Any views expressed in the below are the personal views of the author and should not form the basis for making investment decisions, nor be construed as a recommendation or advice to engage in investment transactions.
Another crazy year in the books!
Bitcoin is beginning to go mainstream. Ethereum is seeing massive amount of interest and investment from both institutions and savvy retail players. Awareness of crypto assets is growing as inflation rises to levels not seen since the 80’s. An explosion of NFTs fueling the “creator economy” and “web 3” setting the basis of meta- or multi-verse. These trends are all still early and are showing great potential as assets, application layers, and networks for the next iteration of the World Wide Web.
It seemed as if every month, disregarding prices and only looking at headlines, the crypto market appeared to be the most bullish its ever been in last over these last twelve months. This was a huge year for bitcoin and crypto assets in general, not disregarding their price. More money is flowing into fixed assets and the DeFi system from the traditional financial systems with infinite supplies of fiat currencies.
If you’re still not bullish, read each month’s highlights below…
January
- Elon Musk Changes Twitter Bio to #Bitcoin and Tweets “In retrospect, it was inevitable”
- $7.8T AUM BlackRock Files to Invest in Bitcoin Futures for Two Funds
- MicroStrategy Buys $10M Bitcoin at $31,808
- Ray Dalio Writes Article About His Bitcoin Stance
- Highly Crypto-Experienced Gary Gensler Named Chairman of SEC
- ECB President Lagarde Calls for Increased Global Regulation of Bitcoin
- Janet Yellen During Confirmation Hearing Calls for Increased Scrutiny of Crypto for Illicit Uses
- Crypto Custodian Anchorage Given First-Ever Federal Bank Charter
- OCC Releases Guidance Allowing US Banks to Use Public Blockchains As Settlement Infrastructure
- Publicly-Traded Marathon Patent Group Purchases $150M of Bitcoin on Balance Sheet
- Blockfolio Launches Zero-Fee Crypto Trading & Tokenized Stocks for US Investors
- SkyBridge Launches Bitcoin Fund with $310M AUM
- Bitcoin Exchange Bakkt to be Acquired by SPAC for $2.1B
- Osprey Funds Launches Trading on GBTC Competitor Fund
- Coinbase Proposes Direct Listing
- OneRiver CIO Declares Bitcoin Will Be Worth More Than Gold
- FinCEN Extends Comment Period for Crypto Regulation in Biden Term
- Travel App “Maps.Me” Raises $50M Funding Led by Alameda Research to Implement In-App Crypto Wallet
- Coinbase Acquires Bison Trails, Rumored at +$100M
- Global Soccer Star David Barral Becomes First Player Traded with Bitcoin
- Dogecoin Gets Wrapped Up in WallStreetBets, Hits 10x in One Day
- Guggenheim CIO, After Calling for $400k Bitcoin in December, States Bitcoin Price Is Too High at $35K, Calls for Decline to $20K
- Japan Top Securities Regulator Says XRP Is Not A Security
February
- TSLA Buys $1.5B of Bitcoin on Balance Sheet
- MicroStrategy Raises $1.05B Convertible Notes to Buy Bitcoin; Purchases 19,452 Bitcoin at $52,765
- Square Buys $170M of Bitcoin on Balance Sheet
- Tether Settles Longstanding Case with NYAG for $18.5M; Does Not Admit Wrongdoing; Agrees to Future Quarterly Audits of Reserves
- BNY Mellon to Custody Crypto
- MasterCard to Enable Crypto Purchases for All Merchants
- Bitcoiner Cynthia Lummis Named to Senate Banking Committee
- Former TD Ameritrade Head of Digital Assets Named Fed’s Chief Innovation Officer
- BlackRock Begins Buying Bitcoin
- MicroStrategy Buys $10M Bitcoin at $33,810
- Bitcoin Company Casa Raises $4M Seed Round Led by Fidelity’s Avon Ventures
- Deutsche Bank to Offer Crypto Custody and Prime Brokerage
- BlockFi Raises Series D at $2.85B Valuation
- Dapper Labs Raises $250M at $2B Valuation
- Jack Dorsey and Jay-Z Allocate $23.5M in Bitcoin to Fund Development
- Miami Mayor Activates Bitcoin Across the City Including Treasury, Employees, Taxes & Fees
- BitPay Card Adds Support for Apple Pay
- Bitfinex Repays $550M Outstanding Loan from Tether
- Ruffer Sells $750M of Bitcoin After Original $740M Position Doubles in Two Months
March
- $4T AUM Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management to Offer NYDIG and Galaxy BTC Funds to Clients
- NYDIG Raises $200M from Morgan Stanley, New York Life, MassMutual, Soros
- Visa to Enable Bitcoin Purchases at 70M Merchants
- One River Adds Former SEC Chair Jay Clayton as Advisor
- Fireblocks Raises $133M Series C from Coatue, Ribbit, BNY Mellon
- MicroStrategy Purchases $15M BTC at $45,710, $10M BTC at $48,888 and $15M BTC at $57,146
- Hong Kong-listed Software Company Meitu Purchases $50M ETH and $39M BTC on Balance Sheet
- Beeple Sells NFT for $69M, Third Highest Sale from Living Artist Ever
- Norwegian Oil Billionaire Kjell Rokke Buys $58M BTC, Launches Bitcoin Business
- Tether Produces Reserves Attestation from Moore Cayman
