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March 7, 2022 Bitcoin.com

3 reasons why Bitcoin can rally back to $60K despite erasing last week’s gains

March 7, 2022 Coin Telegraph

<div>3 reasons why Bitcoin can rally back to K despite erasing last week's gains</div>

Analysis

Several technical and on-chain indicators are flashing bullish despite the BTC price pullback below $40,000.

Bitcoin (BTC) plunged to below $38,000 on Monday, giving up all the gains it had made last week, which saw BTC/USD rally over $45,000.

BTC back below $40K as oil soars

The losses appeared primarily in part due to selloffs across the risk-on markets, led by the 18% rise in international oil benchmark Brent crude to almost $139 per barrel early Monday, its highest level since 2008.

Nonetheless, Bitcoin's inability to offer a hedge against the ongoing market volatility also raised doubts over its "safe haven" status, with its correlation coefficient with Nasdaq Composite reaching 0.87 on Monday.

*BTC/USD weekly price chart featuring its correlation with Nasdaq and Gold. Source: TradingView*

Conversely, Bitcoin's correlation with its top rival gold came to be minus 0.38, underscoring they have been largely moving in opposite to one another during the ongoing market turmoil.

Keeping an open mind about crypto, but given the inflating US dollar and the stark reminder that governments can and will under certain circumstances freeze accounts and block payments, wouldn’t you think crypto would be having a moment now? Not seeing it in the price, so far….
— Lloyd Blankfein (@lloydblankfein) March 7, 2022

On one hand, Bitcoin's potential to continue its decline remains high amid the worsening geopolitical conflict between Russia and Ukraine and prospects of higher rate hikes in March.

Nevertheless, some technical and on-chain indicators are flashing bullish on lower timeframes, suggesting a potential price rebound towards $60,000 in the months ahead.

Multi-year ascending trendline support

If history repeats, Bitcoin's recent decline to its multi-year ascending trendline support could set the stage for a potential rebound toward the $60,000 resistance level.

*BTC/USD weekly price chart featuring bear markets within technical patterns. Source: TradingView*

Notably, BTC's trendline support constitutes a technical pattern called ascending triangle in conjugation with a horizontal resistance level above. This setup has been active since December 2020, with the lower level serving as an accumulation area and the upper level acting as a distribution area for traders.

Number of BTC whales on the rise

Elsewhere, on-chain data provided by CoinMetrics indicate that rich investors have been purchasing Bitcoin near the same level.

For instance, the number of Bitcoin addresses that hold at least 1,000 BTC spiked from 2,127 on Feb. 27 to 2,266 on Feb. 28.

*Bitcoin addresses with balance greater than 1K BTC. Source: CoinMetrics, Messari*

In the same period, BTC's price climbed from near $38,000 to almost $45,000. As of March 6, the number of Bitcoin addresses was down to only 2,263 even as BTC dropped below $38,000, suggesting rich investors decided to hold their Bitcoin tokens despite the interim downside sentiment.

Johal Miles, an independent market analyst, further noted that the area between $33,000 and $38,000 has been a "high volume accumulation zone" for Bitcoin bulls, adding that it would be "tough for bears" to pull through the said range.

Bitcoin currently resting on the entire range point of control.

High volume accumulation zone, a tough order for bears to push through this. Best of luck to them.$BTC pic.twitter.com/0LWgPFMiR5
— Miles J Creative (@JohalMiles) March 6, 2022

Bitcoin outflow trend intact

Data from crypto analytics service Santiment shows that the Bitcoin weekly outflow from exchanges has been positive 81% of all time since October 2021, even as BTC trades near its six-month low.

"Interestingly, 21 of the past 26 weeks saw BTC moving more off of exchanges than on to exchanges," Santiment tweeted Monday, citing the BTC exchange flow balance chart attached below.

*BTC exchange flow balance. Source: Santiment*

More Bitcoin outflow from exchanges suggests investors are looking to hold for the longer term. Conversely, increasing Bitcoin inflows to exchanges shows intention to trade BTC for other digital assets or fiat currencies.

