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Harpie, an on-chain firewall provider, announced it has raised $4.5 million seed round to protect users from crypto theft. 

Leading the round is Dragonfly Capital, joined by Coinbase Ventures and OpenSea, according to a company release on Monday. 

The startup aims to protect Ethereum wallet users by allowing them to setup a “trusted network” of apps and users they want to send tokens to. Any transaction that is outside this network will be identified as theft and blocked. 

The startup is addressing an increasingly important issue in the crypto industry. Through July 2022, $1.9 billion worth of crypto had been stolen in hacks of services, compared to just under $1.2 billion at the same point in 2021, according to an August report from Chainalysis. 

Scam revenue sits at $1.6 billion, 65% lower than where it was at the end of July in 2021. However, this decline is linked to the drop in prices amid the bear market, per the Chainalysis report. 

A strategy for preventing attacks

Noah Chong and Daniel Chong co-founded Harpie to combat the rise in theft. Harpie’s documentation outlines that frontend attacks, phishing attacks, fake site scams and accidental transfers are some of the crypto thefts it can prevent. 

The new funds from the raise will be used to increase the surface area of attacks it can prevent and expand operations to customers like group treasuries and institutional investors, per the release. 

“With the majority of theft happening on Ethereum, it only makes sense to start here and expand to other chains as the need arises,” said Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly Capital, in the release. “The security offered by Harpie is a necessity for the future of crypto, and it could not have come at a better time.” 

The startup’s business model works by taking a 7% fee on any asset that is recovered, according to Harpie’s whitepaper. 

Harpie’s recent seed raise is in line with the median check size for a seed round, according to The Block Research’s August funding recap.

Blockchain seed and pre-Series A deal size

© 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.

The Art Blocks NFT creation platform is winding down its Curated Series, with Series 8 set to be the final Curated Series project.

Over the last two years, some 60,000 Curated projects have been released as part of Art Blocks’ numbered sets, which the company described as “a member of a closed family of projects.”

“Each series number also told a story of art, in its evolution and boundary pushing. Many felt, as we do, that every Curated artist represented in a set, was at a moment of intense and beautiful creativity,” it said in a Medium post yesterday.

Speaking with NFT Culture, Art Blocks founder Eric Calderon said that the company is also working on upgrades to its platform, including an updated Curatorial Board, and a branding refresh.

“Art Blocks is headed towards a more refined experience, the fruits of the last few months of heads down work that the incredible team has been doing towards what we’ve basically coined Art Blocks 2.0,” he said.

Launched in 2020, Art Blocks is an NFT creation platform based on Ethereum which specialises in generative art. It has three types of projects, Curated, Playground and Factory, with the former open only to artists accepted by the team. On OpenSea, Art Blocks Curated ranks fifth by all-time volume, having made 73,000 sales since launch.

Some of its collections are among the most expensive on the market. Fidenza by Tyler Hobbs, a 999-strong collection of “structured curves,” currently has a floor price of 96 ETH ($133,000) — although people have paid much more. In October 2021, the rapper Snoop Dogg paid a staggering 2,500ETH ($8.5m at the time) for Fidenza 938.

Bankrupt cryptocurrency investment firm Three Arrows Capital also held several Art Blocks NFTs in its collection. Among them, it paid 1,800ETH ($5.8 million at the time) for a Ringers NFT created by artist Dmitri Cherniak in August 2021.

© 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.

Cryptocurrencies jumped on Monday and continued to gain into Tuesday, with bitcoin rising as much as 5% and ether up more than 4%.

Bitcoin was trading up 4.4% at $20,133 over the past 24 hours, according to Coinbase data. The leading cryptocurrency by market cap had struggled to trade above $20,000 consistently over the past two weeks as macroeconomic factors put downward pressure on markets. 

Meanwhile, ether was trading at $1,376 on Tuesday — up 4.3% in the past day — according to data from Coinbase, appearing to buck a recent downward trend since The Merge.

Ether has traded down since Ethereum’s move to proof of stake, which JP Morgan attributed to be a combination of “buy-the-rumor, sell-the-news” and a broader weakness in risk assets in light of more hawkish central banks. 

Crypto markets showed signs of breaking with equities on Monday as most major digital assets traded up through the end of the day, while U.S. indexes closed in the red. Bitcoin’s correlation with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq is back below 0.9, per The Block’s data dashboard. The global crypto market cap also regained the $1 trillion mark on Tuesday, as it continues to flip either side of this level.

The S&P 500 closed red for the fifth consecutive day; it hasn’t closed red six days in a row since 2020. Equity futures were up on Tuesday, with both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite up a little more than 1% at the time of writing. 

