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Quick Take

• Coinbase estimated 1Q’21 revenue of ~$1.8B net revenue with ~$1.1B adj-EBITDA (61.5% margin) are already both more than all of 2019 and 2020 combined results (and then some).
• Total assets on platform have surpassed $233B, good for nearly 12% of the total value of the crypto market
• In 1Q’21 institutional assets on the platform grew to $122 billion in Q1’21 (~55% of total assets on platform), up ~170% from $45 billion at the end of 2020
• Coinbase saw an average ~6.1 million monthly transacting users (MTU); Coinbase base full-year assumption is average MTU is slightly below 1Q levels
• Coinbase expense guide for 2021 includes $1.3 – $1.6 billion in operating expenses (+70% Y/Y, ex stock-based compensation), a meaningful increase in sales and marketing (12-15% of net revenue in 2021 vs 5% in 2020), and low-to-mid teens transaction expense to revenue

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Plaid, the startup that specializes in connecting fintech firms to banks, has closed a $430 million Series D fundraise.

The news comes after the U.S. Department of Justice kiboshed an attempt by card giant Visa to buy Plaid for $5.3 billion, leading the two firms to abandon their plans in January.

In the months that have followed, Plaid’s valuation has soared. Bloomberg reported last week that this latest capital injection valued startup at around $13 billion.

A person close to Plaid confirmed for The Block that the Series D raise gives Plaid a post-money valuation of $13.4 billion.

Investment firms Altimeter Capital and Silver Lake, both new investors in the startup, co-led the round. Ribbit Capital, another new investor, also participated, alongside existing backers such as Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, New Enterprise Associates, Spark Capital and Thrive Capital.

The proceeds of the fundraise will go towards further geographic expansion in the United Kingdom and Europe, where the company has been live since 2019. Plaid is also hoping to expand its payment capabilities to “provide a bridge” between Europe and the U.S. to assist fintech firms with global expansion efforts, according to a press release.

© 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.

American football champion Tom Brady is launching an NFT platform called Autograph.

The launch is scheduled for this spring, CNN reported Tuesday. Autograph will bring together some of the biggest brands and names in sports, entertainment, fashion, and pop culture to create NFTs, according to its website.

NFTs are unique digital tokens tied to digital content. They are based on blockchain technology, which proves their authenticity and ownership.

Autograph wants to take NFTs mainstream by creating a “360-degree” platform for creating, marketing, purchasing, and exchanging NFTs.

The platform will reportedly also produce NFTs featuring Brady, the seven-time Super Bowl winner. “We’re extending the idea of an autograph to the digital world,” Autograph’s jobs page reads. “Our proprietary autographing system will connect icons to NFT holders in customizable and experiential fashion.”

Autograph was formed earlier this year by Brady and his partners Dillon Rosenblatt, Josh Payne, and Richard Rosenblatt. The startup has also raised some money, according to the jobs page. The Block has reached out to Autograph to learn more and will update this story should we hear back.

Autograph’s advisors include high-profile executives from Spotify, entertainment company Live Nation, sports betting company DraftKings and video-sharing website Cameo, among others. The startup is based in Los Angeles and is currently hiring for various roles, including director of engineering, creative director, and head of user experience and design.

© 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

• Alchemix is a new lending protocol that allows users to borrow alUSD (a stablecoin) against DAI (and other stablecoins in the future)
• The alUSD supply has grown to 242 million and the protocol has a total of $882 million in locked collateral — driven heavily by ALCX incentives — since its February 2021 launch
• Alchemix is limited to only stablecoin denominated debt but offers users a new type of lending interaction without liquidations that some may prefer

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Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes has reportedly surrendered to U.S. authorities in Hawaii.

Per a Bloomberg report from April 6, Hayes appeared before a federal judge in Hawaii. Hayes was later released on a $10 million bond, with future court proceedings set to take place in New York.

Hayes’ surrender on April 6 was expected, as previously reported, based on past negotiations between Hayes and the U.S. government. Hayes’ representatives had previously proposed a $10 million bond, and he was previously residing in Singapore amid the negotiations.

Hayes was named as a defendant in twin lawsuits filed by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission last year. Authorities alleged in court documents that BitMEX knowingly provided retail investors in the US with access to illegal options and leveraged trading, and deliberately failed to put proper know-your-customer checks into the platform — a felony violation of the Bank Secrecy Act.

© 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

• BlockFi co-founder Flori Marquez has a knack for capitalizing on niche opportunities.
• Ryan Weeks sat down with Marquez to talk about BlockFi’s success — and how it can continue.

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Coinbase reported an estimated $1.8 billion in total revenue for the first quarter of 2021.

That figure was included in Coinbase’s estimated financial results, published on Tuesday afternoon. The figures accounted for the three months ending March 31, 2021.