- FTX Purchases Naming Rights to Miami Heat Stadium for $135M
- Visa Launches Pilot with Crypto.com to Settle USDC on Visa Network
- BlockFi Raises $350M Series D at $3B Valuation
- Goldman Restarts Crypto Desk, To Offer New Crypto Products
- CBOE Files to List VanEck ETF, Starts Clock for ETF to Respond
- State Street Named Fund Administrator and Transfer Agent for VanEck ETF
- Fidelity, Goldman, SkyBridge, NYDIG, VanEck, Valkyrie, WisdomTree and Bitwise All Have Current Bitcoin Applications Pending
- PayPal Acquires Crypto Custodian Curve, Launches “Checkout with Crypto”
- Crypto Tax Company TaxBit Raises $100M Series A from Paradigm and Tiger Global
- Dapper Labs Raises $305M Led by Coatue
- Graysclae Parent Digital Currency Group Announces $250M GBTC Buyback Program
- Binance Adds Former US Senator and Ambassador to China Max Baucus as Advisor
- Coinshares IPOs on Swedish Stock Exchange
- Jerome Powell Says Bitcoin Is More Like Gold Than the Dollar
- Howard Marks Changes Mind About Bitcoin
- China Said to Clamp Down on Inner Mongolia Bitcoin Mining Activities
- CFTC Fines Coinbase $6.5M for 2015-2018 False Reporting and Wash Trading
- FATF Release Draft 2021 Crypto Guidance
April
- Public Japanese Gaming Giant Nexon Purchases $100M of Bitcoin on Balance Sheet
- 2nd Oldest U.S. Bank State Street with $3.2T in AUM to Start Trading Crypto
- Former OCC Head Brian Brooks Named CEO of Binance US
- Former CFTC Chair Chris Giancarlo Joins BlockFi’s Board of Directors
- Venmo Launches Crypto Purchases
- Goldman Prepares to Offer Crypto to Private Wealth Management Clients
- Morgan Stanley Files to Add Bitcoin Exposure to a Dozen Institutional Funds
- JPMorgan to Launch First Bitcoin Fund This Summer
- $230B AUM CI Global Asset Management Launches CI Bitcoin Fund
- US Bank to Launch Crypto Custody
- Wealthfront to Enable Crypto Purchases Later This Year
- MicroStrategy Purchases $15M BTC at $59,399, Total BTC Purchases 91,579 at $24,311 Average Price
- Tesla Sells $272M of Bitcoin
- FinCEN Appoints Former Chainalysis CTO Michael Mosier as Director
- Former Acting Director of CIA Michael Morrell Publishes Independent Paper Strongly Supportive of Crypto
- #1 NFL Draft Pick Trevor Lawrence Signs Deal with Blockfolio to Recieve Bonus in BTC, ETH and SOL
- Paxos Receives Federal Bank Charter from OCC
- Paxos Raises $300M at $2.4B Valuation
- NYDIG Raises $100M (After Raising $200M Last Month) From Liberty Mutual Insurance, Starr Insurance and Others)
- Consensys Raises $65M from JPMorgan, MasterCard, UBS, and Others
- $445B AUM Baillie Gifford Leads $100M Investment in Blockchain.com
- Rothschild Capital Management Takes Stake in Kraken
- Alchemy Raises $80M Series B Led by Coatue To Be AWS for Blockchain
- Robinhood Announces 9.5M Users Traded Crypto in Q1-21, Up From 1.7M in Q4-20
- Revolut Expands Crypto Offering by 11 Names, Now Totaling 21 Cryptos
- Canada Launches Three ETH ETFs
- European Investment Bank Sells EU100M Bonds on Ethereum Network
- Ray Dalio Says of Bitcoin, “I like the diversification of this kind of asset. It should be a part of any portfolio. It’s got merit.”
- Goldman CEO States Bitcoin Is on Inevitable Path to a Higher Market Cap Than Gold
- Gary Gensler Confirmed as SEC Chair
- Brevin Howard Main Hedge Fund to Begin Buying Crypto
- Dan Loeb’s Third Point Files as a Coinbase Custody Customer
- Biden Administration Said to Be in the Early Stages of Developing Crypto Regulatory Framework
- Congress Passes the “Eliminate Barriers to Innovation Act” to Establish SEC/CFTC Working Group on Digital Assets
- Coinbase to Devote 10% of Resources to Innovation Bets
- Gemini Now Supports Apple Pay and Google Pay
- Tether Trading Pairs to Launch on Coinbase
- Binance Launches Zero-Commission Tokenized Stock Trading
- Coinbase Executes Direct Listing on NASDAQ, Trades Poorly
- Turkey’s Central Bank Bans Citizens from Using Crypto for Purchases
- 62 Arrested in $2B Fraud at Major Turkish Crypto Exchange Thodex
May
- Andreessen Horowitz Plans $1B Cryptocurrency VC Fund
- Asian Video Game Publisher Nexon Buys $100M in Bitcoin
- Bitcoin Taproot Activation Begins, Giving Miners 3 Months to Get On Board
- Binance Faces Probe by U.S. Money Laundering and Tax Slueths
- Bitwise Launches Crypto Company ETF on New York Stock Exchange
- Citibank Considering Launching Crypto Trading and Custody Services
- CME Group Launches “Micro” Bitcoin Futures Product, Third-Best Launch in CME History
- Coinbase Acquires Data and Analytics Platform Skew for Undisclosed Sum
- Crypto Custodian Finoa Raises $22M in Series A Funding
- Crypto Wallet ZenGo Raises $20M to Grow Services and Team
- DCG Announces Plan to Increase Purchase of Shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust
- Ethereum 2.0 Staking Project Lido Raises $73M in New Funding Led by Paradigm
