Kategorie: Crypto Business

• Galaxy Digital is set to finalise its acquisition of crypto self-custody platform GK8.

• Mike Novogratz’s company won the auction for GK8 earlier this week.

• GK8’s sale is part of the ongoing Celsius bankruptcy proceedings.

Galaxy Digital to finalise its acquisition of GK8

Judge Martin Glenn approved the sale of the crypto self-custody platform GK8 to Galaxy Digital on Tuesday, December 13th. This latest development is part of the bankruptcy proceedings of crypto lender Celsius Network. 

Galaxy Digital, the company owned by Mike Novogratz, provides crypto-focused financial services. The firm won the auction for GK8 earlier this month.

At the moment, the terms of the deal were not disclosed. However, Galaxy spokesman Michael Wursthorn revealed earlier that the price the firm is paying for GK8 is materially less than what Celsius paid for it a year ago.

Celsius acquired the crypto self-custody platform for $115 million in November 2021, at the height of the bull market. 

Celsius has been struggling in recent months, resulting in the CEO, Alex Mashinsky, stepping down from his position in September. His resignation came after Celsius filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in July 2022.

Galaxy to expand its prime brokerage offering

Galaxy Digital revealed that its acquisition of GK8 would enable it to expand its prime brokerage offering. The acquisition would also see roughly 40 people from GK8 join the Galaxy Digital team, including blockchain engineers and cryptographers.

Although the judge has approved the deal, it is still subject to regulatory approval. The deal would help expand Galaxy’s global footprint with a new office in Tel Aviv, Israel, the firm added. 

Celsius put several of its assets up for sale since it filed for bankruptcy a few months ago. Last week, United States Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn ordered Celsius to return cryptocurrencies worth about $44 million to the lender’s custody program customers.

At the time, the judge said he wanted creditors to recover as much as they possibly could as soon as they possibly could. Celsius still owes billions of dollars to its creditors, and the sale of its assets could help settle some of the debt.

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• Crypto exchange Binance has rolled out a new feature for its customers in the United States.

• Binance Pay has been available to clients in other parts of the world since February 2021.

• Binance remains the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange.

Binance Pay is now available to US customers

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, announced on Tuesday, December 13th, that the Binance Pay feature is now available to its customers in the United States.

The crypto exchange explained that Binance Pay is a contactless, borderless, and secure cryptocurrency payment technology. Binance Pay allows users to pay and get paid in crypto from their friends and family worldwide.

Binance Pay has been available to Binance users in other parts of the world since it was launched in February 2021. At the time, CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) said payments is one of the most obvious use cases of cryptocurrencies. Binance stated that;

“Pay eliminates the complexities of transferring crypto to contacts as users no longer need to enter a complex deposit or withdrawal address, pay gas fees, or wait an unspecified amount of time for transactions to successfully settle.”

Following this latest cryptocurrency news, Binance said its users could use the feature immediately, and the exchange is also working on a web version.

Binance is making moves to attract more users in the US

Binance remains the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange in terms of the daily trading volume. The company processes over $16 billion daily, nearly 10 times higher than what its closest competitor Coinbase is processing.

The crypto exchange has been making moves to attract more users in the United States. Binance recently eliminated trading fees for both bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), a move that could help it attract more users.

Despite that, Binance hasn’t been without its own troubles. The United States Department of Justice is currently considering filing criminal charges against Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.

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• Ark Invest has increased its investment in Coinbase after purchasing 78k shares of the company.

• Coinbase’s stock price is down by 83% since the start of the year.

• Ark Invest now holds 5.7 million Coinbase shares.

Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest purchases more Coinbase shares

Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management revealed a few hours ago that it had purchased 78,982 shares in the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. This latest cryptocurrency news comes despite Coinbase’s shares (COIN) losing over 80% of their value since the start of the year.

At press time, COIN is trading at $40.32, which means Ark Invest could have spent around $3,184,554.24 to acquire the over 78k Coinbase shares. COIN has been underperforming since the start of the year and has lost 83% of its value during that period.

However, COIN is starting the week in a positive fashion, as it is up by 0.8% since the US stock market opened a few hours ago. Following this purchase, Ark Invest now holds 5.7 million worth of Coinbase shares.

The move could indicate that Ark Invest is bullish about Coinbase and the broader cryptocurrency market despite a bear market that has caused the prices of most cryptocurrencies to dip by more than 75% over the past 12 months.

