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After much anticipation, crypto lending startup BlockFi has confirmed the closing of a blockbuster Series D round that values the company at $3 billion. 

In a media release, the firm said it has raised $350 million from a wide range of investors including Tiger Global and Bain Capital Ventures, confirming previous reporting by The Block. 

The firm — which has a business that spans lending, trading, and asset management — now counts a wide-range of crypto native and traditional investors as backers including Valar Ventures, which led its Series B funding round last year. To date, the firm has raised about $450 million from investors including Anthony Pompliano, Jump Capital, Castle Island Ventures, and CMS Holdings.  

The latest capital raise follows a period of rapid growth for the company. The firm has grown its business to cover a retail and institutional client base of more than 225,000. It oversees more than $15 billion and reports monthly revenues of $50 million. 

Still, that growth has come with its hiccups, including mounting questions about how BlockFi makes money. Specifically, detractors have raised questions about the ramifications of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust trading at the discount for the firm. BlockFi profits from the famed GBTC premium trade in which investors can lock up bitcoin into GBTC and collect the spread between the trust shares and the underlying net asset value of the bitcoin held by the trust. 

“In less than six months since we completed our Series C, bitcoin and other digital assets have assumed a central role in many investors’ portfolios and in broader financial markets,” said BlockFi co-founder and CEO Zac Prince. “Our conviction that digital assets are the future of finance has been vindicated by our client base, which grew 10X YoY in 2020 and has more than doubled since the end of 2020.”

BlockFi has been building out its team to support its foray into asset management. The firm is looking for a head of trust products to helm its BlockFi Bitcoin Trust, which was first unveiled in February. It is also looking to fill a head of asset management role. 

Looking forward, BlockFi said the injection of capital will help with the upcoming launch of its bitcoin credit card. The money will also help BlockFi expand internationally and make strategic acquisitions.

The firm also expects to grow its headcount from 500 to about 1,000 by the end of 2021. 

© 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

• On-chain structured products have grown alongside the overall DeFi market in the past year
• Indices offer broad exposure to Defi in a simple and cost-effective manner
• Smart indices can enable enhanced capital efficiency and tunable investment strategies
• Decentralized funds allow anyone to deploy capital for automated trading or actively managed portfolios
• Structured risk products can help investors and liquidity providers with varying risk appetites take advantage of currently high yields in crypto

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MoonPay, the crypto payments business, has appointed former Coinbase UK boss Zeeshan Feroz as chief growth officer.

Feroz stood down as CEO of Coinbase UK in August of last year and told The Block in a recent interview that he has since been advising a number of crypto businesses. He joined crypto banking services firm BCB Group as an advisor in February.

Launched in 2019, MoonPay builds payments infrastructure for crypto, helping other firms build smooth “on-and-off-ramps” for converting fiat currencies into crypto and vice-versa, and supporting a number of payment methods – from card payments to open banking-enabled account-to-account transfers.

“We’re democratising this key infastrucutre to bring more mainstream adoption to the space,” Ivan Soto-Wright, MoonPay’s co-founder and CEO, told The Block. “MoonPay is your passport to the world of crypto and the crypto economy.”

Already active in more than 160 countries with around 250 corporate partners including wallet operators Bitcoin.com and ZenGo, Feroz will oversee MoonPay’s continued expansion and sniff out new revenue streams.

Asked how MoonPay would fend off the likes of Visa, which recently began working with crypto bank Anchorage to enable other firms to begin offering crypto trading, Feroz said MoonPay is differentiated in that it offers “a complete package”. For businesses wanting to add crypto trading, MoonPay handles identity verification in accordance with local Know Your Customer (KYC) rules, payments from fiat into crypto, and conversion through partnerships with various exchanges.

MoonPay has not raised any external investment to date, but said in a press release that it grew revenues by over 1,000% over the past 12 months (without disclosing exact figures). Soto-Wright told The Block the firm, which is already profitable, has been mostly bootstrapped this point – though he added that it has made use of credit facilities to help aid its growth.

On March 10, MoonPay unveiled a new non-fungible token (NFT) product, offering crypto firms a suite of payment tools for launching an NFT marketplace. NFTs have exploded in popularity recently, particularly in the art and collectibles sector, in which hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time are being spent.  

© 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.

