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November 14, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Blockchain.com

Despite new investment in the crypto exchange, Blockchain.com’s valuation has more than halved from its $14 billion peak.

Crypto exchange and wallet provider Blockchain.com closed a $110 million Series E financing round, an investment that more than halves its previous 2022 valuation of $14 billion.

In a Nov. 14 blog post, Blockchain.com said the closing of its Series E round was led by the United Kingdom-based venture capital firm Kingsway Capital. It also saw participation from Baillie Gifford, Lakestar and Coinbase Ventures, among others.

A Nov. 14 Bloomberg report citing sources familiar with the matter said the $110 million round places Blockchain.com at less than half of its $14 billion valuation from March 2022.

On March 30, 2022, Blockchain.com closed a funding round that saw its valuation spike from $5.2 billion to $14 billion, less than two months before the collapse of Do Kwon’s Terra ecosystem triggered a liquidity cascade that bankrupted hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) and a slew of high profile crypto lenders.

Blockchain.com’s March 2022 funding round was led by global venture capital firm Lightspeed Ventures and Baillie Gifford & Co. — an investment management firm renowned for its early involvement in growth stocks such as Tesla.

While the new investment saw the firm’s valuation dip, the funding activity hints at a newfound investment appetite for crypto firms, buoyed by a continued uptick in digital asset prices more broadly.

The broader market enthusiasm for crypto assets is tied to multiple pending applications for spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) products from financial firms such as BlackRock and Fidelity.

Bitcoin (BTC) is currently up 116% in the last year, while other major cryptocurrencies such as Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL) are respectively up 61% and 300% over the last 12 months.

Founded in 2011, Blockchain.com has 37 million verified users with 82 million wallets and over $1 trillion in total transaction value across its platform.

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Fake Ledger Live app sneaks into Microsoft’s app store, $588K stolen

November 5, 2023 Coin Telegraph

<div>Fake Ledger Live app sneaks into Microsoft's app store, 8K stolen</div>

application

The $588,000 was stolen across 38 transactions, with the largest transfer totaling $81,200.

Almost $600,000 in Bitcoin (BTC) has been stolen from users who downloaded a fake Ledger Live application on Microsoft’s app store, according to cryptocurrency sleuth ZachXBT.

The on-chain analyst spotted the scam, “Ledger Live Web3” on Nov. 5, which is tricking users into thinking that they’re downloading “Ledger Live” — a user interface for Ledger hardware wallets to store cryptocurrency offline.

Approximately 16.8 BTC worth $588,000 has been received by the scammer across 38 transactions using wallet address, “bc1q….y64q,” according to Blockchain.com. About $115,200 has left the scammer’s wallet across two transactions, leaving it with $473,800 or 13.5 BTC.

Community Alert: There is currently a fake @Ledger Live app on the official @Microsoft App Store which was resulted in 16.8+ BTC ($588K) stolen

Scammer address
bc1qg05gw43elzqxqnll8vs8x47ukkhudwyncxy64q pic.twitter.com/rOZ0ZWRWbn
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) November 5, 2023

In a follow up post, ZachXBT noted that Microsoft may have removed the fake Ledger Live app from its platform.

The first transaction sent to the scammer’s wallet address took place on Oct. 24, worth $5,210. Prior to that, the wallet hadn’t been used. Most of these transactions have taken place since Nov. 2, with the largest transfer totaling $81,200 on Nov. 4.

A search by Cointelegraph found the fake “Ledger Live Web3” application appeared in Microsoft’s app store as early as Oct. 19.

*The fake “Ledger Live Web3” app on Microsoft Apps. Source: Microsoft*

ZachXBT said they have received two messages from victims on Nov. 4 and even argued that Microsoft “should be held liable” for allowing the fake Ledger Live app to appear in its app store.

Sadly received two messages about this from victims today. Seems another person lost funds in just past few min. pic.twitter.com/yYPbizltN5
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) November 5, 2023

It isn’t the first time a fake Ledger Live app has made its way into Microsoft’s app store either.

Ledger’s support account on X (formerly Twitter) informed its users about a fake Ledger Live app on two separate occasions in December and March.

Hey #ledger users

Beware of fake Ledger Live apps published on the Microsoft Store

The only safe place to download Ledger Live is on our websitehttps://t.co/cDLX1rEWPf

Ledger will NEVER ask you for your 24-word recovery phrase ❌

Stay safe pic.twitter.com/0dXTJ7FeuO
— Ledger Support (@Ledger_Support) December 26, 2022

Ledger hasn’t commented on the scam but has previously iterated to users that the "only safe place" to download Ledger Live is from its website, ledger.com.

Cointelegraph reached out to Microsoft for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

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Blockchain.com suspends its asset management subsidiary launched in April: Report

March 9, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Asset Management

The timing of opening the subsidiary was unfortunate, a spokesperson noted to Bloomberg, although the company held up to the crypto winter for quite a while.

Cryptocurrency financial services company Blockchain.com will suspend operations of its asset management subsidiary, according to a Bloomberg report published March 9. The service had existed less than a year and appears to be the latest casualty of the crypto winter.

The subsidiary, known as Blockchain.com Asset Management, is based in London. It applied to be removed from the U.K. companies register on March 5. The application itself is dated Feb. 15. The company had not yet filed its first annual account.

