Singapore-based cryptocurrency platform KuCoin has secured $20 million in a Series funding round from IDG Capital, Matrix Partners, and Neo Global Capital.
In a statement, KuCoin CEO Michael Gan said the combined investment from the three firms “will help KuCoin increase its growth, expand understanding and adoption of cryptocurrency for millions of potential users. It will also help users more effectively through find the best products in the crypto-space all around the world.”
The investment is expected to bring many changes to the KuCoin ecosystem. It will help the company grow such as the development of KuCoin Platform 2.0, which will go live in the first quarter of 2019. According to KuCoin, the new platform will offer dynamic, secure and malleable trading.
The injection of funds will also increase customer support and global expansion to targeted markets. KuCoin will also use the newly acquired funds to emphasize research and education. The company hopes to find the more blockchain protects for its ecosystem that will not only grow the cryptocurrency community but also solve various issues. The exchange also plans to invest in its own Blockchain Training Centre to train staff members.
Gan said the exchange will continue to form more partnerships in the future, as it works to become one of the top exchanges in the world.
Young Guo, a partner at IDG Capital, said the firm’s investment in KuCoin makes absolute sense, noting, “WE want to continue to be at the forefront of this movement to ensure that legitimate projects led by teams with integrity get noticed.” IDG has been investing since 2012 in legitimate blockchain startups that show great promise, according to Guo.
KuCoin has over 5,000,000 registered users. With the new funding in place, the company hopes to expand into Vietnam, Italy, Russia, Turkey, and all Spanish-speaking countries before the end of 2018.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Crypto exchange KuCoin raises $20M in IDG Capital-led funding round appeared first on Coingeek.
Cryptocurrency miner company Bitfury has announced a private placement of $80 million, the latest high growth blockchain company to draw significant support from global institutional investors.
The placement was led by Korelya Capital, an investment firm with the backing of Korea’s Naver Group, alongside investors such as Argenthal Capital Partners and Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Capital. Valery Vavilov, Bitfury’s co-founder and CEO, said the funding marked a strong year for the company, one of Europe’s emerging blockchain unicorns.
“This private placement reflects our achievements, and it recognizes our ability to address adjacent market segments in high-performance computing, including in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI),” Vavilov said in a statement. “The institutionalization of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, partnered with the opportunity of these emerging technologies, is a natural expansion opportunity that Bitfury will build on—in 2019 and beyond.”
Antoine Dresch, of Korelya Capital, said Bitfury has the expertise and leadership to drive more innovation in the blockchain sector. He noted, “Bitfury has grown from a small startup to the largest western blockchain unicorn, equipped with world class leadership and expertise, consistently delivering innovative solutions across the entire blockchain ecosystem.”
The news comes on the heels of reports that the crypto miner manufacturer has been looking at different strategic options to raise funds, such as holding an initial public offering (IPO) as early as 2019, or raising debt financing as well as selling a minority stake in the company.
Since its launch in 2011, Bitfury has been quite active in cryptocurrency and blockchain activities. Bitfury, the largest non-Chinese-owned company, develops Bitcoin blockchain software and provides infrastructure for Bitcoin mining. The company also developed products like a digital ledger for cryptocurrency transactions, chips for mining machines and software for institutions, governments, and companies.
The recent private placement, according to Bitfury Executive Vice Chairman George Kikvadze, was a vote of confidence in the direction of travel for Bitfury, and an endorsement of their growth strategy. He explained, “This private placement will take our corporate governance to the next level, broaden our financial strategic options, and ideally position us for our next phase of growth as the market matures.”
The funding is the latest example of a significant investment in the blockchain space, as more institutional and fund investors turn to opportunities in cryptocurrency and blockchain tech.
Regarded as pioneers in blockchain development, Bitfury works with governments and large corporations to develop and deploy real-world use cases for the technology. The funding will support the company as it continues to grow in European markets, at a time of increasing interest from large organisations worldwide.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Bitfury secures $80M private placement with Korelya Capital appeared first on Coingeek.
According to a press release published last month, Coinschedule and Trecento Blockchain Capital have announced a joint venture that will see the creation of a new cryptocurrency investment fund. The project will invest in early-stage blockchain companies, as well as equity-based deals and initial coin offerings (ICO).
The Coinschedule Trecento BC Fund will incorporate Coinschedule’s TrustScore, an algorithm created with the help of scientists at the University of Oxford that assigns a credit score to each blockchain project after analyzing dozens of data points. Already, TrustScore has been shown to be an effective tool in determining those projects that have a greater likelihood of long-term success.
TrustScore will make the initial determination, and the team at Trecento will then assess the opportunity before the final decision whether or not to invest is made. Coinschedule CEO Alex Buelau said about the partnership, “We are very excited to partner with such a young yet successful team that can bring all their expertise and best practices from the traditional financial markets into the blockchain world.”
Trecento is an asset management company focusing entirely on the blockchain industry. It was founded this year and is part of Trecento Group, which was launched in 2012. Trecento Group has around $200 million under management and targets institutional investments. The company’s blockchain investment arm is designed to invest in projects with long-term growth possibilities that can provide the best returns for the fund’s members.
