As crypto breaches mainstream finance, authorities have started issuing warnings to citizens against unregistered crypto businesses. Joining this list is the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) as it Australian investors to be wary of unlicensed entities that offer financial products. In a statement released by the ASIC, the regulator advised Australian citizens to make crypto asset related investments via financial institutions that hold an Australian Financial Services license or an Anti-Money Laundering mechanism. The ASIC said it had received reports from investors across Australia of citizens experiencing significant losses after trading crypto financial products such as options, futures, leveraged …

Columbia Investment Management Company president and CEO Kim Lew thinks that cryptocurrencies are here to stay. “I think it will have profound effects,” she said in a recent interview, adding, “There are many different avenues that it can go.” Lew explained that people could build many new things within the crypto ecosystem, such as stablecoins and nonfungible tokens. “I think clearly it’s going to play some role. Not clear what role it would play,” she added. Lew said that it’s important for Columbia Investment Management Company, the firm responsible for managing Columbia University’s $11-billion endowment, to dabble in crypto assets …

Global banking giants are reportedly increasing their involvement in the emerging crypto and blockchain firms by way of early- and late-stage funding for projects and businesses in the industry. According to research by Blockdata, a blockchain market intelligence outfit, 55 out of the top 100 banks by assets under management (AUM) have some form of exposure to the novel technology. This involvement reportedly cuts across direct and indirect investments in crypto and decentralized ledger technology firms by the banks themselves or via their subsidiaries. Blockdata’s research places Barclays, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs among the most active backers of crypto and …

Prominent British banker Jacob Rothschild’s investment firm Rothschild Investment Trust (RIT) Capital Partners partnered with New York-based Liberty City Ventures to lead pre-A funding for Aspen Digital, a crypto asset investment platform. According to an official announcement, the funding round ended up raising $8.8 million to help the Hong Kong-based company develop an institutional crypto investment platform targeted at asset managers, institutions and professional investors. Aspen Digital CEO and co-founder Yang He said that the funding would also help the company penetrate into the London market. The company was founded initially to spearhead the issuance of an in-house security token, …

This year has been foundational for the success of projects running on the Ethereum blockchain. Sharing the limelight is Livepeer, an Ethereum-based video streaming network that announced it had raised $20 million in a Series B funding round. Led by Digital Currency Group, the funding for Livepeer saw participation from large venture capitalists, including Coinbase Ventures, CoinFund, Northzone, 6th Man Ventures and Animal Ventures. Based on the announcement, Livepeer’s latest funding will be used to build an in-house protocol to experiment with livestream use cases, such as scene classification, object recognition, song-title detection and video fingerprinting. Previously, Northzone led the …

As cryptocurrency continues to take over mainstream finance, formerly cautious investors across the globe are rethinking their stance of counting crypto as a bad investment. This change of heart has led to a higher market valuation of crypto businesses due to increased funding from goliath investors. Citing this trend, PricewaterhouseCoopers crypto leader Henri Arslanian claimed that larger players from venture capital, private equity and pension funds are outplaying smaller boutique firms and family offices from participating in the latest innovations around crypto. Arslanian sided with smaller VC firms as he shared an example stating that a deal worth $10 million …

As the price of Bitcoin returned to more than $32,000 this week, some major firms announced they had increased their exposure to cryptocurrencies through Grayscale’s crypto trusts. According to a Friday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, New York-based investment firm Edge Wealth Management currently holds 54,134 shares of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), valued at $27.13 at the time of publication, and 25,280 shares of the company’s Ethereum Trust (ETHE). The crypto holdings are worth almost a combined $2 million at $1,468,655 and $466,668, respectively, roughly 0.3% of the $703 million total assets under management the …

Crypto hedge fund Nickel Digital Asset Management cycled into a cash position following the crypto market collapse of May. According to Bloomberg, the $200 million crypto hedge fund led by JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs alumni redeployed its capital in anticipation of another explosive price run for cryptocurrencies. Prior to piling into a cash position, Nickel Digital focused on cryptocurrency arbitrage opportunities resulting from cryptocurrency price differences across the spots and derivatives markets. Indeed, crypto arbitrage trading reportedly offered double-digit annualized gains for institutional investors with sufficient capital to make sizable returns on these momentary price gaps. These trades are market …

A new survey suggests Brits have become more eager to invest in cryptocurrencies than in traditional stocks and shares-based investments. United Kingdom investment firm AJ Bell’s survey found that 7% of British adult respondents reported they had bought crypto over the last year, compared to 5% who invested in stocks and shares individual savings accounts (ISA). A stocks and shares ISA is a type of savings account that lets users invest without ever paying tax on any income or capital gains. The survey was conducted by online market research tracker Find Out Now and polled 1,269 respondents. Laith Khalaf, a …

Following China’s major regulatory crackdown on cryptocurrencies, financial regulators in Hainan, the smallest province in the country, reportedly issued a warning against crypto- and blockchain-focused illegal fundraising schemes. According to local reports, the Hainan branch of the People’s Bank of China — the central bank of the country — and the local financial supervisory authority were among the regulators that made the announcement. Regulators warned investors about illegal fundraising campaigns that use digital currency or blockchain as promotion material, stating that illicit token issuance and financing activities are forbidden. “Any so-called token financing platform shall not engage in the business …

Former crypto skeptic Carl Icahn, the founder of Icahn Enterprises, told Bloomberg he’s set to enter the crypto market in a “big way” — teasing an investment of around $1.5 billion. Icahn is an investor and former advisor to the Trump administration, who has a net worth of $15.6 billion according to Forbes. In 2018, Icahn told CNBC that crypto is “ridiculous” and added, “maybe I’m too old for them, but I wouldn’t touch that stuff.” But speaking on Wednesday, Icahn explained he’s now considering a large investment and that entering the market in such a manner would “not be …

A crypto project says its goal is democratizing a type of investment that has been “in the hands of the rich for far too long.” Nodeseeds says it tokenizes private sales and seed rounds — allowing enthusiasts to gain exposure to promising startups at all stages of their evolution if they have an appetite for risk. The project’s founders hope to tackle some of the biggest problems that exist in public sales at present. Those interested in getting involved often need to complete Know Your Customer checks on platforms they may be unfamiliar with, and their contributions can be capped. …