Kategorie: Crypto Business

Crypto.com has obtained two licences in South Korea after acquiring two startups in the country.

Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com announced that it had acquired two companies in South Korea in a bid to expand its presence in the Asian country. 

The company announced today, August 8th, that it had acquired South Korean payment service provider PnLink and virtual-asset exchange OK-BIT. 

The acquisitions mean that Crypto.com has secured registrations under South Korea’s Electronic Financial Transaction Act and as a virtual-asset service provider.

While commenting on this latest development, Kris Marszalek, Crypto.com’s co-founder and CEO, said;

“We are committed to working with regulators to continue to bring our products and services to market, particularly in countries like South Korea where consumers have shown strong interest and adoption of digital currencies.”

Crypto.com’s chief operating officer Eric Anziani added that the cryptocurrency exchange is trying to bring its offerings to the Korean market, and also work with partners here that are at the forefront of gaming and entertainment.

Crypto.com has been around since 2016 and is one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. The exchange has more than 50 million customers worldwide and already holds licenses in Singapore, Dubai, Italy, Greece and Cyprus.

Cryptocurrency exchanges are known to obtain local licences by acquiring startups in the countries they intend to operate. 

In the United Kingdom, Binance and Bitpanda acquired smaller startups that were registered under the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority’s anti-money laundering regime. Thus, allowing the crypto exchanges to operate successfully in the UK

Patrick Yoon, General Manager, South Korea of Crypto.com, also commented that;

“We believe our services can not only help further evolve and empower commerce in Korea but also support the greater creation and development of our Web3 ecosystem. Korea is a tremendously important market for Crypto.com in advancing blockchain technology.”

The crypto exchange said it has already received in-principle approval for a Major Payment Institution License from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, provisional approval of its Virtual Asset License from the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority and a few others.

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Bakkt’s study carried out in June and July found that 38% of gig workers are open to being paid in crypto, and the number jumps to nearly 50% for those willing to receive part of their gig pay in crypto.

Bakkt Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: BKKT), a leading digital asset platform offering a range of cryptocurrency services including buying and selling of Bitcoin and Ethereum among others, has released the findings of a new study showing almost half of people working in the gig economy are okay with getting a portion of their wages paid in crypto.

The US-based company announced this on Friday, with the findings part of a study dubbed “Gig Workers & Crypto Study.” This study happened at a time when crypto volatility was at its peak between mid-June and early July.

Crypto appeal among gig workers growing

In its assessment, and from the responses received regarding cryptocurrency payments in the gig industry, 38% of the respondents said they would accept all their pay in crypto. Narrowing this question to whether they would accept a portion of the pay in cryptocurrencies, nearly 50% said they would.

20% of the gig workers involved in the survey said they have been paid in crypto before.

“The increasing appeal and the existing usage of cryptocurrency among gig workers came through clearly in our study,” Nicolas Cabrera, Bakkt’s chief product officer of payments said in the press release.

Crypto has seen increased acceptance as a salary payment mode among most sectors within the gig economy. Most of the workers in the various industries, including freelancers, social influencers, and rideshare drivers, are increasingly tech savvy and thus more willing to accept crypto.

“While this group could benefit from increased understanding of how crypto can be used, rideshare drivers, food delivery drivers and other gig workers cite crypto as the next generation of currency and are drawn to the potential increase in the value of their pay,” Cabrera noted.

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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. 

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Messari will use Dove Metrics’ fundraising data to enhance real-time monitoring and transparency in the crypto fundraising ecosystem.

Messari, a leading blockchain analytics and crypto market intelligence firm, has acquired the assets and business of fundraising data platform Dove Metrics, CoinJournal has learnt from a press release.

The acquisition has allowed Messari to integrate Dove Metrics’ dashboard into its system and is set to incorporate additional functionality to make it even more beneficial to its operations, the firm said in the press release.

Dove Metrics is a platform of Blackrose Capital Management.

Bringing real-time tracking of fundraising data

According to Messari, acquiring the assets and business of Dove Metrics will boost its services and products through increased transparency, especially on data about ecosystem fundraising.

Messari Vice President of Market Intelligence, Eric Turner said tapping into Dove Metrics’ technology provides it with the capacity to offer its users the tools they need to stay informed about market trends. Among the benefits will be the ability to access real-time monitoring of which top projects being backed by investors, he added

Dove Metrics has monitored more than 8,000 investors as they participated in multiple crypto funding rounds, with data gathered including that of top venture capital funds, hedge funds, corporate funds, investment DAOs and angels.

The platform has also tracked nearly 3,000 funding rounds, with more than 300 of these being financing efforts of individual funds. The datasets also include details on 200 merger & acquisitions (M&As) in the crypto ecosystem.

Dove Metrics was co-founded by two experienced individuals in the crypto investing landscape – Regan Bozman and Pierre Chuzeville (also of early-stage crypto venture capital fund Lattice).

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Honduras’ ‘Bitcoin Valley’ joins other bitcoin projects in Central America –  El Salvador’s ‘Bitcoin Beach’ Guatemala’s ‘Bitcoin Lake’, and ‘Bitcoin Jungle’ in Puntarenas, Costa Rica.

Honduras has opened its own bitcoin city in Santa Lucia, a tourist town about 20 minutes from the country’s capital Tegucigalpa.

People now have access to goods and services that they can easily pay for all across the ‘Bitcoin Valley,’ Reuters reported on Friday.

The project is an initiative of Blockchain Honduras, Coincaex (a Guatemalan crypto exchange), the Technological University of Honduras and the local Santa Lucia municipality.

Opening up to crypto-tourism

The launch of ‘Bitcoin Valley’ comes amid increased tourist use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and its establishment looks to promote the Santa Lucia economy through crypto-tourism and by encouraging local business to start accepting digital asset payments.

The initial plan, according to the report, is to have 60 local businesses adopt the use of crypto – with the training then extended to other enterprises. 

These businesses will not have to worry about the tissue of crypto volatility as merchants will not receive the cryptocurrencies. Rather, the crypto exchange Coincaex will process the payments for merchants within the ‘bitcoin city’, with businesses having instant access to what customers pay via the local currency.

The launch of ‘Bitcoin Valley’ joins other three major crypto projects across the Central American region seeking to promote adoption among the general public within specific towns or regions. 

There’s El Salvador’s ‘Bitcoin Beach’ in El Zonte, ‘Bitcoin Lake’ in Guatemala, and ‘Bitcoin Jungle’ in Puntarenas, Costa Rica.

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