BlackRock CEO on BTC, Grayscale Competitor, USD 16.5bn Lost to Crypto Scams + More News

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Linas Kmieliauskas

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Linas Kmieliauskas

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June 26, 2023 06:54 EDT

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Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.

Investing news

• Commenting on Bitcoin (BTC), Larry Fink, Founder, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock, said: “It’s not a market for the calm. Right now it’s still untested. We’re watching it, we’re enjoying the conversation. But it has not been proven yet.” (Learn more: BlackRock Has USD 235bn in Alternatives And Now It’s Coming For Bitcoin)
• Ninepoint Partners, a Canadian fund that went public after raising USD 180m from private investors, listed its shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday. Ninepoint follows the example of Grayscale, which pioneered the model of creating a trust dedicated to buying BTC, and then selling shares in that trust in return for a commission, Fortune reported. Ninepoint believes it can take a piece of the market by offering a lower management fee of 0.7% and eliminating a lock-up period in which Grayscale makes its shares available only to professional investors, the report added.
• Union Square Ventures said it expects to allocate around 30% of its USD 250m 2021 Core Fund to crypto-related investments. This will include holding tokens directly as well as equity in early-stage blockchain-related projects, according to Andy Weissman, the Managing Partner at the firm.

Scams news

• Crypto investors have lost an estimated USD 16.5bn since 2012 across 132 different scams, according to South Korean business giant Hanhwa Group-backed crypto disclosure platform Xangle. 527 individuals have faced criminal charges for their roles in crypto-related scams while the combined sentences for individuals involved in scams is over 160 years. Also, while 14 crypto projects have seen their members charged and sentenced to date, of all reported scams, 24 projects or organizations have no known charges — civil or criminal, the company added.

Exchanges news

• In South Korea, fresh reports have emerged linking the gaming giant Nexon and its owner Kim Jung-ju with a deal to buy a controlling stake in Bithumb, the nation’s market-leading crypto exchange. Some 65% of the company’s shares have been put up for sale, and Kim has been linked to a deal for several weeks. But new reports from media outlets like Yonhap and 4th claim that insiders believe the deal is still on – and that Kim may secure ownership of the platform for a price of around USD 451 million (despite an initial asking price of up to USD 600 million). Nexon and the holding company NXC currently own a number of crypto businesses, including the South Korean exchange Korbit and the European trading platform Bitstamp.
• 2gether said they’re able to replenish 100% of the stolen BTC and ethereum (ETH) that weren’t previously converted into shares or 2GT tokens to 91% of the affected users. “However, the rise in value of the two crypto makes it impossible for us to refund 100% of the stolen amount to 9% of the users who lost the most during this cyber attack,” they added.

Blockchain news

• A major Chinese hospital has launched a blockchain-powered medical records platform to “protect” its “patients’ privacy.” Per CN-Healthcare, the First Hospital of Zhejiang, in Zhejiang Province, China, has officially launched a blockchain-based “medical application” for smartphones that it said will also help healthcare researchers gather data more effectively and securely as they attempt to fight illnesses. The university-linked hospital also claims that move will improve and streamline medical records-keeping procedures in the province and spearhead “digital reform” in the medical field.
• The city authorities in Beijing have unveiled a new “five-year plan” that involves building new blockchain R&D centers. Per media outlet Sciencenet, the city has also pledged to build optoelectronics research bases and plans on adding new blockchain firms to its list of 98 unicorn companies. The new five-year plan is the city’s 14th, but no details were forthcoming about the budget that would be earmarked for the new blockchain research centers.
• Coin98 Ventures, the investment arm of Coin98 Finance, a blockchain-focused software company in Vietnam, launched an ecosystem fund of up to USD 5m in partnership with the Solana Foundation. The new fund was established to nurture the Solana (SOL) developer ecosystem in Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on Vietnam, the company said.

Adoption news

• The American Cancer Society said it has launched The Cancer Crypto fund that is seeking to raise at least USD 1m by early 2021 and will go directly to funding critical cancer research.

Career news

• George Harrap, former CEO of Bitspark and veteran crypto entrepreneur, is joining YAP Global, a PR agency specializing in fintech, blockchain, and crypto industries, as the Head of DeFi (decentralized finance) to “bridge the knowledge gap between traditional financial media and emerging DeFi projects,” the company said in an emailed announcement.