- Elon Musk Makes U-Turn on Statements Regarding Tesla No Longer Accepting Bitcoin Payments, Tumbling Bitcoin and Crypto Markets
- Facebook-backed Diem Partners with Silvergate Bank to Issue US Dollar Stablecoin
- Fidelity National Information Services Partners with NYDIG to Allow Hundreds of Banks to Begin Offering Customers Bitcoin Buying and Selling
- Galaxy Digital Acquires Crypto Custodian BitGo for $1.2B
- Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research Puts Out “Crypto: A New Asset Class?” Report
- Goldman Sachs Unveils New Cryptocurrency Trading Team in Employee Memo
- Hedge Fund Giants Millenium, Matrix and Point72 Standing Up DeFi Funds
- Indy 500 Bitcoin-Themed Racing Team Competes in the 105th Race Sponsored by Ed Carpenter Racing and Jack Maller’s Strike App
- ING Says DeFi More Disruptive to Banks than Bitcoin
- JPMorgan to Let Clients Invest in Bitcoin Fund for First Time
- MicroStrategy Acquires Additional $15M in Bitcoin at Average Price of $55,387
- Multicoin Raises $100M for New Crypto Venture Fund
- Newsweek Reports 46 Million Americans Now Own Bitcoin
- Notional Raises $10M to Grow DeFi Lending Protocol
- NYDIG Hires Bridgewater CFO in Drive to Bring Bitcoin to Banks
- Palantir Technologies Now Accepts Bitcoin for Payments, CFO Says Company Is Considering Holding Bitcoin on Its Balance Sheet
- Paxos Raises $300M, Joining the Unicorn Club at $2.4B Valuation
- S&P Dow Jones Indicies Announced Plans to Launch Three New Crypto Indexes: S&P Bitcoin Index, S&P Ethereum Index, and S&P Cryptocurrency MegCap Index
- SEC Chair Suggests Congress Regulate Crypto Exchanges
- Square Reports $3.51B in Bitcoin Revenue via Its CashApp for Q1-21
- Stanley Druckenmiller Says the Fed Is Endangering the Dollar’s Global Reserve Status
- Tiger Global and Coatue Back Bitso in $250M Series C Funding Round
- US Bank Selects Cryptocurrency Custodian, Wins Admin Role for NYDIG’s Bitcoin ETF
June
- Andreessen Horowitz Triples Down on Blockchain Startups with Massive $2.2B in Crypto Fund III
- Ark Invest Buys Nearly $20M Worth of Bitcoin
- Ark Invest Files S-1 with the SEC for a Bitcoin ETF Alongside 21Shares
- Bitcoin Officially Is A New Asset Class, Goldman Sachs Says
- Billionaire Investor Carl Icahn Says He Wants to Get Involved in Crypto in “Relatively Big Way”
- Bitcoin 2021 Conference Held in Miami on June 4th and 5th
- Blockchain Capital Raises $300M to Fund V
- Bloomberg Analyst: “Bitcoin has transitioned to a global digital-reserve asset.”
- Cathie Wood Predicts Bitcoin Is Going Up to $500K
- Chainalysis Raises $100M in Series E, Valuation Hits $4.2B
- Coinbase to Raise $1.25B in Debt Securities for Institutional Investors
- Colonial Pipeline Paid 75 BTC, or Roughly $5M to Hackers, FBI Retrieves Most of Funds
- Daniel Loeb’s Third Point Leads $27M Investment in Crypto Compliance Startup CipherTrace
- Elon Musk Claims He’s “Working With Doge Devs” on Potential Improvements
- Elon Musk Clarifies “Tesla Has Not Sold Any Bitcoin”
- EL SAVLADOR BECOMES WORLD’S FIRST COUNTRY TO ADOPT BITCOIN AS LEGAL TENDER, PASSING LEGISLATURE ON JUNE 9TH
- Fed Buys MicroStrategy Bonds, Giving It Some In-Direct Exposure to Bitcoin
- Fed Officials: Crypto Rout Not a Systemic Concern
- Fidelity Bitcoin Fund Attracts $102M in 9 Months
- First Approved Brazilian Bitcoin ETF Seeks to Raise 500M BRL ($90M USD)
- Google Lifts 2018 Ban on Crypto Exchange, Wallet Advertisements
- Investment Bank Cowen Launching Institutional-Grade Custody Service with Standard Custody & Trust Co.
- IMF Statement Ahead of Meeting El Salvadoran President Bukele Saying Adoption of Bitcoin as Legal Tender Raises Number of Macroeconomic, Financial, and Legal Issues
- Paul Tudor Jones Could Go “All In” On Inflation Trades, Wants 5% Bitcoin Allocation
- PayPal Exec Says Company Will Let Customers Withdraw Crypto
- MicroStrategy Buys 229 BTC for $10M at an Average Price of $43,663
- MicroStrategy Launches “At the Market” Securities Offering for Flexibility to Sell Up to $1B Class A Common Shares Over Time, Plans to Buys BTC and Retire Debt Alongside Other Corporate Purposes
- Morgan Stanley Buys Over 28,000 Shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust
- Morgan Stanley Co-Leads $48M Series B for Blockchain Firm Securitize with Blockchain Capital
- Novogratz-backed Cryptology Asset Group Invests $40M More in Block.One
- NYDIG, F5 Investments File to Offer Another Bitcoin Fund Through Morgan Stanley
- NYDIG and Q2 Announce Collaboration to Offer Integrated Bitcoin Solutions for Financial Institutions via Q2’s Digital Banking Platform
- Ray Dalio Says He Owns Bitcoin and “Its Greatest Risk Is Its Success”
- SEC Has No Plans to Regulate Bitcoin in 2021
- Standard Chartered to Launch Institutional Brokerage and Exchange in Europe
- Steve Cohen, Point72 Founder and Mets Owner, Says “I’m fully converted to crypto… I’m not going to miss this.”
