You're Still Not Bullish?
Headlines from this year in bitcoin, crypto assets, and decentralized finance...
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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!