FreeCryptoCurrency.Me

Argent, a London-based startup, launched a new crypto wallet that aims to cut down the costs and environmental impact of interacting with DeFi systems.

In an emailed statement today, Argent said that more than 500,000 people had signed up to a waitlist to use the layer 2 account built on zkSync, an Ethereum-focused scaling solution. It began giving customers early access to the layer 2 account in October, according to a blog post last month.

The original Argent wallet, which is built directly on Ethereum and launched in 2018, will remain open for longstanding customers — but layer 2 accounts will become the default for new users. Hundreds of thousands of people use the original service, according to a spokesperson.

Itamar Lesuisse, co-founder and CEO of Argent, said in the statement that getting access to crypto has become “expensive, slow and less secure.” Argent’s non-custodial layer 2 wallet aims to fix that by cutting gas fees to as little as $1, while offering speedy transactions and a carbon emission reduction of 95% per trade.

Customers can use the service to buy, store and send crypto, as well as to earn interest on tokens through connections to DeFi apps such as Aave, Lido and Yearn. Argent employs the services of crypto payments firm Ramp to help users buy crypto using fiat currencies.

The startup last raised money in March 2020, when it bagged $12 million in a Series A led by Paradigm. Earlier backers include Index Ventures, Creandum and Firstminute Capital.

Argent has also built a wallet on StarkNet, another Ethereum-scaling solution, named Argent X — but said in a blog post in February that this is a “developer tool, for now.”

© 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 Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the central bank of the Philippines, intends to move forward with a research project focused on central bank digital currencies.

In a speech transcript published March 4 and dated February 28, governor Benjamin Diokno discussed the central bank’s digital initiatives and highlighted the so-called “Project CBDC-Ph.” 

Dionko characterized the effort as “the BSP’s pilot project to build organizational capacity and hands-on knowledge of CBDC design, architecture, technology, and policy implications.” BSP indicated in a 2020 overview of central bank digital currencies that it would pursue deeper research in this area. 

As for whether the country will move forward with its own digital currency is less clear at this time. Dionko recently said in an interview that the BSP “has no plans to introduce a CBDC in the near term primarily because the population remains heavily cash reliant given the country’s efficient and effective payment and settlement systems.”

BSP’s announcement comes amid continued research and development in this area from other central banks, including the US Federal Reserve. China showcased a digital yuan during the recent Winter Olympics, building on the roll-out taking place over the past year and a half. 

© 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.

Payments giants Russia and Visa joined the growing ranks of payments firms and fintechs that have suspended operations in Russia amid that country’s invasion of Ukraine.

In statements issued Saturday, the two firms both said that cards issued within Russia will no longer work, and those issued outside of the country will no longer work inside Russia. 

Earlier Saturday, PayPal said that it would close its services in the country. 

As The Block reported Friday, neobank Revolut said that it was ending support for entities in Russia in Belarus, following moves from TransferGo, Wirex and other payments-focused companies. 

The cessation of business for major payments firms is occurring as part of a broader economic retaliation against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Late last month, the US and governments in the EU moved to remove selected Russian banks from the SWIFT payments messaging network, and the foreign reserves of Russia’s central bank have also been frozen. 

© 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 recently appointed Lauren Remington Platt as its head of global luxury partnerships, a brand-new position at the crypto exchange.

In an interview with The Block, Platt — formerly the co-founder and CEO of on-demand beauty company Vensette — explains why she entered the crypto space, what her role at FTX will entail, the benefit to consumers when fashion brands move into crypto, and what she hopes to accomplish in this new role.

Anushree Dave: You have a lot of experience in the fashion industry and could’ve done a lot of other things. Why did you move into crypto and this role specifically?

Lauren Remington Platt: During the pandemic my previous startup was on hold, and I had heard about crypto from the start. I have a lot of friends that were in the space and within the venture community. But it wasn’t until my mother really sat me down. My mother’s a doctor, and she’s really been interested in blockchain AI. For the last five years, she’s been going to some of the first and earliest Bitcoin conferences…she explained to me in layman’s terms what crypto was and how it could affect everyday life and how this is going to be the future.

