digital currency group

Bitmain Partners With Digital Currency Group's Foundry to Fuel Crypto Mining Business in North America

Crypto mining giant Bitmain has announced that it will be partnering with crypto mining firm Foundry to extend its services to North America.

The announcement was made on September 10, and through the partnership, Chinese Bitcoin mining firm Bitmain hopes to enhance its financial services to North American customers. Bitmain has announced that it has been collaborating with crypto powerhouse firm Digital Currency Group (DCG)’s subsidiary, Foundry for quite some time. The latter has been able to provide the capital needed to fund crypto mining equipment for many of Bitmain’s large-scale clients. According to Bitmain, the partnership has been beneficial, as it has enabled mining businesses to grow and the overall ecosystem has been strengthened.

Marketing Director of Antminer at Bitmain, Su Ke, said:

“Through Foundry’s work and financial support of our end customers, we have been able to ship a significant number of machines into North America this year.”

Bitmain has vouched for Foundry, saying that the crypto subsidiary firm of Digital Currency Group has been one of the largest Bitcoin miners in North America. Through its equipment financing to other mining organizations, it has facilitated “almost half of the Bitcoin mining delivered in North America this year.” Established in 2019, services that Foundry offer includes institutional expertise, market intelligence to crypto miners and manufacturers alike, and capital. Speaking about his company, CEO of Foundry Mike Colyer said:

“Foundry was established to empower miners with the tools to build tomorrow’s decentralized infrastructure. an important part of this is addressing the chronic lack of financing options, which is holding back many successful mining businesses from scaling their operations.”

Bitmain continues to expand, partnering with firms like Foundry to support customers and institutions looking to scale their businesses. At the beginning of this month, Bitmain also expanded its growth by signing a new $23 million Antminer S19 Pro Contract with Marathon Patent Group.

Antminer S19 Pro is said to be equipped with the most advanced chipset currently available on the market and seems to be the preferred choice of major mining firms’ orders.

Antminer Sales Director of NCSA Region for Bitmain, Irene Gao, had said that these new miners were set to “bring in a new era of Bitcoin mining.”

Grayscale's Parent Company DCG Plans to Purchase $50M Shares of Ethereum Classic Trust

Digital Currency Group (DCG), the parent company of the cryptocurrency asset management company Grayscale, announced Monday it would buy Grayscale Ethereum Classic Trust shares with a total value of $50 million.

This purchase will use realizable cash on hand of DCG and comply with the provisions of Article 10b-18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) through the decision of management whether to purchase on the open market.

At present, the digital currency group did not disclose the specific time plan of the purchased shares and specific indicators such as quantity and price. The shares purchase the authorization will depend on the current company’s realizable cash level, price, market sentiment, and other factors.

Barry Silbert founded the Digital Currency Group in 2015, a well-known investor in the blockchain field. It owns companies, for instance, Genesis (a global digital asset brokerage) Foundry (a leader in Bitcoin mining and collateral).

Ethereum Classic (ETC) is an open-source, blockchain-based distributed computing platform featuring smart contract functionality. It was officially launched in July 2016 as the hard fork of Ethereum.

According to Coinmarketcap, the Ethereum Classic ranked as the 22nd largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of $4,671,648,056.

Ethereum Classic has dropped by 12.49% within 24 hours as China intensified law enforcement against domestic crypto mining activities and related crypto trading.

Ethereum Classic (ETC) price hit an all-time high of $175 on May 6 before falling by approximately 77% to a low of $38.52, which is still the case today. During the intraday, ETC was trading at $39.85.

Although the return of ETC so far this year has multiplied by 602% from $5.68 to $39.88, higher than ETH’s 163% increase from $736.42 to $1943.25. Many crypto analysts regard the ETC rebound as similar to Dogecoin (DOGE) fanatic speculation, not wide investment based on the potential of blockchain technology.

Digital Currency Group Lands $600M Debt Funding

Grayscale Investments’ parent company Digital Currency Group (DCG) said it has secured a $600 million credit funding, billed to power its many diverse operations.