Blockchain.com Asset Management was opened in April 2022 in partnership with Altis Partners, which was to manage its portfolios using Blockchain.com technology. It promised to offer “regulated crypto investment products for institutional investors, family offices and high net worth individuals.”

scoop: @blockchain has suspended its asset management arm, moving to shut down the unit exactly 11 months after it launched. in that time, the firm cut hundreds of jobs and saw its valuation potentially slashed to a fraction of its former $14bn size

on Terminal now, web soon pic.twitter.com/PhaKP0a6mk
— Emily Nicolle (@emilyjnicolle) March 9, 2023

Blockchain.com, which was founded in 2011, opened the new subsidiary just after a funding round in which it had raised its valuation from $5.2 billion to $14 billion. Standard Custody & Trust Company was named the custody partner for the new subsidiary also in April. A spokesperson told Bloomberg:

“Blockchain.com Asset Management launched in April 2022, shortly before macroeconomic conditions deteriorated rapidly. With crypto winter now approaching the one year mark, we made the business decision to pause operating this institutional product.”

Blockchain.com did not immediately respond to a Cointelegraph enquiry.

Blockchain.com saw several landmarks during the crypto winter. It received registration in several countries in the course of 2022. It also entered into a custody agreement with Anchorage Bank along with other trading platforms in June, and partnered with Visa to issue a crypto card in the United States in October.

Nonetheless, according to Bloomberg, the company laid off 260 employees in 2023. In February, rumors emerged that it was in talks with other crypto firms about selling some of its assets or subsidiaries. A Blockchain.com spokesperson denied those rumors to Cointelegraph.

No businesses are for sale, says Blockchain.com

February 18, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Blockchain.com

Financial services firm Blockchain.com doesn't deny recent efforts to raise capital, but disputes claims about selling assets.

Cryptocurrency exchange and financial services firm Blockchain.com has denied attempts to sell assets or subsidiaries, and it is not in talks with other crypto firms about possible deals, a spokesperson told Cointelegraph on Feb. 18.

According to reports citing anonymous sources, executives of the company discussed selling parts of its business to other crypto firms - including Coinbase - between December and January. Blockchain.com refutes the rumors:

"No Blockchain.com businesses are for sale. Blockchain.com is an asset buyer, not a seller."

The company, however, has been working on raising additional capital for its operations since October 2022, even at a significant discount to previous valuation. At the time, the round was expected to result in a $3 billion to $4 billion valuation, shows a Bloomberg report. The potential round would help Blockchain.com to navigate amid the crypto bear market.

Blockchain.com doesn't deny the efforts to raise capital, but disputes claims about selling assets. The company's venture arm recently exited an 80% position at PolySign, a startup working on infrastructure for financial institutions.

About 110 employees from Blockchain.com, or 28% of its staff, were laid off in January, just a few months after the company downsized its headcount by 150 in July 2022 following a loss of $270 million on loans made to the bankrupted hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC).

Blockchain.com claims to have over 37 million verified clients using 86 million wallets, and presence in 200 countries. In March 2022, the company secured a new funding led by global venture capital firm Lightspeed Ventures and investment management firm Baillie Gifford & Co, bringing its valuation to $14 billion from $5.2 billion.

Previous funding includes a $300 million Series C round in March 2021 led by DST Global Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners and VY Capital, as well as $120 million from a wide array of venture capital firms.

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Still bullish: 40% of survey respondents plan to buy crypto in 2023

December 22, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin Price

Despite a challenging year for the crypto industry, nearly 40% of respondents indicated a plan to purchase cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin in 2023.

Despite the gloom of the ongoing cryptocurrency winter, coupled with failures of crypto giants like FTX, the community appears to remain bullish about crypto, according to a new survey.

Crypto markets saw a massive sell-off in 2022, with the total market cap plummeting nearly 70% since Bitcoin (BTC) reached its all-time highs at $69,000 in November 2021.

But this didn’t prevent investors from buying more cryptocurrency, as 41% of respondents said they purchased crypto in 2022 in an online survey by Blockchain.com.

Released on Dec. 22, the survey has polled more than 40,000 people globally who visited Blockchain.com Explorer website, which is one of the world’s largest crypto websites in terms of traffic. The study is titled “Crypto Confidence: A Survey on Investor Sentiment” and was conducted between Nov. 28 and Dec. 9, 2022.

According to survey results, a significant share of people is also willing to continue to buy cryptocurrency next year. Despite a challenging year for the crypto industry, nearly 40% of respondents indicated a plan to purchase cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin in 2023.

Additionally, about 40% of respondents said they will talk about crypto around the holiday table this season, which is considered to be a sign of growing awareness.

Apart from general investor sentiment, the survey also provides some geographic insights, with Brazil, Nigeria and Ghana becoming the most bullish countries.

As such, 50% of respondents from Brazil said they bought crypto in 2022, with 50% also planning to buy digital coins next year. 50% of Nigerians said they purchased crypto this year, while as many as 60% of Ghana respondents said they expect to buy crypto in 2023.

In contrast, Germany and Italy emerged as one of the most skeptical countries in terms of investor sentiment to crypto. Only 31% of Italian respondents said they purchased crypto this year, with 29% planning to purchase next year. Just 34% of respondents from Germany bought cryptocurrency in 2022 and 30% plan to do so in 2023.

Blockchain.com

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