- Stronghold Digital Mining Raises $105M to Turn Waste Coal into Bitcoin
- Taproot Upgrade Locked In, Bringing Massive Upgrades to Bitcoin including Privacy and Smart Contracts
- Tesla Will Resume Taking Bitcoin as Payment Once Miners Go 50% Green Musk Says
- University of Pennsylvania Receives $5M Anonymous Bitcoin Donation
- Wells Fargo to Onboard Active Cryptocurrency Strategy for Rich Clients
July
- Bank of America Approved the Trading of Bitcoin Futures for Some Clients
- BNY Mellon Selected for Asset Servicing on Grayscale’s Flagship Bitcoin Trust to Prepare for Bitcoin ETF
- Circle Enters Definitive Agreement That Will Result in It Becoming a Publicly-Traded Company, Company’s Enterprise Value ~$4.5B
- Clipper, Decentralized Exchange, Raises $21M from Polychain, 0x Labs, DeFi Alliance, and MetaCartel DAO
- Coincover, Cryptocurrency Insurance Platform, Raised $9.2M in Round Led by DRW, CMT, Avon Ventures, Valor Equity, Fintech Collective, Susquehanna and others
- CoinShares Agrees to Buy Elwood Technologies ETF Index Business for $17M
- Crypto.com Reports the Number of Crypto Users Double in First Half of 2021
- Eco, Company Building Yield Generating Accounts on USDC, Raises $60M from L Catterton, Activant, A16Z, Lightspeed, Valor Equity Partners and others
- Genesis Digital Assets, Bitcoin Mining Company, Raises $125M in Funding from Kingsway Capital
- Fidelity Claims 70% of Institutional Investors Want “Digital Assets”
- Fidelity Digital Assets Reportedly Increasing Staff by 70% to Meet Growing Demand
- Fidelity Releases Report Suggesting 71% of Institutional Investors Plan to Buy or Invest in Digital Assets
- Fireblocks Raises $310M in Series D Funding from Sequoia, Strikes, Spark, Coatue, and DRW
- FTX, Antigua-Based Crypto Exchange, Raises $900M at a $18B Valuation from Star Studded Group of Investors
- GlobalX, Asset Manager, Files for Bitcoin ETF
- Goldman Sachs Files for DeFi and Blockchain ETF
- Goldman Sachs Wrote a 60-Page Research Report on Bitcoin
- Goldman Sachs Releases Survey Finding Half of Family Offices in Goldman Network Want to Add Digital Currencies to Portfolios
- Index Cooperative, a DAO that runs the DeFi Pulse Index, raised $7.7M from Galaxy Digital and 1kx
- Magic, Decentralized Identity Startup Formerly Known as Fortmatic, Raises $27M in Series A Funding from Tiger Global, Northzone and others
- Meson Network, Marketplace for Bandwidth, Raises $3.5M from Libertus, Mash Network, Hash Global, CMT Holdings, and Digital Coin Group
- Nifty’s, NFT Social Media Platform, Raises $10M from Coinbase Ventures, Dapper Labs, Samsung Next, Topps, Polaroid, Polychain, Liberty City Ventures and others
- OpenSea, NFT Platform, Raises $100M in Round Led by A16Z with Participation from Coatue, Michael Ovitz, and others
- Osprey Funds Files to Register Their Bitcoin Trust as an SEC Reporting Company
- Prime Trust, Crypto Asset Custody Firm, Raises $64M in Series A Funding from Mercato Partners, Nationwide, Samsung Next, Kraken and Seven Peaks Ventures
- Saber Labs, Stablecoin Exchange on Solana, Raises $7.7M from Race Capital, Social Capital, Jump Capital, Multicoin and the Solana Foundation
- Solrise Financial, Fund Management and Investment Protocol, Raises $3.4M from Alameda Research, CMS Holdings, Delphi Digital, Jump Capital, Parafi, DeFi Alliance, Reciprocal and Skyvision Capital
- Sorare, Blockchain-Based Fantasy Soccer Platform, Reportedly in Talks to Raise $532M in Round Led by SoftBank
- Stronghold Digital Mining, Bitcoin Mining Company, Files for $100M IPO
- Square CEO Jack Dorsey Confirms Company Is Building a Bitcoin Hardware Wallet
- Thesis, Crypto Venture Studio, Raises $21M in Series A Funding from ParaFi, Nascent, Fenbushi, Polychain, and others
- Titan, Investment Management Platform that Intends to Offer Crypto Products in the Future, Raises $58M in Series B funding from A16Z, General Catalyst, Box Group and others
- UFC Signs $175M Sponsorship Deal with Crypto.com
- Virtual Human Studio, Company behind Zed Run, Raises $20M in Series A Funding from The Chernin Group, A16Z, and Red Beard Ventures
- Zerion, an Interface for DeFi, Raises $8.2M from Mosaic Ventures with Participation from Placeholder VC, Digital Coin Group, Lightspeed Ventures, and Blockchain.com
August
- Avanti Bank Files Application to Become a Federal Reserve Member Bank
- Binance Enforces Mandatory KYC on All Users Amid Mounting Regulatory Pressure
- BitMEX, Crypto Derivatives Exchange, Reaches Settlement with CFTC and FinCEN Involving Fine As Much As $100M
