Author: The Block

StarkWare, an Ethereum Layer 2 developer that uses ZK-rollup technology for scaling, is reportedly raising funds at a $6 billion valuation. Israeli newspaper Calcalist reported the news on Thursday, saying that StarkWare is raising at least $100 million, without citing a source. The newspaper didn’t give any details on who might be investing. The new funding round, which is yet to close, comes barely three months after StarkWare raised $50 million in a Series C round at a $2 billion valuation. StarkWare declined to comment to The Block. The company’s Series C round was led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Paradigm, Three Arrows…

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Dubai unveiled a new agency tasked with virtual asset regulation on Wednesday as its leadership looks to solidify the city’s position in the emerging global digital economy. The Dubai Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) will operate as an affiliated agency of the Dubai World Trade Center and will focus on compliance and disclosures of virtual asset service providers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to a government announcement today. The new agency will also handle the UAE’s crypto licensing regime. These crypto licenses will only be given to firms that establish a business presence in the UAE. Apart from crypto exchanges,…

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Web traffic across cryptocurrency exchanges decreased by 20.6% month-over-month in February, according to data from SimilarWeb. Monthly traffic has been on the decline since November 2021, when the total of visits was 546.6 million. Last month, that number fell to 339.4 million. The numbers include both spot and derivative trading. Binance saw the majority of February’s crypto exchange web traffic (31,5%), followed by Coinbase (17.9%), Bybit (8.7%), FTX (4.9%) and Gate.io (4.0%).

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Web3 infrastructure startup EthSign has raised $12 million in a seed funding round and all three units of the Sequoia VC — Sequoia Capital, Sequoia Capital India and Sequoia Capital China — have backed its round. This is the first time all three units of Sequoia have participated in a funding round in general, and not just in the crypto space, a Sequoia Capital India spokesperson told The Block. A Sequoia Capital spokesperson also separately confirmed that this is the first time all three units are in a single round. Sequoia Capital India co-led EthSign’s seed round along with Mirana…

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A new statement from US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen lays out how her department will implement the provisions of a long-awaited executive order from Joe Biden’s White House. The statement, issued late Tuesday and later removed (archived version here) from the department’s website, states that “Biden’s historic executive order calls for a coordinated and comprehensive approach to digital asset policy.” “This approach will support responsible innovation that could result in substantial benefits for the nation, consumers, and businesses,” Yellen continued. “It will also address risks related to illicit finance, protecting consumers and investors, and preventing threats to the financial system and broader…

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Dwayne Golden, Gregory Aggesen and Marquis Demacking Egerton were charged Tuesday for financial crimes such as fraud and money laundering while operating three crypto endeavors called EmpowerCoin, ECoinPlus and Jet-Coin, which accumulated over $40 million from investors. As per a release from the Department of Justice, the three charged allegedly promised investors fixed returns on their crypto investments through overseas crypto trading. Prosecutors say the three either pocketed the funds or used them to pay prior investors. Another man named William White allegedly conspired with Golden and Aggesen to obstruct justice and tamper with evidence during the investigations. “As alleged, the defendants…

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WalletConnect, a web3 infrastructure startup that allows users to connect crypto wallets with decentralized applications via QR codes, has raised $11 million in a Series A funding round. Union Square Ventures and 1kx co-led the round, with Coinbase Ventures, Semantic Ventures, Zerion and others participating. Angel investors including Alex Svanevik, Eric Conner, Arjun Bhuptani, Viktor Bunin, Mara Schmiedt, Anna Rose and Ajit Tripathi also backed the round. This was an equity funding round and will help WalletConnect become a decentralized web3 messaging layer, the project’s founder, Pedro Gomes, told The Block. To that end, WalletConnect is building two new protocols…

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Asset management firm GoldenTree said Tuesday that it has hired Avi Felman, who most recently served as BlockTower Capital’s co-portfolio manager, to be its new head of digital assets trading. “Mr. Felman will also be a General Partner of GoldenChain, a wholly owned subsidiary of GoldenTree which will manage the funds launched by GoldenTree that will focus on digital assets,” GoldenTree said in a press statement. Before BlockTower, Felman held roles at Wave Financial, CryptoAM and Ledger Capital, per his LinkedIn profile. GoldenTree, which has nearly $47 billion in assets under management, has participated in several crypto funding rounds in recent months, including a…

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Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, the high-profile crypto billionaire universally known as CZ, spent last Thursday night wooing an influential gathering of UK government officials in Westminster. Zhao delivered a speech at a dinner on March 3 for guests from 10 Downing Street and the Treasury, as well as MPs and Lords, according to people who attended the event. The evening was organized by the Centre for Policy Studies, a conservative think tank. In his speech, Zhao conceded that mistakes had been made building the crypto exchange into the behemoth it is today — but stressed that he now wants to…

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The Avalanche Foundation announced incentives worth hundreds of millions of dollars on Tuesday to stimulate new types of development on the Avalanche blockchain. The so-called Avalanche Multiverse program — funded by four million AVAX tokens (worth around $290 million at current prices) — aims to encourage the growth of subnets on the network. The subnets are blockchains linked to Avalanche, in that they share similar tools and features, but that can be customized to suit the requirements of specific apps. They are also siloed in terms of competing for resources, meaning their speed and costliness won’t be affected by events…

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