of the fund will be to develop the ecosystem and create more opportunities for investors to access web3 companies, Siu said.

“They want more direct exposure to mid- to late-stage companies, and this is the role of a fund,” he told Nikkei.

But it will also have a focus on digital property rights, an issue known to be close to his heart. He has frequently discussed his belief that web3 features such as NFTs have the power to “free” content creators from the control of web2 tech giants and offer users more control over their data.

To that end, Animoca Brands was involved in the launch of OMA3. Its initial roster was made up mostly of companies it had links to — either through investments or partnerships — such as Alien Worlds and Dapper Labs.

It opened up two membership tiers to other web3 builders earlier this month.

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Episode 119 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded live with The Block’s Frank Chaparro, and Rob Paone, Founder and CEO of Proof of Talent.

Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests can be sent to podcast@theblockcrypto.com.

As the crypto market struggles to gain its footing in the wake of FTX’s demise, sweeping layoffs have thinned the ranks of many companies.

In this episode of The Scoop, Rob Paone, founder and CEO of crypto recruiting firm Proof of Talent, shares his perspective on how the crypto hiring landscape has changed during the bear market.

According to Paone, the current dynamic between job seekers and prospective employers is much more balanced than it was last year:

“It’s not 100% a company market right now… but it is a lot more equal than six to twelve months ago — it was a totally candidate-driven market of individuals naming their price and going wherever they wanted with multiple offers.”

Paone says that candidates with technical skills should still be able to find plenty of opportunities: 

“The easiest transition for a lot of people is technical roles — there is a huge demand still for engineering talent…the non-technical roles can get a little bit more challenging.”

During this episode Chaparro and Paone also discuss:

• Advice for people looking for their first job in crypto
• How to negotiate compensation packages involving tokens
• The correlation between crypto companies and remote work

This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Tron, Ledn

About Tron
Founded in 2013, Huobi Global is one of the largest virtual asset exchanges in the world. Huobi Global serves millions of users across international markets. Since its establishment, Huobi Global has committed to providing first-class virtual asset investment services. Huobi Global’s robust infrastructure, product innovation and capital strength provides a truly customer-centric and secure trading environment to help our international users to achieve their investment objectives. Please refer to Huobi’s official website for more information: huobi.com.

About Ledn
Ledn was founded on the unshakeable conviction that digital assets have the power to democratize access to the global economy. We help you to experience the real life benefits of your Bitcoin without having to sell it. Start a savings account, take out a loan, or double your Bitcoin. For more information visit Ledn.io

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Crypto exchange operator Binance has entered Japan by acquiring the locally licensed exchange Sakura Exchange BitCoin (SEBC). 

The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition marks Binance’s first license in East Asia, the company announced Wednesday. Binance has recently secured regulatory approvals or authorizations in France, Italy, Spain, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, New Zealand, Kazakhstan, Poland, Lithuania and Cyprus.

SEBC was founded in 2017 and received its license from Japan’s Financial Services Agency (JFSA) last month. SEBC offers consultation and brokerage services. It currently supports 11 trading pairs: BTC/JPY, ETH/JPY, BCH/JPY, XRP/JPY, LTC/JPY, ETC/JPY, XEM/JPY, MONA/JPY, ADA/JPY, XYM/JPY, and COT/JPY.

The deal marks Binance’s re-entry into Japan. Last year, JFSA issued another warning against Binance, saying that the company is still operating in the country without registration. Binance, at the time, said it “does not currently hold exchange operations in Japan, nor do we actively solicit Japanese users.”

“The Japanese market will play a key role in the future of cryptocurrency adoption,” Takeshi Chino, general manager of Binance Japan, said in the announcement. “As one of the world’s leading economies with a highly-developed tech ecosystem, it’s already poised for strong blockchain uptake. We will actively work with regulators to develop our combined exchange in a compliant way for local users. We are eager to help Japan take a leading role in crypto.”

In a separate (but related) announcement today, Binance said it will not accept new users in Japan to its main Binance.com website, effective today. “Existing users will not be affected by the changes, and can continue to use products and service offerings on Binance.com,” the company said. The move could mean new users will be accepted via SEBC and that SEBC could continue operating independently.

The Block has reached out to Binance for a comment and will update this story should we hear back.

