Kategorie: Crypto Business

Kraken Chief Operating Officer David Ripley takes over from Jesse Powell, who stays on as Chairman, Board of Directors.

Jesse Powell, the co-founder of US-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, is stepping down from his Chief Executive Officer position.   .

Kraken COO David Ripley takes over as CEO

In an interview aired on Thursday, Powell confirmed his exit as CEO, but said that he will remain at the company as Chairman of the board. The CEO role is being taken by Chief Operating Officer David Ripley, he added.

“I like to think of it as you know I’m taking a higher level role at the chairman level. You have ultimate oversight over the whole company. Dave Ripley will be doing all the hard work for me. So appreciate that,” he told Bloomberg TV.

Powell, who said he is excited about the next chapter – being chairman – and what it could allow him to do, also talked about the future of the company under David Ripley.

“I’m extremely confident in David Ripley and his ability to lead this company. He’s been with us since we were 50 people six years ago, all the way up to mid-3000 right now. So, you know, he’s seen it all. And I’m just super glad that we have such a deep bench and someone able to step up from the inside,” he said during the interview.

Ripley will focus on the day to day running of the company, while Powell hopes he’ll have time “to go deeper on the product and user experience.” This even as the crypto market remains in a bearish grip after a tumultuous 2022 and presents a scenario likely to hamper Kraken’s stock market debut plans.  

Powell co-founded Kraken in 2011 and remains its largest shareholder as he takes up the Chairman of the Board of Directors role.

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Dating.com’s metaverse project on Decentraland is the first in the dating sector.

Love is in the air, and finding love is in the metaverse!

Dating.com, a subsidiary of global social discovery company Dating Group, has opened the first-ever dating site in the metaverse, according to an announcement seen by CoinJournal.

The company, which counts more than 30 online dating sites and has offices cross seven countries, said the debut of its virtual reality dating space is a nod to its flagship platform’s innovativeness. 

“Starting Friday, September 23 singles of all ages can visit Dating.com’s metaverse dating space to flirt, mingle, and make long lasting connections,” the company announced. 

The metaverse project could see Dating Group add to its more than 73 million registered users on Dating.com and other sites, including Dil Mil, Cupid Media and DateMyAge

Dating in Decentraland

Dating.com’s virtual love platform is designed in Decentraland, a leading metaverse platform where unique infrastructure has been set up to create an atmosphere of love.

“We’re pleased to be the first dating site to unveil our virtual dating world and we’re looking forward to seeing Dating.com users continue to make global connections in this new space,” said KJ Dhaliwal, Chief Strategy Officer for Dating Group.

As well as interactive activities for singles, a gift giving feature has been enabled to allow couples gift NFTs to mark their love.

The virtual reality platform, which works with avatars could resonate massively with people as they can explore and nurture connections without the prejudice that can sometime be experienced in the physical world – basically, “materialistic, superficial factors or judgments” likely to impact people in the real world are removed.

This can then allow for relationships to grow based on things such as personality and shared values. All the while without the nagging fear of whether one is wasting time or money as is often the case with in-person dates.   

‘Wedding of the year’ in the metaverse

As per Wednesday’s announcement, the launch of the dating site this Friday will include a “wedding of the year” involving three real-world couples.

To celebrate the pioneering move, Dating.com plans a grand blockchain matrimony, with the virtual marriage ceremony bringing together lovebirds who first met on the site. The newly-weds will get NFT certificates as proof of their marriage – which will also be witnessed by family, friends and an officiant.

Dating.com says its website that those looking to win a wedding in the metaverse can submit applications by 22 September.

The post Dating.com launches pioneer meta-dating site in Decentraland appeared first on CoinJournal.

Vulcan Forged will use the funding to expand operations in North America.

Global investment firm SkyBridge Capital led an $8 million Series A funding round for blockchain game studio Vulcan Forged, the firms have announced.

The financing round also includes the option for a further $33 million investment, according to a press release from SkyBridge Capital. Vulcan Forged also confirmed the announcement via its official Twitter account.

We’re delighted to have @SkyBridge, part owned by @FTX_Official, co @Mets owner and ex-White House Advisor @Scaramucci lead our Series A for Vulcan Forged.

We can now take VF to new levels, especially in North America with our new backers.$PYRhttps://t.co/EpkXFhBjCW

— Vulcan Forged (@VulcanForged) September 21, 2022

Strategic investment from Anthony Scaramucci firm

Jamie Thomson, the founder and CEO of Vulcan Forged sees this a strategic investment that has come at a “perfect time” for it and the company will capitalise on it to continue its growth momentum.

In particular, Vulcan Forged, also a leading decentralised applications (dApps) incubator, will use the funding to accelerate growth of its metaverse-as-a-service engine dubbed MetaScapes. 