- BitWave, Crypto Tax and Accounting Company, Raises $7.25M from Blockchain Captial, Nascent and Area
- Brian Brooks, Former Head of OCC and Chief Legal Officer at Coinbase, Resigns as CEO from Binance US after Four Months on the Job
- Certik, Blockchain Security Company, Raises $24M in Series B Extension Round Led by Tiger Global and GL Ventures
- Chainflip, Decentralized Automated Market Maker Protocol, Raises $6M in Funding from ParaFi, Distributed Global, Delphi Digital, Coinbase Ventures and others
- Chase Shuts Down Compass Mining Bank Accounts
- Cryptocurrency Provisions Buried in Biden’s Infrastructure Bill
- Cryptoquant, Crypto Asset Data Company, Raises $3M from Hashed, Galaxy Digital and others
- Cuba’s Government Says It Will Recognize and Regulate Cryptocurrencies for Payments on the Island
- Dune Analytics, Crypto Data Company, Raises $8M from USV, Redpoint, Multicoin and Dragonfly Capital
- Ethereum Price Starts Being Shown on CNBC’s Live Ticker
- FalconX, Crypto Asset Brokerage, Raised $210M from Altimeter Capital, Sapphire Ventures, B Capital and Tiger Management
- Fed’s Jerome Powell Says Digital Money Becoming More and More Important
- Figment, Staking Infrastructure Company, Raises $50M in Series B in Funding from Senator Investment Group, Liberty City Ventures, 10T Ventures, Galaxy Digital and Anchorage Digital
- Fintech Collective Raises $250M Fund to Focus on Decentralized Finance
- Former U.S. SEC Chair Jay Clayton Joins Fireblocks’ Advisory Board
- FTX Acquires LedgerX, U.S.-based Derivatives Exchange, for Undisclosed Sum
- Galaxy Digital Files for Bitcoin Fututes-Based ETF
- Gary Gensler Indicates Crypto’s ‘DeFi’ Projects Are Not Immune to Regulation
- Gemini Acquires Guesser, Decentralized Predictions Platform
- Grayscale Hires ETF Head in Push to Convert Biggest Bitcoin Fund
- Helium, Decentralized Wireless Network, Raises $111M in Token Sale Led by A16Z with Participation from 10T, Ribbit Capital, Alameda Research and Multicoin Capital
- Horizen Labs, Blockchain Privacy Firm, Raises $7M in Seed Funding from Kinetic, DCG and Liberty City Ventures
- Hyype, Social Network for NFT Collectors, Raises $1.5M from Electric Capital
- JPMorgan and Wells Fargo File for Private Bitcoin Funds
- Liquality, Multi-Chain Wallet Company, Raises $7M from Hashed, Galaxy Digital, Accomplice, Coinbase Ventures and others
- Mango Markets, Decentralized Exchange on the Solana Blockchain, Raises $70M in a Token Sale
- MicroStrategy Purchases Another 3,907 Bitcoins for $177M in Cash at Average Price of $45,294
- Nakji Network, Indexing Protocol for Blockchain Data, Raises $8.8M from Animoca Brands, CMS Holdings, Primitive Ventures and others
- Parallel Finance, Decentralized Lending Platform Raises $22M from Polychain, Lightspeed, Slow Ventures, Blockchain Capital and Alameda Research
- PNC Bank, USA’s 5th Largest Bank, Reportedly Working with Coinbase on Cryptocurrency Offering
- NYDIG Partners with MassMutual
- Offchain Labs, Company Building the Arbitrum Layer 2 Scaling Solution on Ethereum, Raises $120M from Lightspeed, Mark Cuban and others
- Ondo Finance, Decentralized Finance Protocol, Raises $4M from Pantera, Genesis, DCG, CMS Holdings, CoinFund and others
- SEC Chair Speaks Crypto & National Security, Agrees with Predecessor Saying ICO’s and Tokens Largely Are Viewed as Unregistered Securities
- SEC Charges and Settles with DeFi Team, Blockchain Credit Partners, Over $30M Sale of Tokens in Unregistered Securities Offering for Governance Token / Money Market Fund
- SEC Unlikely to Take Much Interest in NFTs or Deeming Them as Securities
- Sotheby’s Auction House Auctioning Off Lot of 107 Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, Current Top Bid is $4.5M
- State Street, 2nd Oldest Bank in the U.S., Says Bitcoin is a Breed by Itself
- Square Reportedly in Process of Building Decentralized Bitcoin Exchange
- Substack Adds Bitcoin Lightning Payments for 500,000 Users
- Survey Says 17% of Americans Own Bitcoin and Roughly 50% Own Stocks
- Syndicate, Decentralized Organization Focused on Investing, Raises $20M from A16Z, Coinbase Ventures and others
- Tally, Platform Building Governance Infrastructure for Decentralized Organizations, Raises $6M from Blockchain Capital, Placeholder, Notation, 1kx, Castle Island Ventures and others
- TaxBit, Crypto Asset Tax Company, Raises $130M from IVP and Insight
- Three Arrows Capital Launching $100M Fund to Invest in NFTs
- ThirdPoint Hedge Fund Founded by Dan Loeb with $17B in AUM to Continue Investing in Crypto, Says It Is Unconcerned by Volatility
