Alameda Research, a cryptocurrency trading firm founded by crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, has led a $35 million investment in the automated crypto trading app Stacked. On Dec. 9, the startup officially announced the successful completion of a Series A funding round co-led by Alameda and Mirana Ventures, a venture partner of Bybit exchange and BitDAO. The new funding will reportedly help Stacked grow its 40-person team to over 100 employees in 2022 and continue scaling its suite crypto portfolios and automated lending products. According to Alameda Research Ventures’ partner Brian Lee, Alameda started investing in Stacked over a year ago …

United States crypto exchange FTX US registered a large uptick in trading volumes and investor activity during the third quarter, underscoring heightened retail appetite for digital assets amid the volat bull market. FTX US saw average daily volume grow 512% for the quarter ending in September, with peak volumes hitting $807 million on Sept. 7, owner West Realm Shire Services said Thursday. The exchange’s userbase also increased by 52% during the third quarter. By the end of September, FTX US claimed to hold 4.5% of the United States crypto spot market in terms of volume, up from less than 2% …

FTX, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, has raised $420 million in fresh funding, bringing its total valuation to $25 billion. The firm officially announced Thursday that FTX’s operator, FTX Trading, has completed a new Series B-1 fundraise involving 69 investors, including Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and Singapore’s state investment firm Temasek. Other investors included major venture capital firms such as Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global, Sea Capital, Ribbit Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock. According to FTX head of product Ramnik Arora, the new funding will help the company further expand …

FTX.US’s nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace has expanded support to the Solana blockchain, enabling users to trade, deposit and withdraw NFTs that conform to the Metaplex token standard. The United States registered branch of FTX announced the expanded functionality on Tuesday, revealing the marketplace also plans to support Ethereum-based tokens in the near future. The marketplace is open to both U.S. and non-U.S. customers from a long list of jurisdictions, however, New York residents are unable to sign up for the platform. Brett Harrison, president of FTX.US, said that the firm is looking to provide “simpler, safer and easier tools” for …

Dapper Labs, the creators of NBA Top Shot, and top crypto derivatives exchange FTX are both turning to the National Football League as part of their expansion initiatives. Dapper Labs is reportedly working on an NFL collectibles marketplace, while FTX has signed an endorsement deal with star running back Aaron Jones of the Green Bay Packers. Dapper’s latest move comes one week after the firm teased — as part of its latest $250-million funding round announcement — that it would venture beyond its basketball-based nonfungible token (NFT) project, NBA Top Shot, and expand into other sporting codes and areas of …

Solana (SOL) reached a $216 all-time high on Sept. 9 after rallying 508% since August. The bull run caused some analysts to project a $500 target tha would translate to a $150 billion market capitalization. It is worth noting that during SOL's rally, the Ethereum network's average transaction fee surpassed $40. Surging interest in the nonfungible token (NFT) market accelerated investors' transition to Solana, which was boosted by the launch of FTX's NFT marketplace on Sept. 6. The above chart shows SOL's two-month performance compared to Avalanche (AVAX) and Cosmos (ATOM). Both are fighting for the same decentralized application user-base …

FTX, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, continues expanding operations by inking major regulatory approval in The Bahamas. The Securities Commission of The Bahamas has registered FTX Digital Markets, the Bahamian subsidiary of the global FTX crypto exchange, as an official digital asset business, the firm announced Sept. 20. The regulatory approval is granted under the Digital Asset Registered Bill of The Bahamas, the country’s new digital asset-related legislation that came into force in late 2020. Also known as the DARE Act, the legislation establishes a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital asset operations in The Bahamas, regulating and supervising …

Solana (SOL) bulls have largely ignored its overvaluation risks as the blockchain asset goes after another milestone price level. The SOL/USD exchange rate almost reached $200 on Tuesday as investors continued to treat Solana as a long-term competitor to Ethereum, the world’s leading smart contracts platform. More bullish evidence came on Monday after Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of crypto derivatives platform FTX, announced Solana’s integration into FTX’s upcoming nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace. On Monday, Bankman-Fried revealed that the new marketplace would enable NFT creators and owners to trade their digital arts cross-chain using Solana and Ethereum. The platform would also make …

Dolce & Gabbana knocking on the Dior of NFTs Luxury Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana is entering the nonfungible token (NFT) sector with a nine-piece collection of tokenized fashion items in collaboration with the Polygon-based UNXD marketplace. The firm was founded by designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana in 1985 and has since evolved into a multinational giant that offers high-end fashion items for eye-watering prices. Dubbed “Collezione Genesi,” the collection consists of nine one-of-one NFTs that are up for auction starting Sept. 20. The NFTs depict illustrations and digital art of garments designed by Dolce and Gabbana, which …

FTX crypto exchange’s native utility token, FTT, reached a new record high on Monday a week after it agreed to acquire LedgerX, a United States-based crypto derivative platform, for an undisclosed sum. On Monday, the FTT/USD exchange rate surged 16.37% to $73.99 in a market-wide rally that saw other top coins post similar but dwarfed price rallies. Additionally, the pair’s intraday climb coincided with gains among top exchange tokens, with Binance Coin (BNB) rising 2.3% and Uniswap’s UNI recording 3.5% profits on a 24-hour adjusted timeframe. LedgerX acquisition The news of FTX’s Ledger acquisition served as the primary bullish backdrop …

After witnessing the parabolic growth of the nonfungible token (NFT) ecosystem since the turn of the year, popular cryptocurrency exchange FTX has become the latest crypto platform to announce the launch of a native NFT marketplace. Exclusive for United States-based customers, the platform will enable users to mint, buy and sell NFTs — all traded cross-chain across the Ethereum and Solana blockchains. Deposits and withdrawals are also expected to be launched in the coming weeks, opening up the capability of depositing external NFTs onto the platform. In a public display of the new feature, the exchange has launched a word-art …

Real-world adoption and brand awareness are one of the best ways for a blockchain project to increase its value and attract new users to its ecosystem. One project that has seen massive growth throughout 2021 thanks to its increasing public exposure and exciting protocol launches and partnerships is FTX, a crypto derivatives trading platform founded by Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after hitting a low near $50 on Tuesday, the price of FTT catapulted 42% to a new all-time high of $66.50 on Wednesday as its 24-hour trading volume increased by …