As announced by the company, Eldridge led and served as the administrative agent of the credit facility, and amongst the lenders and funds which bankrolled the facility includes Capital Group, Davidson Kempner Capital Management, and Francisco Partners. The credit facility will allow the DCG to draw any amount at any time as it looks to bolster its operational capabilities across the board.

“This financing strengthens our ability to respond dynamically to opportunities in the market,” said DCG Founder and CEO Barry Silbert. “We’re very pleased to partner with this cohort of high-quality institutional lenders and, as a profitable and rapidly growing company, we are fortunate to be able to access this growth financing with an attractive cost of capital.”

Beyond Grayscale Investments has more than $50 billion in Assets Under Management (AUM) and DCG is also the parent company to outfits including Genesis, TradeBlock, Luno, Foundry, and Coindesk.

According to the firm, the better part of the funding will be used to bankroll these agencies amidst an ongoing surge in demand in crypto-related services from both retail and institutional investors.

“We’ve solidified our premier market position in recent years through the development and growth of our diversified subsidiaries, continued expansion of our investment portfolio, and via acquisitions,” said DCG CFO Michael Kraines. “This debt financing is an important milestone to ensure DCG continues to play a leading role in the financing and development of this remarkably dynamic sector.”

Earlier this month, the Digital Currency Group raised $700 million from a secondary share sale, capitalizing on the growing desire of hedge funds to bet on promising crypto-focused entities. Through the new funding round, the Digital Currency Group and its subsidiaries will look to extend their position as a leader in the blockchain ecosystem.

Staking Rewards Raises $3.2M Equity from Crypto's Largest Funds Ecosystem

Crypto data aggregation startup, Staking Rewards says it has raised $3.2 million from the biggest fund managers in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

The funding round was led by Galaxy Digital, CoinShares, and Digital Currency Group with participation from 1kx Capital and Sygnal Ventures, along with angel investors including early CoinMarketCap team members, and the crypto asset advisory firm NxGen.

Staking Rewards currently offers more than 400,000 users all over the world comprehensive data about Proof-of-Stake (PoS) platforms or other yield-generating protocols in the digital currency ecosystem. While there are prominent market research and aggregation protocols, Staking Rewards comes off as a pioneer in the PoS ecosystem.

According to the startup’s founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mirko Schmiedl, the new funding will be deployed to power the protocol’s innovative product development.

“The new investment will fuel our growth and positioning as the trusted data hub for the $40 billion staking industry. The capital will allow us to develop a new suite of products and services catering to the staking space, including the development of investable staking index products,” he said in the official statement.

As unveiled by the firm, the staking products that will be developed are on track to be integrated by its core investors, some of which offer index funds already, giving the products a ready market.

Modelling a growing trend in the cryptocurrency industry, the funding round was oversubscribed 6x as investors are notably impressed with the growth of the startup which has grown its staff strength from a team of 4 to 15. CEO Mirko also detailed plans to deploy the funds into hiring new staff by Q1 2022. The pioneering role in offering profitable earning options to investors has been highlighted as one of the key factors that have endeared investors to the platform.

“One of crypto’s strongest adoption drivers will be passive income opportunities and Staking Rewards is perfectly positioned to capture a large market of those,” said Christopher Heyman, Partner, 1kx Capital.

Digital Currency Group Announces $250M Share Buyback from Crypto Trusts

Digital Currency Group (DCG), the parent company of Grayscale Investments, has announced a new share buyback program projected to be worth $250 million.

As revealed by the company, the buyback program will feature a wide range of the company’s trust products with the first buyback covering up to $50 million in total for shares of Grayscale Litecoin Trust ($30 million), Grayscale Horizen Trust, and Grayscale Zcash Trust.

According to Grayscale, as much as $200 million will also be invested in buyback programs for its other six publicly quoted Grayscale products. These include the Grayscale Bitcoin Cash Trust, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, Grayscale Large Cap Fund, Grayscale Ethereum Classic Trust, Grayscale Ethereum Trust, and Grayscale Stellar Lumen Trust.

