Author: RareHippo News

Hex Trust, a Hong Kong startup offering custody services for crypto assets, has seen its valuation rise 10-fold in a year to $300 million with a financing round led by Animoca Brands and Liberty City Ventures. The Series B round, which raised $88 million, also garnered participation from new investors including Ripple, Terra, Morgan Creek and Primavera Venture Partners, the startup said in a statement Wednesday. The firm had raised $6 million in March 2021, said co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Alessio Quaglini. “Nobody’s doubting anymore that blockchain will become the new infrastructure of the financial markets,” Quaglini said in an interview. “If a big chunk of financial services…

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is exploring offering over-the-counter bilateral crypto options, signaling the bank’s deepening participation in helping institutions trade digital-currency derivatives. The powerhouse is among a few Wall Street banks at the early stage of exploring such offerings, according to people with knowledge of the matter, asking not to be identified discussing private information. The so-called bilateral options allow trades to be customized so that crypto holders such as hedge funds and Bitcoin miners can hedge risks or boost yields. The market for these options, still in its infancy, has been dominated by crypto-native firms such as Genesis Global Trading…

Binance is reportedly looking to invest in several mainstream companies as a way of fostering greater crypto adoption in traditional business circles. The crypto exchange giant plans to invest in one or two firms across several business sectors, CEO Changpeng Zhao said in an interview with the Financial Times on Wednesday. According to Zhao, the aim of this investment spree is “to bring them into crypto.” In February, Binance acquired a $200 million stake in Forbes, a publication that once sued the exchange giant for defamation. Going by Zhao’s comments, Binance will continue to pursue investments into other entities that operate in the mainstream…

There’s a growing library of books about crypto. Here are some of Decrypt’s favorites, from thrilling tales of Bitcoin buccaneers to technical tomes. In 2021, crypto went more mainstream than ever before, and there’s now a growing library of books exploring Bitcoin and blockchain tech for the legions of crypto-curious. Decrypt’s staff has rounded up a list of our favorites: 1.Digital Gold, Nathaniel Popper Digital Gold, by Nathaniel Popper We may still not know exactly who the pseudonymous Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto is, but Digital Gold will teach you nearly everything else you’d want to know about the creation and early rise of the top cryptocurrency.…

TRON Founder Justin Sun has sent 19,000 Ethereum (ETH), worth $55 million, to crypto exchange Binance, which worried some users. A blockchain journalist and insider reported that on March 2, at 9 PM (UTC +8), a huge ETH transaction took place in the leading crypto exchange. It was revealed that a wallet address owned by Sun moved 19,000 ETH to Binance. The ETH in question has a total value of $55 million. Some members of the crypto community took to Twitter to share their reactions regarding the massive transaction that happened on Wednesday night. One user warned that Sun, along with Three Arrow…

The U.S. government is warning crypto exchanges not to facilitate transactions for individuals and entities newly added to its sanctions list. The Treasury Department published new regulations banning U.S. persons from providing any support to certain Russian oligarchs and entities as part of an ongoing effort to sanction Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, with the rules taking effect on March 1. “All property and interests in property that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person of the following persons are…

A developer in Britain is building the 11-bed monolith in Surrey, southern England. It will feature bullet-proof windows,  a swimming pool, cinema, and a bowling alley – all set in a 0.5ha plot. So far, so good? Well, this house also comes with a non-fungible token, containing the blueprint and virtual version of the property. The future owner of the Hampton Hall NFT will be able to download the house into a virtual world such as Decentraland or hang it on a digital picture frame on the walls of the real house. Built on land owned by the Crown Estate, meaning you’ll have to…

A federal grand jury has indicted BitConnect founder Satish Kumbhani with allegedly defrauding $2.4 billion through the crypto Ponzi scheme. The US Department of Justice announced on Friday that a San Diego federal grand jury had charged Kumbhani with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodity price manipulation, operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business and conspiracy to commit international money laundering. Through BitConnect’s “Lending program,” Kumbhani and his co-conspirators allegedly defrauded investors out of $2.4 billion. According to the DOJ, BitConnect executives and promoters claimed the firm’s trading technology was a means to generate significant…

Legislation moving through the Illinois General Assembly would, if approved, extend a data center tax incentive program to cryptocurrency miners. Illinois Senate Bill 3643 was first filed in mid-January by Republican State Sen. Sue Rezin and this week picked up a co-sponsorship from Sen. Julie Morrison, a Democrat, according to public records. The tax incentives program cited in the bill has existed since 2019. According to a report from mid-2020 prepared by the Illinois Department of Commerce, tax incentives worth more than $160 million have been extended to six data center operators. The report cites the creation of 120 jobs and $1.6 billion…

Does the government need to protect Black people from crypto? Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA) thinks so. At a Congressional hearing this week, Sherman compared crypto to sub-prime mortgages, and asked a Treasury Department official if “those of color will be left holding the bag if we see a collapse in cryptocurrency or stablecoins?” Whatever his intentions, the reaction on Twitter—especially among Black users—was savage, accusing the congressman of being patronizing and out of touch. Ryan Selkis of Messari suggested it was ironic that Sherman, a known ally of the banking industry, was framing the topic as a racial issue while refusing to debate his pro-crypto…