Kategorie: Crypto Business

• FTX saw its 2021 revenue grow from $89 million to hit over $1 billion as the crypto market rallied.
• Growth came amid huge expansion across the globe, CNBC said in a report citing leaked documents.
• Despite crypto winter, FTX has looked to add to its growing portfolio of companies. 

FTX saw its revenue grow more than 1000% in 2021 as the massive bull market that took Bitcoin to highs of $69,000 pushed the cryptocurrency exchange’s revenue from below $90 million in 2020 to over $1 billion last year.

A CNBC report, citing leaked audited documents, revealed that the company, led by CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, generated the huge revenue amid a growing footprint built on crucial acquisitions.

FTX’s revenue hit $1.02 billion

In 2021, as rallying markets pulled in new money and helped crypto business establish a foothold following the previous market cycle, FTX emerged as one of those that took full advantage.

Financial success only helped to fuel global expansion for the company, adding to the overall revenue growth year-over-year, per documents the publication cited. Indeed, FTX’s revenue reportedly jumped from $89 million in 2020 to $1.02 billion in 2021 – reflecting an increase of more than 1000%.

The crypto exchange also saw its net income rise significantly – while in the previous year it stood at around $17 million, the crypto craze helped push that to $388 million. The company’s operating income went up from $14 million in 2020 to over $272 million in 2021.

Documents also showed FTX had cash holdings of nearly $2.5 billion at the end of 2022, with 27% profit margins.

FTX continues to grow its global footprint 

The revenue in Q1 2022 was $270 million, with forecasts looking at $1.1 billion for the year. This outlook is likely to be clearer with the release of Q2 figures, given the impact of crypto winter on crypto prices during the quarter.

Despite the crypto winter, Bankman-Fried’s company has looked to continue with its acquisition blitz. Evidently, the crypto turmoil seen in the first half of the year has provided an opportunity to snap up some companies on the cheap.

For instance, June saw FTX acquire Canada-based crypto trading platform Bitvo, and FTX US acquire clearing firm Embed. The deal with the latter has been key in FTX US’ offering of stocks trading. Other deals on the FTX table are for crypto lender BlockFi and Bithumb, a South Korea-based cryptocurrency exchange.

As well as these major acquisitions, FTX has struck deals and bought multiple businesses around the world. 

Notably, the leaked documents show 15 smaller firms spread across Singapore, Australia, Germany, Turkey, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates, Cyprus and Gibraltar, among other countries.

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• Gemini Staking adds to the yield-generating offering Gemini Earn launched in February 2021.
• Staking will be available for US customers (excluding New York) as well as Singapore and Hong Kong.
• The product will support MATIC before adding ETH, SOL, DOT and AUDIO.

The Gemini crypto exchange has launched its staking feature and will support multiple cryptocurrencies for customers in the United States (except for New York), Hong Kong and Singapore.

The company, one of the earliest in the industry and which is regulated in the US and other jurisdictions, unveiled the Gemini Staking product on 18 August 2022. 

Now customers can stake their tokens and receive staking rewards in their accounts on the exchange, the firm said in its blog announcement.

Staking for MATIC on Polygon

Staking is one of the ways for crypto holders to earn rewards on their tokens, which is possible via proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism platforms.

As opposed to mining on proof-of-work (PoW) networks like Bitcoin, PoS networks allow token holders to participate in transaction processing and network security by pledging their tokens to validators or running their own nodes.

Gemini will initially support staking for MATIC, the native token of the Polygon network. Later, the platform plans to add support for leading smart contracts blockchain Ethereum (ETH) – which is set to transition to PoS via the ‘Merge’. 

Other network tokens Gemini is looking to support are Polkadot (DOT), Solana (SOL), and Audius (AUDIO).

The launch of staking adds to Gemini’s yield-generating offering Gemini Earn, which was launched in February 2021. Earn allows customers to generate yield on their crypto through interest paid on loaned assets.

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Ripple’s partnership with Travelex Bank will see customers of the locally regulated bank benefit from XRP-powered cross border payments settled on RippleNet’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) protocol.

Ripple has launched a digital asset based payment solution in Brazil, partnering with regulated Latin America bank Travelex Bank.

The enterprise-focused solution will seek to offer customers across the region access to low-cost international payments, with instant settlement via RippleNet’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL). 

