Monat: August 2022

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Robinhood won’t entertain merger and acquisition talks with FTX

FTX’s CEO recently acquired a 7.6% stake in Robinhood, sparking talks of a possible acquisition.


The CEO of Robinhood has come out to clarify that the company wouldn’t entertain merger and acquisition talks with cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

FTX’s CEO Sam Bankman-Fried acquired a 7.6% stake in FTX a few weeks ago. The move sparked reports that FTX could acquire Robinhood, one of the leading retail brokerage platforms in the world.

However, Robinhood’s CEO, Vlad Tenev, revealed on Wednesday that the company wouldn’t entertain merger and acquisition talks with FTX. Tenev said Robinhood has $6 billion in cash should the brokerage want to explore potential acquisitions. 

The Robinhood CEO said;

“I love us as a standalone company. Robinhood has about $6 billion of cash that could be used for acquisitions, and the company sees opportunities in the current environment to make acquisitions.”

Tenev’s comment comes just a few hours after the company announced that it would eliminate about 23% of its staff, to streamline costs amid a continuing decline in monthly active users on the trading platform.

The CEO’s comment also comes a few days after FTX.US, the United States arm of the FTX exchange, launched stock trading features for its users across the United States.

Robinhood is known for offering users access to a wide range of financial assets, including stocks and cryptocurrencies. However, FTX has previously stayed within the cryptocurrency market.

At the time, FTX.US President Brett Harrison said;

“FTX Stocks is now live for US users! Residents of all 50 states (yes, including NY!), as well as PR and USVI, can sign up. Trade hundreds of stocks and ETFs from both the web (https://ftx.us/stocks) and the FTX US Pro mobile app.”

FTX.US’s move into the stock trading arena indicates that the company is ready to provide heavy competition for Robinhood in the market. 

The post Robinhood won’t entertain merger and acquisition talks with FTX appeared first on CoinJournal.

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I will take Bitcoin at $35k by the end of the year, says Sam Bankman-Fried

Bitcoin has been trading above the $20k level in recent weeks, and Sam Bankman-Fried says he will accept the leading cryptocurrency trading around $35k by the end of the year.


Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of FTX, revealed in a recent interview with Fortune Magazine that he would accept Bitcoin trading around the $35k region by the end of the year.

Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $69k in November 2021 but has lost more than 60% of its value since then. At press time, Bitcoin is trading close to the $23k level after recovering from its recent losses. 

When asked about his predictions for Bitcoin and Ether and whether BTC would reach $100k soon, Bankman-Fried said;

“Boy, Ethereum is interesting. Obviously, with the upcoming merge⁹, there’s huge volatility, right? I think it could get way better or way worse—I just don’t know the answer.

I think Bitcoin’s a little bit easier to predict. If there’s more pain and more liquidations, that changes things. But a bit more recovery from the carnage, and regulatory clarity—that could be a big exogenous shock, a positive shock that could come over the next year. We’d be lucky to hit $100K, but I wouldn’t rule it out. But, you know, if you told me at the end of the year, Bitcoin is gonna be at $35K, I’d fucking take that.”

SBF added that he believes the ultimate strength of the cryptocurrency industry comes from blockchain technology being able to assert itself as a positive influence on the global economy. He said;

“There’s been skepticism of me from people who, correctly, view me as coming at it from a pragmatic rather than ideological perspective. I believe in blockchain because I think it’s useful and can make the world better in very specific practical ways.

My belief is that the industry is contingent on blockchains, ultimately being able to have a real positive impact on the world. I’d like to think I do a good job of representing other people who believe in the industry even if they came at it from a different angle originally, but there is always a little bit of unease there.”

Bankman-Fried’s FTX has become one of the leading crypto exchanges in the world, only behind the likes of Binance. 

The post I will take Bitcoin at $35k by the end of the year, says Sam Bankman-Fried appeared first on CoinJournal.

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MyEtherWallet launches cross-chain Web Extension for Polkadot

MEW is the leading wallet platform for digital assets on Ethereum, and Enkrypt brings its functionality to the Polkadot ecosystem.

MyEtherWallet (MEW), a leading platform in the crypto sector for the access to the Ethereum (ETH) ecosystem, has launched Enkrypt, a user-friendly cross-chain browser extension for Ethereum and Polkadot (DOT).

The web extension, which will support seamless multi-chain transactions for users on Ethereum and for the first time Polkadot, was developed in conjunction with Swiss platform Web3 Foundation, the MEW team said in a press release.

Enkrypt targets Web3 growth

Ethereum’s impending transition to Proof-of-Stake consensus with the Beacon Chain merge and the potential explosion of Web 3 technologies aided the developers’ efforts to create the browser extension.

It is hoped the feature will enable further adoption across the Ethereum ecosystem and tap into the interoperability capabilities possible with the Polkadot protocol. Cross-chain access will also be available through parachain integrations, including with top platforms Acala and Moonbeam. The feature will also extend to all the canary networks across the various protocols.

“Interoperability between blockchains has been top-of-mind for MEW users and is a pivotal step towards broader crypto adoption,” Kosala Hemachandra, founder and CEO of MyEtherWallet said in the press release.

The Enkrypt extension, Hemachandra added, is designed to enhance user experience as they interact across the multi-chain ecosystem.

Users can access the extension on the major browser platforms – Google Chrome, Firefox and Safari – and will benefit from being able to natively integrate with their MEW wallets on browsers and on mobile.

The post MyEtherWallet launches cross-chain Web Extension for Polkadot appeared first on CoinJournal.