- UXD Protocol, Stablecoin on Solana Blockchain, Raises $3M from Multicoin, Alameda Research, CMS Holdings, Defiance Capital and others
- XMTP, Crypto Communications Protocol, Raises $20M in Round Led by A16Z
- Zabo, Cryptocurrency API Company, Acquired by Coinbase
September
- Twitter Releases “Tip Jar” Feature to Allow In-App Tipping of Bitcoin with Lightning Network
- Interactive Brokers Introduces Crypto Trading Through Paxos
- MicroStrategy Purchases $243M Bitcoin at $48K Average Price
- Chinese Government Declares All Crypto-Related Transactions Illegal, Takes Incremental Steps to Discourage Crypto Usage in China
- Huobi and Binance Suspend Registration of All New Users in China
- Multiple ETH Mining Pools Cease Services in Mainland China
- Gensler Hosts Discussion with Financial Times and Reiterates Prior Hawkish Comments on Crypto Unregistered Securities, While Favoring Bitcoin
- AngleList Enables USDC Funding
- Kraken Pays $1.25M Fine in Settlement with CFTC
- Ripple Announces $250M Fund for NFTs on XRP
- Paul Tudor Jones to Launch Digital Disruption Hedge Fund
- Algorand Launches $330M Ecosystem Fund
- Polychain and Three Arrows Lead $230M Token Sale in Avalanche
- Jump Capital Launches $350M Crypto-Focused Fund
- Sorare Receives $680M Investment Led by Softbank
- Dapper Labs Raises Another $250M
- Crypto Growth Equity Fund 10T Holdings Announces $750M Raise
- MasterCard Acquires Crypto Analytics Firm CipherTrace
- Amberdata Raises $15M Series A Led by Citi
- Crypto Fintech Company Zero Hash Raises $35M Series C Led by Point72 Ventures
- Coinbase Launches $1.5B Debt Deal, Upsizes to $2B at ~3.5% Rate
- Coinbase Files with the NFA to register as Futures Commission Merchant
- Audius Receives Investment from Katy Perry, Nas, Steve Aoki, Chainsmokers and Others
- FTX Signs Ambassador Partnership with Steph Curry
- FTX Signs Partnership with F1 Team Mercedes-AMG Petronas and Driver Lewis Hamilton
- FTX Moves Headquarters to Bahamas
- Texas Files Cease and Desist Against Celsius
- SEC Probing Uniswap and Crypto Lending Platforms
- US Treasury Sanctions Russia OTC Desk for Money Laundering
- Binance US Hires Former Ant and Uber China Exec as President
- Robinhood Begins Early Testing on Crypto Wallets
- Dutch Football Team PSV to Hold Bitcoin on Balance Sheet
October
- BTC CME Futures ETF “BITO” Launches, Reaches $1B AUKM in Two Days, Fastest ETF to Reach $1B Ever
- Pimco Announces It Is Investing in Crypto
- Facebook Changes Name to Meta
- FTX Raises $420,690,000 From 69 Investors at $25B Valuation
- Axie Infinity Developer Sky Mavis Raises $150M at $3B Valuation Led by A16Z
- “Crypto AWS” Company Alchemy Raises $250M at $3.5B Valuation Led by A16Z
- ConsenSys Plans Raise at $3B Valuation
- MoonPay Raises $400M at $3.4B Valuation from Tiger Global, Coatue
- Celsius Raises $400M at $3B Valuation from WestCap, CDPQ
- CoinList Announces $100M Series A at $1.5B Valuation
- Elliptic Raises $60M from Softbank, Wells Fargo
- Animoca Brands Raises $65M at $2.2B Valuation
- Publicly-traded Crypto Trading Platform Voyager Receives $75M Strategic Investment from Alameda Research
- NYDIG Acquires Bottlepay for $300M
- Venture Fund NFX Raises $450M Venture with Crypto Focus
- China-based Crypto VC Fund Sino Global Launches $200M Fund with Backing from FTX
- Variant Fund Raises $100M Early-Stage Venture Fund
- Arca Raises $30M Early-Stage Venture Fund
- CBOE Acquires ErisX
- Republican Leader Patrick McHenry Introduces the Clarity for Digital Tokens Act
- US Senator Lummis Buys More Bitcoin, Sees BTC as “Excellent Store of Value”’
- Houston Firefighter’s Pension Makes $25M Direct Investment in Bitcoin, Ether
- Binance Launches $1B Growth Fund for Binance Smartchain
- NEAR Protocol Launches $350M Grants DAO to Fund Ecosystem Growth
- DCG Authorizes Additional $750M Share Buyback
- Huobi Ceases Offering Services in China, Delists CNY Trading
- Binance Ceases Offering Services in China, Delists CNY Trading
- Mesh 5G WiFi Provider Helium Announces Partnership with Dish Network
- FTX.US Launches Collectibles Arm on Solana
- Bank of America Releases 141-page Research Report: “Digital Assets Primer: Only the First Inning”
- Stripe Creates New Crypto-Focused Team
- A16Z Launches Major Crypto Policy Campaign
- Tether and Bitfinex Settle with CFTC for $42.5M
- NYAG Orders Celsius and Nexo to Cease Services
- Facebook Chooses Coinbase as Custodian for Novi Project Pilot
- Coinbase Becomes Exclusive Crypto Partner of NBA
- Bloomberg Releases FUD Article “Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?”
