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Former Monero lead maintainer Riccardo Spagni has been released from jail, according to a tweet today. He was held there for weeks after being arrested in connection with a court case in South Africa.

“I am very pleased that the U.S. court has released me. I am actively working with my attorneys on a way to return to South Africa as soon as possible so I can address this matter and get it behind me once and for all. That’s what I’ve always wanted to do,” Spagni tweeted.

As The Block reported in early August, court documents showed that Spagni is involved in a court case regarding allegations of fraud. The court case alleges he committed invoice payment fraud during his time working as an IT manager for a cookie company, Cape Cookies.

In response to the original filing, Spagni’s lawyers said: “Throughout the decade that South Africa has investigated, charged, dismissed, re-investigated, and re-charged a fatally flawed case against him, Spagni regularly and routinely appeared in South African court and communicated with authorities there regarding both his case and other legal matters upon which South Africa enlisted his assistance.”

A later message shared via Twitter claimed that he was arrested due to a misunderstanding over court dates.

© 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.

Compass Mining, a bitcoin mining hardware marketplace and hosting services provider, has launched a new service that lets retail miners mine bitcoin at their homes.

The service includes delivering bitcoin mining machines at customers’ homes, helping connect those machines with the F2Pool mining pool, and providing any other support services, Compass Mining CEO Whitney Gibbs told The Block.

“We’ve received a considerable amount of requests for bitcoin mining ASICs for people who want to stat mining at home,” said Gibbs. “There is also an industry-wide rackspace shortage, so many are choosing to figure out a home setup rather than waiting for capacity to be available in Q4 2021 or Q1 2022.”

Compass Mining is offering three models of new bitcoin machines for the at-home service. These include the Whatsminer M31S+ model with 78 TH/s hashrate at $8,100, the Whatsminer M30S model with 88 TH/s hashrate at $9,750, and the Antminer S19 model with 95 TH/s hashrate at $10400. The delivery date is within two to three weeks of purchase.

Currently, the service is only available in the U.S. Gibbs said Compass Mining plans to expand it to Canada and Europe later this year.

When asked why one would purchase mining equipment from Compass rather than directly from their manufacturers Bitmain or MicroBT, Gibbs said the overall service and support are the main benefits. Compass also offers discounted pool fees, he said, adding that F2Pool usually charges 2.5% fees, but through Compass, the fees are lower at 1.2%.

Further, mining manufacturers often fulfill large orders, but through Compass, even a single machine can be purchased, said Gibbs.

When asked if bitcoin mining at home can be profitable in the current market, Gibbs said, “economics certainly change, considering home miners are paying ~$0.105/kWh, on average.”

But it is “certainly viable” because mining is still in the midst of one of its most profitable periods and with the increased efficiency of new generation machines, he 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.

BitClout creator, who goes by the pseudonym Diamondhands, has today revealed his identity with the launch of a new blockchain network dubbed “Decentralized Social” (DeSo). He is Nader Al-Naji, who founded the stablecoin startup Basis that shut down in 2018 citing regulatory constraints and returned nearly all of the $133 million raised funds to investors.

Now almost all of those investors have backed Al-Naji again with a $200 million investment. These investors include high-profile venture firms, such as Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Sequoia, Social Capital, TQ Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Winklevoss Capital, Polychain Capital, Pantera Capital, and Arrington Capital. Other investors include Blockchange Ventures, Distributed Global, Blockchain.com Ventures, Hack Ventures, and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.

When asked why previous investors backed him again especially after Basis failed to launch, Al-Naji told The Block that they “care deeply” about fixing the problems that plague traditional centralized social media platforms. “I think for most of them, it wasn’t just about making money, but about creating a better platform for public discourse than what we have today,” said Al-Naji.

Centralized social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, control public discourse and earn profits off of content that they don’t even create, according to Al-Naji. The DeSo blockchain, on the other hand, aims to make social media accessible and monetizable by anyone.

