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
- 94% of surveyed 600 financial advisors in the US received questions from clients about crypto in 2021, up from 81% the year before, according to the Bitwise/ETF Trends 2022 Benchmark Survey. Also, the percentage of advisors allocating to crypto in client accounts grew sharply, from 9% last year to 15% this year. An additional 17% of advisors said they will “probably” or “definitely” allocate in 2022. 53% (15% a year ago) of respondents say that the price of bitcoin (BTC) will top USD 100,000 within five years.
Some other findings:
- The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has disapproved the application for First Trust SkyBridge’s spot BTC exchange-traded fund (ETF) after several deferments. They said any rule change in favor of approving the ETF would not be “designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices” nor “protect investors and the public interest.”
- JavaScript-native smart contract platform Agoric said it raised USD 50m through their BLD token sale which closed in less than two hours and added more than 48,000 new account holders to their project. Proceeds from the sale will be used for the growth and development of the Agoric network, the team added.
- Blockchain indexing protocol The Graph (GRT) said it has raised USD 50m in a new funding round led by Tiger Global. Over the next two years, The Graph Foundation should allocate funds toward acquiring core developers (or development teams) to focus on solving key centralization, security, and scalability challenges in Web 3.
Blockchain news
- Blockchain software company CasperLabs said it has agreed with China’s Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) that BSN will adopt an Open Permissioned Blockchain Adaptation (OPB) of the Casper Network to serve as the preferred blockchain for the City of Fuzhou. CasperLabs is building the OPB protocol, and will be the service provider to BSN.
- Terraform Labs, the company behind the Terra (LUNA) blockchain, announced the formation of the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG), a non-profit created to foster the growth of the Terra ecosystem. Initial target areas for LFG include driving awareness of blockchain technology, building out educational programs, allocating grants funding product development, and providing transparency to online communities about ongoing activities and projects.
Exchanges news
- KuCoin’s annual report shows that their native KCS token has seen a yearly price rally of 3,100%, and the average daily trading volume on their platform went up by 1,100%. Additionally, the exchange reached a cumulative trading volume of USD 1trn, with the futures market share of KuCoin increasing from 0.9% to 3%.
NFTs news
- Virtual non-fungible token (NFT) showroom startup Cyber has unveiled new functionality that allows users to connect with each other using a portal with ‘doorways’, each leading to a gallery curated by a different user. The company has also raised USD 6.7m from investors including Variant and TCG.
Career news
- Kim Milosevich, former vice president of communications at crypto exchange Coinbase, is rejoining Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) as chief marketing officer for crypto. She will be working with general partner Chris Dixon and the team to “help build out the future” of Web 3.
- The Open Network (TON), a project by Russian social media giant Telegram, confirmed what was reported by Cryptonews.com yesterday that former CEO of social network VK Andrew Rogozov is joining their team as a founding member. The project was thought abandoned, but the community had picked up the pieces and started rebuilding it.