Leveraging Ripple’s XRP and the ODL platform will see businesses and corporates send money across borders without having to first open and maintain pre-funded accounts in those countries.

Customers to benefit from ‘real utility’

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, commenting on the development, noted that Brazil has grown to be one of the most important crypto destinations in the region, with its largely crypto-friendly environment great for fintech innovation. The country is thus seeing an “explosion of activity” amid increased adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrency among institutional users.

He added that crypto is helping people solve pain points in payments and the partnership with Travelex Bank boosts this outlook.  

“From day one, we’ve focused on building solutions that deliver real utility and we are excited to collaborate with an innovative partner like Travelex Bank to help move money more efficiently for the benefit of its customers across Brazil,” he added in a statement.

Travelex Bank is regulated by the Central Bank of Brazil, with its operations exclusively in foreign exchange. And with over $780 billion in annual remittances into Brazil, Travelex and Ripple could see increased demand for its ODL service, with the native XRP helping ensure cheaper and faster payments settlement.

Initially, support will be for the Mexico-Brazil payments corridor. Travelex will then look to support other corridors, with payments expanding to services such as bulk SME payments and internal treasury.

Ripple’s partnership with Travelex adds to a host of other key deals in the Latin America region, including with Banco Rendimento, Banco Topazio and Remessa Online. It also expands Ripple’s mainstream partnerships across the globe – Europe, Middle East and Southeast Asia.

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• eToro will acquire the US-based startup for $50 million in a cash and common stock deal.
• The deal is part of eToro’s plans to expand into the US market, where Robinhood remains one of the main competitors.
• Gatsby launched in 2018.

eToro, a leading online brokerage platform, is set to complete the acquisition of fintech startup Gatsby following approval by US regulator The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), TechCrunch reported on Wednesday.

According to the publication, the social investing giant will acquire the US-based platform for $50 million in a deal that will be settled in cash and common stock.

eToro’s brand continues to grow

The eToro-Gatsby deal was first mooted in December 2021, with eToro eyeing the FINRA approval as part of a larger goal of expanding into the US market.

The acquisition adds to eToro’s other major deals since 2019, with Gatsby now joining the growing brand that counts deals for investment tracker Delta, blockchain platform eToro Labs (formerly Firmo), and UK-based e-money firm Marq Millions Ltd.

Gatsby, founded in 2018, is key to eToro’s expansion efforts with its commission-free trading for options and stocks. 

The takeover is thus crucial in the battle to attract customers from a growing group of younger investors. Robinhood, one of the leading trading platforms in the zero-commission battle, is also one of eToro’s main competitors with a footprint in the US market.

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Michael Healy has been in the crypto space since 2010 and is a co-founder of crypto platform Unit Network.

Unizen, a leading hybrid crypto exchange enabled for centralised and decentralised finance (CeDeFi), has appointed crypto veteran Michael Healy as its Chief Strategy Officer (CSO).

Sean Noga, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Unizen announced Healy’s appointment on Wednesday, lauding the former WikiLeaks developer as an experienced hand in the crypto space.

“Michael has been in the crypto space since 2010, and he originally worked for WikiLeaks and built their android application in 2010. He brought BTC into WikiLeaks after Visa/ MasterCard donations were shut off,” Noga wrote in a release shared with CoinJournal.

The Unizen CEO had hinted at the C-level appointment earlier this month.

CSO’s role includes advancing adoption strategies

Other than his role at WikiLeaks, especially with his work on bringing Bitcoin to the non-profit organisation, Healy also co-founded tokenisation DAO platform Unit Network and has previously held positions at London-based venture capital firm Wellington Partners, investing in top firms that include Spotify.

BNB Chain-built Unizen secured a $200 million funding commitment from investment firm Global Emerging Markets (GEM) in June this year. According to the platform, the milestone-based capital injection was aimed at helping boost ecosystem development even as the market battled crypto turbulence.

Excited to announce that Unizen has secured $200 Million funding commitment from Global Emerging Markets.

GEM is an alternative investment group focused on emerging markets and has completed over 530 transactions in 70 countries covering 5 continents.https://t.co/oi2iFCB2TH

— Unizen: Smart Exchange Ecosystem (@unizen_io) June 27, 2022

Unizen’s new CSO has the task of shaping and advancing the crypto exchange platform’s growth plans, CEO Noga noted. Healy’s work will also involve charting the company’s strategic direction and adoption.

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