- FATF Releases Relatively Benign Guidance on “Virtual Assets”
- Biden Administration Continues to “Weight Wide-Ranging Push for Crypto Oversight”
- DeFi Fund Manager MNGR Experiences Hack
November
- Paradigm Raises $2.5B Venture Fund
- Pantera Raises $600M Venture Fund
- Crypto.com Signs 20-Year $700M Deal to Rename Staples Center
- ConsenSys Raises on $3.2B Valuation
- Commonwealth Bank Leads $400M Fundraise in Gemini at +$7B Valuation
- Blockchain Gaming Company Forte Raises $725M Series B
- FTX, Lightspeed Ventures & Solana Ventures Partner on $100M Web3 Gaming Fund
- Reddit Co-Founder to Invest $100M in Social Media on Solana
- A16Z Leads $150M Fundraise for NFT Game Platform Mythical Games at $1.25B Valuation
- FTX Leads $150M Fundraise in African Payments Chipper Cash at $2B Valuation
- Kucoin Labs Launches $100M Metaverse/Play-to-Earn/Gaming Fund
- StarkWare Raises $50M at +$2B Valuation
- Hxro Raises $34M from SIG and Jump to Build Derivatives Infrastructure on Solana
- Pokemon GO Developer Niantic Raises $300M at $9B Valuation to Build Metaverse
- Alan Howard, Chris Dixon and Winklevoss Twins Back $100M Metaverse Fund
- Music Rights NFT Platform Royal Raises $55M Led by A16Z
- Neon Labs, Developer of EVM on Solana, Raises $40M
- Arca Launches $30M NFT Fund
- Bitcoin ETF Provider Valkyrie Launching $100M on On-chain DeFi Hedge Fund
- MicroStrategy Purchases 7,002 BTC for $414M at Average Price of $59,187
- Marathon Digital Raises $650M Convertible Debt at 1% Interest to Buy Bitcoin and Mining Equipment
- Bitcoin Activates Taproot Upgrade
- DCG Raises $600M Credit Facility
- Citigroup Alum Matt Zhang Launching $1.5B Crypto Fund
- Microsoft to Debut Metaverse Apps and Games Next Year
- Coinbase Users Can Borrow Up to $1M Using Coinbase as Collateral
- New York Mayor Will Take First Three Checks in Bitcoin
- FTX, Lightspeed Lead $21M Fundraise in Gaming Studio Faraway
- Paradigm Co-Founder Matt Huang Joins Board of Stripe
- Former Ikigai Researcher Phil Bonello to Launch Crypto Hedge Fund
- Brave Partners with Solana to Integrate Browser and Make Default for DApp Support
- Tim Cook Personally Owns Crypto But Apple Has No Plans to Accept Crypto Payments
- Decentralized Identity Platform Spruce Raises $7.5M from Electric
- UAE-Based Phoenix Technology Consultants Places Order for $650M of Mining Rigs
- ConstitutionDAO Raises +$40M to Buy Physical Copy of US Constitution, Gets Outbid by Ken Griffin, Refunds and Returns Part of the Money (Gas Not Included)
- El Salvador Plans Bitcoin City, Funded by Bitcoin Bonds
- Comprehensive Bipartisan Bill Is Introduced in House to Fix Current Infrastructure Bill’s Crypto Tax Provision
- Senate Banking Committee Sends Letters to Stablecoin Issuers Coinbase, Gemini, Circle, Paxos, TrustToken, Centre, and Binance US About General Business Practices and Safeguards
- US Treasury Releases Stablecoin Risk Report
- “NFT” Named Collins Dictionary’s Word of the Year
December
- Adidas Announces It Is Entering the Metaverse with Bored Ape Yacht Club Ethereum NFT in Partnership with Yuga Labs, collector Gmoney, and NFT project Punks Comic
- Purpose Investments Introduces Two ETFs on Toronto Stock Exchange, the Purpose Bitcoin Yield ETF and Purpose Ether Yield ETF
- Fidelity, American Financial Services Corporation, Launches Its First Spot Bitcoin ETF in Canada
- Crypto.com Enters Agreement with IG Group Holdings to Purchase North American Derivatives Exchange (Nadex) and the Small Exchange for $216M
- SEC’s Gensler Repeating Calls for Exchange Platforms to Register with SEC, Targeting Cryptos and DeFi Products Trying to Avoid Regulation
- Square, Payments Company, Changes Name to “Block” Referring to Blockchain Technology
- DeFi Project 1inch Network Raises $175M in Series B Funding from VanEck, Fenbushi Capital, Alameda Research, Celsius, Nexo Gemini Frontier Fund and others
- IOHK CEO Charles Hoskinson Touts Plutus Cardano Smart Contract Platform
- Nayib Bukele, President of El Salvador, Announces “Buying the Dip” Adding 150 BTC at Average Price of $48,670 to National Reserves
- CME Group Launches Cash-Settled Micro-Ether Futures Trading
- Exchanges Support Ethereum Network Upgrade and Glacier Hard Fork
- Ritholtz Wealth Management and WisdomTree Launch Crypto Index; 36% BTC, 20% ETH, and 4% Across 11 Other Cryptos
- Vitalik Buterin Publishes Plausible Roadmap Called “Endgame” for Ethereum
- Gemini Crypto Exchange Partners with Bancocolombia, Colombia’s Largest Bank
- Justice Department Utilizing Newly Established Task Force, the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, Focusing on Crimes Committed by Virtual Currency Exchanges, Mixing and Tumbling Services, and Money Laundering Infrastructure Actors
- Bitcoin Hash Rate Makes New All-Time Highs, Full Recovering from China Ban
- Visa Launches Visa’s Global Crypto Advisory Practice to Help Clients and Partners Navigate the Crypto Space
- Google Trends Releases Top 2021 Search Terms, “Dogecoin” and “Ethereum Price” Rank Fourth and Tenth Respectively
- WhatsApp Integrates Novi’s Digital Wallet as Part of Pilot Test in Pax Dollar
- MicroStrategy Acquires Additional 1,434 BTC at an Average Price of $57,477, Holding 122,478 Total BTC Acquired for $3.66B at an Average Price of $29,861