I also noticed that there weren’t a lot of people with my background in fashion and luxury and beauty. I really saw a huge opportunity. I was like, wait a minute, I can really help here, I can really make a difference. I think what Sam has done so phenomenally well is just these really out-of-the-box partnerships. And for me, I’m like, let’s do that in the fashion and beauty category and position FTX in a way that we can build brand and consumer trust, and awareness with a wider audience.

AD: What are you most excited about accomplishing in this role?

LRP: I think what I’m most excited about is…partnering with brands and people that may not seem obvious off the bat. I think the luxury market is ripe for this type of partnership. The numbers speak for themselves. The luxury market is a $310 billion market. And it’s expected to grow by $70 billion in the next three years. So that’s a lot of money. And half of that is being spent in Asia, and the US, which are our two biggest markets.

AD: What is the benefit to consumers when luxury brands move into crypto?

LRP: Well, I think it really depends on the brand. I think blockchain technology for the entire fashion industry is just better. It traces the authenticity and the provenance of an item.

Let’s say you purchase a watch. You will know who the owner was before, and if it’s authentic and legitimate. You know that it’s not fake, so you can really track that item. Also, just from an operational perspective, the blockchain is powerful in terms of speeding up that process. It just makes it a lot more efficient. When it comes to NFTs in the metaverse, you know, I think that’s a personal decision for the brand. That’s not something that I’m necessarily working on right now.

AD: What do you want to accomplish in the near term?

LRP: My goal in the first six months, is, in a gentle way, to start exposing this different demographic – that hasn’t been reached through our sports partnerships – and introduce them to the brand of FTX, to have them start seeing the brand in publications that they trust with our celebrity partners who they know. And to come to understand Sam’s passion and his vision and why did he built up FTX, his goal for effective altruism and philanthropy, and really give back to the world.

AD: Sustainability comes up a lot when people talk about fashion, and climate change also comes up in the crypto world.  How will these two areas come together in a way that can be positive for the environment? Will you be working with Gisele Bundchen on this?

LRP: Gisele is the head of FTX’s environmental initiative, and we’ve made a number of donations to environmental causes. She will be spearheading those investments and what causes we will be supporting. On a high level when I do explain the environmental impact, I think of several things.  If you just even take FTX as an example, we’re worth $32 billion yet we only employ a few hundred people. Compare that to a large bank that maybe has a valuation a little bit lower than ours, that is employing thousands of people and has offices all over the world. There are environmental implications around electricity, having to commute to offices, huge buildings. Compared to that, crypto is something that is able to be quite nimble. With Gisele, we’re really excited about bringing more attention and education to the space and how our foundation is working to donate to causes to help the environment.

AD: Do brands want to move into crypto? What sort of pushback have you seen?

LRP: I think the fashion world has just been very excited about all this development. I think a lot of people and brands are educating themselves before they jump in. I haven’t come across a brand that says no, this is not for us, because I think they’d be missed. I think that there’s an opportunity there.

I do think that there is education that needs to be done to figure out what is the right strategy for any particular brand because every brand is different. So for some companies, the focus is going to be more on NFTs. For others, it’s going to be being able to buy luxury goods with crypto, which would be a fit for FTX. So I’ve had some really great calls ranging from, “we know exactly what we want to do” to “we need to come up with an internal strategy about how we plan to enter the metaverse.” I really feel like there’s this consistent enthusiasm across the board, that this is something that’s here to stay and to learn as much about it as possible.

AD: What else can we look forward to in the upcoming year in terms of your work with FTX?

LRP: We actually have some exciting stuff coming up shortly and how we’re going to be positioning it to this wider audience. We’ve been working with partners that we weren’t working with in the past that are really excited about the brand and to learn more. And it’s their first time working with a crypto company, so look out for that.

AD: Anything I haven’t asked yet that you’d like to share?

LRP: I think just getting more women excited and interested and knowledgeable about crypto is just gonna be good for everybody. I can’t tell you how excited I am to be here. I think there’s so much opportunity. I really think I’m in one of the most exciting places right now in the world, and I just can’t wait to get started.

© 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.

“So much misinformation out there.”

That’s one crypto exchange executive, speaking in a message to The Block, amid a heightened focus on cryptocurrencies in the context of Russian economic sanctions amid the invasion of Ukraine. 

