2023-11-08 08:01
"We have seen about $2 billion in demand for bitcoin-secured loans since we started offering them in September," Two Prime's Alexander Blume said. Cryptocurrencies appear to have staying power, Federal Reserve’s Chairman Jerome Powell said in June. Perhaps truer words have never been spoken, as the market value of all cryptocurrencies has doubled to $1.3 trillion this year, recovering from last year’s crash. More impressive is the renewed interest in centralized crypto-collateralized finance after last year’s controversial collapse of industry giants BlockFi, Celsius, and others. “Since the soft launch of our lending offering on Sept. 13, we’ve been surprised by how much demand there is for crypto-secured loans,” Alexander Blume, managing partner at SEC-registered investment advisor Two Prime, told CoinDesk. “We have seen about $2 billion in demand for bitcoin-secured loans since we started offering them in September,” Blume said. Crypto-collateralized lending is an arrangement where a borrower pledges bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), or other digital assets as security and primarily draws the loan in the form of fiat currencies. In case a debt goes bad, the lender usually, as the contractual authority, liquidates the pledged crypto asset to recover the amount loaned. The loans are typically overcollateralized, meaning the value of the collateral is far greater than the loan’s value. It ensures the lender has some cushion to protect against losses from a potential decline in the value of the collateral asset. Crypto-backed fiat loans are preferred during bullish market trends as rising prices boost the value of the collateral while the borrower deploys the fiat loan to purchase other cryptocurrencies or buy mining equipment, usually denominated in U.S. dollars. The arrangement allows miners or investors to keep their crypto holdings while sourcing additional fiat money to fund operations and yield-generating strategies. CeFi platforms like BlockFi, Celsius and Voyager saw tremendous growth during the 2020-21 bull runs before last year's crypto market crash exposed the lack of proper risk prevention measures at these lending giants. At its peak, Celsius had over $20 billion worth of assets under management and more than 1.7 million users. The three firms declared bankruptcy last year, freezing depositors’ accounts and their ability to withdraw their money. The episode drew the ire of U.S. regulators. "After the fall of Genesis, BlockFi, Celsius, and others, a major gap in the market emerged for responsibly managed secured loans for institutions. Two Prime is well-positioned to fill it," Blume said, adding that we are focused on institutional borrowers. About 85% of the fiat loans extended by Two Prime so far are collateralized by bitcoin, while the rest are secured by ether and other larger alternative cryptocurrencies. Interest rates vary based on loan-to-value ratio, duration and size, but generally range from 5% to 12%, Blume said. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2023/11/08/investment-advisor-two-prime-sees-2b-in-demand-for-bitcoin-backed-loans/
2023-11-08 07:47
Binance acquired Trust Wallet in 2018 in a deal that included cash and BNB tokens, which at the time were worth $14.80. Trust Wallet's native token (TWT) fell 7% after Binance, the exchange that acquired Trust Wallet in 2018, released its own competing Web3 wallet. The token is currently trading at $1.49, dropping 7% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap. The wallet was acquired by Binance in 2018 in a deal that included a mixture of cash, Binance stock and a portion of BNB tokens, according to TechCrunch. The value of BNB in July 2018 was $14.80, now trading at $244. Trust Wallet is a product that lets users store and use cryptocurrencies across the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. Binance's newly unveiled wallet is very similar; it will work across 30 different blockchains and can be used for staking, lending and borrowing. One difference, however, is that the new wallet is only accessible via the platform’s native app, which could be restrictive to users who don't have or don’t want to sign up for a Binance exchange account. TWT token experienced a positive week before Binance’s release, rising by more than 60% since last Wednesday. Five days ago, Binance announced the listing of TWT futures on its exchange, which saw its daily volume increase from $80 million to around $476 million on Monday. When asked what role Trust Wallet will have alongside the release of Binance’s wallet, a Binance spokesperson did not immediately respond. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/11/08/trustwallets-twt-falls-as-parent-company-binance-releases-web3-wallet/
2023-11-08 07:38
The trust is one of the only ways for institutional investors to gain exposure to LINK tokens through a regulated product. A regulated product that allows U.S. investors to gain exposure to Chainlink’s LINK is trading at a 200% premium to spot prices, suggesting institutional demand. Prices of Grayscale Chainlink Trust (GLNK) have rocketed nearly 100% in the past week, closing at $39 on Monday from the $21 level on October 31. Each share holds just $12 worth of LINK, making it nearly three times pricier than the actual value of held assets. Chainlink community ambassador @ChainLinkGod first reported the premium surge in a post on Tuesday. The chainlink product was released in May 2022 and has historically traded at a premium of over 20%. These premiums have shot to as much as 150% over two separate occasions – but Monday’s level is the highest ever so far. As such, the Chainlink Trust holds just under $4 million worth of LINK and charges 2.50% annually in fees. Grayscale’s trust products are the first investment vehicle of its kind to report financials regularly to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Grayscale and CoinDesk are part of the same parent company, Digital Currency Group (DCG). LINK tokens were one of the top-performing major cryptocurrencies in the past 30 days, surging over 76% on the back of technical upgrades and institutional adoption of Chainlink’s services. Some research firms have pegged LINK as the “safest bet” to profit from the growing real-world asset (RWA) tokenization hype, which may have helped boost the value of the tokens in recent weeks. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2023/11/08/grayscale-chainlink-trust-zooms-to-200-premium-indicating-institutional-demand-for-link/
