FreeCryptoCurrency.Me

A hacker that exploited decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Safemoon has agreed to return 80% of the stolen funds valued at $7.1 million, according to on-chain data.

Longer-term narratives matter, argues Noelle Acheson, but they don’t set the price. That is set by short-term sentiment, which is both contagious and fickle.

Nuvei (NVEI) shares could face as much as 50% long-term downside in part thanks to its connection with fallen crypto exchange FTX, said Spruce Point Capital Management in a report released on Tuesday morning.

The significant change to CAKE’s tokenomics would move PancakeSwap’s native token toward a deflationary model.

In filing a “friend of the court” brief, the Blockchain Association argues that financial privacy is fundamental – even in the digital realm.

Bitcoin’s price may be drifting sideways, but Unchained, a company focused on providing Bitcoin-only financial services, says it is growing and raising $60 million in a Series B funding round.

The round’s initial close, completed last week, was led by Valor Equity Partners, Unchained said Tuesday. Other investors in the first close include NYDIG, Trammell Venture Partners, Ecliptic Capital and Highland Capital Partners.

Unchained declined to comment on the size of the initial close, but a person with direct knowledge of the matter told The Block that it was worth around $30 million and that a further $20 million has already been committed. Unchained declined to comment on valuation with the latest round.

The Series B round, when completed, will bring Unchained’s total funding to date to $115 million. The company today also revealed that it has raised $15 million in a Series A extension round led by Ten31, completed last fall. 

Unchained’s bitcoin focus

Founded in 2016, the Austin, Texas-based company provides retail and institutional clients bitcoin custody, lending and trading services.

Unchained says its “collaborative” custody model, which provides benefits of self-custody with the company’s support in case clients lose one of their private keys, has helped its business grow in the last few months that saw collapses of centralized crypto platforms such as FTX and BlockFi.

“Unchained is in a remarkable position while many other lenders and financial services providers in the space have gone bankrupt,” Unchained CEO Joe Kelly told The Block. “We have a strong market position from which we can grow our brand and client base with a proven track record and safe custody model.”

Kelly went on to say that the recent crypto failures have helped Unchained gain new clients, even though the company saw its trading volumes and loan demand decline along with the rest of the industry. 

As for how Unchained experienced “zero loan losses,” Kelly said the company has always lent at a low loan-to-value (LTV) ratio “of 40-50% and never rehypothecate client assets,” which ensures “the collateral is always there to cover loans and our borrowers are comfortable with meeting their margin calls.”

Expansion plans

With fresh capital in hand, Unchained plans to launch new products and services, including checking accounts and mobile applications.

“We believe there’s a bitcoiner born every minute — they just don’t know it yet,” Kelly said. “Staying true to our roots in bitcoin and technology, we look forward to continuing to attract both new and experienced bitcoiners, as we accelerate the arrival of a future based on sound money and self-custody.”

Unchained is also looking to expand its current team of 85 by hiring 5-10 people per quarter through this year, according to Kelly.

Last November, the company laid off about 15% of its employees.

© 2023 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.

Crypto companies are collapsing, and U.S. regulators are on the hunt for rule-breakers. Amid it all, BNY Mellon has been busy building its digital assets division and adding talent from across the crypto ecosystem. 

Earlier today, America’s oldest bank said it had appointed former Zodia Custody Chief Executive Officer Maxime de Guillebon as head of digital asset product. The Standard Chartered veteran spent 17 years working at the investment bank’s various units. 

“Max brings a depth of industry experience creating and running digital asset businesses,” Caroline Butler, CEO of custody and digital assets at BNY, said in a LinkedIn post. “His global experience managing roles across both traditional and digital firms uniquely positions him to support our company’s ongoing efforts to shape the future of digital finance.”

The bank, which announced plans to launch a crypto custody product in November, the same month FTX collapsed, also added former BlockFi employee Rachel Willis as chief of staff. Willis spent the past year and a half at the now-bankrupt crypto lender, where she was a senior manager on the PR and communications team. 

Hard to ignore

The bank’s CEO, Robin Vince, said digital assets are the bank’s “longest-term play” during January’s fourth-quarter earnings call. 

Vince compared ignoring the digital asset space to “being the custodian of 50 years ago and sticking with paper and not adopting a computer… That’s not going to be us.”

BNY received approval from New York’s financial regulator in November to start receiving select customers’ bitcoin and ether deposits, bringing the world’s largest custody bank — with over $46 trillion in assets under custody — into the crypto space. 

BNY Mellon has two unique characteristics when it comes to launching crypto services, Caroline Butler, CEO of custody services at the bank, told The Block at the time. “We are ready to support other assets and are fully interoperable with traditional space, being a bridge between traditional and the digital world is something institutional clients value,” Butler said. 

© 2023 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 Lukso initial validators will vote on token supply of LYX and how much the Lukso Foundation can hold.

According to Alchemy’s Q1 2023 Developer Report, Ethereum SDK installations reached an average of 1.9 million installs per week – a 47% year-over-year increase.

The move-to-earn project aims to introduce what it says is a fairer system ahead of a vote to guide the protocol’s spending of 100 million SWEAT tokens.