The Big Tesla Short, Copper Raises USD 50M, Gemini’s Waitlist + More News
Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
___
Investments news
Michael Burry, the American hedge manager who famously made some USD 100m for himself by speculating on the 2008 economic crisis, has a short position worth USD 534m against electric car manufacturer Tesla (TSLA), a regulatory filing shows. As reported, Tesla invested USD 1.5bn in bitcoin (BTC) and sold 10% of its BTC holdings in the first quarter this year.
TSLA price chart:
Source: nasdaq.com - Copper, the London-based digital asset infrastructure provider, said it raised USD 50m in a Series B funding round. The investment round was co-led by leading B2B software investor Dawn Capital and Target Global, who led Copper’s Series A round (USD 10m) in February 2020. The company said it will use the funds to broaden its international footprint, particularly across the US and Asia, with plans to open at least two new regional offices.
- Issuer of investment products based on digital assets, Valour Structured Products Inc., has announced the launch of its Cardano (ADA) exchange-traded product (ETP), while a Polkadot (DOT) ETP is expected to start trading later this month. The assets will be traded on the Nordic Growth Market (NGM) stock exchange.
Exchanges news
- Gemini said that more than 250,000 people have joined the Gemini Credit Card waitlist for early access to their credit card that lets users “earn up to 3% back in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies on the dollars you spend.”
- Coinbase has announced their intention to offer Convertible Senior Notes (CSNs) worth USD 1.25bn in a private offering to select investors. Coinbase said it intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, which may include working capital and capital expenditures, and to pay the cost of the capped call transactions.
- Bybit said it will launch ethereum (ETH) futures contracts on May 20. Also, the previously announced Bybit Cloud Mining, a mining-as-a-service (MaaS) product that gives users access to ETH mining from USD 100, should go live on May 24.
Regulation news
- US Congressman Tom Emmer introduced the Safe Harbor for Taxpayers with Forked Assets Act, which, if approved, would prohibit penalties against taxpayers attempting to report certain gains or losses on “Forked Assets” until the US Internal Revenue Service issues sufficient guidance on how to do so.
Mining news
- Graystone Company said it has begun acquiring Bitcoin mining capacity for its Bitcoin Mining Operations. The Company acquired 1,000 Terrahash (TH/s). This is the initial acquisition towards the company’s goal of acquiring 50,000 TH/s in 2021 and 100,000 TH/s in 2022.
- Nvidia said they’re reducing the hash rate of newly manufactured GeForce RTX 3080, 3070, and 3060 Ti graphics cards so they’re less desirable to crypto miners.
Crime news
- Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic has found that the so-called DarkSide ransomware gang has extorted more than USD 90m worth of BTC in 75 payments from 47 victims, including Colonial Pipeline.
NFTs news
- Latvia-based non-fungible token (NFT) project KIWIE 1001 is organizing an NFT showroom for digital artists to showcase their work in a gallery in Riga. Anyone can submit their art, to be voted upon by the KIWIE 1001 community, and the winners will be presented in the showroom when it opens in June.
- Neal Adams, the artist best known for creating the modern-day Batman, partnered with gaming company Vorto Gaming on an exclusive comic book and NFT collection. “Comic fans and gamers looking to get their hands on the assets will be required to sign up for the Hash Rush play test phase – that is now accepting registrants – where the comic book will be available to purchase through a limited number of NFTs,” they said in an announcement.
Stablecoins news
- Tether, the issuer of the most popular stablecoin, tether (USDT), said it will launch USDT on Avalanche (AVAX), a smart contract platform.
Career news
- Hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger said that Iqbal V. Gandham, former eToro Managing Director, joined the company as Vice President of Payments & Transactions. Also, Charles Hamel is joining Ledger as Vice President of Product. Most recently, Hamel served as Head of Product at Opera. Also, in an emailed announcement, Ledger said that its revenues grew “by over 500%” in the first quarter this year. The company did not provide any further details.