2023-11-08 07:30
Users can download and access the wallet through Binance's app. Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has released a Web3 wallet that can be used to interact with the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. The new product, which will work across 30 blockchain networks, was announced at the Binance Blockchain Week conference in Istanbul. "Web3 wallets represent more than just storing digital assets; they are an integral part of the Web3 framework, empowering individuals with the ability for self-sovereign finance," Binance CEO Changpeng 'CZ' Zhao said. Binance's Web3 wallet will compete with the likes of MetaMask and Trust Wallet, the latter of which was acquired by Binance in 2018. Binance listed a futures market for TrustWallet's native token (TWT) earlier this week. The TWT price slid after the announcement, taking the 24-hour change to a 7% drop. Other competing centralized exchanges, such as Coinbase and OKX, also have Web3 wallets. Users can create a wallet through Binance's mobile app, which will also serve as the venue for DeFi activities like staking, lending and borrowing. It is currently unclear whether users will have to complete a know-your-customer (KYC) procedure to create a wallet. Web3 wallets are common targets for hackers and exploiters, as once a private key is obtained by a hacker, all funds can be irreversibly drained. Binance hopes to remedy that with multi-party computation (MPC), which removes the need for users to memorize seed phrases without compromising the benefits of security and self-custody. MPC involves a private key being broken up into three parts called key shares, with two of the three key shares being controlled by the wallet owner. "Ultimately, our priority is to ensure users can explore Web3 with us within a user-friendly and protected environment,” CZ added. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/11/08/binance-rolls-out-its-first-ever-self-custody-web3-wallet/
2023-11-08 05:16
Coatue also marked down its stake in MoonPay by 90% The valuation of non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea has been slashed by 90% by asset manager Coatue Management, according to documents seen by The Information. In 2022, Coatue and Paradigm led a $300 million round for the NFT marketplace, valuing the platform at $13.3 billion in its Series C. NFTs are a special type of crypto asset that allows holders to prove their ownership of real or digital items. Earlier in November, OpeanSea announced a 50% reduction in headcount. While the crypto winter has shown signs of thawing, however, NFT sales have been slow to recover. Weekly NFT sales have dropped to around 23,000 from about 176,000 at the start of the year, while the weekly sales value has declined from $118 million to $62 million, data shows market tracker. Nansen.ai’s NFT-500 index has also fallen 55% year-to-date, while its royalties tracker has also shown a significant decline in volume. https://www.coindesk.com/web3/2023/11/08/opensea-investor-coatue-cuts-nft-marketplaces-valuation-by-90-report/
2023-11-08 04:00
At its annual conference, Ripple also announced product enhancements and license updates, including a focus on payments between enterprises and smaller businesses. Ripple, the cryptocurrency-based money transfer and payments network launched in 2012, is working with payments fintech Onafriq to expand remittance capabilities in Africa and across its borders with various Gulf nations, the U.K. and Australia. Three new blockchain-based payments corridors will open between Onafriq users in Africa and customers of PayAngel in the U.K., Pyypl in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and Zazi Transfer in Australia, according to an announcement Wednesday at Swell, Ripple’s annual conference, in Dubai. “Onafriq is a major payment player in Africa that serves 400 million mobile wallets,” said Monica Long, president at Ripple, in an interview. “We are excited about this because it also contributes to Ripple payments being able to cover 90% of FX markets.” Ripple has become a mascot of resistance within the crypto industry for standing up to, and partially prevailing against, what is largely regarded as a heavy-handed and reactionary U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Meanwhile, the price of XRP spiked this week, fueled by the approval of the token by the Dubai Financial Services Authority, as well as Ripple’s involvement in a central bank digital currency (CBDC) project with National Bank of Georgia (NBG). XRP, an open source project used by Ripple, acts as a bridge between two fiat currencies to facilitate faster and more efficient cross-border payments. In addition, Ripple announced various product enhancements and license updates, including a focus on payments between enterprises and smaller businesses. Ripple has been steadily building up its collection of licenses, including money transmitter licenses in the U.S. and an institutional payments license in Singapore, with recent filings in the U.K. and EU. “Our set of licenses means we can serve a bigger market,” Long said. “Previously, we only served licensed financial institutions and now we're able to serve enterprises and SMEs. So for example, importer/exporters and paying suppliers overseas, or paying employees in a company that has freelance developers in different parts of the world.” https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/11/08/ripple-broadens-remittances-between-africa-gulf-states-uk-and-australia/