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

LedgerX, FTX Group’s solvent subsidiary that also had to file for bankruptcy protection as part of the group, will make available $175 million for use in bankruptcy proceedings, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

The money could be transferred as soon as today and comes from a $250 million fund that LedgerX had set aside, as it aimed to get regulatory approval to clear crypto derivatives trades without intermediaries, per the report. LedgerX withdrew its application with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as FTX Group filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11. FTX US had acquired LedgerX last year and rebranded it to FTX US Derivatives.

A CFTC spokesperson told Bloomberg that the agency is aware of a planned transfer. The transferred money could reportedly be used to repay FTX’s creditors. The FTX Group has more than a million total creditors, a recent court filing indicated. The group currently has a combined cash balance of $1.24 billion, which is far below the $3.1 billion it owes its top 50 creditors.

FTX Group collapsed earlier this month amid a sudden liquidity crisis. The crypto exchange operator reportedly tapped customer assets to fund risky bets by its affiliated trading firm, Alameda Research, setting up its implosion.

CFTC chair Rostin Behnam is slated to testify about the FTX collapse in a US Senate committee hearing on Thursday.

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Switzerland-headquartered Seba Bank expanded into Hong Kong with a new office as the Chinese region attempts to reclaim its status as a crypto hub.

The Hong Kong office will be a center for Seba’s APAC growth plans, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday. Hong Kong recently outlined plans to become a crypto hub again as rival Singapore appears to be pivoting to stricter regulation. Hong Kong plans to widen the scope of crypto assets available in the city, while also exploring how to open the crypto market to retail investors.

“With a considerable pedigree as an international financial center, as well as a supportive regulatory approach to cryptocurrencies, Hong Kong is cementing its position as a global leader in cryptocurrencies,” Seba Bank CEO Franz Bergmueller said in the statement.

Ludovic Shum, managing director at Seba Hong Kong, will oversee the new office. Shum previously worked for Credit Suisse, HSBC, Merrill Lynch and Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), Hong Kong’s financial regulator, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The SFC recently said it is planning to allow certain crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to be sold to investors in Hong Kong and will also launch a public consultation on potentially allowing retail investors to trade virtual assets (VA). “We recognise the increasing acceptance of VA as a vehicle for investment allocation by global investors, be they institutional or individual,” the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau said at the time. The SFC believes the risks of crypto exposure have become ”manageable” with proper guardrails.

Seba Hong Kong plans to initially focus on market research and consultancy services. Its offices in Switzerland provide a suite of regulated banking and investment services, including trading, structured products, bank accounts, cards, credit, staking, and crypto and NFT custody.

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Prosecutors in South Korea are reportedly seeking an arrest warrant for Terraform Labs co-founder Daniel Shin.

The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office said Wednesday that it is seeking the arrest warrant over Shin allegedly taking illegal profits from Terra, the blockchain ecosystem overseen by Terraform Labs, prior to its spectacular collapse in May, according to a report from Yonhap News Agency.

The same authorities reportedly raided the offices of Chai Corporation, a payments technology company founded by Shin, earlier this month. Authorities in South Korea have previously issued a warrant for the arrest of Shin’s co-founder at Terraform Labs, its CEO Do Kwon, as well as asking Interpol to issue a red notice for Kwon’s arrest. That came despite Kwon’s claims that he is not on the run.

The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office also issued warrants for three other Terraform Labs investors and four engineers, according to the Yonhap report. The report added that prosecutors believe Shin made illegal profits of 140 billion won (around $105 million) through sales of luna, Terra’s native token. Shin is charged with violating the Electronic Financial Transaction Act.

Shin told Yonhap in a written statement, however, that he left Terraform Labs two years before the crisis that engulfed Terra and its tokens in May, and had “nothing to do with the collapse.”

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

After a series of legislative twists and turns spanning seven years, Brazil’s long-awaited crypto bill could finally reach the president’s desk.

Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies voted on Tuesday to pass on a crypto regulation bill to Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, whose term ends on Dec. 31 to make way for the return of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The crypto regulation is to define digital assets and their service providers, as well as help guard against money laundering and fraud. The bill gained momentum after Brazil’s Senate approved a version of it in April, but slowed in the past few months as it sat in the Chamber of Deputies awaiting a decision after several points in the Senate version were stripped out.

One of the most widely-debated topics had to do with a provision that would require crypto exchanges to follow certain guidelines for segregating client funds. According to the Brazilian crypto publication Portal do Bitcoin, lawmakers decided to put the asset segregation issue on hold to pass the larger bill today. 

