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Blockchain Bites: The Weird and Wonderful in Crypto This Week

Also: Ether is jumping off, taking DeFi tokens with it.

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Author: Daniel Kuhn

Money Reimagined: Enterprise Blockchain Isn’t Dead

Corporations find blockchain technology challenging to use. But it’s much too early to write off enterprise applications wholesale.

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Author: Michael J. Casey

What the GameStop Saga Says About US Capitalism

In the aftermath of WallStreetBets, Demetri Kofinas joins the hosts of Money Reimagined as they dissect the events that led to this moment and what it means for our future.

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Author: Michael J. Casey

0x Labs Closes $15M Fundraising Round as ZRX Finds DeFi Market Fit

Sorry, Matcha fans: No plans for a new token to airdrop.

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Author: Brady Dale

0x Labs, infrastructure provider for decentralized exchanges, raises $15 million Series A

0x Labs, the startup behind the eponymous decentralized exchange (DEX) protocol and a provider of DEX infrastructure, has raised $15 million in a Series A funding round.

The round was led by Pantera Capital, a prolific investor in the industry, with participation from Jump Capital, Coinbase Ventures. Blockchain.com Ventures, Nima Capital, IOSG, the DeFi Alliance. 0x Labs said in a statement that a range of “operators, market makers, and builders across DeFi” also took part.

The Series A round comes during what might be called an auspicious period for the decentralized exchange space, and decentralized finance in general. Decentralized exchanges posted their highest-ever monthly volume in January — north of $60 billion for the month, according to data collected by The Block Crypto — signaling that the ecosystem of non-custodial exchange protocols is capturing a small but growing segment of the broader market interest in cryptocurrencies and tokens.

What the sector might look like a year from now is also, perhaps, an open question. Popular, trend-setting protocols continue to suffer from exploits that cost resources and invite public criticism and scrutiny. And regulators, all the way up to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, have their eyes on the DeFi space — albeit in a context in which they face key challenges, including how to define what “decentralization” means in an oversight context.

Plans for Matcha and more

0x Labs told The Block that the Series A round was its first equity round, after having completed a $24 million sale of its ZRX token in 2017.

The firm’s plans for that money reflect the positive outlook: 0x plans, among other action items, to invest and expand in Matcha, the platform for aggregating liquidity from other DEXs that it launched in June. The idea behind Matcha is to provide users with the best price across DEXs, drawing from notable marketplaces like Uniswap and Curve.

In a statement, 0x Labs struck an optimistic tone, framing its next steps as a process leading to a more open financial system — a vision shared by many in the DeFi ecosystem.

“While we’ve made strides toward our vision of open and globally accessible markets, we are just getting started,” the startup said in a press statement. “The fact remains that an individual’s economic freedom and opportunity in life is primarily determined by the geographic region they are born into.”

“The opportunity to leave the geographic lottery behind by building a global financial system that is more efficient, transparent, and equitable is tremendously important and we couldn’t be more excited to take on this challenge,” 0x continued.

0x isn’t alone among companies serving the nascent DEX industry that are raising funds for future development. In December, aggregation service 1nch nabbed $12 million in a SAFT sale months after taking in $2.8 million in a seed round led by Binance Labs. Earlier this week, a privacy-focused DEX raised $1.1 million in seed funds from a group that included VC notables Three Arrow Capital and Alameda Research.

Possible insider trading?

0x’s token saw elevated market activity ahead of Friday’s announcement, public data shows.

ZRX was trading below $0.80 early Thursday, and the token saw significant gains heading into the following day, according to CoinGecko. The price activity peaked at $2.18 on Coinbase.

The TradingView chart below shows the trajectory of ZRX’s price leading into Friday (using data from Coinbase):

As of press time, ZRX is trading at roughly $1.71 per token.

Disclosure: Pantera Capital is an equity investor in The Block.

© 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.

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Author: Michael McSweeney

Bitcoin News Roundup for Feb. 5, 2021

With BTC looking for a breakout as ether notches another all-time high, CoinDesk’s Market Daily is back with the latest news roundup.

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Author: Adam B. Levine

Protego Becomes Second Crypto Firm to Win Bank Charter From OCC

The conditional approval from the U.S. banking regulator follows Anchorage’s approval last month.

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Author: Nathan DiCamillo

Crypto exchange Bitfinex says it has repaid Tether the remaining loan balance of $550 million

Crypto exchange Bitfinex said Friday that it repaid its sister company Tether the remaining loan balance of $550 million.

Bitfinex told The Block that the payment was made to Tether in January, and the line of credit has now been closed.

Back in 2018, Tether opened a credit line worth $900 million for Bitfinex, of which $750 million was used by the exchange. Bitfinex repaid $100 million each in 2019 and 2020.

Bitfinex general counsel Stuart Hoegner told The Block that the loan was taken out because Bitfinex was in a “short-term need for cash, and Tether was prepared to lend on commercially reasonable terms.” In 2019, the New York Attorney General’s (NYAG’s) office argued in court documents that Bitfinex lost $850 million after payment processor Crypto Capital seized the funds, alleging that the exchange secretly covered the shortfall via the Tether credit line.

The case has been ongoing since then. Last month, Bitfinex and Tether said they are almost finished producing documents sought by the NYAG after the crypto firms were dealt a loss in a New York appellate court.

“Bitfinex continues to make progress in its recovery actions against the Crypto Capital group around the world,” Bitfinex said Friday. “Crypto Capital and related parties victimized Bitfinex. We reserve our rights to seek all available legal remedies against them. We also look forward to continuing our productive and constructive discussions with the New York Attorney General’s Office.”

The loan balance has been paid ahead of schedule, said Bitfinex, adding that it wasn’t due until November 5, 2021.

Bitfinex’s financial performance made it possible to repay the remaining loan balance in full and early, Hoegner told The Block, but declined to share specifics.

Hoegner said the loan repayment was made in U.S. dollars and not in Tether (USDT) since the amount was also given in that denomination. The amount was credited to Tether’s bank account in Deltec Bank, Hoegner told The Block. Since the loan facility has been canceled, it cannot be re-used, said Bitfinex.

© 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.

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Author: Yogita Khatri

Arcane Crypto Lists on Nasdaq First North After Reverse Takeover

The Norway-based investment company is now known as Arcane Crypto AB and trades as “ARCANE.”

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Author: Tanzeel Akhtar

China’s BSN Onboards EY for Ethereum Compliance Tools

The new compliance services could further boost China’s efforts in the blockchain race against the U.S.

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Author: David Pan


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