Monday, March 4, 2019

Is Circle looking to double its fundraising?

March 4, 2019

Circle Could Be Looking for an Additional $250 Million in Funding

After already raising $246 million in previous rounds, crypto startup Circle could be looking to double up with an additional $250 million.

At least that's what a new report from technology news website The Information says.

If true, the new funding would allegedly come in the form of both equity and debt and would be the sixth round of financing for the 5-year old unicorn.

The funding battleground

Circle's alleged funding round would make it the second-most funded crypto exchange in the United States.

According to Crunchbase, the top three most-funded U.S. exchanges rank:

Coinbase $546.6 million
Circle $246 million
Kraken $111.5 million

Additionally, Robinhood, a company originally known for stock trading that also offers crypto services, has raised $539 million itself.

Volumes down

But the new funding for Circle isn't coming at the most ideal time for the exchange.

Across the board, trading volumes have dropped due to falling prices as investors shelter during the crypto winter.

The trend has driven revenues down and left less money for operations. Now, to fuel the desired growth, external capital seems to be the next-best option.

REVIEW

Crypto-Friendly Banks are Cashing-In While Traditional Banks Stand By

According to a new Bloomberg article, crypto-friendly banks are catering to the underserved market and outpacing traditional banks that still shun the industry.

One of them, Silvergate Bank, revealed in November that crypto businesses have as much as $40 billion to deposit.

But despite the broad opportunity to gain customers from a growing industry, majority of banks are choosing to stay away because of compliance headaches.

Jumping through hoops

With no other options, crypto companies are often left to get creative to perform seemingly simple tasks like paying employees or storing capital.

In January, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell tweeted that he "basically had to employ the arts of a money launderer to survive" after JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America Corp. closed the startup's payroll accounts.

In extreme cases, some companies are staying out of the banking system entirely, opting instead to only transact in cryptocurrencies.

While it's a massive pain point, it likely won't change until the industry meets further regulation and maturity - a problem that is also hindering the growth of the cannabis industry.

WARNING

CAUTION: Do Not Send Monero Using a Ledger Wallet

On Monday, the Ledger developers team warned users on Monero's subreddit after one Nano S user lost around $80,000 of Monero to a possible software bug.

Allegedly, reddit user MoneroDontCheeseMe sent three transactions of differing amounts to his Ledger, but after some time, a chunk of his transactions never arrived.

According to Ledger's CTO Nicolas Bacca, it's not lost, it's just a synchronization issue.

Problems with 1.1.3

Just over two hours after the issue came to light, Ledger developers officially warned users that the problem persists after using the latest version of Monero's client with application 1.1.3.

For now, anyone looking to transfer Monero off or on to their Ledger wallet should hold until the issue at hand is resolved.

For now, it's unclear whether or not the team will compensate the user if the funds are lost entirely.

BITS

But wait, there's more...

🚂 Russian Railways is looking into using blockchain to track passengers that qualify for discounted transport.
🚀 A new exchange called LGO has launched and lets institutions custody their own crypto.
🔍 New research reveals QuadrigaCX held Ethereum on other well known exchanges like Bitfinex and Kraken.

MEME