How does DeSo work

The DeSo blockchain supports traditional social media features like creating profiles and posts and blockchain-native features like social tokens, tipping, and NFTs. These features can then allow creators to earn money.

Al-Naji said everyone who wants to use the DeSo blockchain or apps built on the blockchain has to hold the DESO token, the native cryptocurrency of the blockchain. “$DESO can be used to create a profile, create a post, buy social tokens, buy NFTs, give ‘diamonds,’ and more,” he said. “So overall, the goal is to drive as much activity on the DeSo blockchain as possible to increase the demand for $DESO the coin.”

“Similar to Ethereum, the more open the DeSo blockchain is, and the more apps that are built on top of it by independent developers, the more transactions flow through the blockchain, and the more valuable $DESO becomes,” according to Al-Naji.

The DESO token was previously named CLOUT (BitClout), he said. Now with the launch of the DeSo blockchain, the token and the blockchain have been renamed. “We created BitClout as an early prototype to allow us to test and iterate on the DeSo blockchain before launching it publicly,” he said.

The $200 million funding round was secured via selling the DESO token, said Al-Naji. The investors deposited bitcoin into a treasury wallet to receive DESO, he said. Over 44,000 users purchased DESO between November and July 11, when the purchase mechanism was turned off, and the supply of DESO became fixed forever at 10.8 million units, said Al-Naji.

DESO is now launching on crypto exchanges Blockchain.com and AscendEX for trading and conversion to and from USD.

With fresh capital at hand, Al-Naji is launching DeSo Foundation, a non-profit entity headed by him that will be using the funds to grow the adoption of a decentralized social ecosystem. “There is a strategy to support everybody from developers, to NFT artists, to smaller creators and their social tokens, and we’re very excited to announce more details on all of those plans very soon,” said Al-Naji.

Al-Naji said over 100 apps are built or being built on the DeSo blockchain. These include Twitter-like social media platform BitClout, NFT marketplace Polygram.cc, social tokens exchange BitCloutPulse, and Clubhouse-like Clubrooms, among others.

“DeSo-powered apps are based on money-native features, rather than ads, and these features are proving to be way more efficient from a monetization perspective,” according to Al-Naji.

© 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

• The liquidity fragmentation in DeFi between different blockchains and L2 solutions is starting to become an issue.
• Anyswap has been gaining popularity since March this year, although it doesn’t allow to swap one asset to another between blockchains.
• THORChain could potentially be a pioneer in addressing fragmentation, but recent exploits have significantly slowed down the protocol development.

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members of The Block Genesis.
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this Genesis research on The Block.

London-based open banking firm TrueLayer has closed a $130 million fundraise led by Tiger Global Management.

Stripe, the payments firm recently valued at $95 billion, also invested in the round, according to an announcement.

The raise gives TrueLayer a valuation of over $1 billion, vaulting the startup to ‘unicorn’ status. The firm last raised money as recently as April this year, in a $70 million round led by Addition.

TrueLayer offers tools that help companies take advantage of the United Kingdom’s open banking framework, a regulatory structure that compels banks to expose the transactional data they hold to third parties via APIs.

The scheme also enables bank-to-bank payments, which have the potential to cut out the card networks. Crypto companies, in particular, have sought to use this route to create smoother onboarding experiences for customers.

The payments piece of open banking has been a boon to TrueLayer. In 2021, the startup has exhibited 400% growth in monthly payment volume and 800% growth in monthly payment value, according to a press release.

“There is only so long that global business can rely on systems that are outdated, expensive and not fit for the digital age,” said Francesco Simoneschi, CEO and co-founder of TrueLayer, in a statement. “TrueLayer is carving a new world of payments altogether, which can deliver a fundamentally faster, safer and more user-friendly experience that also improves conversion and delivers higher revenues for merchants.”

The $130 million will be used to scale the business, for product development, hiring and geographic expansion.

© 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.

Sorare, a soccer-focused NFT trading platform, has announced a $680 million Series B fundraise led by SoftBank.

