USD 100M Cronos Accelerator, Citadel Mulls Crypto ETFs, USD 6M Bug Bounty + 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.
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Investments news
- Layer 1 blockchain network Cronos (CRO) launched a new USD 100m-backed accelerator program for blockchain projects that are in the seed-pre-seed stage and will primarily focus on advanced DeFi, Web3 gaming & metaverse, and infrastructure & tooling. There will be 3-4 cohorts per year, featuring an average of 10 start-ups per cohort, they said.
- Market maker Citadel Securities is willing to make markets in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that hold crypto pending regulatory approval, Bloomberg reported, citing Kelly Brennan, head of the firm’s ETF group. Brennan was quoted as saying that the firm can’t provide liquidity until regulatory issues are resolved.
- Money market Euler said it has sold USD 32m of its governance token at a USD 375m valuation to a group of investors led by Haun Ventures. The funds raised will be allocated towards the diversification of the Euler DAO, which is expected to launch later this month, they added.
- Payments platform Mash raised USD 6m in a seed funding round co-led by Castle Island Ventures and Whitecap Venture Partners. The platform said it will use the funds to build out and commercialize its payments platform, grow its team, and execute on its go-to-market strategy.
- Indonesian crypto trading app Pintu raised USD 113m in a Series B funding round. They will use this funding for launching new features, adding tokens, and presenting various as of yet undisclosed products, they added.
- Crypto trading platform VirgoCX raised CAD 10m (USD 7.96m) in Series A funding led by venture fund Draper Dragon. The capital will help the firm accelerate its global expansion, they said.
- Back-office platform Cryptio raised USD 10m in a Series A funding round led by Point Nine. The platform aims to create auditable records within the crypto sphere for the purposes of accounting, treasury, and tax filings.
- NFT game Illuvium announced that it raised over USD 72m in digital land sales. Of the 20,000 plots of land available, 19,969 were sold.
- Web3 social marketplace Calaxy raised USD 26m in strategic funding co-led by Animoca Brands and HBAR Foundation.
- Ledgible, a crypto tax and accounting platform, said it raised USD 20m in funding for its Series A Round led by EJF Capital through its affiliate, the EJF Silvergate Ventures Fund. “This investment will be used to expand Ledgible’s product offerings as well as significantly grow its teams to meet the growing demand for its offerings,” they added.
Security news
- Blockchain bridge and scaling solution Aurora said it paid out a USD 6m bug bounty to a whitehat hacker who had discovered a critical vulnerability in the Aurora Engine in late April, as a part of the bounty program launched with the security services platform Immunefi. The vulnerability was found by whitehat pwning.eth, and it has been patched with no user funds lost, they added.
Mining news
- Argo Blockchain announced it mined BTC 124 during May 2022, compared to BTC 166 in April 2022, which they attribute to an increase in mining difficulty, but also higher electricity prices in Texas, where they had to reduce their energy usage at their new Helios facility, among other things. Also, the company said it has purchased 6,600 custom mining machines from ePIC Blockchain Technologies, with a right to place additional orders for up to 23,400 machines. The machines will utilize the Intel ASIC Blockscale chips, they said.
NFTs news
- The English Premier League, the country’s top football competition, has filed two cryptocurrency and NFT trademarks in the US, per trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis.
- The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has warned investors of the risks associated with investing in NFTs, which they say include “illiquid secondary markets, volatility, opaque pricing, hacking, and fraud.” They added that NFTs may not fall under their regulatory remit by definition, but that those that “cross the boundary between a collectible and a financial asset” usually do.
Adoption news
- Payments solution provider Checkout.com announced a stablecoin settlement solution, leveraging a crypto payment technology by digital asset platform Fireblocks. At the start, Checkout.com’s stablecoin settlement supports USD coin (USDC) with plans to expand to a wider range of assets over time.
Career news
- The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has appointed Cecilia Skingsley, currently First Deputy Governor of Sveriges Riksbank, as the Head of the BIS Innovation Hub. She will join on September 14 and will aim to foster international collaboration among central banks on innovative financial technology, they said.
