| Take a look at the hits from today's Inside Cryptocurrency briefing: - 🥼 Citigroup's private equity fund tokenization test on Avalanche,
- 🎨 Superchief Gallery's plans to open the world's first Bitcoin Ordinals art gallery in San Francisco,
- ✍️ Komainu CEO's resignation, and more.
Enjoy your reading! Doğa
p/dogayurduneri | |
| 1 | | The U.S.-based investment bank Citigroup has recently tested tokenizing a private equity fund on the Avalanche blockchain network in a simulated environment. The test has demonstrated that issuance and custody of tokenized versions of private equity funds on behalf of clients is possible and feasible while remaining compatible with the bank's existing systems. More: - Citigroup worked with investment management firms Wellington Management and WisdomTree Investments to experiment with the service.
- As part of the test, Wellington Management issued a hypothetical private equity fund while Citigroup tokenized and custodied this fund using the Avalanche network.
- The tokenized funds were later automatically split and transferred to simulated WisdomTree Investments clients thanks to the fund distribution rules encoded into the underlying smart contract.
- The project also explored using a tokenized private equity fund as collateral in a blockchain-based automated lending contract with the U.S.-based financial services firm Depository Trust & Clearing Corp.'s digital assets unit.
- Citigroup will use the experiment's results to determine whether it should offer services through blockchain technology in the coming weeks.
- The test is expected to pave the way for greater adoption of blockchain technology among traditional financial firms in compliance with regulations, increasing transparency and speed of transactions.
Zoom Out: - In September 2023, Citigroup also launched a token service for corporate customers to speed up money transfers across borders.
- The service allows institutional clients to transform their deposits into digital tokens and make a claim against the bank before instantly sending them anywhere in the world through the blockchain.
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| 2 | | 
What the numbers say: The U.S., where the regulators approved the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications only a month ago, has recently overtaken Canada's first spot in total assets under management of Bitcoin ETFs. The worth of combined assets held by the U.S.-based spot Bitcoin ETFs reached $34.78B. The figure represents 83% of the $41.74B global spot Bitcoin ETF market. However, Canada is still a major player in the market, with $3.09B of assets. In the top 10, the U.S. and Canada are followed by Jersey, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Guernsey, Bermuda, Brazil, and Australia, respectively. Relevance: Shortly before U.S. regulators approved the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the country, Canada sat in first place in the ranking, hosting the highest number of assets managed by spot Bitcoin ETFs. The seven funds in the country made up 48.2% of the global spot Bitcoin ETF market. However, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved all the spot Bitcoin ETF applications on Jan. 10, marking the first time it gave the green light to such a product. The U.S.-based ETFs began trading as soon as the next day of the approval. The move upset the balances in the spot Bitcoin ETF industry. The massive investor interest in the new financial products caused the U.S. to overtake Canada on the ranking, receiving a much bigger piece of the cake. Brands that should care: Spot Bitcoin ETFs allow retail and institutional investors to get exposure to Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, through traditional brokerage accounts without dealing with crypto-native platforms that have come under scrutiny by regulators over the past years. The fund providers in the U.S. include VanEck, Bitwise, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Valkyrie, Hashdex, Ark Invest, Grayscale, BlackRock, WisdomTree, and Invesco Galaxy. | | | |
| 3 | | A recent filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has revealed that the U.S.-based investment management company Tiger Global Management sold its entire stake in Coinbase, the largest U.S. crypto exchange, in late 2023. The filing pointed out that the investment manager held no Coinbase shares (COIN) in its portfolio as of Dec. 31. More: - At the end of Q3 2023, Tiger Global Management had 38,850 COIN shares.
- At the time, the company's stake in Coinbase was worth around $2.9M.
- The sale of the shares followed a more than 400% price increase in COIN, which was mainly triggered by the crypto market's exit from a prolonged downturn.
Zoom Out: - Tiger Global Management was a key investor in Coinbase before the exchange listed its shares on the U.S.-based stock exchange Nasdaq in April 2021, making them available for purchase by the general public.
- In October 2018, the investment management giant led a $300M fundraising round of Coinbase.
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| 4 | | Digital asset platform and crypto payment app provider Bakkt has obtained regulatory approval to issue and sell registered securities of up to $150M, raising capital to ease its financial troubles and continue its operations. The move will allow the firm to issue and register new securities with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and sell them gradually over the next three years without needing to receive separate approval each time. More: - The approval came less than a week after Bakkt disclosed that it may not have enough cash to continue operating its business over the next 12 months in a document filed with the SEC.
- At the time, the firm underlined that it doubts it could expand to new markets and grow its revenue within the rapidly evolving environment of the crypto market.