Rumours of the investment have been swirling since May of this year. Now finalized, the investment values Sorare at $4.3 billion.

Atomico, Bessemer Ventures, D1 Capital, Eurazeo, IVP and Liontree are all investing in the startup for the first time alongside SoftBank, with existing backers Benchmark, Accel and Headline also participating.

Sorare lets fans trade non-fungible token (NFT) trading cards of superstar players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Antoine Griezmann, which are underpinned by the Ethereum blockchain. Founded in 2018, the Paris-based startup has notched $150 million in cards sales so far this year.

The platform’s monthly active paying users grew by 34 times between the second quarter of 2020 and the second quarter of this year, with quarterly sales up 51 times over the same period. It currently boasts 600,000 registered users and has licensed players from over 180 soccer organizations, including Real Madrid, Liverpool and Juventus.

“Sorare’s game is born from our love for football and our expertise in tech. We saw the immense potential that blockchain and NFTs brought to unlock a new way for football clubs, footballers, and their fans to experience a deeper connection with each other,” said Nicolas Julia, CEO and co-founder of Sorare, in a statement.

The platform plans to use the funding injection to help it expand into other fantasy sports; for hiring; marketing campaigns with partners and athletes; and to open its first office in the United States.

SoftBank backs another fintech firm

Over the course of this year, SoftBank – primarily through its Vision Fund 2 – has backed a host of fintech firms.

Its recent bets include the $33 billion neobank Revolut; DriveWealth, an infrastructure firm supporting fractionalized investing in U.S. stocks; Nigerian-based payments firm OPay; and, through its Latin America Fund, Brazilian crypto exchange Mercado Bitcoin.

Marcelo Claure, CEO of SoftBank Group International and COO of SoftBank Group, said Sorare “sits at the intersection of two really exciting industries in digital collectibles and fantasy sports.” 

“It’s evident from Sorare’s amazing growth this year alone that football fans around the world have been eagerly waiting for the ‘game within the game’ that Sorare provides,” he 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.

Monday morning, amid the bustle of the Mainnet 2021 crypto conference in New York, an attendee tweeted that he had witnessed an event speaker being “served by the SEC” before they were set to take the stage. 

The post set off a wave of speculation about the veracity of the claim, the recipient of the rumored subpoena and the broader notion that the Securities and Exchange Commission was using a crypto event as a springboard to conduct investigations.

Efforts to independently confirm the veracity of the claim were unsuccessful, and the attendee, investor Slava Rubin, did not respond to a follow-up request for comment. Several attendees with whom The Block spoke said they had heard multiple people were served at the event.  

However, Ryan Selkis, CEO of Messari, the company behind the event, appeared to confirm that a subpoena was issued at the event.

If you’re wondering when I actually decided to run for Senate, it was when these fuckers came to my event, didn’t buy a ticket, and served one of the speakers a subpoena.

Enough talk.

More war on our out of control regulatory state.

— Ryan Selkis (@twobitidiot) September 20, 2021

When reached for comment about the rumors, an SEC representative shared with The Block a directory of public events and a transcript of a speech given by SEC chairman Gary Gensler at an event in Washington, D.C. 

U.S. regulators at the state and federal levels have been ramping up their public-facing activity in the crypto space in recent months. Just lack week, Celsius became the latest crypto lender to face scrutiny from a bevy of state securities watchdogs.

On the national level, Gensler has been increasingly vocal about the agency’s interest in policing crypto company activities, including those in the decentralized finance or DeFi space. He suggested to The Block during a recent conversation after a congressional hearing that custodial lending and staking services may also fall under his agency’s purview.

A government report on stablecoins being spearheaded by the U.S. Treasury Department is expected to be published in the coming days and weeks — an event that may serve as a springboard for further action on that front. 

© 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.

Latin America-based crypto services firm Ripio has raised $50 million in a new Series B funding round.

Digital Currency Group (DCG) led the funding round, and additional investors include venture capital firm Amplo, Draper Ventures and Boost VC among others. MercadoLibre CEO Marcos Galperin and Globant CEO Martin Migoya also participated as individual investors. The company confirmed the funding round, which was first reported by CoinDesk.