Macro factors that could affect this rally in prices include reports that the Nordstream 1 and 2 pipelines have leaked into the Baltic sea overnight.

The two pipelines, which transport natural gas from Russia to Europe, have been a focal point of escalating tensions throughout the year and while neither were in use at the time, they still contained gas under pressure, according to reports. 

Russia cut supplies of natural gas to Europe in August in light of Western governments sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine. Suspected leaks or damage to the pipelines could hinder any hope of restarting supplies and further affect the macroeconomic outlook in Europe as the countries across the continent face soaring energy prices heading into winter. 

© 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.

Bitcoin mining accounts for roughly 0.10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, a new report from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) found.

That figure amounts to 48.35 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, per the report. The institute also estimated that 37.6% of the energy used by the industry comes from sustainable sources, according to the data published Tuesday.

The numbers are based on the geographical distribution of bitcoin mining in January. CCAF took its most recent data and combined it with public information on how electricity is being generated in different regions.

It’s important to note that the numbers don’t capture “activities that might be expected to reduce emissions,” like the use of flare gas, energy produced behind the meter, and waste heat recovery.

“We’re simply lacking the data to capture that,” said Alexander Neumueller, Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index’s project lead and author of the report.

CCAF’s estimate on the percentage of sustainable energy use contrasts with the 59.5% that the Bitcoin Mining Council came up with in reference to the second quarter of 2022 after surveying mining companies.

The report addressed the discrepancy between those who believe bitcoin will undo environmental progress and those who, on the contrary, think it might help combat climate change.

“Observing the arguments of both sides, some claims seem rather far-fetched and based on over-simplifications, while others are based on scant information,” the report says. “Interest groups on both sides are vying for interpretive authority to sway public opinion in their favour (sic) and persuade policymakers as to the necessity of regulations.”

A White House report on crypto assets and climate published earlier this month encouraged regulators to work towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions and stated that the administration or Congress might consider restrictions down the line if all else fails. On the other hand, it suggested that certain types of energy used to power bitcoin mines could have a positive impact on emissions.

In response to the White House report, Marathon CEO Fred Thiel said that U.S. regulators should create incentives for bitcoin miners to use renewable energy and disincentives for fossil fuel-based sources.

Emission decrease

The current annual estimate of greenhouse gas emissions from bitcoin mining (as of Sept. 21) is 14.1% lower than in 2021, according to CCAF’s findings.

“A significant decrease in mining profitability led to a decline in electricity consumption despite substantial increases in hashrate,” the report says.

It points towards a possible increase in the efficiency of mining hardware, as the revenue decline encourages miners to retire older and less efficient hardware.

“Even if the hashrate is increasing, this does not necessarily translate into increased demand of electricity consumption if the efficiency of the devices is increasing,” Neumueller said. “Miners are rational economic agents. They would not run something just for running. They would turn off machines that are not profitable and then continue with the more profitable ones.”

© 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.

FTX has won the auction for bankrupt lender Voyager Digital and its assets with a bid of around $1.4 billion, Voyager announced today.

The bid reflects the more than $1.3 billion at fair market value of crypto stored on Voyager’s platform, though the final value of the deal will be based on prices on a to-be-determined date. The bid also includes “additional consideration that is estimated as providing approximately $111 million of incremental value,” according to a statement from the firm. 

The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, which represents customers and creditors in the bankruptcy process, “participated actively in the competitive auction and supports FTX US’s winning bid,” according to the statement.

“FTX US’s bid maximizes value and minimizes the remaining duration of the Company’s restructuring by providing a clear path forward for the Debtors to consummate a chapter 11 plan and return value to their customers and other creditors,” said the statement. “FTX US’s market-leading, secure trading platform will enable customers to trade and store cryptocurrency after the conclusion of the Company’s chapter 11 cases.”

Voyager’s claims against bankrupt fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) remain with the estate, and any funds recovered from a loan to 3AC of $650 million will be distributed to creditors.

The sale ends a nearly two week long auction process during which exchanges FTX and Binance were reportedly frontrunners. Voyager received multiple bids of sale and reorganization alternatives, and based on the results of the auction it concluded that “FTX is the best alternative for Voyager stakeholders,” it said in today’s statement. 

Voyager filed for Chapter 11 protection in July of this year and has since wound its way through the bankruptcy process. During that time, FTX and sister firm Alameda squabbled with Voyager after they publicized their bid for the platform. Voyager said the two related firms failed to respect the bid process, which calls for confidentiality, and sought to dispel any notion that FTX was a frontrunner early in the process, calling its offer a “low-ball” bid.

