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Blockchain Australia CEO Steve Vallas believes the country is “well placed” when it comes to blockchain, but a bigger conversation is needed with financial regulators.

The exchange said it’s working to bring services back online following the attack.

BlockFi, the Peter Thiel-backed crypto lending business, is seeking to fill a pair of senior asset management roles, a move that highlights the firm’s broader ambitions in the space.

The startup is seeking a head of asset management and a head of trust products, both to be based in New York.

BlockFi, which is currently raising $150m at a $2.85bn valuation, is advertising more than one hundred open jobs across North America, Europe, Singapore and Hong Kong. 

The head of trust products will bear responsibility for managing the BlockFi Bitcoin Trust. The trust was first unveiled on February 9.

The trust provides investors with a vehicle through which to gain exposure to bitcoin, much in the way the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust does. Grayscale’s marquee trust product recently topped $30 billion in assets under management, according to data compiled by The Block.

BlockFi’s trust will issue shares via private placements, and these shares will correspond to the value of the bitcoin held in the trust. The shares will initially be made available to institutional investors – including to BlockFi Management LLC, a BlockFi subsidiary – and later on to accredited individuals. Fidelity Digital Asset Services will provide custody services.

“As we work to broaden the availability of this vehicle to retail brokerages, we expect this product will facilitate greater investments in digital assets,” said Zac Prince, founder and chief executive of BlockFi, when the product launched last week.

As for the head of asset management role, BlockFi is seeking someone to both build and run the new asset management unit.

“The role presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the right candidate that is interested in bringing the best of the asset management industry to crypto products through investor-friendly products,” the job ad states.

A representative for BlockFi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

© 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.

Lack of hedging demand for long-term put options shows institutions remain unconcerned by Monday’s price drop.

Active fund manager ARK Invest has scooped up more shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, according to a recent regulatory filing. 

Known for having one of “Wall Street’s hottest hands,” Cathie Wood’s ARK has seen its assets under management balloon five-fold thanks in part to its bets on high-growth technology plays like Tesla and bitcoin. Indeed, its Ark Innovation fund has delivered 39% returns on average annually since its launch in 2014, according to The Wall Street Journal. 

An early adopter of Grayscale’s GBTC product, the firm disclosed in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it purchased 2.14 million additional shares in the fourth quarter of 2020, which brought its total holdings to 7.31 million shares. The firm’s Next Generation Internet ETF holds GBTC.

The development was first reported by CoinDesk.

In an October filing, ARK disclosed a 5.17 million share position in GBTC. At current prices, the firm’s new position stands at $351 million.

GBTC’s AUM has soared in recent weeks, hitting $31 billion on February 12, according to data compiled by 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.

The Arcanum Emerging Technologies Fund will start in India, but its founders plan to expand to other regions.

Bitcoin’s price tumbled by 5% on Sunday night after a break-neck rally pushed it to all-time highs near $50,000.

The impact of the drawdown to $45,768 seeped into the bitcoin futures market, triggering more than $1.87 billion worth of liquidations in the last 24 hours, according to data from Bybt. 

The recent market action indicates the degree to which retail participants on venues like Binance were over-levered, according to Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino. 

“Most of our perps traders are funds and OTC desks, so their risk appetite is quite lower than retail,” Ardoino said. “So less apeing.”

At last check, the price of bitcoin has recouped some of its Sunday losses. Bitcoin is trading hands at roughly $47,960 on Coinbase.

© 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.

Last week’s mining revenue eclipsed the previous record set in mid December 2017.

The regulator believes new cryptocurrency investors should have a certain level of trading experience and financial reserves.

ZKSwap, a decentralized exchange (DEX) built on ZK-Rollup technology, has launched its mainnet as a layer-2 protocol on the Ethereum network.

L2Lab, the team behind the DEX, went live on Sunday, a move that came months after introducing a testnet in November. The firm raised an angel investment round of $1.7 million at the time backed by Bixin, SNZ, FBG and Longling Capital. 

L2Lab said the goal is to use zero-proof knowledge as a scaling solution for the DEX to increase transaction output and lower gas fees that have become a bottleneck for decentralized finance applications on Ethereum.

ZKSwap comes at a time when monthly transaction figures on Ethereum have reached an all-time high, with 37 million recorded in January alone according to data collected by The Block Research.

Within the first day since the mainnet launch, supporting trades for 30 ERC-20 tokens, ZKSwap has locked in $62 million in liquidity and $72 million in total locked value.

“ZKSwap is now fully functional and very hands-on. We believe AMM-based layer-2 DEXes is well-positioned to be a leader and represents a whole new stage in the development of DEXes,” Alex Lee, head of development of ZKSwap, said in a statement.

© 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.