Capital Raises
Jake Paul’s New Sports-Betting Business Raises $50 Million
- Jake Paul, the social-media star turned professional boxer, is raising funds for a new sports-gambling and media venture focused on micro-betting as the industry opens up in more states across the US
- Micro-betting is a growing slice of the gambling market, allowing users to place bets on individual moments throughout games in real-time
- Paul said sports-betting companies have relied upon young celebrities to push their products for years in an effort to attract more Gen Z gamblers, so the 25-year-old decided to try his own luck
Injective Raises $40M to Accelerate Growth
- Injective, a blockchain built for finance, announced a new $40 million funding round led by Jump Crypto
- Injective is the first fully decentralized smart contracts platform optimized for building decentralized finance applications such as exchanges, derivatives, prediction markets, and options
- The new capital will allow Injective to increase utility for the native INJ token, provide liquidity to existing dApps built on Injective, and support new dApps on Injective via investments
- Messari Plans to Raise $35M at $300M Valuation
- New York City-based crypto intelligence platform Messari plans to raise $35 million in financing at a $300 million valuation, according to a report by The Block, citing people familiar with the matter
- Messari raised $21 million in an August 2021 round led by hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen’s Point72 Ventures
- “We’ve scaled to 130 people on zero net-operating burn, had a record July, and are hiring $35 million worth of developers to help bring transparency and an institutional-grade data tool to the crypto market,” said CEO Ryan Selkis
Regulation News
UN trade body calls for halting cryptocurrency rise in developing countries
- The UN trade and development body, UNCTAD, has called for action to curb cryptocurrencies in developing nations, in three policy briefs published on Wednesday
- Although private digital currencies have rewarded some individuals and institutions, they are an unstable financial asset that can bring social risks and costs, the agency warned
- UNCTAD said their benefits to some are overshadowed by the threats they pose to financial stability, domestic resource mobilization, and the security of monetary systems
Crypto criminals laundered $540 million by using a service called RenBridge
- RenBridge has been used to launder at least $540 million in crime-related crypto cash since 2020, according to new research from blockchain analytics firm Elliptic
- Cross-chain bridges are used to send digital assets across blockchains, bypassing a centralized service that can trace transactions
- “They’re effectively ungoverned, and so very vulnerable to hacks, or to being used in crimes like money laundering,” said David Carlisle, Elliptic’s vice president of policy and regulatory affairs
SEC, CFTC Weigh New Hedge Fund Crypto Reporting Rules
- Federal regulators are set to issue a proposal that would — among other things — require large hedge funds to reveal their cryptocurrency exposure
- According to a statement from SEC Chair Gary Gensler, the amendments would expand reporting requirements for large hedge funds — those with at least $500 million in net asset value
- The SEC’s proposal comes as the commission and the CFTC are battling for control of crypto oversight, as PYMNTS reported last week following the announcement of a new bill that would give the CFTC regulatory powers over the two largest cryptocurrencies, bitcoin and ether
- Thailand is reportedly preparing to amend its law on digital assets to tighten the oversight of the crypto sector and empower the Thai central bank to oversee the sector
- “Right now, the central bank has no room to enter into the regulatory framework except for notifying that cryptos are not a legal means of payment for goods and services,” said the Thai finance minister
- The decision to overhaul crypto regulations followed the halting of withdrawals by Zipmex (Thailand) Ltd., a licensed cryptocurrency and digital token exchange in the country
Uzbekistan Moves to Block Foreign Cryptocurrency Exchanges
- Uzbekistan’s National Agency of Perspective Projects (NAPP) has registered a spike in activities of online platforms providing crypto-related services to Uzbekistanis without the necessary license
- Authorities in Uzbekistan are restricting access to online crypto trading platforms based outside the country and not registered under its laws
A presidential decree obliges citizens and local companies to only use digital asset exchanges licensed by the government of the Central Asian nation
Brazilian Congress Fails to Vote on Cryptocurrency Bill
- The Brazilian Congress, which had slated for this week the discussion and a possible vote of a proposed cryptocurrency bill, sidelined it to deal with other legislative issues
- While the proposed public policy was indeed on the agenda, the deputy chamber focused on discussing bills that tend to other issues, including health and digital education problems
- The digital currency bill is scheduled to be discussed again in September
