| Here is a look at the hits from today's Inside Cryptocurrency newsletter: - 💸 Ripple's acquisition of the U.S.-based digital asset custody firm Standard Custody & Trust Company,
- 🤝 Coinbase's partnership with Ledger,
- 🥃 The oldest Scotch distillery's plans to sell its 50-year-old whisky collection with NFT pairs, and more.
Enjoy your reading! Doğa
p/dogayurduneri | |
| 1 | | Blockchain-based payment protocol provider Ripple has announced that it recently reached a deal to acquire the U.S.-based digital asset custody firm Standard Custody & Trust Company. The deal is still subject to approval by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), the U.S. state's financial market regulator. More: - Once the deal closes, Ripple will become the only shareholder of the firm.
- The acquired firm offers crypto custody, escrow, and settlement services to institutional clients in a regulated manner through a charter granted by the NYDFS.
- The acquisition will enhance Ripple's growing portfolio of regulatory licenses through Standard Custody & Trust Company's existing charters and money transmitter licenses.
- Ripple and its subsidiaries currently have nearly 40 money transmitter licenses in various U.S. states and a BitLicense, which the NYDFS has issued for nine years to register crypto firms and let them run virtual currency activities under the state's regulations.
- The acquisition will also add a licensed crypto custody and settlement business to Ripple's existing offerings, expanding its operations beyond the payment network services.
- On the other hand, Standard Custody & Trust Company had already executive ties with Ripple since it is a subsidiary of digital asset infrastructure company PolySign, launched by Ripple co-founder Arthur Britto.
Zoom Out: - The deal marked Ripple's second acquisition of a crypto custody firm within the past year after Metaco, which was acquired for $250M in May 2023.
- Ripple accelerated its regulatory compliance efforts in the U.S. after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against it in December 2020.
- The ongoing case, which has mostly progressed in favor of Ripple so far, classifies Ripple's native token, XRP, as a security, accusing the firm and some of its executives of the sale of nearly $1.3B of unregistered securities.
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| 2 | | 
What the numbers say: The Crypto Fear & Greed Index recently reached a 27-month high, hitting 79 on Tuesday. The last time the index touched this level was in November 2021 when Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, reached its all-time high of around $69,000. The figure means that the index now moved into the extreme greed zone, which represents a tendency to become more cautious among investors. Relevance: The level of 79 in the index came a day after Bitcoin surpassed $50,000 in value for the first time since December 2021. The popular cryptocurrency managed to keep its upward trend in the following days and touched the $52,000 level on Wednesday. The price surge also caused the token's market cap to cross the $1T mark for the first time since November 2021. The main igniter for the increase in Bitcoin's key metrics has become the massive investor interest in the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which received the green light from the regulators in the U.S. last month. Analysts also labeled the upcoming Bitcoin halving event, expected to happen in April or May, as another determinant in the upward trend. The inflation-easing process will decrease miners' Bitcoin mining reward by half, reducing the number of new Bitcoins entering the network by 50%. Industry experts believe the event will cause a major price surge in Bitcoin in the long term since it would ultimately reduce the total amount of tokens in circulation. What it means: The Crypto Fear & Greed Index is a tool tracking the market sentiment in the crypto industry based on various signals impacting investor behavior, including Google Trends, surveys, market momentum, market dominance, social media, and market volatility. A value of 0 on the scale refers to "Extreme Fear," while 100 signifies "Extreme Greed." "Extreme Fear" is mostly considered a sign that investors are too worried and there could be a buying opportunity. In contrast, the "Extreme Greed" is seen as a sign of the market preparing for a correction. | | | |
| 3 | | Crypto hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger has partnered with Coinbase, the largest U.S. crypto exchange, to make it easy for users to transfer crypto assets from an exchange to a hardware wallet. The collaboration will see Ledger integrating the Coinbase Pay solution into its Ledger Live app. More: - Coinbase Pay allows users to purchase and transfer cryptocurrencies listed on Coinbase directly from or into self-custody wallets.
- The integration will let users buy digital assets through Coinbase Pay and deposit these purchased funds directly in their Ledger wallets without paying additional fees.
- Ledger's chief experience officer, Ian Rogers, said buying crypto and transferring it to a self-custody wallet was a tedious process before the integration.
- Ledger previously partnered with several other crypto payments providers, such as MoonPay, Ramp, and Transak.
Zoom Out: - Ledger, founded in France in 2014, manufactures secure hardware devices used to store private keys, the passwords allowing users to access their crypto assets.