- Budweiser and Pepsi Start Minting NFTs on Ethereum
- Opera Browser Announces Integration with Solana in 1st Half of 2022
- Miami Mayor to Receive Part of 401k in Bitcoin
- Bitcoin Exchange Balance Hits 3-Year Low as 90% of the Total Maximum Amount of Mined Bitcoin in Circulation
- Robinhood Partners with Chainalysis, Blockchain AML/KYC Analytics Firm Ahead of Crypto Wallet Launch
- Nike Acquires NFT Studio RTFKT, Specializing in Creating Collectibles and Sneakers for the Metaverse
- Elon Musk Tweets Tesla Making Merchandise Buyable with Dogecoin to “See How It Goes”
- Mubadala Investment Company, UAE Sovereign Wealth Fund, to Invest in Crypto Ecosystem
- BBVA Switzerland Becomes First Traditional Bank in Europe to Add Ethereum to Crypto Offerings
- Twitch Co-Founder Justin Kan Announces Launch of Fractal, Marketplace for Gaming NFTs Based on Solana
- Total Supply of Stablecoins on Exchanges at All-Time High at $21.5B
- Robinhood Acquires Cove Markets Cross-Exchange Trading Platform, Team Will Focus on Obtaining Quality Executions for Customers in Crypto Market
- Anchorage Digital Raises $350M in Funding Round D with Participation from Goldman Sachs, Andreessen Horowitz, Apollo Credit Funds, KKR, Wellington Management and others
- NYDIG Raises $1B Equity Funding Round to Develop Institutional Bitcoin Products, Valuing it at +$7B with Participation from Bessemer, FinTech Collective, Affirm, FIS, Fiserv, Mass Mutual, Morgan Stanley and NY Life
- Dune Analytics, Norwegian Analytics Startup, Raising Funds at a $1B Valuation
- Nansen, On-chain Analytics Firm, Raises $75M in Round Valuing It at $750M Led by Accel with Participation from A16Z, Accel, GIC, SCB10X, Tiger Global and others
- Paradigm, Derivatives Platform (not the fund), Raises $35M in Series A Funding from Jump Capital, Alameda, Genesis Trading and others
- Stacked, Company Building Passive Investment Tools for Crypto Traders, Raises $35M from Alameda Research, Fidelity International, DRW, Jump Capital and others
- Gala Games, Blockchain-Gaming Platform, and Crypto Investment Firm C2 Ventures Form $100M Fund to Invest in Play-to-Earn Games, Metaverse Environments and Other Projects
- Thirdweb, Blockchain App Development Platform, Raises $5M from Gary V, Ryan Hoover and others
- A16Z Investing in PleasrDAO, Decentralized Group of NFT Collectors and Digital Artists
- Michael Jordan and Son (Jeffrey) Reveal HEIR, Web3 Fan Engagement Platform on Solana, Raising $10M in Seed Funding Round Led by Thrive Capital with Particpation from Solana Ventures, Alexis Ohanian and others
- Ramp, Crypto Payments Infrastructure Company, Raises $52.7M in Series A Funding Round from Balderton Captial, NFX, Galaxy Digital, Seedcamp and others
- Bitwise Launches Blue-Chip NFT Fund Tracking the Top 10 NFT Projects
- Ledn, Crypto Lending Company, Raises $70M from 10T Holdings, Golden Tree Asset Management, Raptor Global and others
- Robinhood Rolling Out New Crypto Gifting Feature
- Solana Ventures Announces $150M Fund to Back Blockchain Gaming Companies
- Sounds.xyz, NFT Music Startup, Raises $5M from CoinFund and Gumi Crypto
- Ray Dalio Says Bitcoin Is Almost an Alternative to Gold for Younger Generation, Blockchain Revolution Is Inevitable, and He Views Crypto as an Alternative Money in an Environment Where the Value of Cash Money is Depreciating in Real Terms
- Russian Central Bank Wants to Ban Crypto Investments in Russia
- Mastercard Engineers Assist ConsenSys to Launch Rollups to Provide Enterprise-Grade Scalability to Organizations
- Melania Trump Presents First NFT Based on Solana Protocol
- Instagram CEO, Adam Mosser, Says Company Is Actively Exploring NFTs
- Adidas Launches “Into the Metaverse” NFT in Collaboration with Bored Ape Yacht Club on Ethereum Blockchain, Raises $23.4M in One Day After Its Debut
- Microsoft Executive, Yorke Rhodes, Sees Ethereum Being the New App Store in Decentralized Future
- FBI Confiscates $180M in BTC Tied to Sony Life Embezzlement Case, Funds Were Tracked Down and Seized before Transferring Funds to FBI-San Diego’s Bitcoin Wallet
- El Salvador Buys Another 21 BTC for Roughly $1M on December 21st at 21:00
- Crypto Exchange, Kraken, Acquires Staking Platform Staked in “One of the Largest Deals in the History of Crypto” without Disclosing Financial Details
Zoom out, look back, and think about where this market is heading.
Bitcoin is becoming hard money as well as pristine collateral, and Ethereum is programmable money and the base layer of decentralized applications. Crypto assets enable the creator economy with strong ownership and property rights. The potential in NFTs and multiverse seem boundless with opportunities for artists, brands, and creatives.
There may be fear in the traditional financial system, and it can leak into the crypto asset markets. Luckily, they are more anti-fragile and efficient than traditional assets with asymmetrical as well as uncorrelated return profiles. Given their public and transparent infrastructure with global availability over the Internet, people are beginning to place more trust in bitcoin as well as crypto assets than ever as they recognize the enhancements that they bring them by eliminating middlemen while lowering costs.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
systemic bliss® 