Solv Protocol Raises $25M in Total Funding to Drive Bitcoin Staking Adoption, Potentially Unlocking $330B in Value

October 15, 2024 Bitcoin.com

Crypto Biz: Bidding war for SVB Capital, new crypto funds and Citi’s private blockchain

September 22, 2023 Coin Telegraph

This week’s Crypto Biz explores SVB Capital bids, new funds from Blockchain Capital, the Hut 8-US Bitcoin merger and Citigroup’s private blockchain.

The venture capital industry appears to be gearing up for portfolio rebalancing in 2024, with investors positioning themselves to increase exposure to digital assets in the next bull market. Blockchain Capital, for instance, closed two new funds this week, with $580 million in capital to be deployed in crypto gaming and decentralized finance projects.

Likewise, SkyBridge Capital, Atlas Merchant Capital and Vector Capital are among the final bidders to acquire SVB Capital, the venture arm of the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank. SVB Capital is reportedly a backer of other major venture capital firms in the crypto space, including Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin-based investment products from mainstream financial giants are becoming more popular. Japan’s largest investment bank, Nomura, launched through its subsidiary, Laser Digital, a new Bitcoin (BTC) fund for institutional investors looking to cater to the demand for Bitcoin exposure.

A growing number of newcomers are also attracting funds. Web3 startup Bastion disclosed $25 million in a seed round to bridge Web3 infrastructure into enterprise technology. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, Laser Digital Ventures (Nomura’s crypto venture arm), Robot Ventures, Aptos Ventures and Alchemy Ventures.

This week’s Crypto Biz explores SVB Capital bids, new funds from Blockchain Capital, the Hut 8-US Bitcoin merger and Citigroup’s private blockchain.

Scaramucci leads bidding for Silicon Valley Bank VC arm: Report

SVB Financial Group, the former parent company of Silicon Valley Bank, is getting closer to a deal that will see the institution sell its venture capital arm, SVB Capital. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Anthony Scaramucci’s SkyBridge Capital and Atlas Merchant Capital are jostling with the San Francisco firm Vector Capital in the final stages of the bidding process. Sources claimed that SVB’s venture capital arm could be sold off for between $250 million and $500 million but warned that a final sale is not guaranteed and would still require the review of the creditor’s committee. SVB Capital conducts a wide range of investments, including backing other major venture capital firms, such as Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz. The company is not part of SVB’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, and a decision on the sale is expected in the coming weeks.

*SVB Capital holdings overview as of December 2022. Source: SVB Capital*

Hut 8 receives green light from Canadian Supreme Court for US Bitcoin merger

Canadian Bitcoin mining firm Hut 8 is set to wrap up its planned merger with US Bitcoin following final approval from the Supreme Court of British Columbia. Hut 8 and US Bitcoin announced the move in February 2023, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. The merger will see the two companies form Hut 8 Corporation, or “New Hut,” which will become a publicly traded United States-based business. An initial announcement from Hut 8 highlighted that the merger would open up 825 megawatts of capacity across six different Bitcoin mining and data center facilities. New Hut also plans to list its shares on the Nasdaq and Toronto stock exchanges, trading under the ticker HUT.

Blockchain Capital closes funds totaling $580 million for investments in crypto gaming, DeFi

Venture capital group Blockchain Capital announced the closing of two new funds, totaling $580 million, for investment in infrastructure, gaming, decentralized finance (DeFi), and consumer and social technologies. The funds will operate as Blockchain Capital’s sixth early-stage fund and its first “opportunity fund,” which will serve as an entry point for companies that have already attracted funding. The funds will be split, with $380 million reportedly going to the early-stage fund and $200 million earmarked for the opportunity fund. The company did not specify which projects will be prioritized by the investment fund; however, a spokesperson noted that it has no plans to invest in artificial intelligence-related projects or act as a hedge fund.

We're thrilled to share the closing of 2 new funds – our 6th early stage fund and 1st opportunity fund.

Together, they total $580 million and serve to reinforce our commitment to leading the global transition to decentralized, blockchain-based systems. ↓https://t.co/Vr2uYnGlF7
— Blockchain Capital (@blockchaincap) September 18, 2023

Citi Token Services will provide payments, liquidity to institutional customers

Institutional clients can now access cross-border payments, liquidity and automated trade finance solutions through Citi Token Services, a private blockchain by Citigroup. According to the financial giant, its Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions is licensed in over 90 countries and has completed two pilot programs. It worked with Danish shipping company Maersk and an unnamed canal authority on a program that made instant payments to service providers via smart contracts, reducing transaction processing times from days to minutes. The service replaces bank guarantees and letters of credit, the statement said. A second pilot enabled clients to transfer liquidity between Citi branches, allegedly reducing “frictions related to cut off times and gaps in the service window.” Citi was among the large financial institutions that participated in a proof-of-concept headed by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York that concluded in July.

