Twitter founder and CEO Jack Dorsey made a $1 million donation to crypto policy think tank Coin Center, the group's executive director Jerry Brito announced in a tweet on Wednesday. Dorsey's gift comes during Coin Center's matching campaign. Grayscale Investments made a $1 million donation to the think tank late last month. On top of the direct donation, Grayscale said it would match up to an additional $1 million of donations. Brito said Coin Center had nearly reached the goal when Dorsey's donation came in, putting them "over the top and then some."
More on The Block• 2021-02-10
Mastercard is planning to give merchants the option to receive payments in cryptocurrency later this year. According to a source familiar with the matter, the functionality will see Mastercard customers’ digital currency payments settled in crypto at participating merchants, a first for the financial giant. The company has not yet disclosed which digital currencies it intends to support, or where. The details shed new light on CEO Michael Miebach’s Q4 pledge to integrate digital currency payments “directly on our network” in a move the new chief, helming his first earnings call on Jan. 28, said will provide maximal flexibility to customers and merchants alike.
More on CoinDesk• 2021-02-10
Twitter CFO Ned Segal has said that the social media giant is considering whether to add bitcoin to its balance sheet. In an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, Segal said if Twitter employees and vendors ask to be paid in bitcoin, then the company may consider investing in bitcoin as part of its treasury.
More on The Block• 2021-02-10
Singapore-based digital asset investment firm Spartan Group announced a new $50 million venture fund Tuesday to invest in emerging decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystems. The fund has raised over $30 million in its first round, with a further $20 million expected in a subsequent round likely taking place in March or April. Spartan said it aims to "fill the gap between Western and Asian markets," focusing on strategies to boost early-stage investments in DeFi projects.
More on CoinDesk• 2021-02-09
Tesla has invested $1.5 billion into Bitcoin, according to an SEC filing today. "Thereafter, we invested an aggregate $1.50 billion in bitcoin under this policy and may acquire and hold digital assets from time to time or long-term," the filing said. The filing added that Tesla expects to begin accepting Bitcoin as payment for its products, including its cars, in the near future.
More on Decrypt• 2021-02-08
Crypto exchange FTX announced Monday that it will donate 1% of net fee revenue to charities via the newly created The FTX Foundation. Last year, FTX made $85 million in fee revenue, CEO Sam Bankman-Fried told The Block, adding that for 2021, the exchange expects to make $400 million. The projections are made based on FTX's December fee revenue of $200 million, said Bankman-Fried.
More on The Block• 2021-02-08
CME Group is on the cusp of launching its long-awaited ether (ETH) futures product. The derivatives exchange said in a Sunday morning tweet that ETH futures will go at 6 p.m. ET on Sunday "for a first trade date of Feb. 8.". CME's ETH futures were announced in mid-December to much fanfare. Per contract details published on the CME website, the futures are cash-settled and based on the CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate. Each monthly contract represents 50 ETH -- an amount worth roughly $78,000 at press time -- with a minimum block trade size of five contracts.
More on The Block• 2021-02-07
The popular Monero (XMR) to Bitcoin (BTC) exchange, XMR.to, is shutting down as a result of increasingly invasive money laundering laws and regulations. XMR.to, an exchange that allows users to anonymously exchange Monero for Bitcoin, is shutting down. The writing has been on the wall for a while now, especially after draconian money laundering laws forced XMR.to to deny service to users in specific regions, such as the United States.
More on Darknetlive• 2021-02-05
Crypto exchange Bitfinex said Friday that it repaid its sister company Tether the remaining loan balance of $550 million. Bitfinex told The Block that the payment was made to Tether in January, and the line of credit has now been closed. Back in 2018, Tether opened a credit line worth $900 million for Bitfinex, of which $750 million was used by the exchange. Bitfinex repaid $100 million each in 2019 and 2020.
More on The Block• 2021-02-05
The BitMEX cofounder created a cryptocurrency exchange that has traded trillions. Now he’s wanted by U.S. authorities, and insiders wonder whether he and his partners are villains—or victims of a two-tiered justice system that favors big banks over brash outsiders.
More on Vanity Fair• 2021-02-05
In the week of January 25th, 2021, Gamestop (ticker symbol $GME) rose by several multiples due to a massive short squeeze. This caused a huge furore in the markets, bringing the term “short squeeze” into the mainstream financial social media.
More on Deribit Insights• 2021-02-05
This weekend, a new Ethereum project called Hashmasks sold a collection of 16,000 pieces of art for about $9 million, making its founders suddenly and unexpectedly rich. Ethereum art has been taking the cryptocurrency world by storm recently. Last December, over $8 million was sold in crypto art, featuring renowned crypto artist Beeple selling NFTs you can hang on your wall. The following month, Rick & Morty creator Justin Roiland decided to give it a shot, and sold some of his sketches for a total of $1.5 million. Hashmasks is the latest project riding this surging wave of attention—and money—with its first, big art sale capturing everyone’s attention.
More on Decrypt• 2021-02-03