- The firm's solutions allow customers to experience self-custody, providing complete control of their crypto assets and reducing personal financial risks from the potential collapse of a third-party custodian.
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| 4 | | The U.S.-based financial services company StoneX Group Inc. has expanded the team in its digital asset-focused unit, StoneX Digital LLC, hiring five former employees of the now-shuttered Cowen Digital. The firm also announced its plans to offer new crypto-related services this year. More: - One of the five new staffers was hired back in October 2023 and joined the unit as head of digital asset execution.
- StoneX Digital LLC was launched in 2022 and currently offers trading services for Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, in partnership with crypto custody firm Etana Custody.
- The unit plans to launch a non-custodial trading service for Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) soon, allowing clients to manage their private keys and keep their crypto assets under custody by themselves without relying on any third party.
- The firm also intends to start offering over-the-counter (OTC) trading services for crypto in Q2, letting customers trade digital assets directly between two parties through a broker-dealer network rather than a centralized exchange.
- An upcoming crypto lending service is also among the unit's plans for H2.
Zoom Out: - In 2022, Cowen Digital's parent firm, Cowen Inc., became one of the first investment banks to offer crypto trading services to institutional clients.
- However, the U.S.-based bank was acquired by the Canadian banking and financial services corporation Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD Bank) in March last year.
- TD Bank shut down Cowen Digital nearly two months after completing the acquisition, citing a lack of appetite to touch crypto.
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| 5 | | Canada-headquartered crypto payments infrastructure provider Banxa's U.K. subsidiary, BNXA UK VASP, has recently become a regulated entity in the U.K. The firm was registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the U.K.'s financial market regulator. More: - The move made BNXA UK VASP the first company to obtain crypto service provider registration from the FCA in 2024.
- The registration will allow Banxa to offer crypto services to clients in the U.K.
- Banxa is a payments partner of leading crypto exchanges like Binance and OKX.
- The firm's infrastructure handles identity verification measures, processes payments with fiat currencies, and settles transactions for customers of its partner crypto exchanges.
- However, the new registration does not directly authorize Banxa to open a pathway for its partners to offer their services in the U.K.
Zoom Out: - The FCA introduced new rules on crypto promotions last year, mandating stricter requirements for crypto firms.
- Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, had to stop accepting new customers in the U.K. in October 2023, citing recent regulatory changes in the country.
- However, OKX has adopted additional measures to continue its operations, meeting new regulatory requirements brought by the FCA.
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| 6 | | Scotch whisky distillery The Glenlivet has recently launched a 50-year-old whisky collection whose bottles pair with a unique Ethereum-based NFT to celebrate its 200th anniversary. The price of each bottle is expected to surpass $43,000. More: - The 12 whisky bottles in the collection have been maturing at the Speyside distillery in Scotland since 1974.
- The title of the collection, The Twelve Elements, makes a reference to the 12 essential components shaping The Glenlivet's famous single-malt whisky.
- The NFT pairs of the bottles will be put up for sale through an auction on The Whisky Exchange's Cabinet marketplace on Feb. 21.
- These NFTs will serve as a digital certificate proving authenticity and ownership.
- The Glenlivet will ship bottles in the collection to NFT holders with a digital certificate in late summer.
- The whisky distributor will also use generative AI technology to design unique labels for each bottle based on the relevant element.
Zoom Out: - The Whisky Exchange's blockchain-based Cabinet marketplace creates digital certificates in the form of an NFT to prove the authenticity and ownership of the rare whisky it sells.
- The Glenlivet, founded in 1824, is the oldest legal distillery in Scotland.
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| 7 | | Quick Hits: - Visa and Mastercard have come to a historic $5B settlement, marking a pivotal moment for small business owners.*
- The U.S.-based crypto and stock trading platform Robinhood has revealed that its quarterly net revenue increased by 24% to $471M in Q4 2023 compared to the same period of the previous year, beating analysts' estimates of $457M. NOTE: Inside.com founder and CEO Jason Calacanis is an investor in Robinhood.
- Coinbase, the largest U.S. crypto exchange, has lifted the freeze on the assets of Utah-based crypto company DEBT Box shortly after a U.S. Judge discovered that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made deceptive statements in its case against the firm.
- Malevolent actors have conducted a ransomware attack targeting the systems of Romanian hospitals, demanding 3.5 Bitcoin (BTC) worth around $173,000.
- Dive into advanced tips and tricks with the Kubernetes Cookbook. Get your copy compliments of the cloud experts at DoiT.*
*This is a sponsored post. | | | |
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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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