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Samsung Electronics America has entered the metaverse world in collaboration with Decentraland, an Ethereum-based virtual reality platform.

The electronics giant has opened a virtual version of its flagship 837 physical store in Decentraland. The physical store is located at 837 Washington Street in New York City’s Meatpacking District, Manhattan. The virtual store, dubbed Samsung 837X, will be open in Decentraland for a limited time.

“This is one of the largest brand land takeovers in the history of Decentraland,” Samsung said in a statement shared with The Block on Thursday.

The Samsung 837X store will offer digital adventures through “Connectivity Theater and Sustainability Forest” and a musical celebration at the “Customization Stage,” said Samsung.

The Connectivity Theater will showcase Samsung’s news from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which began on January 5 and will run until January 8. The Sustainability Forest will allow guests to have a mythical experience through millions of digital trees.

Samsung has also been planting trees in the real world. It recently partnered with Cardano-based climate restoration platform Veritree to manage the planting of two million trees in Madagascar by the first quarter of this year.

Veritree operates a “Cardano Forest” where users can donate 15 or more cardano (ADA) tokens to receive limited edition tree tokens. Veritree then plants one tree on behalf of users for each ADA exchanged. Tree tokens can be used for limited edition trees and NFT digital art, according to Veritree.

As for the Customization Stage in Samsung’s 837X store, guests will get to experience a mixed reality live dance party hosted by DJ Gamma Vibes from the physical Samsung 837 store.

Guests will also be invited to participate in quests that lead to 837X NFT badges and one of three limited-supply wearables. Winners will be announced at 8:37PM ET on January 7.

“The metaverse empowers us to transcend physical and spatial limits to create unique virtual experiences that could not happen otherwise,” said Michelle Crossan-Matos, senior vice president of corporate marketing and communications at Samsung Electronics America. “Innovation is in our DNA, and we can’t wait for you all to experience this burgeoning virtual world.”

As the Samsung 837X store will be open in Decentraland for a limited time, the company plans to bring more such experiences throughout the year.

Samsung appears to be betting big on NFTs and the metaverse. Earlier this week, the company announced that its new smart TVs will allow users to purchase NFTs. Samsung’s venture unit, Samsung Next, is also an investor in several NFT startups, including Sky Mavis (Axie Infinity creator), Dapper Labs, and Forte.

© 2021 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 share price of Kaspi, the LSE-listed fintech super-app used by around half of the Kazakh population, has fallen sharply as the country experiences a period of turbulence.

The stock hovered at $113.80 as markets opened on Wednesday but sharply dropped to as low as $71, before recovering slightly to above $80. At the time of writing, Kaspi’s website was not accessible, likely due to widespread internet outages in the country. 

On Sunday, protests in Kazakhstan began when the government lifted a price cap on fuel. They have since intensified and, according to a BBC report, much of the anger is directed at former president Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has remained a powerful figure in the government since stepping down.

Kaspi made its mark in the country as a super-app offering the ability to pay bills, transfer money and pay retailers, becoming the country’s defacto payment system in the process. The company tapped into a population with a large unbanked but increasingly online population, with an average internet penetration rate of 79%. 

In October 2020, it surprised many market observers by going public in October 2020 at a $6 billion valuation. The net worth of its founders Vyacheslav Kim and Mikhail Lomtadze shot up to $2.5 billion and $2 billion respectively after the listing, which was the largest international tech IPO of 2020. 

The following month, Forbes reported on Kairat Satybaldy — the nephew of former president Nazarbayev and a leading figure in the ruling Nur Otan Party — and his relationship with the fintech. 

In 2017, according to Forbes, Satybaldy owned a 30% stake in Kaspi which he cashed out in 2019 after its first attempt to go public. Had he remained a controlling shareholder, as a politically powerful figure in Kazakhstan, the public listing would have likely drawn scrutiny from regulators. 

© 2021 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.

Entrepreneur and fitness club owner Michelle Berrard has joined the core team of BlockbusterDAO, an ambitious crypto project that’s looking to buy the ailing movie rental company in the hope of reviving it.

Only Berrard has a much closer relationship with Blockbuster than most. Her late father, Steven Berrard, helped build and run the company between 1987 and 1996. He started as COO before becoming CEO in 1994, per Bloomberg.

“The BlockbusterDAO project is so exciting because movies, independent films, (and Blockbuster) live in the hearts of everyone. It’s personal, heartfelt, nostalgic, and a legacy for me!” she wrote in her announcement message, shared with the project’s Discord channel.

BlockbusterDAO’s plan is to raise $5 million by selling NFTs and using those funds to buy the company. It then intends to turn it into a streaming service, to try to compete with Netflix. It’s a plan that builds on the near success of ConstitutionDAO, which raised $47 million to try to buy an early copy of the US Constitution — but was outbid at the last minute by Citadel CEO Ken Griffin.

