cryptocurrency trends
Quick Take The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency levied a consent order against crypto bank Anchorage at the close of last month, criticizing the firm anti-money laundering practices. What should other crypto firms take away from the development? This feature story is available to subscribers of The Block News Plus. You can continue reading this News Plus feature on The Block.
As Mónica explained during an interview on The Scoop with host Frank Chaparro, there are two main reasons he believes institutions are expressing interest in NFTs: “The first one is that it’s free marketing. You buy an NFT or you do something in crypto and for a few hundred thousand dollars you get tens of millions of dollars of mainstream press. The second reason, which is probably the major reason for the ones who want to build products, is they …
A coalition of some of the US’s largest crypto firms is rolling out a solution to heightened anti-money laundering standards. The so-called Travel Rule Universal Solution Technology, or “TRUST,” allows crypto firms to securely collect and transmit customer data in accordance with the travel rule. Last year, the Financial Action Task Force recommended that participating nations implement a travel rule for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) — essentially entities that facilitate transactions — in its finalized guidance. The travel rule …
Crypto custodial firms focused on the institutional market experienced a significant upswing in funding in 2021, according to The Block Research. Such firms have raised more than $3 billion this year. As noted in The Block Research’s 2022 Digital Asset Outlook Report, the rate of investments was more than three times higher than 2020. With yesterday’s announcement of @NYDIG_BTC ‘s $1B raise and today’s announcement of @Anchorage ‘s $350M raise, total investments into institutional focused custody firms in 2021 …
Anchorage Digital, a federally chartered crypto bank in the U.S., has raised $350 million in a Series D funding round. Private equity giant KKR led the round by investing through its Next Generation Technology Growth Fund II. This is KKR’s first direct equity investment in a crypto firm, said Anchorage. In September, KKR took a stake in the flagship fund of crypto VC firm ParaFi Capital. Other investors backing Anchorage’s Series D include Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, PayPal Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz …