- Cashmere Raises $3M at $30M Valuation to Build Solana Enterprise Wallet
Cashmere, a company that offers enterprise wallet management for users of the Solana blockchain, closed a $3 million seed funding round Monday that valued the firm at $30 million.
Investors in the round included crypto venture-capital firms Coinbase Ventures and FBG Capital, as well as startup incubator YCombinator.
Cashmere is intended to help companies store their crypto assets securely, protecting the assets even if “hot” wallets like the Solana-based Phantom or Slope get compromised, according to a statement.
Cashmere allows firms to use multi-signature signing to jointly control their company wallets. In a multisig signing scheme, several wallets need to approve a transaction before the funds can be moved out of Cashmere. That removes a single point of failure, resulting in a safer self-custody option, according to the company.
- Marathon Digital Posts Negative Q2 Results, but Increases Bitcoin Production 8% YoY
Marathon Digital, one of the biggest public Bitcoin mining companies, has released its financial results from the Q2 2022 period. In the recent earnings call, the company posted negative results, reporting an impairment of $127.6 million due to the fall in bitcoin prices. However, the company produced 707 bitcoin during the period, a number that is 8% higher than what the company produced during last year’s Q2.
However, these 707 bitcoin produced constitute a fall of 44% when compared to the 1,259 bitcoin produced by the company in the prior quarter. Marathon’s CEO Fred Thiel attributed this fall to several energy problems that delayed the activation of miners in its Texas operation, and also to weather issues that affected the power generation process in the Montana facility.
Even when the company reported a net loss of $191.6 million, Thiel was positive about the recovery of the company. In a statement, he declared:
Given the groundwork we laid during the quarter and the progress we have made since, we are optimistic that Marathon’s operational and financial positioning is improving.
- GameFi and crypto ‘natural fit’ for game publishers: KBW 2022
South Korea is considered the fourth biggest gaming market and one of the biggest blockchain adopters. However, the country has banned play-to-earn (P2E) blockchain games due to the crypto integration. The new pro-crypto president Yoon Suk-yeol had hinted at lifting the ban, but the government has yet to show any significant effort.
Anthony Yoon, managing partner of blockchain investment and accelerator firm ROK Capital, in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, said that GameFi is a natural fit for Korean game publishers. Yoon shed light on the current state of GameFi in the country and how game studios are approaching blockchain integration during the Korean Blockchain Week 2022 (KBW)
https://cointelegraph.com/news/gamefi-and-crypto-natural-fit-for-game-publishers-kbw-2022
- Number Of Crypto ATMs Installed Worldwide Reaches New Milestone
With crypto adoption advancing rapidly over the last year, the installation of new crypto ATMs worldwide has also followed this accelerated rate. The number of countries where crypto ATMs are available remains on the rise too. Over the course of 2021, a large number of ATMs were installed as more countries accepted them. This time around, the number of crypto ATMs in the world has hit a new high, indicating that adoption remains high.
39,000 Crypto ATMs Worldwide
The rapid growth of crypto worldwide is embodied in the number of ATMs around the globe. This month, the space celebrated a new milestone in regards to these machines, which have now surpassed a total of 39,000 ATMs installed worldwide.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7169128
- CryptoCom Secures a Regulatory Approval in South Korea
In a recent announcement, the crypto platform’s Co-Founder and CEO – Kris Marszalek – described South Korea as an “important market” where his company is committed to cooperating with watchdogs and bringing its products and services. He further praised Koreans for showing a strong interest in the digital asset universe.
CryptoCom reiterated its plans to become an industry leader and a trading venue that enables maximum protection, awareness, and regulatory compliance. Receiving a green light from the South Korean watchdogs should aid these intentions and establish a secure bridge between domestic clients and the exchange. Speaking on the move was also Patrick Yoon – General Manager at CryptoCom, South Korea:
“We believe our services can not only help further evolve and empower commerce in Korea but also support the greater creation and development of our Web3 ecosystem. Korea is a tremendously important market for Crypto.com in advancing blockchain technology.”
https://cryptopotato.com/cryptocom-secures-a-regulatory-approval-in-south-korea/
- Iran Places First Crypto-Funded Import Order, Worth $10M: Report
Iran registered its first import order to be paid in crypto since the government, strapped for foreign currencies due to sanctions, amended digital assets legislation to allow locally mined cryptocurrencies to be used for purchases.