While the timeline for the share buyback is yet unknown, the company said the move will complement the earlier approvals it has received to purchase shares of GBTC and ETCG, of which DCG respectively has $301.3 million and $4.5 million in authorized share repurchases remaining. The company said the share buyback will be carried out using cash on hand as the company’s management will decide based on its discretion.

The decision to buy back the six core products is perhaps influenced by the valuation plunge of the premium of these products as showcased from the data from otcnode. While the negative premium is all-encompassing, the Grayscale Ethereum Classic Trust is recording the worst plunge at -59.46% at the time of writing.

Amidst the business modifications, Grayscale has considered thus far the plan to convert the Bitcoin Trust into a full-fledged spot Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) product. While the application has been filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), no feedback has been received yet.

That the SEC continues to reject other competitors’ applications for a spot Bitcoin ETF has casted doubts on the chances of Grayscale succeeding, however, time is the main determining factor to get the needed closure in relation to the company’s ambition in attracting institutional investors.

Luno Floats Venture Capital Arm to Invest in Web3.0 & Fintech Startups

Luno, a digital currency platform owned by the Digital Currency Group (DCG), has launched Luno Expeditions, its Venture Capital (VC) outfit.

As reported by TechCrunch, the new VC offshoot will engraft itself as a funding outfit for cryptocurrencies or Web3.0 startups and those in the Fintech space.

Luno Expeditions is expected to fund as many as 250 startups annually, complementing the investment strategies that have long been defined by its grandparent company, DCG. According to Emily Cheng, the named Chief Executive Officer of the new offshoot leading a team of five, the decision to focus on both crypto and fintech firms is hinged on the fact that the entire outlook of the digital currency ecosystem is still being built. Some fintech firms fill in the bridge or gap that crypto startups are yet to fill.

“There is still a lot of work to be done in building the infrastructure that crypto will rely on. So our aim is to be supportive of this broader ecosystem. So what this practically means is we will invest in fintech companies that we feel match that long-term thesis, not just any fintech company,” she said.

As much as $50,000 to $250,000 will be invested in startups while at their seeds or pre-seed stages. It comes in at about $15 million to $75 million annually.

“We are likely to invest at the upper end of that range. Also, we have some flexibility, including writing larger cheques as we scale,” the CEO said. “The reason we didn’t go with a fund structure is that we don’t need any external funding to be able to build this business, both from a capital and management fee perspective. It also allows us to finance investments with evergreen capital, which we believe is more valuable to founders building companies in the fintech space and aligns all of our long-term interests better.”

The emergence of Luno Expeditions trails attempts by established companies, including Paradigm Capital, Coinbase Ventures, and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), to pump into the fast-growing digital currency ecosystem.

Three Top JPMorgan Executives Jump Ship to Crypto Startups

According to Fortune media, three top executives at JPMorgan have left the leading major bank to join the cryptocurrency industry.

Despite the current crypto winter, this week has seen three executives working at the giant bank depart and joined crypto firms.

Eric Wragge, a former managing director at JPMorgan with 21 years working at the bank, has joined the Algorand blockchain technology firm as Head of Business Development and Capital Markets.

Puja Samuel, a former Head of Ideation and Digitization at JPMorgan, has also joined Digital Currency Group (a parent company that owns Bitcoin brokerage firm, Genesis Trading and CoinDesk crypto media) as Head of Corporate Development.

Also, early this week, Samir Shah, JPMorgan Chase’s Head of Asset Management Sales, left the bank and assumed the role of Chief Operating Officer at cryptocurrency-focused investment firm Pantera Capital.

Wragge’s joining Algorand shows that he will report to Algorand Foundation CEO Staci Warden. In the new role, he will be expected to chair the foundation’s investment committee as well as lead initiatives in both traditional capital markets as well as decentralized finance (DeFi).

Wragge talked about his appointment at Algorand and said: “Coming from a leading global investment bank, I understand the uncompromising performance requirements for a layer 1 blockchain to compete against and improve upon many aspects of traditional finance.”

Samuel, also commented about his role at Digital Currency Group: “I am excited to help build out new strategic partnerships alongside an energized team that is driving change across the financial system.”

