Blockchain infrastructure provider and crypto custodian Fireblocks has secured another $310 million in strategic investments, bringing its total valuation to $2 billion and marking another major milestone for the company. Michael Shaulov, CEO of Fireblocks, told Cointelegraph that the funding would go toward expanding internal capacity, including increasing the research and development and support teams. "In addition, we are aggressively expanding into markets such as EMEA and APAC, and we will use funds to grow our go-to-market team," Shaulov said, adding that Fireblocks will place even more emphasis on strategic partnerships. Since launching in 2019, Fireblocks has raised a cumulative …

Investments in institutional Bitcoin (BTC) products have continued to decline this past week. In its “Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly” report on Monday, CoinShares notes that institutional crypto products have experienced outflows for the third consecutive week, with $28 million exiting the sector during the week ending on Friday. As such, the week saw a 170% increase in outflows compared to the $10.4 million for the previous seven days. The findings revealed that Bitcoin-based funds saw the largest outflows with $24 million, or 85% of combined outflows from crypto products. Monthly outflows for BTC are now at $49 million, although …

Elon Musk and Michael Saylor played a significant role in shaping crypto investor sentiment during the second quarter, underscoring just how nascent digital asset investing remains when compared with other, more established markets. Sentiment-driven analysis from The TIE and eToro USA reveals the extent to which Musk and Saylor impacted Bitcoin (BTC) values in the second quarter. The results were presented in eToro USA’s quarterly report, titled “The True Value of Influence.” Elon Musk On average, Musk’s Bitcoin tweets were followed by a 1.6% decline in BTC’s price over the proceeding 24 hours, the report showed. However, Musk’s Bitcoin-focused tweets …

Not all hedge fund managers are sold on crypto as Man Group CEO Luke Ellis has compared cryptocurrencies to tulip bulbs. Speaking to the Financial Times, Ellis remarked that the utility of crypto comes from its volatility, thus presenting the asset class as a viable trading opportunity. According to the CEO of the world’s largest publicly-traded hedge fund: “If you look at cryptocurrencies as a whole, it is a pure trading instrument. There is no inherent worth in it whatsoever. It is a tulip bulb.” Despite being an outmoded comparison, crypto and Bitcoin (BTC), in particular, are often compared to …

A retirement investment platform for small businesses has launched the Alt401(k) — enabling mainstream investors to include cryptocurrencies in their portfolios. ForUsAll has entered into a partnership with Coinbase Institutional to provide this service — and through this 401(k), employees can transfer up to 5% of their balances into a secured account where they can buy cryptocurrencies directly. Overall, nearly 40 different cryptocurrencies are supported, and employees get portfolio monitoring tools and the education required to make them feel comfortable with this asset class. According to ForUsAll, over 60% of professional investors now say crypto has a role to play …

Cryptocurrencies have been vying for the attention of large institutional investors for years and they’re finally getting the attention they wanted. Blockchain networks and their consensus mechanisms never made sense to the traditional investor, but decentralized finance, or DeFi? That’s something everyone’s looking to get behind. Traditional investors are more used to concepts like stocks and real estate, focusing on aspects like revenue, monthly active users and cash flows, making DeFi a far better entry point into blockchain for them. Over the last year, DeFi projects have been popping up across the globe, drawing billions of dollars into the niche …

Stone Ridge Asset Management, the alternative investment manager behind New York Digital Investment Group, has filed a new prospectus with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to add Bitcoin (BTC) to its open-end mutual fund. The prospectus for Stone Ridge Bitcoin Strategy Fund appeared on the SEC website on Friday, though the actual filing is dated July 26, 2021. The fund is part of an investment portfolio of Stone Ridge Trust, an open-end investment company registered in Delaware. According to the prospectus, the fund’s primary investment objective is “capital appreciation.” The fund seeks exposure to Bitcoin via futures markets …

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 trading platform FXT (not to be confused with Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX) announced the launch of a BEP-20 token after its ERC-20 token witnessed an impressive 1,500% growth since its launch back in January. The new token, which is built on Binance Smart Chain, is designed to reduce transaction costs and settlement times compared with its Ethereum-based predecessor. In addition to increasing the altcoin’s overall performance in efficiency and utility, FXT intends to list its token across several crypto exchanges to make it globally available. Given FXT’s lower price threshold and a history of massive returns on investment, FXT foresees …

Crypto investors are betting big on real estate this year as the cryptocurrency market continues to grow. New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) recently conducted a survey that found that 46 million Americans own Bitcoin, equating to 22% of all adults. While optimistic, some cryptocurrency investors have expressed concerns regarding the security, custody and volatility of digital assets. For example, Nickel Digital Asset Management, a regulated European investment manager dedicated to the crypto market, surveyed institutional investors and wealth managers from the United States and Europe who collectively have $275 billion in assets under management. Findings show that 76% of …

BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager, so when its CEO, Larry Fink, remarked recently that he was seeing “very little in terms of investor demand” with regard to crypto and Bitcoin (BTC) based on “my last two weeks of business travel,” it set off some alarm bells. A lively Twitter discussion followed one commentator’s remarks of how BlackRock was simply protecting its legacy bond business, given that “Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon, State Street, Morgan Stanley, all entered the space in response to demand.” Furthermore, BlackRock is the second-largest owner of MicroStrategy (MSTR) stock, regarded by many as a pure …

A recent survey has revealed Bitcoin has gained traction with younger U.S. investors in terms of awareness, interest, and ownership over the past three years. The study conducted by global analytics and advice firm Gallup revealed that the number of investors in the U.S. holding BTC has jumped from 2% in 2018, to 6% as of June 2021. The research defines “investors” as adults with $10,000 or more invested in stocks, bonds, or mutual funds. It also reported that Bitcoin ownership among investors surveyed aged under 50 has more than trebled over the past three years to 13% from 3% …