Morgan Stanley has made its first capital investment foray into the blockchain space, co-leading a $48 million funding for Securitize. According to a release issued on Monday, the Coinbase-backed asset tokenization outfit has completed a Series B funding round that drew participation from Morgan Stanley Tactical Value-managed investment funds and Blockchain Capital. Other participants in the funding round included Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank (SMTB), Emin Gün Sirer’s Ava Labs, and venture capital fund IDC Ventures, among others. The oversubscribed Series B round also saw participation from previous Securitize backers like Ripple and Borderless Capital. Monday’s Series B funding announcement comes …
This week’s headlines from Japan included GMO Coin exchange polling customers on their view of digital assets, Lisk opening a base in Japan, Bitflyer showing 2019 net losses, blockchain startup LayerX securing significant funding, and two entities reported successful collaborative blockchain-based securities experiments. Check out some of this week’s crypto and blockchain headlines, originally reported by Cointelegraph Japan. GMO Coin users pick Bitcoin over XRP GMO Coin, a crypto exchange under Japanese tech outfit GMO, conducted a poll, asking users which crypto asset they think holds the most promising future. Out of 1,578 polled exchange users, 47% put Bitcoin as …
Grayscale Investments’ latest report “Reimagining the Future of Finance” defines the digital economy as “the intersection of technology and finance that’s increasingly defined by digital spaces, experiences, and transactions.” With this in mind, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that many financial institutions have begun to offer services that allow clients access to Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital assets. Last year, in particular, saw an influx of financial institutions incorporating support for crypto-asset custody. For example, Bank of New York Mellon, or BNY Mellon, announced in February 2021 plans to hold, transfer and issue Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as an …
Analyzing the labor market is a passion of mine. In my past life, I worked as a labor market analyst for a Canadian think tank specializing in the IT sector. Tech employees always enjoyed higher demand, higher pay and lower jobless rates than workers in the rest of the economy. Although blockchain and crypto were virtually nonexistent during my tenure, these emerging technologies are now leading exponential growth for an industry evolving from Web2 to Web3. This week’s Crypto Biz newsletter highlights the growing demand for crypto professionals in the traditional finance and payment industries. We also survey the latest …
Two United States lawmakers have criticized crypto accounting guidelines outlined by the securities regulator, arguing it places crypto customers at greater risk of loss. The guidelines came from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which became effective in April last year. The guidelines ask financial companies holding crypto for customers to recognize all digital assets they do not control as a liability. It also states that digital assets should be backed by a safeguarding asset. Crypto companies must show liabilities equal to ALL customer crypto assets, according to SEC's new rule SAB 121 issued in March 2022.@coinbase complied …