Crypto Facilities, the index provider acquired by crypto exchange Kraken, has promoted Gary Worrall to the rank of CEO following the departure of founder and former boss Timo Schlaefer, The Block has learned.

Worrall joined the startup in 2018 as head of operations after spending close to five years at Smarkets, the sports betting exchange. He was cleared by the Financial Conduct Authority to take over as Crypto Facilities’ chief executive in early February.

A regulatory filing shows that Schlaefer, who founded the business in early 2015, resigned as a director on February 12. He will remain an advisor to the business.

“I think this is a very exciting time, especially on the institutional side,” said Worrall in an interview with The Block. “As we’ve all seen in crypto over the past few months, trading volumes are much higher, interest has grown significantly, and we’re seeing that too.”

Crypto Facilities was acquired by Kraken in early 2019 for a sum rumoured to be upwards of $100 million. Crypto Facilities then obtained obtain a Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF) license from the Financial Conduct Authority, the UK regulator, in June of last year. That effectively allowed the firm to begin offering a regulated futures venue to institutions.

“We’re ideally positioned to take advantage of the growing institutional interest. [The MTF license] will allow us to further expand our product offering in a way that meets the high compliance standards our clients expect,” said Worrall in a statement.

One potential expansion area, according to Worrall, is a bitcoin-euro contract that would be collateralized and settled in euros. But this product remains subject to regulatory approval. At present, the five cryptocurrency contracts that Crypto Facilities supports are denominated in U.S. dollars. 

© 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.

Chinese Twitter-alike social media Weibo has suspended the official accounts of Huobi, OKEx, Binance and MXC in what appears to be an effort targeted on crypto exchanges.

Around 7:15 UTC on Thursday, Chinese crypto Weibo users started to notice that the accounts of Huobi, OKEx, Binance and MXC had become inaccessible.

It is not immediately clear what led to the seemingly targeted effort since Weibo can censor profiles and online content based on its own standard as well as under the direction of the Chinese government.

The social media only said these accounts have allegedly violated laws and its community rules but didn’t give further clarification.

While this is not the first time that Binance got its official Weibo account suspended, this is the first known instance where the three exchanges got targeted at the same time. 

Huobi, OKEx and Binance, commonly referred to as HBO in China, are the most widely used crypto exchange platforms within the Chinese crypto community. 

The suspension appears to have caused some uncertainty among Chinese investors. 

Immediately after Chinese users noticed the suspension online, HBO’s native exchange tokens HT, OKB and BNB started to see a drop between 3% to 7%, data shows.

© 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.

Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) reintroduced the Token Taxonomy Act (TTA) on Wednesday.

The legislation aims to amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to distinguish digital tokens from other types of assets. 

Davidson first introduced the bill in 2018, but it never saw a vote during that session of Congress. He reintroduced the TTA in 2019, and has now done so again for this session of Congress. The contents of the bill have not changed since its reintroduction in 2019.

The TTA would provide a “workable federal regulatory structure,” for digital assets, according to Davidson. Currently, there is more of a patchwork approach to crypto regulation, with different states and agencies setting a variety of standards. The TTA would aim to set some agreement on the characteristics of a token that fall under securities laws. 

Reps. Ted Budd (R-NC), Darren Soto (D-FL), Scott Perry (R-PA) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) are co-sponsoring the bill.  The Blockchain Association has also endorsed the bill in this cycle. 

“The bills Rep. Davidson and I have collaborated on add critical definition and jurisdiction to create certainty for a strong digital asset market in the United States,” said Soto.

The bill in its full form has yet to gain meaningful traction in Congress, but a piece of it made it out of committee in 2020. Crypto-friendly lawmakers have continued to tout the piece of legislation as a way forward for crypto regulation in Congress.

© 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.

Gary Gensler, President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is one step closer to taking office.

The Senate Banking Committee voted to confirm Gary Gensler’s nomination today in a 14-10 vote. 

Now, Gensler’s nomination is headed to the Senate floor for a final vote. A date has yet to be set, though it’s possible that a confirmation vote could occur as soon as later Tuesday. Allison Herren Lee remains acting chairwoman of the U.S. securities regulator until Gensler’s nomination clears the Senate.

