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, …

Payments in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) make up one of the biggest use case demands among consumers alongside long-term investment, according to new data. Pymnts, a major payments-focused publication, released Monday a report on consumer preferences regarding cryptocurrency payments. Dubbed “Cryptocurrency Payments Playbook: Cryptocurrencies Gain Momentum As A Payment Option,” the study analyzes a survey of over 8,000 consumers in the United States, including existing and former crypto holders, as well as crypto non-owners. Conducted in collaboration with crypto payment firm BitPay, the study found that crypto holders and non-owners are interested in crypto payments. As many as 93% of …

Institutional outflows from cryptocurrency funds intensified last week, a sign that fund managers were still taking profits on their Bitcoin (BTC) holdings following a historic run-up through April. Digital asset investment products saw cumulative outflows totaling $19.5 million for the week ended Friday, marking the fourth consecutive weekly drawdown, according to CoinShares data. The bulk of the outflows were concentrated in Bitcoin-focused funds, where assets under management declined by $20 million. That, too, was the fourth consecutive weekly decline. Meanwhile, funds dedicated to Ethereum (ETH) saw weekly outflows totaling $9.5 million. Related: Ethereum investment products see largest weekly outflows on …

Michael Saylor, CEO of business intelligence firm MicroStrategy, has staunchly defended the company’s bullish, long-term Bitcoin (BTC) position based on its unique potential to evolve into “the future of the property.” In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Saylor argued that MicroStrategy’s big bet on Bitcoin, which it has turned to the debt markets to sustain, is the “highest upside, lowest risk strategy” the company can pursue. “Some people think diversification means buying other types of cryptocurrencies or other kinds of equities,” he said. “We think that by holding Bitcoin, we’re diversified. Because we can see Bitcoin on the balance sheets …

Jihan Wu became a prominent name in crypto after co-founding Bitmain Technologies in 2013 and taking it public in 2018. His latest venture, Matrixport, raised new capital to stand at a unicorn-level of $1 billion in valuation. With the participation of large venture capital firms, including Tiger Global, DST Global, C Ventures and K3 Ventures, the Series C funding of Matrixport raised over $100 million. As a crypto-financial services company, Matrixport tries to implement a Wall Street-like structure to the vast cryptocurrency ecosystem. According to Ge Yuesheng, CEO of Matrixport and former Bitmain investor, the company is currently home to …

Beginning on Aug. 2, 2021, German institutional funds will be able to hold up to 20% of their assets in cryptocurrencies, possibly setting the stage for wider mainstream acceptance of Bitcoin (BTC) and other crypto assets by the nation’s pension funds. As Bloomberg reported, the new law alters fixed investment rules governing Spezialfonds, also known as special funds, which are only accessible to institutional investors such as pension funds and insurers. Spezialfonds currently manage about $2.1 trillion, or 1.8 trillion euros, worth of assets. Related: Hedge funds see the crypto market decline as an investment opportunity Tim Kreutzmann, who works …

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 …

Major American financial services and bank holding company State Street Corporation is expanding its push into the cryptocurrency industry by launching new digital asset services. State Street, the second-oldest operating bank in the United States, announced Thursday that it would provide digital and crypto asset administration services for the company’s private funds clients. The bank will enable its private fund clients to access a set of institutional-grade middle- and back-office offerings that support diversified portfolios including crypto-related features like collection, standardization, reporting, processing and reconciliation. To unlock the services, State Street signed an agreement with Lukka, a U.S.-based blockchain data …

2021 has been a rollercoaster year for the crypto industry, with Bitcoin (BTC) scaling up to an all-time high of $65,000 earlier this year in April, only to dip down to the sub $30,000 zone just months later. However, a moment that is widely considered by many to be a tipping point for the industry — at least in terms of mainstream legitimization — was when Coinbase (COIN) made its debut on Nasdaq via a direct listing. Leading up to April 14, the day of the aforementioned listing, COIN’s reference price was set at $250. However, it is worth recalling …

The United States-based investment management firm ProFunds announced the launch of Bitcoin Strategy ProFund (BTCFX), one of the first publicly available mutual funds or exchange-traded funds (ETF) that performs in parallel with Bitcoin (BTC). ProFunds provides an alternative to the traditional methods of holding cryptocurrencies via wallets or crypto exchanges with this service. Sharing details on how ProFunds plans to enable investment in Bitcoin performance through mutual funds, ProFunds CEO Michael L. Sapir said: “Compared to directly buying bitcoin, which may involve opening a new account with an unregulated party, this ProFund offers investors the opportunity to gain exposure to …

Zeno Staub, CEO of Swiss private banking and investment management giant Vontobel, has revealed that some of the company’s wealthy clients have crypto exposure. Speaking to Bloomberg on Tuesday, Staub stated that Vontobel's clients have an interest in cryptocurrencies. According to Staub, blockchain technology will have a profound impact on global finance. As part of the interview, the Vontobel CEO described the novel tech as the “Logic consequence of the general trend securitization because it is the only available technology that can create trust without a central counterparty.” Commenting on the bank’s crypto offerings for wealthy clients, Staub stated: “What …