Crypto exchange FTX joined many other fallen projects — including Terra (LUNA), 3AC, Celsius and Voyager — in filing for bankruptcy in 2022. Owing to the devastation caused by multi-billion dollar losses suffered by businesses and investors, the man running the biggest crypto exchange, Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, envisions an era of greater regulatory scrutiny in the near future. With one of the biggest crypto businesses falling overnight, CZ believed the episode was devastating for the industry, which took away a lot of consumer confidence. Speaking at Indonesia Fintech Summit 2022, he said: “I think basically we've been set …

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX has lost at least one potential rescuer as it battles to fill a reported multi-billion dollar hole in its balance sheet. The CTO of stablecoin issuer Tether, Paolo Ardoino on Nov. 10 confirmed the company does not have “any plans to invest or lend money to FTX/Alameda.” Tether does not have any plans to invest or lend money to FTX/Alameda. Full stop. — Paolo Ardoino (@paoloardoino) November 10, 2022 Ardoino’s comments came after a Nov. 10 report from Reuters suggested that FTX is now at a $9.4 billion shortfall, with FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried reaching out to …

Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital tweeted out a letter sent to its partners on Nov. 10 revealing the firm had marked its $213.5 million investments in FTX and FTX US down to $0, claiming them as a complete loss. The letter said that the crisis facing FTX has “created a solvency risk” but claimed its exposure to the exchange is “limited” in its Global Growth Fund III, where its cost basis for the FTX portion of the fund totaled $150 million. Here is the note we sent to our LPs in GGFIII regarding FTX. pic.twitter.com/Cgp1Yxk1pz — Sequoia Capital (@sequoia) November …

Crypto-focused fintech company Ramp has raised $70 million in venture capital, upping its pledge to continue building a unified payment experience for digital assets. The Series B investment round was co-led by venture firms Mubadala Capital and Korelya Capital, Ramp disclosed Wednesday. As reported by Cointelegraph, Ramp raised $53 million in a Series A funding round that closed in December 2021, bringing its total capital raise to roughly $123 million. Ramp’s management said the new funds would go toward improving its product line, expanding into new locations and increasing the number of fiat currencies and payment methods offered. Ramp’s primary …

As inflation continues to grow, coupled with a looming recession, many tech firms are having to cut portions of their staff. To put this in perspective, data from Layoffs.fyi found that over 700 tech startups have experienced layoffs this year, impacting at least 93,519 employees globally. It has also been reported that tech giants like Google, Netflix and Apple are undergoing massive job cuts. While many of these layoffs are likely due to an economic downturn, this has resulted in an overwhelming amount of talent flocking to early-stage Web3 companies. For example, Andrew Masanto, a serial entrepreneur who has founded …

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has tested the capabilities of crypto in a real-world conflict where sanctions and inventive blockchain crowdfunding models abound. The war, which is drawing into its ninth month, has uncovered a raft of blockchain benefits, such as the capacity to support humanitarian endeavors. It has also revealed how much control national authorities can exert over crypto networks. Vadym Synegin, co-founder at IT and crypto solutions provider Tecor, told Cointelegraph that cryptocurrencies have a unique advantage in situations where there is an increased risk of money transfer interruptions due to the centralization of conventional systems. “With most markets controlled …

The ride-sharing industry is poised for another paradigm shift with Web3 protocols, allowing new companies and drivers to bid for rides using a matching algorithm, according to the Decentralized Engineering Cooperation (DEC) — the company behind the Solana-based protocol TRIP that enables mobility-based applications. According to DEC, on the TRIP ecosystem, companies and riders can collaborate and compete in a shared marketplace. The protocol also rewards the most active participants with stake in its governance for both drivers and customers. The first company to operate on TRIP is Teleport, a decentralized ride-sharing application set to be launched in December and …

Projects building on the Celo blockchain have collectively raised $77.3 million in support of various business initiatives, underscoring the growing adoption of the payments-focused developer network. Celo announced Thursday that projects impactMarket, Loam, Tatum, Circular Impact, Sanergy, Hyperlane, RedStone and Jia had secured the funding to further the adoption of Web3 business models. The biggest raise came from blockchain development platform and early Celo Foundation grant recipient Tatum, which secured $41.5 million. Hyperlane, an interchain communication protocol focused on interoperability, secured $18.5 million in seed funding led by venture firm Variant. Projects focused on regenerative finance (ReFi), including impactMarket, Loam …

Web3 dominance within crypto funding rounds has been well documented by Cointelegraph Research. In addition to the Web3 mega funds announced recently, venture capital has also been making smaller, more targeted investments in the sector. In this week’s Venture Capital (VC) Roundup, we chronicle the latest Web3 funding initiatives and draw attention to a sharding platform, nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace, crypto banking solution and co-ownership infrastructure provider. Related: Blockchain games and metaverse projects raised $1.3B in Q3: DappRadar Gamers, athletes and content creators back WWVentures WWVentures, a boutique crypto venture firm, has raised $15 million for its Web3 fund — …

In September 2021, enterprise blockchain and crypto solutions company Ripple launched the Ripple Creator Fund, a $250 million initiative committed to providing creators with the financial, creative, and technical support needed to create non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and other tokenization projects on the XRP Ledger. On Tuesday, Ripple disclosed the second wave of creators to receive funding for their NFT projects through Ripple’s Creator Fund. This round of funding was awarded to independent creators focused on building functional use cases in gaming and metaverse, as well as music and media on the XRP Ledger. This round of recipients included companies like …

Canadian Web3 infrastructure company ChainSafe has closed an $18.75 million funding round that was backed by prominent industry venture firms, putting the company on track to expand operations at a time when demand for blockchain infrastructure and gaming services was on the rise. The Series A round was led by venture firm Round13 with additional participation from NGC Ventures, HashKey Capital, Sfermion, Jsquare, ConsenSys, Digital Finance Group and Fenbushi Capital. ChainSafe said the funding would go toward supporting the growth and adoption of Web3 technology. ChainSafe’s founding team met at an Ethereum meetup in Toronto in 2017. Later that year, …

As crypto traders debate whether Bitcoin (BTC) is going to $25,000 or $15,000 first, the world’s largest financial institutions are laying the groundwork for mass adoption. The proverbial floodgates are unlikely to open before the United States provides a clear regulatory framework for crypto, but regulators and industry insiders are confident that guidance could come in 2023 at the earliest. In the meantime, megabanks like BNY Mellon, whose roots date back to 1784, are entering the space. This week’s Crypto Biz chronicles BNY Mellon’s foray into digital assets, JPMorgan’s ongoing experimentation with blockchain technology and Crypto.com’s new European headquarters. BNY …