Coinbase expects 2022’s revenue to decline by 50% or more

While Ark Invest might be bullish about the long-term prospect of Coinbase, the short-term performance remains poor. 

Last week, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, revealed that he expects the company’s 2022 revenue to decline by 50% or more from what was recorded last year. At the time, he said;

“Last year in 2021, we did about $7 billion of revenue and about $4 billion of positive EBITDA, and this year with everything coming down, it’s looking, you know, about roughly half that or less.”

He explained that the ongoing bear market and the recent FTX collapse affected the company’s financial performance.

The post Ark Invest purchases over 78k Coinbase shares despite sliding prices appeared first on CoinJournal.

• Crypto exchange Coinbase wants its users to switch their USDT for USDC.

• The company calls USDC the trusted and reputable stablecoin.

• Coinbase is a co-founder of Circle, the company that issues the USDC stablecoin.

Coinbase wants users to adopt USDC

Coinbase, one of the leading crypto exchanges in the world, has urged its users to swap their USDT stablecoin for USDC. USDT is the leading stablecoin in the world (with a $65 billion market cap) and is issued by Tether.

Meanwhile, USDC is the stablecoin issued by Circle, a company that Coinbase helped founded. In a blog post on December 8th, Coinbase said USDC is the more trusted and reputable stablecoin. Coinbase wrote,

“We co-founded USDC in 2018 with the vision of creating a more open, global financial system. USDC is unique in that it’s 100% backed by cash and short-dated U.S. treasuries held in U.S.regulated financial institutions. It’s always redeemable 1:1 for U.S. dollars. Customers are calling for transparency, and USDC delivers via monthly attestations by Grant Thornton LLP, one of America’s largest audit, tax, and advisory firms. Plus, eligible customers globally² earn up to 1.5% APY³ on their USDC holdings with Coinbase.”

Recent events prompted Coinbase to favour USDC

Coinbase explained that events of the past few weeks prompted it to ask its users to switch to USSC. On-chain data indicated that USDT briefly lost its peg against the US Dollars following the FTX collapse. Coinbase wrote that;

“However, the events of the past few weeks have put some stablecoins to the test, and we’ve seen a flight to safety. We believe that USD Coin (USDC) is a trusted and reputable stablecoin, so we’re making it more frictionless to switch: starting today, we’re waiving fees for global retail customers to convert USDT to USDC.”

Although USDT remains the leading stablecoin in the cryptocurrency space, it has encountered numerous controversies over the years. There were claims that Tether’s USDT stablecoins were not fully backed.

In September, the stablecoin issuer was ordered by a U.S. judge in New York to produce financial records associated with the backing of USDT. In 2020, the New York Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit to get Tether to release documents regarding its finances. 

The post Coinbase asks users to switch USDT for the ‘reputable’ USDC appeared first on CoinJournal.

PayPal has announced that it is expanding its cryptocurrency operations to Luxembourg despite the ongoing crypto winter which is projected to extend to 2023 after the FTX collapse.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• 2022 has been one of the darkest years for the crypto industry because of the crushing prices and collapse of crypto giants.
• PayPal expanding crypto services to Luxembourg offers hope for the crypto world.
• PayPal will start its operations in Luxembourg within a few days.

Luxembourg is one of those countries that is always ready to embrace new innovations and technological development, which has made it a destination of choice for many financial companies including PayPal. In a press release, PayPal said that its crypto services would be in the country very soon to allow citizens to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies.

According to PayPal’s press release, PayPal is currently working with Luxembourg’s regulators and policymakers to create a policy that suits the investors, PayPal, and the country.

PayPal crypto services

PayPal also said that they are working closely to boost the ever-growing crypto industry. It launched cryptocurrency services in 2020 in different states in the US before moving the services to the UK in 2021.

According to the PayPal CEO:

“The shift to digital forms of currencies is inevitable, bringing with it clear advantages in terms of financial inclusion and access; efficiency, speed and resilience of the payments system; and the ability for governments to disburse funds to citizens quickly.” 

At the moment about four cryptocurrencies are available on PayPal as the firm works to integrate all crypto and blockchain services. Customers can buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies. PayPal allows customers to buy cryptocurrencies through different websites, apps or other crypto platforms.

PayPal crypto fees

PayPal does not impose any tax or fees on buying, selling, or holding cryptocurrencies. All that is required is for a person to have a valid PayPal account.

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