Embracing Crypto World

The latest move of JPMorgan executives jumping ship to the crypto industry is a trend that has been developing lately. Several executives have moved from big corporations to crypto startups.

In February, Goldman Sachs executive Roger Bartlett left the leading global investment bank after 16 years and joined the Coinbase crypto exchange. In his LinkedIn profile, Bartlett stated that it was time to embrace the cryptocurrency economy. He described the change as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become part of building the next stage of the digital revolution.

That is the same sentiment held by several big tech executives and finance professionals making the move into cryptocurrency, as they look to be part of the rapidly growing crypto industry.

Some Wall Street executives have left to launch their own crypto or Web3 ventures. In 2018, Amber Baldet, a prominent blockchain executive at JPMorgan Chase, left the bank and co-founded decentralization startup Clovyr.

In March, Revolut’s chief revenue officer Alan Chang departed the British fintech to start a new crypto venture.

In April last year, Konstantin Shulga, a former senior executive of Russia’s largest bank, Sber, co-founded Finery Markets, a crypto-over-the-counter service, where he serves as the CEO.

The rise in executive moves is an indication of the growing attraction to the crypto world for financial and tech executives who are believed to have amassed a fortune but are keen to become part of the next disruption.

Coindesk May Be Sold as Parent Company DCG Struggles

According to recent reports, the cryptocurrency news website CoinDesk is mulling over the possibility of being sold as its parent company, Digital Currency Group (DCG), wants to improve its financial standing.

The Wall Street Journal reports that CoinDesk has enlisted the assistance of investment bankers from the financial advising firm Lazard. These investment bankers are assisting the company in weighing its alternatives, which may include a whole or partial sale.

You know, I recently became aware that Coindesk is now available for purchase.

Charles Hoskinson, who tweets under the handle @IOHK Charles 19th of January, 2023 In the past few months, it has been reported that DCG has received multiple offers for the media company that are higher than $200 million. If these reports are accurate, this would represent an incredible return on investment for DCG given that the company was reportedly purchased by DCG for only $500,000 in 2016.

It would seem that Barry Silbert’s DCG is experiencing significant financial difficulties as of late. On January 17, the company informed its shareholders that it will be suspending dividend payments in an attempt to improve the soundness of its balance sheet and “preserve liquidity.”

On January 18, Bloomberg reported that another DCG subsidiary, crypto lending business Genesis Global, was intending to file for bankruptcy after it revealed that it owed creditors over $3 billion. This is undoubtedly the primary cause contributing to DCG’s current financial predicament.

According to the company’s website, DCG’s venture capital portfolio includes about 200 crypto-related startups, some of which include CoinDesk and Genesis.

The asset management company Grayscale Investments, the cryptocurrency exchange Luno, and the advising firm Foundry are all other businesses that are owned by DCG.

Some people believe that the article published by CoinDesk in November that revealed the irregularities in Alameda Research’s balance sheet was the first domino that eventually led to the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX as well as the liquidity issues that Genesis, its parent company DCG, and the broader cryptocurrency market are currently facing.

Genesis Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Genesis, a cryptocurrency lending company, has filed a petition for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 in the Southern District of New York.

According to the filing from January 19th, the company is projected to have liabilities in the range of $1 billion to $10 billion, and its assets fall within the same range.

According to earlier reports, the firm was reportedly contemplating applying for bankruptcy protection in the event that it was unable to obtain sufficient money to address the liquidity issue it was facing.

Genesis said in a news statement dated January 19 that it has been in conversations with its advisers “to its creditors and corporate parent Digital Currency Group (DCG) to analyse the most effective approach to preserve assets and take the company forward to determine the best way to proceed.” ” Genesis has already begun the process of reorganisation, which will be overseen by the court, in order to further forward these conversations.

According to the Chapter 11 plan that the firm has developed, it is now considering a “dual track procedure” that would include seeking a “sale, capital raising, and/or an equitization transaction.” This would ostensibly make it possible for the company “to emerge under new ownership.”

According to the company, Genesis’s activities in the areas of derivatives, spot trading, broker-dealer services, and custody will not be affected by the Chapter 11 proceedings and will continue to function normally.

