Blockchain cybersecurity company GK8 will be offering custody and tokenization services to the Stellar network, a move that could spark institutional interest in the Stellar Lumen (XLM) token. By integrating with Stellar, customers of GK8 can access XLM investments in a custodial setting, opening the door to offline transactions of the digital currency, the company announced Monday. GK8 has said that its infrastructure eliminates the risk of cyberattacks while also providing scalable, high-frequency transactions. GK8 co-founder and CEO Lior Lamesh said the partnership enables XLM’s institutional investors to “generate new revenue streams, digitize assets, trade, and transform currency as it’s …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission published a new alert about investment scams related to digital assets and cryptocurrency. The announcement, shared by the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy and the Division of Enforcement’s Retail Strategy Task Force, highlighted the “devastating losses” faced by retail investors due to scams. The SEC attributed the “rising popularity” of initial coin offerings, including cryptocurrencies, as the main reason for growing scams and exploits. The SEC also said that the price surge of certain digital assets has been a key factor for scammers to lure unsuspecting investors: “Investors may be less …

Franklin Templeton became the latest investment company to go on a cryptocurrency hiring spree by posting fresh job applications seeking crypto professionals. The American asset manager is looking for two mid-senior level experts to lead its crypto trading and research efforts, according to LinkedIn job postings published on Sept. 1. Franklin Templeton’s newly opened crypto positions target professionals to work with the “largest, most liquid and tradable crypto assets,” including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). The company’s crypto research analyst will be responsible for creating and maintaining valuation models, and keeping portfolio managers and senior executives informed of related business …

Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings is reportedly planning to set up one of the first funds in the country that will give investors exposure to crypto. According to a Bloomberg report on Thursday, SBI, aiming to have a crypto fund available by the end of November, will offer residents of Japan the opportunity to invest in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), XRP and others. Tomoya Asakura, a director and senior managing executive officer at SBI, said the company could see the fund growing to several hundred million dollars, with investors likely being required to deposit a …

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) are getting increasingly popular with Russian investors, apparently displacing traditional investment products, according to a new survey. Russia’s Association of Forex Dealers (AFD), a local self-regulatory organization focused on the foreign exchange market, polled 502 Russian investors to find out the local investor sentiment regarding cryptocurrencies. Released on Tuesday, the survey was conducted from Aug. 4 to Aug. 24, 2021. In the survey, nearly 77% of respondents said that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ether (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC) are the “most forward-looking” investment. Only 8.8% of respondents indicated that they view gold as the best investment, …

Anthony Scaramucci, CEO and founder of SkyBridge Capital, thinks Bitcoin (BTC) can reach $100,000 before the end of the year, mainly due to the exponential growth in demand every month. “The bottom line is you have the limited and fixed supply of Bitcoin and you have every month exponentially more demand,” Scaramucci told Cointelegraph in an exclusive interview. “As long as I see that, I see those prices rising. So, we’re going to stick with the $100,000 price target,” he explained. Once a Bitcoin skeptic, Scaramucci launched SkyBridge Capital's first BTC fund last year with a $25 million dollar investment. …

Thailand's Bank of Ayudhya (BAY) — in which Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) holds a 76.9% stake — participated in the latest funding round for the Asia-Pacific-focused crypto exchange Zipmex. The $41 million raise, which saw the participation of two publicly traded Thai media firms and overseas venture capital (VC) funds — in addition to BAY — accounts for the lion’s share of Zipmex’s total $52 million in funds raised to date. BAY’s corporate venture capital arm, Krungsri Finnovate, invests in startups across various fintech areas, including blockchain, lending, e-commerce and cross-border remittance. Commenting on the news of the Zipmex …

Texas-based investment manager U.S. Global Investors, which reported $4.6 billion in assets under management as of Q1 2021, has bought exposure to Bitcoin. According to a Monday filing from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Global Investors added more than $566,389 worth of shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, or GBTC, to three of its eight mutual funds as of June 30. The filings show the company invested $302,899 GBTC in its Gold and Precious Metals Fund, $222,532 in its World Precious Minerals Fund, and $40,958 in its Global Resources Fund. The Bitcoin (BTC) exposure represents up to 0.19% …

In a recent interview, subprime short investor and billionaire portfolio manager John Paulson criticized the volatile nature of digital assets while advocating for investments in traditional safe-havens such as gold. The co-founder of Paulson & Co, a New York-based firm launched in 1994, Paulson was a historic beneficiary of the United States housing financial market collapse of 2008 after placing a legendary successful short position. However, Paulson recently took the decision to devolve his hedge fund into a family office after a 76.5% reduction in assets under management, from a peak of $38 billion in 2011 to $9 billion in …

Digital wallets are software constructs that mimic physical wallets and provide the functionality of storing, using and categorizing payment instruments. The journey of digital wallets started with payments and morphed to other forms of stubs such as digital passes, tickets and boarding passes. However, crypto wallets attempt to redefine the digital wallet landscape as something more than safe storage of payment and crypto instruments. With more than 100 crypto wallets and growing, this sector in the cryptosphere is getting crowded and adding further complexity to an already fragmented blockchain and digital asset space. As I study this space and try …

Accelerate Financial Technologies is planning to match each investment in its pending Bitcoin exchange-traded fund with the planting of thousands of trees. According to a Friday report from Bloomberg, the Calgary-based investment services company has pledged to plant 3,450 trees for every $1 million CAD — roughly $792,000 at the time of publication — invested in its Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund, or ETF. The move is part of Accelerate’s aim to have its Bitcoin ETF be carbon negative — that is, removing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than the energy required for Bitcoin mining and transactions would create. The …

Electronic dance music producer and DJ Justin Blau, better known by his stage name 3LAU, has officially announced the launch of a blockchain-based music investment platform Royal. The announcement comes in conjunction with the platform raising $16 million in a seed funding round led by crypto-focused investment firm Paradigm and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Forbes reported on Aug. 26. Founded by 3LAU and his college friend JD Ross, Royal is a new platform aiming to enable fractional music ownership through Royal’s own version of nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, referred to as limited digital assets. The venture intends to democratize access …