As per the play-to-earn gaming company, the funds will help it scale its operations across North America and other key markets. Part of the expansion will see the company open a new office in New York City.

Vulcan Forged has released some top web3 game titles, including VulcanVerse, Berserk and Forge Arena, and looks to extend its reach with new ventures across the metaverse space with MetsScapes.

“Vulcan Forged and their MetaScapes engine are well-positioned to completely disrupt the legacy gaming and entertainment industries and we are excited to help take them to the next level,” said Anthony Scaramucci, the founder and managing partner at SkyBridge Capital.

Elysium is a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain platform Vulcan Forged launched in 2021. The highly scalable platform with low gas fees, is purpose-built for decentralised applications, gaming, and NFTs and other metaverse features.

The post SkyBridge Capital invests in P2E gaming studio Vulcan Forged appeared first on CoinJournal.

Zilliqa, the highly scalable layer-1 blockchain protocol, is partnering Esports 3.0 firm XBorg in an effort to accelerate the blockchain platform’s Web3 gaming ecosystem.

According to a press release sent to CoinJournal on Tuesday, the partnership with the gaming arm of Swissborg will help Zilliqa get feedback from XBorg players and use it to develop its gaming ecosystem. 

The two firms seek to achieve this via beta versions of Zilliqa-based games, with success set to aid the overall game adoption.

“Games are defined by the strength, size, and support of their communities. What we’re looking to do through our partnership with XBorg is to take a collaborative approach to the development of Zilliqa’s gaming ecosystem,” said Matt Dyer, the blockchain platform’s Chief of Staff.

Giving Zilliqa games more visibility

Zilliqa was created in 2017, with a token sale taking place in January 2018 and its mainnet went live in 2019.

Since its launch, over 40 million transactions have been processed on the mainnet and growth over the past three years has seen more than 250 decentralised applications (dApps) launched.This partnership could help its gaming product gain more visibility.

”Every element of this partnership will extend the visibility of Zilliqa’s games to entirely new audiences and communities that we would otherwise not be able to reach,” Dyer noted.

Zilliqa games will benefit from promotional campaigns across XBorg’s community of ambassadors, esports partners and influences, increasing exposure. The companies will also look to co-market games, with more focus on Zilliqa games’ skill-to-earn model boosting the broader Web3 gaming.

Louis Regis, the founder and CEO of XBorg elaborated that the partnership gives XBorg an opportunity to help top blockchain games via access to key elements such as tournaments and professional esport teams. XBorg will also apply its technical and human expertise on efforts aimed as boosting upcoming competitive titles on Zilliqa. 

According to Regis, the collaboration will also be key to the gaming provider’s quest to expand its Gaming Digital Identity offering within the Zilliqa ecosystem.

The post Zilliqa partners eSports platform XBorg to accelerate Web3 gaming appeared first on CoinJournal.

Cake DeFi says EARN offers daily rewards with up to 10% APY, while users benefit from complete transparency.

Cake DeFi, a Singapore-based decentralised finance (DeFi) company seeking to bring crypto opportunities to the masses, has formally launched an investment product that will see customers access competitive returns on their assets while enjoying protection against market volatility.

The platform first introduced EARN on 12 September.

Cake DeFi’s EARN to “address market needs”

As noted EARN is a hybrid product that offers “a single-sided liquidity mining service” that should see an increasingly risk-averse market not worry about returns, liquidity or risk of insolvency as recently observed over the crypto winter.

With many centralised finance (CeFi) platforms hitting bankruptcy among other troubles recently, users are turning to projects such as Cake DeFi’s centralised decentralised finance (CeDeFi) platform. 

The market is also benefiting from a hybrid approach where providers are offering access to both liquidity mining and crypto lending – combining high yields with the latter’s low volatility to help consumers.

“Our latest product EARN was launched to address today’s market needs. With the crypto winter settling in, investors have become increasingly risk-averse, especially since many Centralised Finance (CeFi) platforms have become insolvent or are facing liquidity issues. As a Centralised Decentralised Finance (CeDeFi) platform, our business is to provide our users with good yields on their crypto investments with complete transparency,” said Dr. Julian Hosp, Co-Founder and CEO of Cake DeFi.

What else makes Cake DeFi Earn different?

According to Cake DeFi, EARN will offer users access to rewards with up to 10% APY, either for Bitcoin (BTC) or DeFiChain (DFI) – you allocate one asset and receive rewards in the native coin. EARN also offers autocompounding of returns to allow users to benefit from even greater yields. 

As well as using on-chain tools to track their investment’s performance, customers are assured of protection against impermanent loss. This option is available via the Volatility Protection feature, the firm announced.

Cake DeFi is announcing the EARN feature on the back of stellar growth during Q2, the fintech platform’s strongest quarter of 2022. This was reflected in the platform’s Transparency Report, with numbers for customer growth, payouts and funded accounts all showing massive upticks.

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