Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Futures firm...check ✅

February 5, 2019

Kraken's New War Chest Allows for 'Nine-Figure' Deal to Acquire Futures Firm

Earlier this month, the San Francisco-based Kraken exchange announced it was securing $100 million in new funding to catapult its business.

Traditionally, startups would turn to venture capitalists to raise this money, however, Kraken went a different route.

Instead, the exchange asked its larger customers to participate in the investment round.

Avoid registering the round with the Securities and Exchange Commission
Receive funding from loyal customers who care about exchange development
Raise the necessary money needed for upcoming acquisitions

Futures firm...check

And they wasted no time. Before the funding round has closed, Kraken already acquired futures firm Crypto Facilities.

The announcement came yesterday and revealed a whopping "nine-figure" deal that will "massively accelerate" Kraken's roadmap.

That's because Crypto Facilities is already registered in Europe with financial regulators and provides an easy way to bypass stringent regulations.

More to come

Crypto Facilities will be the first acquisition in 2019 but it might not be the last.

With a few more deals allegedly already being negotiated, Kraken could regain some ground in the crypto exchange race.

REPORT

Facebook May Have Made its First Blockchain Acquisition

According to Cheddar, Facebook has acquired blockchain startup Chainspace in a move to claim the companies talent.

The move, called an 'acquihire' - meaning the focus was on personnel rather than the product, ended with onboarding at least 4 of the 5 researchers who worked on Chainspace's academic whitepaper.

The startup itself was focused on building scalable blockchain technology.

Stealth mode but hiring

The acquisition could prove important for Facebook.

While it's unknown what exactly the social media giant is building, we now know they have hired a team of blockchain developers and also taken an interest in scalability - something Facebook would certainly need to reach its 2.2 billion users.

The team is growing too. A quick look at Facebook's LinkedIn page reveals 3 new blockchain job postings within the last 4 days. :

REVIEW

Forbes' Fintech 50 List Finds Half as Many Blockchain Startups as 2018

Forbes released its fourth edition of the Fintech 50 list that aims to honor companies pushing the boundaries of finance and technology.

But this time around, blockchain got the kick.

In the opening paragraph, Forbes wrote "crypto prices and ICOs collapsed, overall investment in fintech surged in 2018."

Six made the list

After having a wonderful 2017, Forbes included 11 blockchain-related startups. That number has dwindled to six this year after the steep crash in prices.

Here are the six you need to know:

BitFury - Mining
Circle - Exchange
Coinbase - Exchange
Gemini - Exchange
Ripple - Bank Transfers and XRP
Axoni - Smart Contracts

BITS

But wait, there's more...

🚨 New report claims Mt. Gox sold $312 million via BitPoint exchange.
📈 BitTorent Token is already six times its ICO price.
👨🏻‍💻 Ex-Tether executive Phil Potter has joined a venture launching a stablecoin clearinghouse.

MEME