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Blockchain Capital closes funds totaling $580M for investments in crypto gaming, DeFi

September 18, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Blockchain Capital

The funds include $380 million for early stage investments and a $200 million "opportunity fund."

Venture capital group Blockchain Capital announced the closing of two new funds, totaling $580 million, for investment in infrastructure, gaming, DeFi, and consumer and social technologies.

The funds will operate as Blockchain Capital’s sixth early stage fund and its first “opportunity fund,” with the latter serving as an inroad to companies who’ve already secured major funding elsewhere.

We're thrilled to share the closing of 2 new funds – our 6th early stage fund and 1st opportunity fund.

Together, they total $580 million and serve to reinforce our commitment to leading the global transition to decentralized, blockchain-based systems. ↓https://t.co/Vr2uYnGlF7
— Blockchain Capital (@blockchaincap) September 18, 2023

According to a press release from Blockchain Capital:

“The end game is to elevate personal empowerment by granting individuals control over their digital and financial lives through innovative blockchain-enabled applications and services. It’s this vision of a democratized and distributed future that guides our passion and investment decisions.”

The funds’ combined $580 million will be split, with $380 million reportedly going to the early stage fund and the rest earmarked for the opportunity fund. It’s unclear at this time exactly what types of projects the investment fund will prioritize.

According to the press release, the company will continue its trend of investing in infrastructure, DeFi, gaming, and other finance, blockchain and cryptocurrency opportunities.

However, the press release also mentions that Blockchain Capital’s strategy “isn’t about sectors; it’s about harnessing blockchain technology to realign incentives, reestablish user trust and reengineer the social contract of our increasingly digital world.”

“Indeed, the crypto market’s volatility these past 20 months revealed the hazards of short-term thinking, exposing many who misjudged this nascent technology,” writes Blockchain Capital in the release, adding later that “over the past 20 months we’ve invested more capital into the next generation of innovators than any other time in our history.”

The latest funds closed are among the largest in cryptocurrency or blockchain history and the most ever accrued by Blockchain Capital. However, this shouldn’t be interpreted as a signal that the firm intends to continually increase fund sizes.

Speaking to TechCrunch, one of the firm’s partners, Spencer Bogart, said that the firm had “no intent to expand and become an AI fund or hedge fund and trade tokens,” adding that he didn’t see future funds “becoming much larger than what you see here.”

Blockchain Capital’s X account hacked to promote token claim scam

August 9, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Blockchain Capital

The account made multiple posts promising a token giveaway and ushered users to a copycat website to connect their crypto wallet.

The X (Twitter) account of crypto-focused venture capital firm Blockchain Capital was seemingly taken over by scammers attempting to lure users with the promise of a token claim.

On Aug. 9, Blockchain Capital's account made multiple posts promising a giveaway of "BCAP" tokens and directed users to a copycat website that emulated the appearance of the VC firm's original.

Blockchain Capital later regained control of the account and deleted the posts.

*Scammers posting a link to a fake Blockchain Capital website under the guise of a token claim. Source: X*

The copycat website — which included an additional "n" in the URL to closely mimic the original — directs users to connect their crypto wallet, a common tactic used by phishing scammers in order to trick users into signing a malicious transaction that drains funds.

The scammers tactically turned off commenting on the posts in an attempt to prevent others from warning of the possible scam. Multiple X users shared the posts warning of the scam attempt.

*Tierion founder Wayne Vaughan was one of many to warn of the scam attempt. Source: X*

Blockchain Capital's hijacked account comes days after the FBI warned of criminal actors taking over the social media accounts of well-known figures in the crypto space in order to funnel users to malicious spoof sites.

A flood of scam posts also recently appeared on pro-XRP lawyer Jeremy Hogan’s hacked X account — where malicious links to a purported XRP (XRP) giveaway were posted for around four days.

In late July, Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao warned his 8.5 million X followers of the increasing number of phishing attacks following the hack of Uniswap founder Hayden Adams X account.

Zhao advised against using text message-based two-factor authentication and recommended the use of hardware devices instead.

Magazine: How smart people invest in dumb memecoins — 3-point plan for success

Pantera Capital’s CEO suggests blockchain growth will continue despite economic turmoil

September 23, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Blockchain Capital

The venture capitalist predicted blockchain would perform based on its own fundamentals, similar to Amazon and Apple.

The economic landscape may seem dire at the moment, but it's unlikely to affect blockchain development, according to Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead. In an interview for Real Vision on Thursday, the venture capitalist said that he believes blockchain technology will perform based on its own fundamentals, regardless of the conditions indicated by traditional risk metrics:

"Like any disruptive thing, like Apple or Amazon stock, there are short periods of time where it's correlated with the S&P 500 or whatever risk metric you want to use. But over the last 20 years, it's done its own thing. And that's what I think will happen with blockchain over the next ten years or whatever, it's going to do its own thing based on its own fundamentals."