According to Alice Lhabouz, founder of Trecento Group, “We are looking forward to help fund incredible blockchain projects at a time where many promising teams are finding it hard to raise capital. Partnering with Coinschedule will enable us to find the needle in the haystack of blockchain projects.”
Coinschedule launched about two years ago and is located in Oxford, UK. According to the company’s website, “Our unique Trust Score system, utilises Artificial Intelligence and allows ICOs to show how trustworthy they are to potential investors. It encourages ICO projects to provide transparent information about their team, their project and legal structure.”
The investment fund is expected to be launched within the next couple of weeks. It will invest in projects in accordance with a regulated legal and compliant framework. When it’s operational, the fund will have a tracking section available on the Coinschedule website.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Coinschedule and Trecento announce new crypto investment fund appeared first on Coingeek.
Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) are the fashionable way to raise funds for any cryptocurrency project. The first-ever instance of the fundraising activity was seen when Mastercoin (now Omni Layer) held its ICO in 2013 and it was inarguably considered a success. However, looking at the digital currency’s status now, that ICO definitely should not be seen as such. In fact, according to a recent study, the majority of the ICOs could potentially be considered a failure.
A report published by major auditing firm Ernst and Young a little more than a week ago shows that ICOs, overall, are not the money-makers most people think. The company compared current data from 141 ICOs with the data available for the same companies in December of last year. Those 141 companies comprised 87% of all ICO funding that was attracted last year.
The auditor’s “The Class of 2017” report showed that 86% of the companies behind the ICOs are now trading lower than their prices when the offerings were listed. 30% of the projects, which correlates to 87% of the entire funding, have lost “substantially all value,” resulting in the projects being considered worthless.
Ernst and Young also indicates, “An investor purchasing a portfolio of The Class of 2017 ICOs on 1 January 2018 would most likely have lost 66% of their investment.” Additionally, a large number of the projects have now abandoned their token models completely, which could lead to the coins become totally obsolete.
The firm explains, “Abandoning their ICO investors by de-emphasizing the role of their tokens [….] projects accepting fiat usually offer some benefits for token users, similar to points in traditional loyalty programs. However, users do not use utility tokens to store value. To use the platform, users have to purchase the necessary amount and incur related transaction costs and token volatility risk.”
Despite the decline in value, and the increase in risk, many organizations still turn to ICOs in order to attract funding. Some do it to capitalize on the hype; others do it because it’s any easy to receive money without a lot of risks.
The offerings aren’t limited to only blockchain-specific organizations, either. Even some gambling companies have announced that they plan on launching an ICO in order to introduce casinos that operate through cryptocurrency. Based on the overwhelming degradation of the ICO market, an investor would be wise to think twice before turning over his or money to an ICO when there are better chances that investing in one of the top coins directly will offer better returns.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Be careful when considering an ICO investment appeared first on Coingeek.
A group of cryptocurrency developers have introduced a new concept to the crypto community. It’s called the “Open Savings Initiative,” (OSI) and allows users to save their crypto in a time-locked account. Currently, it’s available only for Bitcoin BCH and Bitcoin Core (BTC) and is “like a certificate of deposit that you can add more money to anytime, but doesn’t require a bank.”
Users are able to assign any amount of time to their accounts to keep their assets locked up. Only after the expiration of that time can the accounts be accessed, ensuring that those who would be tempted to go out and buy something like a new Ferrari or a house in Hollywood Hills are forced to think twice before doing so.
OSI also has an offline version that enables the user to generate addresses even when the account is disconnected from the Internet. This capability, referred to as a “cold wallet,” provides an extra layer of security. According to the developers, “We coded up this application in the hope that ALL the wallets in the Bitcoin Cash / Bitcoin Core ecosystems adopt this feature, either by leveraging our code or implementing it themselves.”
OSI doesn’t store any personal user data. If the private key is lost, so is access. Private keys cannot be shared, as the key is changed each time the account is accessed.
The platform works by using the Op_Code “OP_checklocktimeverify.” This queues the system to build a pay-to-script hash address (P2SH), a form of standardized code that enables transactions to an address that begins with the number “3” instead of a public key, which normally begins with “1.”
The application was developed by Ransom Christofferson and Prestige IT. Yeoman’s Capital provided guidance and funding for the project came, in part, from Ricardo Jimenezh, a technology investor and senior product manager at creditcards.com.
Christofferson states, “Thanks to the “nlocktime” parameter and scripts such as ‘OP_checklocktimeverify’ being introduced into Bitcoin and continued on Bitcoin Cash, there is now a straightforward way of securely locking up funds on the blockchain without a custodian, which can only be spent at a future date.”
According to the OSI website, Open Savings Initiative lets you set aside cryptocurrency that can only be spent after a certain date. It’s like a certificate of deposit that you can add more money to anytime, but doesn’t require a bank.
“If you intend to give cryptocurrency to someone else, you can use Open Savings Initiative to create the crypto equivalent of writing a cheque for a future date. Unlike traditional cheques, the crypto cheque can’t bounce, can’t be cancelled, and is guaranteed to have the funds.”
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post “Certificates of deposit” come to crypto appeared first on Coingeek.