*BTC exchange reserve. Source: CryptoQuant*

Overall, the amount of BTC on exchanges continues to decrease with less than 2.4 million BTC currently sitting on crypto exchanges, the lowest since September 2018, according to CryptoQuant.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Institutions increase exposure to Grayscale Bitcoin Trust as GBTC discount nears 30%

March 6, 2022 Coin Telegraph

bitcoin trading

More capital enters the flagship Grayscale trust as it eyes regulator approval to become an exchange-traded fund later this year.

Institutional investors are returning to accumulate Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) shares as the discount to spot price his risen to nearly 30%, data on Glassnode shows.

Since December 2021, some weekly sessions saw investors pouring in between $10 million and $120 million into Grayscale's flagship fund. Meanwhile, the biggest capital inflow — amounting to nearly $140 million — appeared in the week ending on Feb. 25, as shown in the chart below.

*Institutional Grayscale Investments since September 2021. Source: Glassnode*

No selloff yet among high-profile GBTC backers

The GBTC trust attracted investments as global markets faced back-to-back shocks in the past few months, including a dramatic selloff in the technology stocks, followed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine that left many fund managers with a double-digit percentage loss.

For instance, Cathie Wood's ARK Next Generation ETF (ARKW), which holds $478 million worth of GBTC, crashed by nearly 45% year-over-year, primarily owing to its exposure in the sectors that suffered the most during the recent market turbulence, including technology (43.14%) and communication (27.99%).

*ARKW weekly price chart. Source: TradingView*

But in November 2021, ARKW added over 450,000 GBTC shares to its portfolio, when their discounts were as steep as nearly 17.5%.

Similarly, the Morgan Stanley Insight Fund (CPODX) held over 1.5 million GBTC as of Sep. 30, 2021, according to its securities filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Its year-over-year performance as of March 6, 2022, came to be around minus 43%.

Both ARKW and CPODX underperformed as GBTC fell by 43% in the past 12 months. Nonetheless, neither ARKW nor CPODX reported selling significant shares of GBTC.

*Institutional Grayscale Investments. Source: Swissblock Technologies, Glassnode*

ETF hype?

Many factors attribute to GBTC's underperformance, including rising competition from exchange-traded funds (ETF) in Canada. Unlike GBTC, ETFs allow investors for Share Redemptions, a process through which a fund can destroy shares based on demand-supply dynamics.

Digital Currency Group, Grayscale's parent company, has attempted to reduce the discount by buying back GBTC shares. But its efforts have been mired further by the launch of ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), which holds futures contracts. This has ended up dislocating GBTC's price further away from Bitcoin's spot price.

*Grayscale Bitcoin Trust's discount/premium to net asset value. Source: YCharts*

Now, Grayscale has been working on a discount killer switch, through its attempts to convert GBTC from a trust fund to an ETF tied to Bitcoin's price. If the SEC approves Grayscale's application, it would prompt the GBTC discount to reset from its current discount levels to zero.

Nonetheless, the SEC has not approved a single spot Bitcoin ETF application citing risks relates to price manipulation. In comparison, regulators in Canada and Europe have been more welcoming to physical Bitcoin-backed investment products.

Investment management firm Investor Trip asserted that the SEC would eventually approve the spot ETF "due to pressure from 3rd party supporters."

"If approved, Grayscale will convert the trust into a Spot ETF and the discount opportunity will no longer exist," it wrote in its analysis published Feb. 14.

Conversely, analysts at Conservative Income Portfolio called GBTC an investment that is "destined for zero," noting that its discount of net-asset-value of Bitcoin "is not really relevant."

"It might be relevant from a shorter term bounce perspective as a measure of sentiment."

Terra price gains 75% in February as $2.57B in LUNA tokens removed from supply

March 1, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Terra price gains 75% in February as .57B in LUNA tokens removed from supply

Bitcoin

The token burn appears as the supply of UST, Terra's stablecoin, rises by nearly 14.75% in the month.

Terra (LUNA) emerged as one of the best performing financial assets in February, a month mired by geopolitical conflicts and their negative impacts on the crypto market.

LUNA decouples from the crypto market

LUNA's price surged by a little over 75% to reach $91.50 at the month's UTC close. In comparison, the percentage performance of other top tokens, mainly Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), in the same period came out to be around 12.25% and 9%, respectively.

