A group of America’s biggest banking titans are considering whether they should pull a shocking move – suing the U.S. Federal Reserve. JPMorgan Chase, Citibank and Goldman Sachs are on the list of major banks who have hired one of the best conservative trial lawyers to draft the lawsuit, reports Semafor. Eugene Scalia, son of […]
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Getting regulatory approval has been crucial for companies, particularly in a tight regulatory environment during the crypto winter.
As the final weeks of 2023 approach, it’s fair to say that one of the most dominant trends and drivers of crypto companies’ strategies over the past months can be summed up in a single word: licenses.
In a tight regulatory environment, getting the green light from regulators has been crucial for companies, particularly during the crypto winter.
Some countries have taken a stand by developing a crypto-friendly environment. For example, the United Arab Emirates continues to attract major crypto companies to its shores, with digital assets exchange Crypto.com recently receiving a Virtual Assets Service Provider (VASP) license in Dubai. The license allows Crypto.com’s local business to offer retail and institutional trading, as well as broker-dealer and credit-related services.
Dubai also granted a similar license for institutional crypto custodian Hex Trust. The crypto firm has offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Dubai, Italy and France.
Traditional players are also seeking crypto licenses. In Germany, Commerzbank has been granted a crypto custody license, according to a Nov. 15 announcement, allegedly becoming the first “full-service” bank in the country to receive the license.
Also, in this week’s regulatory headlines, Bitget dropped plans to obtain a Virtual Asset Trading Platform (VATP) license in Hong Kong, citing business and market-related considerations. As a result, the exchange is winding down its local operations in the coming weeks.
Although licenses are essential for crypto firms to operate, they also represent a new step in the growing connection between crypto and governments worldwide.
This week’s Crypto Biz also explores Uniswap’s Android app, Cboe’s move into crypto margin futures trading and Disney’s upcoming nonfungible token (NFT) platform.
Uniswap Labs has publicly released an Android mobile wallet app on the Google Play Store. The new app allows users to make swaps through the decentralized exchange from within the app, eliminating the need for a separate web browser extension, Uniswap Labs vice president of design Callil Capuozzo told Cointelegraph. Uniswap added support for new languages and now supports English, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, French and Chinese — both traditional and simplified — and added a setting that allows users to view the value of their crypto in their local currency. The app’s iOS version was released in April.
Disney and blockchain firm Dapper Labs have teamed up to create a nonfungible token (NFT) platform. According to an announcement, Disney will tokenize its iconic cartoon characters from the past century onto its upcoming NFT marketplace, Disney Pinnacle. The platform will also include icons from Pixar and heroes and villains from the Star Wars galaxy, uniquely styled as collectible and tradable digital pins. The NFT platform will launch later in 2023 for iOS, Android and on the web.
Cboe Digital has announced the launch of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) margin futures trading on Jan. 11, 2024. The regulated crypto-native exchange and clearinghouse will become the first in the United States to offer both spot and leveraged derivatives trading on a single platform, it said in a statement. Eleven firms, including crypto and traditional financial firms, will support the new capability from its launch. They include B2C2, BlockFills, Cumberland DRW and Talos, among others. Cboe Digital provides trading for individuals and institutions. It received approval for margin futures trading from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in June.
Global investment bank Goldman Sachs and French bank BNP Paribas have reportedly led a new funding round for Fnality, a blockchain-based wholesale payments firm backed by Nomura Group. Fnality has reportedly raised 77.7 million British pounds ($95.09 million) in a second round of funding. Other investors included the global exchange-traded fund firm WisdomTree and Fnality’s existing investor Nomura. The new capital will be used for setting up a round-the-clock global liquidity management network for new digital payment models in wholesale financial markets and emerging tokenized asset markets, Fnality said. Fnality was founded in 2019 as a UBS-led blockchain project aiming to build digital versions of major currencies for wholesale payments and transactions involving digital securities.
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With $158 million of total capital raised since 2019, Fnality plans to launch the Sterling Fnality Payment System in 2023, subject to approval by the Bank of England.
Global investment bank Goldman Sachs and French universal bank BNP Paribas have reportedly led a new funding round for Fnality, a blockchain-based wholesale payments firm backed by Nomura Group.
Fnality has raised 77.7 million British pounds ($95.09 million) in a second round of funding, Reuters reported on Nov. 13. In addition to Goldman and BNP Paribas, the fund raise involved participation by settlement houses like Euroclear and Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation. Other investors included the global exchange-traded fund firm WisdomTree and Fnality’s existing investor Nomura.
There was also additional investment from initial round backers Banco Santander, BNY Mellon, Barclays, CIBC, Commerzbank, ING, Lloyds Banking Group, Nasdaq Ventures, State Street, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and UBS. As previously reported, UBS and other global banks invested 55 million pounds ($63.2 million) in Fnality in June 2019, aiming to launch a blockchain-based trade settlement platform.
The new capital will be used for setting up a round-the-clock global liquidity management network for new digital payment models in wholesale financial markets and emerging tokenized asset markets, Fnality reportedly said. The raise also lays the basis for the commencement of the initial launch of the Sterling Fnality Payment System in 2023, subject to approval by the Bank of England.
Fnality’s blockchain tech application allows institutions to use central banks funds across numerous potential use cases, Goldman’s global head of digital assets, Mathew McDermott, said. Those include “instantaneous, cross-border, cross-currency payments, collateral mobility and security transactions,” he noted.