After spending five years at Walt Disney, Berrard had an eight year stint at hygiene solutions company Swisher, working in operations. She then became a personal trainer and shortly after set up her own fitness brand, called Pivotal Fitness. The company now looks after four fitness studios.

“It is an honor to be part of a team that is paving the way to reset an industry and make history just like the Blockbuster brand did once before! Now it’s our time to bring Blockbuster back to the people!” she added.

© 2021 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.

Two boutique investment banking advisory practices in the crypto market have merged ahead of an expected deal-making frenzy in 2022. 

Architect Partners, a Palo Alto-based M&A firm, announced on Thursday that it has, rather fittingly, merged with Emergents in a deal the firms hope will create the “go-to crypto M&A and financing advisory firm.” The newly merged company will boast 12 people post-transaction — a figure its executives believe makes it one of the largest M&A firms dedicated exclusively to crypto M&A. 

Of course, there’s competition. Galaxy Digital — the crypto bank run by Mike Novogratz — has its own M&A practice, which played a role in FTX’s acquisition of Blockfolio. Even Wall Street’s largest deal smiths are playing a role in various types of deals. For instance, Citi is serving as Galaxy Digital’s advisor in its pending acquisition of BitGo. 

Outside of Galaxy’s announced acquisition, 2021 was a busy year for crypto M&A with nearly 200 acquisitions, according to The Block Research. Some of that activity was driven by players like Coinbase, which snapped up Bison Trails and wallet firm BRD. 

Credit card company Mastercard announced its acquisition of crypto sleuthing company CipherTrace, while popular equities broker Robinhood announced its first crypto acquisition in December. 

Architect expects the activity to pick up even further in 2022.

“We anticipate a number of M&A themes to play out in 2022, many of which began to play out in 2021 but are still relatively nascent,” noted Architect Partner’s managing director Eric F Risley. 

Risley, who’s team has helped close more than 300 deals topping $25 billion in value in the technology sector, expects crypto market infrastructure firms as well as data and analytic firms to sit center stage. 

“The crypto investing and trading space is becoming increasingly sophisticated and crypto firms are reacting directly to this by increasing their capabilities,” he said. 

“The need for high-quality market data that institutional investors can rely on is paramount and financial institutions must be able to assess their exposure to crypto assets.”

Emergents — which is affiliated with Weild & Co — is led by real estate developer Elliot Chun.

© 2021 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.

Sygnum, a regulated crypto bank and asset manager, has raised $90 million in a Series B funding round. The firm is now valued at $800 million.

Sun Hung Kai & Co., a Hong Kong-listed financial services company, led Sygnum’s Series B funding. Other investors in the round included Animoca Brands, SBI Holdings, Siam Commercial Bank’s digital investment arm SCB 10X, and Canadian investment firm Meta Investments.

Sygnum’s employees also participated in the Series B round, as with all its prior fundraising rounds. These employees, co-founders, board members, and management team continue to hold majority ownership of the company, said Sygnum.

Growing business 

Sygnum said its business grew significantly in 2021, with consolidated gross revenues increasing tenfold, assets under administration growing to over $2 billion, and its institutional client base nearing 1,000.

Sygnum provides various crypto services, including spot and options trading, custody, crypto-backed fiat loans, institutional banking, and asset management products. It has a Switzerland banking license and a Singapore asset management license.

With fresh capital in hand, Sygnum plans to offer new products and services focused on decentralized finance (DeFi). These include permissioned DeFi pools, such as Aave Arc, and asset management products focused on DeFi. Last month, Sygnum Bank launched a DeFi structured investment product called DeFi+ Core that provides diversified exposure to the DeFi sector.

“Savvy digital asset investors are increasingly looking for novel opportunities in the frontiers of Web 3.0, including DeFi, NFTs, play-to-earn gaming and the metaverse”, said Sygnum Singapore co-founder and CEO Gerald Goh. “We look forward to partnering with our strong global network of strategic investors to expand our suite of fully-regulated digital asset offerings and solutions into these emerging verticals.”

Sygnum’s Series B lead investor Sun Hung Kai, for instance, will develop crypto-focused products with the bank to expand its fund management offerings.

The Series B round brings Sygnum’s total funding to date to $120 million. The bank has previously raised $30 million.

© 2021 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.

A Congressional subcommittee is preparing a hearing to examine the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies, especially bitcoin mining, three sources with knowledge of the matter have told The Block.

The Oversight and Investigations subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is apparently working on a roster of witnesses to account for the energy use of proof-of-work crypto validation, especially the Bitcoin network. 

The timing and the witness list have yet to be determined, but the hearing could take place as soon as the end of the month. A source involved in pre-hearing discussions with the subcommittee told The Block that the broader committee has become especially concerned in light of recent events in New York State. 