*LUNA/USD versus BTC/USD and ETH/USD weekly price charts. Source: TradingView*

Interestingly, most of LUNA's gains in February surfaced on the month's last day. The Terra token jumped 26% on Feb. 28, in part due to similar upside moves elsewhere in the crypto market. For instance, BTC and ETH rose 14.50% and over 11.50%, respectively, on the same day.

While still positive at 0.09, LUNA's correlation with Bitcoin has come off lately after hitting 0.81 on Feb. 21, data from TradingView shows. A correlation of 1 means that two assets are in lockstep, while 0 shows that their price moves independently.

*LUNA/USD correlation coefficient on the daily chart. Source: TradingView*

Terra's LUNA/BTC pair also showed its growing valuation against the top cryptocurrency.

In detail, the LUNA/BTC pair rose by over 56% to 21,171 satoshis in February, suggesting traders sought hedge in the Terra token as Bitcoin's correlation with a bearish stock market grew, reaching 0.70 earlier this year.

*Bitcoin correlation with stocks since March 2021. Source: Bloomberg*

As to why traders appeared to have considered LUNA as their interim safe haven in the first place, the answer might lie in Terra's token economics.

29M Terra tokens destroyed

Data fetched by analytics platform Smart Stake showed that Terra protocol burned 29 million LUNA tokens worth $2.57 billion recently. That happened as the supply of TerraUSD (UST), a stablecoin backed not by the U.S. dollar but LUNA, increased from around 11.26 million on Feb. 1 to almost 12.92 million on Feb. 28, marking an increase of nearly 14.75%.

*LUNA and UST supply all across February 2022. Source: Smart Stake*

Traders consider an increasing UST supply a bullish catalyst for LUNA, mainly because of the so-called UST-LUNA token model. In detail, Terra preserves UST’s peg of USD through an elastic monetary policy. So when the value of UST goes above $1, Terra incentivizes its users to burn LUNA and mint UST.

But when the UST supply contracts, LUNA valuation decreases due to a slowdown in the burning mechanism. All and all, LUNA's valuation tends to rise alongside UST's supply.

On Feb. 22, the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) — a nonprofit organization supporting the Terra blockchain ecosystem, announced that it had raised $1 billion in a LUNA token sale round led by Three Arrows Capital, a venture capital firm backed by Ethereum-skeptic Su Zhu and Jump Crypto, a trading group known for assisting Solana's cross bridge platform Wormhole in replenishing their stolen $300 million.

1/ The long awaited [REDACTED] 3 is here!

The Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) has closed a $1 billion private token sale to establish a decentralized $UST Forex Reserve denominated in $BTC!

— Terra (UST) Powered by LUNA (@terra_money) February 22, 2022

LFG revealed that it would use the proceeds to build a "UST Forex Reserve," raising prospects of boosting the stablecoin's supply by another billion-dollar worth of LUNA-backed tokens.

LUNA's price has risen by nearly over 90% since the LFG's announcement. In contrast, the total market capitalization of all the cryptocurrencies combined has rallied by just 13% in the same period, underscoring that crypto traders have been flocking into the Terra market.

What's ahead for LUNA?

Terra's technical outlook looks skewed to the upside owing to an ongoing "bull flag" breakout move.

Bull flags are bullish continuation patterns that appear when the price consolidates lower inside a descending channel after a strong move upward. Eventually, it breaks out of the channel range to the upside, with a price target ideally at length equal to the size of the upside move that preceded the bull flag formation.

LUNA appears to have entered the final phase its bull flag setup, as shown in the chart below. It now eyes a run-up toward $120, an all-time high for Terra if achieved.

*LUNA/USD three-day price chart featuring bull flag setup. Source: TradingView*

On the flip side, LUNA's volumes on the three-day chart appear weak, showing the ongoing upward retracement remains less convincing to traders. Its volume profile also shows little historic activity above $70.

Additionally, LUNA's daily relative strength indicator (RSI) has been flashing an "overbought" warning, noting that it could go a degree of price correction in the coming sessions.

