Author: Bloomberg
Billionaire Bill Ackman is among the early backers of a web3 venture fund focused on supporting the metaverse, gaming, social media and decentralized finance. Closing on $50 million in funding announced Monday, OP Ventures Fund I counted the hedge fund manager among its supporters which also included Solana co-founder Raj Gokal, Terra founder Do Kwon, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, billionaire financier Alan Howard and Asian gaming giant Animoca Brands Corp. Web3 applications have been seeing an influx of interest from some of the largest venture capital firms such as Andreessen Horowitz, while also facing criticisms about technical features and mechanisms…
TeraWulf Inc., a cryptocurrency miner that aims to be more environmentally friendly than peers, on Monday closed down 17% after paring a steeper decline that was the most since its reverse merger in December. Earlier, the company’s shares slid as much as 33% to an all-time low of $4.03, adding to a persistent decline for the celebrity-backed crypto firm. The stock is down more than 80% since the company’s reverse merger with Ikonics Corporation and listing on the Nasdaq Stock Market at $25. TeraWulf stock stumbled right after its trading debut and about $800 million of its market capitalization has been wiped out since…
Cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase Global Inc. said it blocked over 25,000 wallet addresses related to Russian individuals or entities that it believes to be engaging in illicit activity. The blocked addresses represent about 0.2% of Coinbase’s 11.4 million monthly transacting users, based on 2021 data. In a company blog, Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer, said the largest U.S. crypto exchange has banned access for sanctioned individuals and is using blockchain analytics to identify addresses potentially linked to them, which it also adds to an internal blocklist. “Today, Coinbase blocks over 25,000 addresses related to Russian individuals or entities we believe to be engaging in…
Bitcoin’s still mired in a drastic drawdown that’s taken it well off its recent record highs. But any further drop might have a silver lining. The world’s largest cryptocurrency has been trading below its 200-day moving average for 70 consecutive days, one of the longest such streaks on record, according to Jake Gordon, an analyst at Bespoke Investment Group. And though the coin is still well below that long-term threshold, once it breaks above it, “forward performance from one week to three months out is stronger than average,” he said. Strategists and crypto investors have been debating Bitcoin’s sanctuary status…
DRW Holdings LLC said it’s the first large trading firm to offer over-the-counter bilateral crypto options, paving the way for more institutional investors to deepen their participation in the cryptocurrency market. Cumberland, the Chicago-based firm’s crypto division, is now a liquidity provider for the so-called bespoke options, targeting major crypto holders like Bitcoin miners and investors that need to hedge risks or generate yields. The offering will allow traders to customize each trade’s expiry date, strike price and underlying coins. “We feel like that’s where the market is heading. We’re seeing the development and the interest building, so we are putting…
The sustainability of cryptocurrencies as a refuge is already facing a test after the digital alternatives to fiat were championed in the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. After surging as much as 20% at the start of last week and briefly topping $45,000 on speculation that sanctions and a collapsing ruble would drive Russians into cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, the original digital token reverted to acting like just another risk asset by Friday. It was trading at about $38,390 as of 6:56 p.m. New York time on Sunday, close to the lowest since Feb. 28. Bitcoin was born in…
Bitcoin dropped below $38,000 on Monday as global markets tumbled amid concerns that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the resulting sanctions, could have a wider and longer-lasting impact than previously thought. The largest cryptocurrency fell as much as 3.7% to $37,606 on Monday morning in Asia, its lowest level in a week. Ether declined as much as 4.6% to $2,509.98, the lowest since Feb. 24. All the other top tokens were also down as of 11 a.m. in Hong Kong, according to pricing from CoinGecko. Bitcoin has now given up all of the gains it notched up early last week,…
Singapore will impose unilateral sanctions against Russia, a move a former diplomat said was the first time in decades that the city-state was censuring a foreign nation without backing from the United Nations Security Council. Sanctions include the imposition of export controls on items that can be used as weapons, targeted financial measures on designated Russian banks and restrictions on cryptocurrency transactions that may be used to circumvent financial sanctions, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday. “For a small state like Singapore, this is not a theoretical principle, but a dangerous precedent. This is…
Power theft in Malaysia for cryptocurrency mining is a problem that’s growing quickly. But the national utility has a few ideas of how to tamp down the practice. Tenaga Nasional Bhd. has proposed a special tariff for Bitcoin mining operators in a move to fight electricity theft, its top executive said on Thursday. It has also proposed that the Energy Commission encourage Bitcoin mining operators to apply for legal electricity supply. Tenaga, which counts Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd. as its largest shareholder, is seeing an increasing number of cases where electricity is used to mine the cryptocurrency illegally — and…
Block Inc., the digital payments company run by Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey, is under investigation by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and multiple state Attorneys General in connection with its Cash App service. The company has received requests “from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”), as well as from Attorneys General from multiple states, seeking the production of information related to, among other things, Cash App’s handling of customer complaints and disputes,” Block disclosed in a recent regulatory filing. Cash App allows users to send money to friends and family, or buy stocks and Bitcoin directly from their phone.…