As bitcoin mining left China early this year, the US took over as the largest source of the network’s hashrate in the world. A number of mining operations moved into old power plants in upstate New York, which drew the attention of media and politicians more than simultaneous surges in states like Texas and Wyoming. 

In October, more than 70 environmental groups wrote to leaders in the House and Senate asking for oversight. And in early December, Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote to Greenidge, the most well-known mining operation in the New York controversy, asking them to account for their practices. Days later, the New York Times put out a report critical of the rise of mining in the state. State lawmaker Anna Kelles has been sounding the alarm on these environmental concerns since early this year. 

Staffers for the Oversight Subcommittee did not respond to requests for comment to confirm or deny preparations for the hearing. 

© 2021 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’s price fell to a one-month low on Wednesday amid a broader decline across stock markets.

The macro picture was a cloudy one as US stock markets closed Wednesday. The Federal Reserve, in newly-published minutes, indicated that it may raise interest rates sooner than previously expected, as noted by Bloomberg. At the same time, the Fed floated the potential for a balance-sheet reduction in the wake of such moves. 

According to data from TradingView, bitcoin’s price hit a low of $43,879 on Coinbase. 

Source: TradingView

Today’s price decline represents the lowest figure since December 4, when the price of bitcoin fell to $42,333 on Coinbase, as shown in the chart above. Bitcoin’s all-time price high occurred on November 9, reaching the $69,000 mark on Coinbase.

© 2021 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.

MoneyGram, the publicly traded money transfer company, has completed a strategic minority investment in Coinme, a cryptocurrency cash exchange in the US, the company announced today.

The investment gives MoneyGram a 4% ownership stake in Coinme and closes out the exchange’s Series A financing round.

The investment builds on a previous partnership between MoneyGram and Coinme in May 2021, as previously covered by The Block. The original partnership was created to push a crypto-to-cash model by connecting bitcoin to fiat currency. The two companies are working on additional initiatives together, the announcement said.

“Our unique cash-to-bitcoin offering with Coinme, announced in May of 2021, opened our business to an entirely new customer segment, and we couldn’t be more pleased with our progress. As we accelerate our innovation efforts, partnerships with startups like Coinme will further our position as the industry leader in the utilization of blockchain and similar technologies,” Alex Holmes, MoneyGram Chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

Coinme was founded in 2014 and operates in 48 U.S. states, with future plans to expand globally. It was recently named one of the fastest-growing technology companies in North America by Deloitte.

© 2021 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 Take

• December closed off a big year for crypto hiring, with many crypto firms closing at double their size.
• Last month saw a range of big hires and a number of notable exits from companies focused on specific blockchains, like Tron and NEAR.

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Kazakhstan’s government has cut off internet access amid escalating protests, and the country’s bitcoin mining operations appear to be caught up in the fray.

A comparison of mining pool hashrates from half a day ago — preceding the broader internet crackdown, as reported by multiple news outlets— and now indicates a decline in rates for numerous mining pools. The most significantly impacted are 1THash (82% decline), OKExPool (46.3% decline) and KuCoinPool (22.7% decline).

The situation is notable given that Kazakhstan is home to as much as 18% of the world’s bitcoin hashrate, as estimated last fall by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance. Major pools including F2Pool, AntPool and ViaBTC also saw declines, of 12.8%, 11.6% and 19.2%, respectively. 

A three-day chart of mining pool activity also illustrates the decline occurring in the past day:

Source: BTC.com

Word emerged early Wednesday that the Kazakh government moved to halt the country’s internet access. Per The Guardian, this followed tightened access to mobile messaging platforms. 

⚠️ Confirmed: #Kazakhstan is now in the midst of a nation-scale internet blackout after a day of mobile internet disruptions and partial restrictions.

The incident is likely to severely limit coverage of escalating anti-government protests.

📰 Report: https://t.co/Op5GwzXKbh pic.twitter.com/pdHJkJFe7v

— NetBlocks (@netblocks) January 5, 2022

Even so, the hashrate impact is far from the dramatic drop seen last year when China moved to ban the country’s bitcoin mining ecosystem, which had long been the world’s largest and most technologically dominant. 

Still, the ongoing crisis in Kazakhstan, which appears far from resolving — Kazakhstan president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has pledged a harsh crackdown on the protests and, as of press time, has declared a country-wide state of emergency — is the latest headache for miners who hoped for proverbially greener pastures away from China.

As Bloomberg reported in early December, tightened energy supplies in the country led to restrictions for power-seeking miners. Yet efforts to formalize the industry within Kazakhstan were taking shape, as The Block reported, with more than 100 mining businesses registered with the government as of this month. 

© 2021 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.