Ripio offers various services such as a wallet and crypto exchange. The company intends to use the funds to further develop its products and teams as well as boost international expansion, according to chief brand officer Juan José Mendez. 

Ripio, which was founded in Argentina and bought Brazil’s second-biggest crypto exchange in January, has been planning to expand into other key markets in the region for some time. While the pandemic put a damper on that growth to some extent, Ripio appears to be close to entering into some new countries. Today, the company counts two million users across Argentina and Brazil.

“In Colombia, we just closed a key acquisition to strongly enter the market, and we have already formed a strategic team to start operating very soon,” Mendez said. In Mexico and Uruguay we find ourselves in a very similar situation,” he said.

In a LinkedIn update, Ripio mentioned Spain as a country on its roadmap. Mendez said Spain is a strategic base for Ripio due to its commercial and cultural ties with Latin America, but clarified that it does not currently have plans to expand to the rest of Europe.

Ripio has been strategically investing in digital assets with its own funds for many years, Mendez added.

“A new round of investment involves a series of strategic decisions, especially within the context of such a hot market, Mendez said. “Several crypto companies raised funds this year, but the difference is that some need new capital to survive and some do not,” he said, underscoring that Ripio falls into the latter category.

© 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 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged those involved with a crowdfunding scheme for allegedly selling $2 million in unregistered securities.

In an announcement today, the agency claims Robert Shumake, Nicole Birch and Willard Jackson conducted fraudulent crowdfunding offerings through cannabis and hemp companies Transatlantic Real Estate LLC and 420 Real Estate LLC. The SEC also says Shumake hid his involvement, since he worried his prior criminal convictions could sway investors away from the project. 

Through the two companies, the SEC claims the group raised $2 million over the crowdfunding platform TruCrowd. The SEC has charged the platform and its CEO, Vincent Petrescu, as well since he “failed to address red flags” and continued to host the ventures on his platform. Petrescu and TruCrowd are facing charges of violating the crowdfunding rules of the Securities Act.

The SEC amended its regulation crowdfunding rules in late 2020, increasing the regulation crowdfunding offering limit from $1 million to $5 million. Still, firms must register with the agency to comply with crowdfunding rules. The agency has yet to take action against crowdfunding offerings. This case against TruCrowd, Transatlantic Real Estate LLC and 420 Real Estate LLC represents early enforcement steps related to the rules.

Shumake, Birch and Jackson area facing charges related to antifraud and registration violations. The SEC is seeking disgorgement, penalties and permanent injunctions in its case, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

© 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 notice published last week by the Internal Revenue Service indicates that the U.S. tax agency wants to beef up its capacity to track cross-chain transactions.

The term “cross-chain” generally applies to the ability for two or more blockchain networks to interact or communicate with one another, often in the context of users being able to transact from one to the next via so-called bridges. The IRS notice, published on September 16, suggests that the agency wants more insight into these processes as part of its criminal investigatory efforts.

The notice states:

“There are multiple cryptocurrency tracing platforms in the market today, however based on the way blockchain technology works, a significant portion of the intelligence and coverage each provides is unique to each provider. Additionally, the TRM Forensics Web-Based tool provides unique capabilities not currently found in tools from other providers. CCU is requesting this specific platform due to its cross-chain analysis tracing capabilities and unique methods for visualizing various cryptocurrencies across blockchains.”

The notice refers to a contract it wishes to award to TRM Labs Inc., a U.S.-based company. TRM raised a $14 million Series A funding round this summer, led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Backers of the company include PayPal Ventures, the payments company’s venture arm.

The Block reported in June that the IRS is seeking a broad expansion of its crypto capabilities. The agency is seeking more funding from Congress in order to grow its crypto-related enforcement efforts and hire outside experts.

On Monday, crypto exchange operator Coinbase struck a deal with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for the use of its own analytics software.

© 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.