The vote followed Gensler’s March 2 confirmation hearing. Lawmakers included some questions on the intersection of innovation and regulation, with some crypto-specific queries. Gensler said that crypto has undoubtedly been a “catalyst for change” in the payments system, creating new opportunities for financial inclusion — and new issues of investor protection. Gensler previously led the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) during the Obama administration.

© 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 key aide to President Barack Obama and famed political fixer now wants to shape the future of crypto regulation.

Jim Messina joined the board of Blockchain.com this week to help the crypto wallet services firm navigate coming standards from the Biden administration.

Messina served as deputy chief of staff during the Obama Administration and headed the president’s 2012 reelection campaign. After his time in the White House, he formed his own consulting firm, The Messina Group, which has since worked with the British Conservative Party and the government of Italy.

Now, Messina’s been hired by crypto wallet provider Blockchain.com. Messina brings a wealth of career influence to the startup since his contacts include President Biden, with whom he worked during the Obama presidency when Biden was vice president. Messina was integral to Obama’s transition efforts, meaning he’s interacted with the agencies now at the forefront of the U.S. government’s crypto efforts.

He’s been dubbed one of the most powerful men in Washington D.C. by multiple publications. 

The developments follow Blockchain.com’s hire of another member of the Messina Group, Lane Kasselman. Kasselman worked on Hillary Clinton’s campaign before joining the Messina Group as a partner. He currently works as Blockchain.com’s chief business officer. 

Messina has said he plans to focus his efforts on the tech sector in this political era, penning a piece on the importance of the Biden administration’s approach to regulating the gig economy for TechCrunch. 

“I really believe in my world the most interesting question of the next decade is: has regulation helped or stifled innovation?” he said in an interview with The Block. Crypto, he says, lies at the center of that question.

Part of answering the question, Messina said, involves listening before he goes to work on individual issues in his new role. Messina said he hopes regulators continue to take that same approach since the right regulation — the kind that promotes innovation and protects consumers — will take time to develop. 

The patchwork nature of crypto regulation, both at the state and federal level, is one such focus. Part of the burden on the Biden administration is figuring out who has what job, according to Messina.

“When I was in the White House, part of what you realize is you really need a strong White House or strong theory of the case on some of these things on who’s actually going to lead because you have so many agencies who have pieces of some of these things,” he said.

Legislation in this area is coming, though, according to Messina. There’s been meaningful progress in consensus around the need for unified regulation. He cited how Congressional members from both parties are growing increasingly focused on crypto and digital assets.

“The only two or three things in Washington right now that are nonpartisan are free beer and that innovation and crypto are interesting,” he said. 

© 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.

Bids for popular digital artist Beeple’s 5,000-day collection have surpassed $13.2 million dollars, with the auction set to end within the next 24 hours. 

So far, the sale, hosted by British auction house Christie’s, has received 165 bids. 

The collection of 5,000 pieces titled Everydays: The First 5000 Days, has been called “one of the most unique bodies of work to emerge in the history of digital art.” To create the collection, Beeple produced a new work of art every single day for 14 years, starting in May 2007. 

The auction, the result of a partnership between Christie’s and NFT marketplace MakersPlace, marks the first time non-fungible token (NFT) art will be sold at an auction house. Buyers have the option of paying in ETH.

© 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.

New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG), a bitcoin investment and services provider, announced the appointment of New York Life Insurance Company boss Theodore Mathas to its board of directors on Wednesday. 

Since 2006, Mathas has worked for New York Life Insurance Company, which covers over $700 billion worth of assets. He was named CEO in 2008 and chairman the following year. Mathas is also chairman of the American Council of Life Insurers.

NYDIG intends to leverage the life insurance CEO’s expertise to bolster the company’s bitcoin-based offerings for life insurance products and fintech services for clients, according to NYDIG’s press statement. 

“I am excited to be joining NYDIG’s distinguished Board at such a pivotal time for the firm as the Bitcoin ecosystem continues to mature and expand,” Mathas said in the statement. 

His appointment follows Square Capital lead executive Jackie Reses‘ appointment to NYDIG’s board. She joined in January.

The move comes several days after NYDIG announced that it raised $200 million in a growth capital round. New York Life was among those participating, along with Morgan Stanley and round leader Stone Ridge Holdings Group, NYDIG’s parent company. 

© 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.