In addition to this, it said that it has a cash reserve of more than $150 million, which it thinks “would provide adequate liquidity to fund its continued business activities and simplify the process of restructuring.”

Genesis has stated that the goal of the restructuring process is to provide “an optimal outcome for Genesis clients and Gemini Earn users.” The process will be led by a “independent special committee” of the board of directors of the company, and this committee will be responsible for overseeing the entire restructuring process.

In November 2022, in response to the disruption in the market created by the failure of FTX, the company temporarily halted all withdrawals from its platform.

Customers of the yield-bearing product Gemini Earn, which is available to users of the cryptocurrency exchange controlled by Genesis, were disrupted as a result of the shift.

Cameron Winklevoss, the co-founder of Gemini, tweeted that the bankruptcy is a “crucial step” toward Gemini users being able to recover their assets. However, Cameron Winklevoss claimed that DCG and its CEO Barry Silbert “continue to refuse to offer creditors a fair deal.” Cameron Winklevoss threatened to file a lawsuit “unless Barry and DCG come to their senses.”

6 If Barry and DCG don’t come to their senses and make a reasonable offer to the creditors, we are going to have no choice but to file a lawsuit against them as soon as possible.

— Cameron Winklevoss, also known as @cameron on Twitter The 20th of January, 2023 Both Genesis and Gemini are being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the United States for allegedly selling unregistered securities via the Earn programme. The SEC is investigating both companies.

Concerns are growing inside DCG, the parent company of Genesis, since it is possible that the business may have to liquidate a portion of its venture capital portfolio worth $500 million in order to make up for Genesis’ obligations.

In an effort to “reduce operational expenditures and preserve cash,” DCG ceased paying dividends on January 17, 2019.

Reportedly being considered is the sale of DCG’s cryptocurrency media site CoinDesk, which could bring in an additional $200 million for the company.

Bybit CEO clarifies company's exposure to Genesis

On January 20, 2019, renowned cryptocurrency lender Genesis Global Trading became the latest firm to declare bankruptcy in the aftermath of the collapse of FTX. Genesis Global Trading filed for protection under Chapter 11 in New York, becoming the fourth company to do so.

On the other hand, the attention of the cryptocurrency community has recently switched onto other companies that were exposed to the loan company.

According to one source, a total of nine different cryptocurrency companies, including Gemini, Bybit, VanEck, Decentraland, and others, have exposure to the Genesis blockchain.

Ben Zhou, the CEO of Bybit, was quick to reply to the claims and emphasised that his company did indeed have a $150 million exposure to the defunct cryptocurrency lender through its investment arm Mirana.

Zhou made the observation that Mirana only handled a part of Bybit’s assets, and that the estimated $151 million exposure included around $120 million of collateralized holdings, all of which Mirana had previously liquidated.

Additionally, he ensured that customer cash are kept separate and that the various products offered by Bybit do not utilise Mirana.

Although many people were grateful for the swift answer provided by the co-founder, many others still had further concerns about the clarification, particularly concerning the various items offered by the firm.

One of the users sought complete transparency about the earn items and the yield generation process.

Another user raised concerns over their connection with Mirana and inquired as to whether or not they follow a strategy comparable to that of FTX/Alameda.

Others were perplexed by the timing of the revelation, considering the many problems that have been associated with the book of Genesis.

Some of Genesis’s largest lenders, such as Gemini, have been quite vocal in their demands for action to be taken against the Digital Currency Group, which is Genesis’s parent business.

A user commented as follows: “If you tweet “full transparency” only after you have been discovered with your trousers down, then your claim is immediately invalidated.

ByBit would have disclosed this information some months ago if it were considered “full transparency.”

“Many other people wanted evidence that transactions had taken place between Bybit and Marina as a kind of reassurance while also reminding Zhou that previous FTX executives had made comments that were quite similar.

I appreciate the promptness with which you have responded to this.

Please be aware that despite this, everyone is still on edge.

People will have a more positive reaction and feel better about themselves if you can present more proof or evidence. The CryptoData Twitter Account (@TheCryptoData) January 20, 2023