“There’s this general elision of ‘not blocking sanction individuals’ with ‘not blocking every Russian citizen,'” the exec continued.

Crypto exchanges are required by the Office of Foreign Assets Control to blacklist certain Russian individuals and entities that include a group of known oligarchs. But they haven’t gone as far as completely shutting off all Russian clients, which experts say is not a requirement but has become a popular move by some companies amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine but Russia’s military. 

In recent days, companies ranging from Revolut to PayPal to Google have shut off Russian users.

The resistance among crypto exchanges speaks to the underpinning ethos of the crypto space: advocacy for open financial system access. The approach has also inspired headlines such as “Russia’s hidden tool to undermine sanctions,” which Politico penned in part to refer to offshore crypto exchanges that don’t check for identities.

The push also carries significant political contours. Ukraine’s president called on crypto exchanges to block Russian users, while Hillary Clinton shamed them on MSNBC for subscribing to “some, I don’t know, philosophy of libertarianism or whatever.”

In a tweet thread Friday, Coinbase chief executive officer Brian Armstrong said that the firm “believes everyone deserves access to basic financial services unless the law says otherwise.”

While crypto exchanges might be bucking the popular trend of cutting off access to Russians, that does not mean they are not complying with the sanction guidelines, according to Caroline Brown, a partner with Crowell & Morning. The DC-based partner previously held positions with the US Department of Justice and the Treasury Department. 

“While the U.S. has placed geographic-related sanctions on the two separatist regions in Ukraine, there’s not yet a full embargo in place on Russia,” Brown said in a phone call with The Block, adding:

“A lot of cryptocurrency exchanges have in place robust compliance programs, which, if they’re operating efficiently, should help identify transactions involving wallets of sanctioned entities and contribute to the effort to thwart the use of digital assets to evade sanction.”

A Friday blog post by FTX outlined the approach exchange operators take to identify sanctioned individuals and block them from access.

For example, exchanges monitor the source of wire transfers to their platform to ensure they are not tied to individuals or entities black-listed via OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Person’s List. 

Here’s FTX:

“Exchanges that can accept wire transfers as sources of fiat deposits know the identity of the source financial institution, and can therefore detect whether the currency is coming from, for example, a sanctions-listed Russian bank, a  blacklisted source, or some other problematic funds source. This provides one simple and effective way of blocking a significant amount of direct activity from sanctioned institutions.”

In instances where sanctioned individuals might try to move crypto through an exchange like FTX, on-chain analytics could be used for “identifying cryptocurrency transfers that originated from any known illicit or sanctioned source.

“Further, heuristics can help identify the geographic origin of crypto transfers, and powerful machine learning algorithms spot patterns in transaction histories and other wallet interactions that would indicate increased risk,” the FTX blog noted. 

© 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.

CVS Health has filed a trademark application that signals potential plans to offer NFTs and healthcare services in virtual reality and augmented reality, according to a trademark filing posted on February 28.  

In general, it’s hard to say whether there are immediate plans for a company to move into crypto or the metaverse based on just a filing, says Mike Kondoudis, trademark attorney. This is because there are two ways to file for trademark: 1A filings means actual use, where a company gives the government evidence of use for the trademark. Alternatively, the filing could be a “1B” filing, which means there’s intent to use. In the case of 1B filings, the trademark filing is in place for future use but does not necessarily mean there are immediate plans.

The CVS filing is on a 1B basis, with plans to offer digital and virtual goods and prescription drugs, and health services in virtual and augmented reality.

“As the leading health solutions company, we’re consistently enhancing our omnichannel health services to meet the needs of consumers when and where they want them, including at home, virtually and in the community,” a rep from CVS told The Block in an email. “We’re also regularly looking at new and innovative ways to engage consumers through a digital-first, technology-forward approach, which is why we recently made trademark filings related to virtual health care services, as well as other virtual goods and services.”

CVS Health is the parent company of several well-known US-based businesses, including CVS Pharmacy and the insurer Aetna. Last year, CVS Health was ranked fourth on the Fortune 500 list. 

When asked about insights on any immediate plans, the rep clarified that they will continue to “explore these and other options to improve the consumer experience and launch a new consumer-centric services and offerings.”