Related: Swiss bank UBS launches tokenized money market fund on Ethereum
Fnality was founded in 2019 as a UBS-led blockchain project aiming to build digital versions of major currencies for wholesale payments and transactions involving digital securities. The firm was specifically initially launched under the Utility Settlement Coin, or USC, project, designed to tokenize fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar or the euro on an Ethereum-based blockchain.
Other global banks like the multinational banking firm JPMorgan have been actively exploring blockchain and tokenization as well. In early November, JPMorgan launched a new programmable payment feature on its JPM Coin platform, targeting institutional investors.
Three of America’s biggest banks are getting hit by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for failing to properly report millions of transactions in the swaps market. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs have been ordered to pay $15 million, $8 million and $30 million in fines, respectively. According to the CFTC, Goldman […]
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AlphaSense’s client list now includes most of the S&P 500 and nearly every firm listed in the Dow 50.
AlphaSense, a B2B artificial intelligence (AI) platform specializing in business intelligence and search, announced the successful completion of a $150 million Series E funding round led by BOND and joined by Google parent company Alphabet’s investment arm, CapitalG, as well as Goldman Sachs and Viking Global.
The latest round saw the company’s valuation grow from $1.7 billion, its value upon raising $225 million during its Series D in June of 2023, to $2.5 billion.
Today, we are incredibly proud to announce a $150M Series E funding round led by the iconic @bondcap, bringing our valuation to $2.5 billion.
— AlphaSense (@AlphaSenseInc) September 28, 2023
You can learn more about this milestone and why BOND believes in AlphaSense here:https://t.co/UYheKHsSnP pic.twitter.com/AEwYoaFRlT
AlphaSense’s strong market position and continued growth owes to the recent boom in the AI sector. While consumer-facing generative AI models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Bard are designed to serve general purpose audiences, AlphaSense’s models combine strategic data points from both public and private analytics with a machine learning pipeline.
This allows AlphaSense’s “insights-as-a-service” platform to offer deep insights into business and finance analytics and provide actionable intelligence.
Related: ChatGPT can now browse the internet, no longer limited to info from 2021
In the crypto and blockchain world, platforms such as AlphaSense have the potential to go beyond the often dubious insights provided by generalized AI models such as ChatGPT. Where the latter has a penchant for hallucination, AlphaSense’s models parse specific datasets relevant to business intelligence and, essentially, curate insights into easily digestible articles complete with text and images.
Per a press release, AlphaSense CEO and founder Jack Kokko said the latest investment round would allow the company to stay at the forefront of the B2B generative AI sector:
“The additional capital allows us to invest strategically, so we can continue to lead the generative AI revolution in our market, and deliver on our mission of helping businesses find the right data and insights to support more confident and agile decision-making. We are building the future of market intelligence, and we are proud to continue revolutionizing search for enterprise customers.”
According to Goldman Sachs, the current period is the early phases of a new technology cycle, which is poised to deliver additional strong performance.
Goldman Sachs has firmly maintained that an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble doesn't exist, despite concerns persist among analysts regarding the significant surge in AI market interest and the resulting spike in tech stocks. On the contrary, the financial powerhouse believes we stand on the verge of an AI revolution, rather than the anticipated bubble.
The recent upswing in AI stock prices has led some to draw parallels with the late 1990s dot-com bubble, a comparison that Goldman Sachs strongly rejected in a recent publication.
Peter Oppenheimer, Goldman Sachs' Chief Global Equity Strategist, in the publication, went on to assert:
"We are convinced that we are still in the early phases of a new technology cycle, which is poised to deliver additional strong performance."
Goldman Sachs forecasts a substantial rise in global investments in artificial intelligence, with the potential to reach $200 billion by 2025. This surge is linked to the substantial economic opportunities presented by generative AI, a subset of AI focused on generating content using large language models. Previous reports suggest that generative AI could contribute up to $4.4 trillion to the global economy.
Related:Brazil: Senate Commission will analyze the AI bill in 120 days
AI stocks have displayed impressive performance throughout the year, contributing to the recovery of the entire SP500 index following the setback in 2022. According to the report, the valuations of the market-leading stocks are not as extended as seen in past periods, like the internet bubble that burst in 2000. Additionally, these companies boast exceptionally robust balance sheets and returns on investment, the report states.
While the outlook appears favorable, some specialists advise prudence, recommending a thoughtful stance when considering AI sector investments. Oppenheimer introduced the PEARL framework, designed to assist individuals in making an informed decision following thorough research.
Magazine: AI Eye: 25K traders bet on ChatGPT's stock picks, AI sucks ...
Four banking giants are preparing to pay nearly half a billion dollars to settle a class action lawsuit brought against them for allegedly attempting to thwart competition in the stock-lending market. JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, UBS and Morgan Stanley have agreed to collectively pay $499 million to end the suit, which was filed in 2017 by […]
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Economists at the banking giant Goldman Sachs think the U.S. Federal Reserve will begin lowering its benchmark interest rate in the second quarter of 2024. The bank’s economists also predict that the Fed will skip rate hikes next month and in November. “The cuts in our forecast are driven by this desire to normalize the […]
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The Chinese yuan has surpassed the US dollar in China’s cross-border payments for the first time in history, according to banking giant Goldman Sachs. The yuan’s share of cross-border settlements surpassed the dollar and hit an all-time high in March, says Goldman, citing data from China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE). The big uptick was […]
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The largest banks in the US are reportedly taking big hits to their bottom line as borrowers default on billions of dollars worth of loans. Citing data compiled by Bloomberg, the Financial Times says that JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America (BofA), Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley appear to have written off a […]
The post JPMorgan Chase Suffers $1,100,000,000 Loss As Six US Banks Execute Massive Write-Offs: Report appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