Among the other estimated numbers: $335 billion in trading volume. That’s compared to the $89 billion in volume it posted for Q4 2020. Coinbase also reported net income of “approximately $730 million to $800 million” for the period.

Coinbase also said it had an estimated 56 million verified customers, 6.1 million monthly transacting customers, and $223 billion in assets on platform.

Of the data, Coinbase said that “[t]his information is based on information available to the Company as of the date of this release and is subject to the completion of its quarterly financial closing procedures and review by the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm.”

The financial results represent the last major step before its expected direct listing on April 14. Coinbase confirmed the date last week, as previously reported. Earlier media reports indicated that Coinbase originally eyed a March direct listing but that target was ultimately missed.

Tuesday’s release represents the latest look at Coinbase’s financial performance, following the wide-ranging disclosures contained in its S-1 registration statement made public in February. 

Among the data points at the time: $322.3 million in 2020 profits versus a roughly $30 million loss in 2019.

Based on price data from crypto exchange FTX for its pre-IPO contract, Coinbase’s current implied valuation is $121.7 billion, as shown in the daily graph below:

Earlier Tuesday, news emerged that Coinbase is a participant in a new Washington, D.C.-based lobbying organization focused on cryptocurrencies and digital assets. Square and Fidelity are also members of the organization. 

This news is breaking and will be updated periodically.

© 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.

Encrypted messaging service Signal has begun allowing some of its users to test a new payments feature that includes support for a cryptocurrency.

“We want payments in Signal to be fast, private, and work well on mobile devices. The first payments protocol we’ve added support for is a privacy focused payments network called MobileCoin, which has its own currency, MOB,” Signal said in a Tuesday blog post.

In the blog post, the company described the functionality as “a beta feature in a beta build.” Still, it represents a notable development for the maker of the popular app maker.

The new integration comes a few weeks after MobileCoin raised over $11 million in Series A funding, with backing from Future Ventures and General Catalyst. Signal creator Moxie Marlinspike is an advisor to the project. 

Using the new feature “Signal Payments,” users can send and receive funds, keep track of their balance, and review their transaction history. Signal will not have access to any transaction information and users can transfer their funds at any time if they want to switch to a new app or service. 

Currently, only users in the United Kingdom have access to the feature, but the Signal team says they plan to expand the beta as they receive more feedback. 

MOB is currently trading hands at around $66 on crypto exchange FTX and is up more than 15% in the past 24-hours. 

© 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.

Grayscale Investments announced Tuesday a rebalancing of its large-cap crypto fund, a move that adds the Chainlink token to the entity’s list of held digital assets.

In statements, Grayscale said that it “adjusted the Fund’s portfolio by selling the existing Fund Components in proportion to their respective weightings and using the cash proceeds to purchase Chainlink (LINK) in accordance with the Fund’s construction criteria.”

The move comes months after Grayscale incorporated a series of trusts in January, including one focused on Chainlink. That same month, Grayscale removed XRP from the Digital Large Cap Fund.

The Grayscale Chainlink Trust was among those launched in March, as the firm previously announced. 

Chainlink is a network of oracles that provide data to smart contracts, providing an information basis for the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. LINK is the native token of the Chainlink network and acts as a financial incentive for node operators.

As explained on its website, Grayscale’s Digital Large Cap Fund is also comprised of bitcoin, ethereum, bitcoin cash and litecoin. The fund is market cap-weighted and as of April 5 had $538.2 million in assets under management. Per Tuesday’s press release, the fund is comprised of 79.8% BTC.

© 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.

Luxury auction house Sotheby’s is hosting its first-ever non-fungible token (NFT) sale featuring work created by Pak, an anonymous digital artist. 

According to an announcement published Tuesday, the collection will include NFTs in the form of digital “cubes.” The individual NFTs are: A Cube (1), Five Cubes (5), Ten Cubes (10), Twenty Cubes (20), Fifty Cubes (50), Hundred Cubes (100), Five Hundred Cubes (500), and Thousand Cubes (1,000). 

If a collector chooses to purchase one cube they will receive one NFT. If they purchase six cubes, they will receive two NFTs: “A Cube” and “Five Cubes.” 

According to the announcement, the collection aims to “scrutinize our understanding of value,” and poses potential buyers with the question: “What does value mean, and from where does it derive authority?”

The sale will begin on April 12 and end on April 14, and will be released in collaboration with NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway. 

Pak, whose identity remains a mystery, has been a prominent figure in the world of digital art for over twenty years. In addition to using technology to create artwork, they are also the founder and lead designer of the studio Undream. Pak also created Archillect, an AI meant to find and display visual media. 

Image via Sotheby’s website

© 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.