Regulating the crypto industry is especially relevant in Brazil due to the size of the market and the number of scams the country has seen in recent years. One of the most high-profile cases came to light when federal police seized nearly $28 million related to an alleged system of pyramid schemes.

Brazil comes in at seventh place on Chainalysis’ latest Global Crypto Adoption Index. The blockchain analytics firm calculated that the South American country had received nearly $142.7 billion in cryptocurrency between July 2021 and June 2022 — more than any other country in the region.

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Crypto firm Genesis Global Capital warned last week about a possible bankruptcy filing, and now some of its creditors are pursuing options in order to prevent such a move.

Law firms Proskauer Rose and Kirkland & Ellis are said to be involved in discussions with creditors, according to Bloomberg. 

The company is trying to avoid a bankruptcy protection filing, Genesis told the news outlet. A letter penned last week by Digital Currency Group chief executive Barry Silbert also said the firm was pursuing options.

Genesis Trading was previously said to be seeking as much as $1 billion in emergency funding for its lending arm, though would-be investors like Binance ultimately bowed out. Genesis Global Capital previously halted withdrawals and new loan originations and disclosed it had some funds in FTX. 

Genesis, which offers lending as well as brokerage services, is one of a number of companies impacted by the downfall of FTX as well as a broader downturn in the crypto market that began earlier this year.

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Mexico-based crypto exchange Bitso has let go of an unspecified number of workers in a fresh round of layoffs, about six months after cutting about 80 employees.

Bitso declined to specify the number of affected employees and in which countries it was cutting teams. One of the staff members cut, Bruno Cavalieri, formerly a growth content writer for the firm, said on LinkedIn he was among “dozens” cut.

Brazilian crypto publication Portal do Bitcoin first reported the Bitso layoffs, saying about 100 people were let go in Mexico and Brazil, citing information from former employees. The firm may have had between 500 and 600 employees, Portal do Bitcoin reported.

Posts from laid-off Bitso employees on LinkedIn confirm that the crypto exchange let go of several workers, with some using the hashtag #bitsolayoff. Roles of some affected employees include product designer, business intelligence analyst, process improvement agent, scrum master and customer support analyst.

Bitso and its Latin America-based peers have made sizable cuts this year in light of the crypto market downturn. Bitso laid off 80 employees in May, and Mercado Bitcoin parent 2TM laid off close to 100 people in September after letting go of more than 80 in June. The Argentina-based crypto exchange also told The Block in May that it cut staff from 215 to 115 employees.

Lemon Cash CEO Marcelo Cavazzoli told The Block on Nov. 24 that he expected more fintech layoffs in the Latin America region, following news that his Argentina-based crypto app company had laid off about 100 people — 38% of its staff. 

“We evaluate our business priorities on a regular basis, and make structural adjustments accordingly,” Bitso said in a statement to The Block. “We work in a fast-paced industry that requires us to constantly remix our high-value skills, so we can move even faster to where our clients need us to be, taking into consideration the long-term interest of our business, the market and the industry.”

Bitso counts more than 6 million users in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia. It announced on Nov. 28 that it now has more than 1,500 institutional clients using its B2B services. The company also said it is planning to release a solvency report next month, in line with other crypto firms like Binance looking to quell concerns following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. 

“Bitso will continue to invest in developing new products to fulfill its mission of making crypto useful, and making sure the company retains its leadership and strength in the region,” the firm said.

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has a hearing date in Texas.

The Texas State Securities Board wants Bankman-Fried to testify on Feb. 2 in response to an enforcement action issued today alleging that FTX violated multiple state securities laws.

The investigation pre-dates FTX’s early November collapse and relates to the company’s interest-bearing accounts and stock trading. The agency was already looking into the firm before it filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this month.

The Texas State Securities Board sought to delay FTX from purchasing assets from failed crypto lender Voyager Digital in October, citing concerns that FTX may have violated Texas securities and money transmitter laws and an ongoing investigation into the matter. 

Today the regulator formally accused the Bankman-Fried, the former head of the company, of multiple violations stemming from FTX corporate activity in the state, as well as, “intentionally failed to disclose material facts,” requested by the regulator. 

David Mills, who is named as Bankman-Fried’s counsel in the enforcement action, did not respond to a request for comment. Bankman-Fried stepped down as CEO of FTX when the firm filed for bankruptcy protection. 

The Texas State Securities Board is far from the only agency looking into FTX’s business dealings. Multiple congressional committees have scheduled FTX-focused hearings, and the firm’s leadership has said it is cooperating with investigations by the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission.

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.