United States-based cryptocurrency brokerage BitOoda has secured $7 million funding from major investors including former senior investment exec at JPMorgan. Founded in 2017, BitOoda positions itself as a digital asset financial services platform that combines digital finance and applied science. Investors are former execs from British Petroleum, JPMorgan and S&P Global Platts According to an official announcement on Dec. 23, BitOoda’s new seed round featured founder of international energy analytics firm PIRA Energy Gary Ross, who is also a former head of global oil analytics and chief energy economist at S&P Global Platts. Other investors included Roy Salame, former managing …

Ripple, the blockchain payments firm behind XRP, the third biggest altcoin by market cap, has raised $200 million in a new funding round. Led by closed-ended investment company Tetragon, the new Series C funding round was also joined by Ripple’s major Japanese partner SBI Holdings and venture capital firm Route 66 Ventures, the firm announced on Dec. 20. The new funding will reportedly help Ripple to continue improving its global payments network and the broader utility of the digital asset XRP and the XRP Ledger, the announcement reads. Despite 73% sales drop in Q3, Ripples sees strong yearly growth The …

Block.One, the firm behind EOS, the seventh-biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, has launched a new $1.5 million grant program to support the EOSIO development. EOS VC, the Block.One’s venture capital arm, plans to award grants worth $50,000 to each qualified project within its new funding initiative, the EOS VC Grants Program. According to an official announcement on Dec. 17, EOS VC will provide more than $1.5 million in grants to developers and supporters of the EOSIO platform. By launching the EOS VC Grants Program, Block.One apparently intends to attract more developers to its community and boost the adoption as the …

Proof of Impact, a blockchain-based, global marketplace for natural and social capital has closed a funding round led by American asset management firm Franklin Templeton Investments. On Dec. 12, Proof of Impact announced that it closed its first institutional investment round led by Franklin Templeton, a global fund manager that manages around $700 billion in assets. The scale of Franklin Templeton’s investment remains unknown, but as part of the agreement, a Franklin Templeton representative will take a seat on the Proof of Impact board. Proof of Impact co-founder Fleur Heyns said: “We are extremely pleased that a global financial institution …

California-based fintech company Figure Technologies has completed its $103 million funding round led by cryptocurrency asset manager Morgan Creek Digital. In conjunction with closing the Series C round, the blockchain-focused firm announced that Morgan Creek co-founder Anthony Pompliano had joined Figure’s board, according to a press release on Dec. 5. The news comes three days after Figure secured $58 million of the planned $103 million, according to its filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. According to the new announcement, Figure Technologies’ total funding now exceeds $225 million, while its valuation amounts to $1.2 billion. MUFG’s VC arm …

Updated 20:00 UTC, Nov. 26: This article has been updated to include comments from Omni Rentals that Cointelegraph received after initial publication. Omni Rentals, a $35 million-funded storage and rental startup backed by major crypto firm Ripple, is reportedly shutting down its operations. As Omni is expecting to close its platform by the end of 2019, about 10 of Omni’s engineers will be hired by major American crypto exchange and wallet service Coinbase, tech-focused publication TechCrunch reports Nov. 25. Omni had not made an official closure announcement at press time, but a representative from Omni did confirm the closure in …

Bitcoin.com, the Bitcoin (BTC)-related firm backed by crypto evangelist Roger Ver, is planning to launch its $200 million Bitcoin Cash (BCH) investment fund. Ver has announced the news speaking at a Bitcoin Cash meetup in London on Nov. 19, as he tweeted on Nov. 20. The event was hosted by major global crypto wallet Blockchain.com. The new Bitcoin Cash Ecosystem Fund will focus on payment solutions and non-custodial financial services for Bitcoin Cash, a cryptocurrency that emerged from a hard fork of Bitcoin in August 2017. The new fund will be investing in payment gateways and wallet acquirers According to …

Payment processor PayPal has led a $4.2 million funding round for cryptocurrency risk management platform TRM Labs. In a Nov. 19 press release TRM Labs announced that it secured $4.2 million in an investment round led by PayPal, with participation from other top investors including Initialized Capital, Blockchain Capital and Y Combinator. Building solutions to prevent crypto fraud and financial crime TRM, which was founded in 2018, aims to support financial institutions across the United States, Latin America, Asia and Europe by measuring, monitoring and mitigating their crypto risk exposure, meeting regulatory requirements and helping streamline their Anti-Money Laundering compliance. …

Michael Novogratz’s crypto merchant bank Galaxy Digital is launching two Bitcoin (BTC) funds, targeting people between the ages of 50 and 80. The new funds aim to bring “the wealth of America,” or people who may have largely remained out of crypto investing, to cryptocurrency markets, Novogratz told Bloomberg Nov. 19. According to Bloomberg, the funds will offer third-party custody from major crypto consortium Bakkt and Fidelity Digital Assets, the digital asset arm of American investment management company Fidelity Investments. Galaxy Bitcoin Fund and Galaxy Institutional Bitcoin Fund The two new Bitcoin funds — Galaxy Bitcoin Fund and Galaxy Institutional …

Decentralized payment processing company Radpay has secured $1.2 million in a seed round, with the participation of investment firms Resiliency Ventures and BlackLaunch. Per a press release published on Nov. 18, Radpay completed a $1.2 million series seed round that reflects a 20% oversubscription. The company saw financial support from a number of Silicon Valley investors, Phoenix-based investment firms Resiliency Ventures and BlackLaunch, and investors from Nebraska and Arizona. Radpay is planning to allocate the raised funds to the company’s further development, which includes commercialization of its technology, expansion of its products to e-commerce and retailers, as well as the …

Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz has led a $25 million funding round for crypto lending startup Compound. On Nov. 14, Fortune reported that Compound, a decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol, secured $25 million in an investment round led by Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z, with participation from other top investors including Paradigm, Bain Capital Ventures and Polychain Capital. To integrate with crypto exchanges, custodians, wallets Compound CEO and co-founder Robert Leshner said in an interview with Fortune that the company now has over $150 million in assets on its platform and that the fresh $25 million investment will go towards making the …

Uncork Capital has led a $4 million funding round that also saw funding from Coinbase Ventures for blockchain analytics firm Messari. Who’s who of new investors On Nov. 13, Messari announced that it had closed a $4 million funding round led by Uncork Capital, with participation from other top investors including Coinbase Ventures, Anthemis Group, Blockchain Capital, CoinFund, and former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan. The data analytics firm intends to invest the raised funds into further automating its data ingestion process and its redistribution capabilities for registry clients, while broadening analytical product offerings for crypto professionals. Founder of Uncork Capital …