Visa and Mastercard halt new blockchain partnerships. Goldman Sachs open to crypto hires
We had a blast at European Blockchain Convention 2023. Over 2.500 people attended our biggest edition so far. Thank you to everyone that made #EBC23 a huge success!
We resume “The Week in Crypto” newsletter, after a few weeks of working crazy busy on EBC23 :)
WhiteBIT served as a diamond partner for the European Blockchain Convention in 2023. It is the largest European cryptocurrency exchange, founded in 2018. The company has more than 700+ specialists. Over 350 pairs, 270+ assets, and 11 state currencies are on the exchange. The highest daily average trading volume exceeds $2.5 billion.
WhiteBIT is an ecosystem consisting of cutting-edge services which meet the needs of its clients and remain at the forefront of the rapidly evolving world of cryptocurrencies, The company also offers a wide range of crypto services to over 500 institutional clients worldwide and maintains 10 offices across 3 continents.
Recap of the Week
Over 400 Bitcoin ATM machines went off the grid in under 60 days
Polygon has launched a zero-knowledge decentralized identity solution
NFT whale, Jeffrey Hwang, sells 1,010 NFTs in 48 hours
Goldman Sachs still open to crypto hires despite massive 3,200 staff cut
France in favor of legislating stricter licensing rules for new crypto firms
Silvergate Bank could end business
The Reserve Bank of Australia to launch a CBDC pilot
FTX ex-director Nishad Singh pleads guilty to fraud charges
OKX seizes 2M USDT linked to market manipulation
The Sandbox has been hit by a security breach
Visa and Mastercard halt new blockchain partnerships until market conditions improve & a clearer regulatory framework is established
Coinbase announces suspension of BUSD trading beginning March 13
Bank of Canada explores types of offline CBDC
US Bancorp invests in Ownera, a digital asset startup backed by JP Morgan
Latest Funding Rounds in Crypto
Mangrove DAO raises $7.4M in Series A · Founded in 2021 · France
Mangrove DAO is an order book-based decentralized exchange that allows digital asset traders to execute smart offers of liquidity pre-emptively, underpinned by digital contracts.
The funds will be used to revolutionize decentralized finance with its "Offer-is-Code" approach and to actively pursue research leads and enhancements to its product.
Round led by Cumberland, Greenfield Capital, CMT & gumi Cryptos Capital
BCB Group raises $20M in Series B · Founded in 2017 · UK
BCB Group is a crypto-dedicated payment services provider serving many of the industry’s clients. It offers payment services in over 30 currencies.
Valuation at $180M.
LAUNCHub Ventures and Pantera Capital are the most recent investors to BCB’s funding rounds.
Beosin raises $20M in Series Unknown · Founded in 2018 · Singapore
Beosin is a blockchain security brand of LianAn Technology.
According to the Web3 Security Annual Report released by Beosin, 48.5% of the 167 attacks that occurred in 2022 were not audited.
The funds will be used to upgrade their smart contract security audit services with a combination of automated code security scanning tools and manual audits.
Salsa raises $2M in Seed Round · Founded in 2022 · UK
Salsa is a mobile app for brands looking for a crypto-native way to engage with their audiences. Web3 users can make connections by using social proof of on-chain data to add context to wallet-native messages.
The company intends to use the funds to expand its app to brands that already use NFTs and find a crypto-native way to reach their audience.
Round led by IDEO CoLab VC and Inflection.
Acquisitions
Netcetera AG acquires Kamino - Terms were undisclosed
Netcetera AG, based in Switzerland, is a provider of digitization and software development services to the financial, media, transportation, healthcare, and insurance industries.
Kamino, based in Slovenia, is a team of Fintech and Identity specialists working on the next generation of Web 3.0 Mobile Applications.
This acquisition will boost Netcetera’s product development with Kamino bringing expertise in self-sovereign identity, as well as banking and payments.