- The document also pointed out that Bakkt's future success depends on its ability to raise additional capital, revealing the firm's intention to issue and sell up to $150M in registered securities to ease its financial troubles.
- Within the first 24 hours following the statement, Bakkt's stock (BKKT) plummeted by 45% in value.
- The firm has reported net losses for eight consecutive quarters since it first listed its shares on a stock exchange in 2021, making them available for purchase by the general public.
Zoom Out: - Bakkt was founded by Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), in 2018.
- The firm's platform allows institutions to buy, sell, store, and spend crypto assets.
- The platform previously made strategic partnerships with several major brands, including Starbucks and Amazon Web Services, to help their customers buy products and services with Bitcoin (BTC).
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| 5 | | Japanese investment banking giant Nomura's crypto custody firm, Komainu, has announced that its CEO, Nicolas Bertrand, stepped down from his role at the company for personal reasons. The firm's chief technology officer (CTO), Robert Johnson, has been appointed as an interim CEO with immediate effect. More: - Bertrand started working at Komainu in September 2022 and has work experience in executive roles at various leading financial services firms, such as Borsa Italiana and the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).
- Johnson joined Komainu in October last year.
- The interim CEO will immediately start carrying out day-to-day business at the firm, though Bertrand will also be around for a few months in case of any need.
- Meanwhile, Komainu will continue its search for a permanent CEO.
Zoom Out: - Komainu was founded in 2018 as a joint venture between Nomura, digital asset management company CoinShares, and crypto hardware wallet provider Ledger.
- The venture offers crypto custody and digital asset management services.
- The firm currently has licenses and regulatory approvals in Dubai and the U.K.
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| 6 | | Independent artist-run Superchief Gallery has announced that it would open the world's first gallery dedicated to Bitcoin Ordinals artworks in San Francisco. The gallery will aim to become permanent, continually offering new exhibitions and highlighting artists producing art in the Ordinals space. More: - Superchief Gallery collaborated with the Cypherpunk Lab collective, neurotechnology startup Nuro Realm, and software firm Deezy Labs to launch the new gallery.
- The opening of the gallery will last two days and start on Feb. 16.
- The first day will feature Bitcoin Magazine's special issue on Ordinals inscriptions and the recording of a live podcast co-hosted by programmer Casey Rodarmor, who is also the creator of the Ordinals protocol.
- The second day will host the gallery's premiere art showcase, which will display works by various artists like Faith Love, Killer Acid, NeuroColor, Rax, Eloc, Bop, Nullish, Rocktoshi, Rare Scrilla, Nardo, v6 Collective, Mike Irak, and Aaron Huey.
- Nuro Realm will create generative neural artwork using Bitcoin Ordinals and offer immersive experiences in virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), or in-person settings within the gallery.
- Meanwhile, Deezy Labs will provide software that helps visitors discover and purchase unique satoshis, also known as the smallest unit of a Bitcoin (BTC).
Zoom Out: - Superchief Gallery, founded in 2012, has venues in notable locations worldwide, including New York City, Los Angeles, and Tokyo.
- The contemporary art-focused entity also launched the first-ever physical NFT gallery in 2021.
- Ordinals refer to the digital assets permanently attached to a satoshi or 1/100,000,000 of a full Bitcoin (BTC).
- The Ordinals protocol allows developers to inscribe various data file formats, including text, images, videos, and video games, onto the Bitcoin network, paving the way for Bitcoin-based NFTs.
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| 7 | | Quick Hits: - If your business accepted Visa or MC from Jan. 1, 2004, to Jan. 25, 2019, you may be entitled to a share of the historic $5.6B settlement.*
- The U.S. Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson, has recently testified that cryptocurrencies make up only a small part of the funding received by Palestinian militant group Hamas, refuting the narrative that the group relied heavily on crypto to fund its attacks.
- Bankrupt crypto lender Genesis Global has received court approval to sell its $1.3B shares in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) as part of its wider plans to repay its creditors whose funds were stuck on the platform after the collapse.
- The U.S. state of Missouri has passed new legislation dubbed the Blockchain Basics Act that aims to protect citizens' rights to buy, self-custody, and mine cryptocurrencies.
- Conquer any Kubernetes challenge with the Kubernetes Cookbook. Get your copy from DoiT, a global team of cloud experts.*
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 | Staff Writer | | Doga is a tech and science editor who has been writing news for nearly 10 years. She worked for leading tech platforms and mainstrem media channels as an editor and presenter throughout his career. Then, she carried her know-how to more than one platform. She is a part-time cat lover and binge-watcher, and also fond of science, space, and emerging tech. She always has a story to tell. She is a bit addict to the laughter and -unfortunately- the '90s culture. | | This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield | |
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