© 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.

Quick Takes

• February saw the second-highest monthly investment in the crypto sector to date.
• Several new VC funds were also launched, including from Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six and Nic Carter’s Castle Island Ventures.

This feature story is available to
subscribers of The Block News Plus.
You can continue reading
this News Plus feature on The Block.

Quick Take

• This weekly series explores the most interesting insights in NFTs, blockchain gaming, and virtual worlds
• NFT aggregators have started to capitalize on the recent fragmentation of NFT liquidity
• Despite being able to own their in-game assets, players of blockchain games are still vulnerable to centrally imposed economic interventions

This research piece is available exclusively to
members of The Block Research.
You can continue reading
this Research content on The Block Research.

In the midst of hyping up Steam’s new handheld console, Valve president Gabe Newell explains why he’s skeptical of blockchain-based technology such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrencies in video games. 

To Newell, the technology is primarily used for “super sketchy” “illegal shit,” and that the nature of cryptocurrency payments could cause a $1 game to cost 500x that down the line. He also argues that the metaverse’s promises of customizable avatars and open worlds don’t offer anything new for gamers, as these features have existed in video games for years. 

Newell said of the overall conversation around the metaverse, in comments to PCGamer: “They’ve apparently never played an MMO. They’re like, ‘Oh, you’ll have this customizable avatar.’ And it’s like, well… go into La Noscea in Final Fantasy XIV and tell me that this isn’t a solved problem from a decade ago, not some fabulous thing that you’re, you know, inventing.”

Newell’s comments follow the negative narrative that most traditional gamers have toward blockchain-based tech games, often causing enough backlash that some developers have moved to pull away from NFT concepts for their respective games. Valve, the parent company behind Steam, banned all blockchain-based technology in video games on its platform back in October 2021.

And yet blockchain-based video games exploded in popularity in 2021 — particularly with the rise of play-to-earn games such as Axie Infinity. As The Block’s Data Dashboard shows, blockchain-based gaming brings in hundreds of thousands of dollars weekly as of publication. Gaming and NFT-related startups also raised hundreds of millions of dollars in VC funding by the end of 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.

Multicoin Capital co-founder & managing partner Kyle Samani, an early investor in both Solana and FTX, is turning his attention today towards the NFT space.

In this episode of the Scoop, Samani shared his strategy and investment thesis on where he sees NFTs going in the coming months. Samani believes that NFTs will evolve from their current form of mostly static jpegs and become more dynamic, similar to how Web pages evolved since the early days of the internet.

“So far in NFTs we don’t really have a lot of ‘pieces of state’ that have a relationship to one another,” he said. “You vaguely have this in the notion that there are 10,000 apes in a collection, but beyond the fact that they all have the ‘ape tag’ on them, they actually don’t really have a relationship to one another.”

Samani used Beeple’s 5000 Days, a collection of 5,000 small NFTs in a 2×2 grid as, an example:

“[MetaKovan] who bought it should introduce some sort of game and say, ‘if you can assemble 9 of the 5,000 in a square, you unlock something.’ Now you can start to say that these NFTs have relationships to each other in some sort of unique way.”

Another way Samani sees the NFT ecosystem evolving is through the introduction of NFTs that change over time. “Today, NFTs are pristine. With physical art you have transport costs and there is risk of things getting damaged. You could imagine NFTs that actually degrade over time, or degrade when they’re traded.”

While Samani sees a lot of potential for innovation in the NFT design space, he believes that it is “unlikely” that Multicoin Capital will hold even a 1% position in NFTs. Instead of buying in NFTs directly, Multicoin Capital is investing in the underlying technology.

“There are three major layers of the stack to think about, and we are investing in two of them,” Kyle said. Those two layers are the ‘primitives or infrastructure layer,’ and the second is in NFT exchanges or marketplaces directly. The third layer, outright ownership of NFTs, Samani doesn’t currently see as being viable enough for Multicoin Capital to invest in at scale.

During this episode, Chaparro and Samani also discuss:

• A breakdown of Multicoin Capital’s specific investments in NFT infrastructure
• The “infinite scalability” of the internet and web3 valuations
• Samani’s predictions for 2022, including crypto social media

© 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.