During the first half of this year, Pantera Capital raised about $1.3 billion in capital for its blockchain fund, with a special emphasis on scalability, DeFi and gaming projects. "We've been very focused on DeFi the last few years, it's building a parallel financial system. Gaming is coming online now and we have a couple hundred million people using blockchain. There's a lot of really cool gaming projects, and there still are a lot of opportunities in the scalability sector," he added.

Long-term optimism contrasts with the actual drop in venture capital in the industry, however. August saw the fourth consecutive month-on-month decline in capital to $1.36 billion, according to Cointelegraph Research data. The inflows represent a 31.3% drop from July’s $1.98 billion, with 101 deals closed in August, on an average capital investment of $14.3 million — a 10.1% decline from July.

The crypto winter was expected to spur consolidation in the sector, but recent numbers from Crunchbase revealed that only four deals with VC-backed crypto companies were concluded in the United States this quarter — a setback from the 16 transactions from the first quarter of the year.

Sandeep Nailwal, the managing partner at Symbolic Capital, explained that the bear market has pushed away even big players in the industry:

"Everyone was expecting M&A to take off in crypto as we headed into this bear market, but we haven't seen that happen yet. I think the main reason for this is that the downturn hit the industry so fast and so intensely that even large companies poised as aggressive acquirers were so shell-shocked by the crash that they had to make sure their own balance sheets were in order before looking elsewhere for growth."

The crypto exchange FTX does not seem to be affected by this problem. The company has reportedly engaged in talks with investors to raise $1 billion in new funding to finance additional acquisitions during the bear market. "We have been seeing valuations come way down from pre-summer highs and you have to think there are a lot of acquirers out there, especially in the CeFi space, looking at these low valuations and thinking to themselves that everything is on sale right now. FTX certainly felt that and they were extremely prudent in how they took advantage of these market conditions to fuel their growth," said Nailwal.

FTX's investment arm announced earlier this month that it had acquired a 30% stake in asset management firm SkyBridge Capital for an undisclosed amount, and the Canadian crypto platform Bitvo was purchased by FTX in June.

In the opposite direction, e-commerce company Bolt halted plans to acquire Wyre, a crypto and payment infrastructure company, after announcing a $1.5 billion deal in April. Weeks before, the cryptocurrency investment firm Galaxy Digital decided to drop the acquisition of the digital asset custodian BitGo, citing a breach of contract.

BitGo filed a lawsuit against the crypto investment firm for terminating the acquisition, seeking more than $100 million in damages, and accusing Galaxy of “improper repudiation” and “intentional breach” of its acquisition agreement.

Visa, Paypal Invest in Crypto-Focused Blockchain Capital’s New $300 Million Fund

June 23, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Blockchain Capital secures $300M funding from PayPal, Visa

June 22, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Blockchain Capital

Blockchain Capital has attracted investment from PayPal, Visa, and other investors to the tune of $300 million for its Fund V LP.

PayPal and Visa are among several major investors to have participated in a $300 million funding for Blockchain Capital.

In a release issued on Tuesday, Blockchain Capital announced that the close of its Blockchain Capital V LP.

According to the release, Fund V, capped at $300 million was oversubscribed with numerous investors including college endowments, family offices, and pension funds participating in the capital raise.

As part of the announcement, Blockchain Capital stated that PayPal, Visa, and some other Fund V investors will take part in the firm’s strategic partnership program.

Blockchain Capital is one of the oldest blockchain-focused funds in the industry and currently backs major projects including crypto exchanges like Kraken and Coinbase as well decentralized finance protocols like UMA, Nexus, and Aave.

The firm also has footprints in the nonfungible token space with NFT marketplace OpenSea a part of its portfolio.

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Blockchain Capital together with Morgan Stanley Tactical Value led a $48 million Series B funding round for asset tokenization platform Securitize. Back in May, the firm also led a $24.25 million capital raise for DeFi protocol Balancer.

Blockchain Capital is a major presence in the blockchain venture capital scene that has seen $16 billion in equity investments between 2012 and 2020.

Commenting on the success of Fund V and the pedigree of investors involved in the capital raise, the press release quoted Blockchain Capital co-founder and managing partner Bart Stephens as saying:

“We are incredibly honored to welcome a world class group of investors into Fund V who appreciate the value of a firm dedicated to a single industry. As founders ourselves, we know how hard it is to build companies, protocols and, indeed, a whole new industry.”

For Jose Fernandez da Ponte, PayPal’s vice president, the company’s support of Blockchain Capital is part of its efforts to engage with entrepreneurs at the cutting edge of the emerging decentralized economy.

Blockchain Capital

Scaramucci leads bidding for Silicon Valley Bank VC arm: Report

Hut 8 receives green light from Canadian Supreme Court for US Bitcoin merger

Blockchain Capital closes funds totaling $580 million for investments in crypto gaming, DeFi

Citi Token Services will provide payments, liquidity to institutional customers

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