The order is valued at $10 million, the Tasnim news agency reported Tuesday.
The report cited a tweet from Alireza Peyman-Pak, an official at the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, which said (in Farsi) that by the end of September, Iran’s “use of cryptocurrencies and smart contracts will be widespread in foreign trade with target countries.”
In 2019, the government legalized crypto mining in the country. It still strictly regulates the sector and cracked down on local miners over energy use last year.
- Colombians Make Up 20% of the Customers of New Gen Crypto-Powered Accounts According to BBVA
Cryptocurrency solutions and their associated services are being embraced more and more by Latam users due to the characteristics of their economies. According to BBVA, a Spanish bank that offers services worldwide, Latam users are a big part of the customers attracted by the company’s crypto solutions. In an article, BBVA revealed that close to 20% of the users of its New Gen accounts, which allow customers to invest in cryptocurrencies directly from their bank accounts, are Colombians.
This means that citizens of this country are especially attracted to this kind of account, which offers bitcoin and ethereum trading associated with the possibility of exchanging these currencies with other fiat currencies from a digital wallet. According to data offered by BBVA, 37% of the Colombians that visit the account web page are interested in the services.
- Bitcoin.com to introduce Bitcoiners to decentralized finance: KBW 2022
Crypto platform Bitcoin.com is looking to expand its ecosystem by introducing Bitcoin (BTC) holders to the world of decentralized finance (DeFi) and implementing new services such as a decentralized exchange (DEX) in its platform.
Speaking with Cointelegraph’s Andrew Fenton at the Korea Blockchain Week (KBW) 2022, Bitcoin.com’s head of financial services Corbin Fraser said that the company is moving from only being associated with Bitcoin Cash (BCH) to becoming a DeFi platform that caters to crypto users across multiple chains. Fraser explained that:
“We’ve got a lot of BTC users and a lot of these people want to do more with their crypto than just hold it. And they know there are opportunities in DeFi, but it’s a little bit complicated, a little bit scary.”
https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-com-to-introduce-bitcoiners-to-decentralized-finance-kbw-2022
- Bitcoin And Ethereum Derivatives Regain Traction Despite The Crypto Winter: Glassnode
Although the bitcoin price has been trading sideways with a slight recovery and little volatility over the past week, Glassnode’s new report shows that there is quite a bit of investor interest in trading BTC futures markets and hodling their ETH bags.
According to Glassnode, there is little directional bias in the Bitcoin derivatives market, suggesting that investors are trading cautiously despite the small upward price movement.
However, as for Ethereum (ETH), investors are being more optimistic, as withdrawals from exchanges “are relatively small” compared to the increasing demand for the coin as the Merge date approaches.
Investors Regain Confidence After LUNA’s Collapse
According to Glassnode’s Future Open Interest (BTC) metric, it appears that investors are already willing to trade the derivatives market again, pushing aside the wariness built around the crypto market after the collapse of Terra’s LUNA and UST tokens (where billions of dollars were lost) and the mining capitulation in May and June.
“Futures trade volume appears to have stabilized in the post-LUNA collapse era. Trade volume experienced a structural decline over the 12-months since the May 2021 sell-off, but appears to be re-establishing a floor at around $33B/day.”
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7169169
- FTX Will Not Halt or Settle ETH Futures Prior to Merge
FTX has revealed that it does not have any plans to halt or settle ETH futures prior to the highly-anticipated, Merge.
In a recent announcement on Tuesday, the crypto derivatives exchange revealed that its Ethereum futures and perpetual contracts (ETH-0930, ETH-1230, ETH-PERP) will track the proof of stake Ethereum after the Merge.
It further added,
“we will do our best to support continuous trading.”
A move away from the existing proof of work (PoW) mechanism is expected to make the network cheaper, faster, and environmentally friendly. The income stream for the miners, however, will come to an end. The Merge would essentially eliminate a massive chunk of rewards for contributing to the blockchain.
As a result, some Chinese miners have proposed a hard fork that would enable miners to continue to support a new, parallel PoW version of the chain despite Ethereum undergoing the Merge.
https://cryptopotato.com/ftx-will-not-halt-or-settle-eth-futures-prior-to-merge/