That initial plan would have given Voyager customers the opportunity to start a new account with FTX that would give them an opening balance related to their claim. But the terms of the now-accepted bid are not yet public. Voyager said in a statement that additional information about the timeline for customer access to crypto will be shared as it becomes available.

The proposal is subject to court approval processes, including a creditor vote. A hearing on the matter is slated for Oct. 19 at 4 p.m. EST. 

© 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.

Nomura-backed digital asset custodian Komainu named Nicolas Bertrand its new chief executive, Bloomberg first reported.

Bertrand, who formerly served for more than a decade as Italian stock exchange Borsa Italia’s head of derivatives markets and commodities, will start immediately and is based in London.

Bertrand stated that he has no plans to raise additional funds, will attempt to reduce spending, and remain focused on innovation, according to Bloomberg. Bertrand added that Koimanu has provisional approval to operate in Dubai, and will seek to obtain similar licensing for the UK.

Komainu recruits executives from the traditional finance exchange ecosystem into its C-suite. Just last April, the company attempted to hire then CEO of the London Metal Exchange, Matthew Chamberlain, who ultimately opted to remain at the helm of the metal marketplace amid an emerging nickel crisis.

Komainu launched in 2020, with funding from investment firm CoinShares, Japan-based investment bank Nomura, and crypto cold storage wallet maker Ledger. In March 2021, Komainu raised $25 million in a Series A funding led by hedge fund manager Alan Howard.

© 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.

Digital bank Nubank has attracted more than 1.8 million Brazil-based users to its crypto platform since its full rollout at the end of June, highlighting a strong appetite for digital assets among consumers in South America’s largest country. 

This figure, which represents users who have made at least one cryptocurrency purchase through Nubank’s app, is almost double the 1 million crypto users the digital bank disclosed in late July. The company introduced the crypto trading to all of its Brazilian users in late June after revealing the plan in May, and announced the latest user numbers in a Sept. 26 press release. 

Nubank has also reached 70 million customers for its banking services in the Latin America region. These include 66.4 million in Brazil, 3.2 million in Mexico and 400 million in Colombia. The company also counts 6 million customers for its investment services.

“Our accelerated growth is driven by a constant search for efficiency, which balances expansion, new products and revenue growth per customer,” Nubank CEO and founder David Vélez said in a statement.

Brazil, which ranks seventh on Chainalysis’ 2022 Crypto Adoption Index, has seen rapid growth in crypto trading services available to consumers through digital banking and investment apps. Mercado Libre, PicPay, BTG Pactual and XP are among the firms that have launched crypto within the past year, and cryptocurrency exchanges like  Binance, Bitso, Bitcoin Trade and Mercado Bitcoin all cater to local clients. 

Nubank says it is the fifth-largest financial institution in Brazil based on customer numbers.

© 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.

Most bitcoin mining companies saw their stocks fall on Monday, although many of them also trended upwards.

Bitcoin was trading at around $19,000 during market close, according to data from TradingView.

SAI.TECH’s stock fell 27.73%, followed by Mawson Infrastructure Group (-18.07%) and BIT Mining (-7.72%).

On the opposite end, Riot’s stock rose 5.85%, followed by Argo (+5.18% on the London Stock Exchange) and Northern Data (+4.30%).

Here’s how crypto mining companies performed on Monday, Sept. 26:

© 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.

Digital asset trading company Talos announced it will grow the ranks of its team with three strategic hires. 

As it expands globally, Talos will bring in Frank Van Zegveld as head of sales for Europe, the Middle East and Africa; Matt Houston to serve as client success director; and Hillary Conley as business development director, CoinDesk first reported.

Previously holding senior positions at Solid Trading and Lucera Financial Infrastructures, Zegveld will be based in Amsterdam. He will join Talos in October.

The hirings at Talos follow the close of a $105 million Series B funding round last May, led by General Atlantic and joined by Citigroup, Citigroup, Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, BNY Mellon, DRW, SCB 10x, Stripes and Voyager, among others.

© 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.

California’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation issued a cease and desist against crypto lender Nexo Monday over its crypto interest-bearing accounts.

The cease-and-desist document alleges that Nexo’s Earned Interest Product accounts are securities and “have been offered and sold without prior qualification, in violation of California Corporations Code section 25110.”

“As of July 31, 2022, over 18,000 California residents have active Earn Interest Product flex- or fixed-term accounts; these accounts collectively hold investments totaling at least $174,800,000,” the filing said.

This story is developing.

© 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.