*LUNA/USD daily price chart featuring RSI. Source: TradingView*

Nonetheless, in the long term, the Terra token's path of least resistance remain to the upside, with its year-over-year performance against the dollar coming out to be over 1,200% as of Feb. 28, 2022.

Bitcoin Elliott Wave Theory suggests BTC price can drop to $25.5K this year

February 24, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin

The bearish outlook by the Elliot Wave Theory appeared as Bitcoin tumbled below $35,000.

The ongoing Bitcoin (BTC) price correction could continue as per almost a century-old technical analysis principle called "Elliott Wave Theory."

The interim bearish outlook put forth by the Elliot Wave Theory appeared as Bitcoin tumbled below $35,000 amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Bitcoin wave fractal eyes repetition

The theory, which divides a price cycle into two sets—one consisting of five upward-trending impulse waves and the other having three follow-up corrective waves—points to the possibility of BTC's price dropping toward $25,500 in 2022.

At the core of its bearish outlook is its record of predicting cyclical tops and bottoms throughout the Bitcoin market's history, as shown in the chart below.

*BTC/USD weekly price chart featuring Elliott Waves. Source: TradingView*

The Bitcoin chart shows three primary impulse waves (1, 3, and 5 in red) and two corrective waves (2 and 4 in red). The fifth wave is still in development, underscoring BTC's potential to reach above $100,000 in the future. But together, these five waves represent an upward structure that will likely exhaust at wave 5 and follow up with three corrective waves: A, B, and C.

Meanwhile, each large wave marked in red consists of sub-waves, featuring a five-wave advance (impulse) in the direction of the trend of one large degree (from 1 to 5 in black), followed by a three-wave corrections against the higher degree trend (from a to c in blue).

*BTC/USD weekly price chart featuring sub-waves. Source: TradingView*

Between 2012 and 2018, Bitcoin's price has repeatedly rallied between wave 1 to wave 5 followed by a correction from wave a to wave c. Each time, wave c, which coincided with Bitcoin's 200-week exponential moving average (50-week EMA), marked BTC's price bottom and the completion of the so-called Elliott Wave Cycle, be it in 2015 or 2018.

After 2018, Bitcoin entered a new Elliott Wave Cycle. It has already undergone the five-wave advance — from near $3,200 in December 2018 to around $69,000 in November 2021 — and is now in the midst of its three-wave correction, awaiting the formation of its final wave c.

*BTC/USD weekly price chart featuring the ongoing Elliott Wave Cycle. Source: TradingView*

Considering the next wave c appears around the 200-day EMA, it could mean BTC will hit levels around $25,500.

Warren Buffett invests $1B in Bitcoin-friendly neobank, dumps Visa and Mastercard stocks

February 15, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Warren Buffett invests B in Bitcoin-friendly neobank, dumps Visa and Mastercard stocks

Bank of America

The "Oracle of Omaha" now has more companies in his portfolio that have direct/indirect exposure to Bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway dumped a portion of its Visa and Mastercard holdings and increased exposure in Nubank, the largest fintech bank in Brazil that's also popular among the country's Bitcoin investors.

In a securities filing late Monday, the industrials conglomerate disclosed that it had purchased $1 billion worth of Nubank Class A stock in Q4/2021. On the other hand, it sold $1.8 billion and $1.3 billion worth of Visa and Mastercard stock, respectively, signaling a shift away from credit companies to gain exposure in their fintech rivals.

Buffett, the so-called "Oracle of Omaha," is popular for his cautious approach to investing, particularly in the market's hottest sectors such as fintech. The veteran investor had also downplayed emerging decentralized finance solutions like Bitcoin (BTC), ridiculing it as an asset that "does not create anything."

But Berkshire's new stake in Nubank shows that Buffett has been softening up to fintech lately. In detail, the firm had invested $500 million in the startup in July 2021. Its returns on the said investment amounted to $150 million in Dec. 2021 after Nubank debuted on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

$NU Buffett-backed Nubank stock set for NYSE debut as IPO pricing valued company at about $41.5 Billion.

The company raised $2.60 Billion as it sold 289.15 Million shares in IPO. Berkshire bought 10% of the shares in the offering.#fintechnews pic.twitter.com/HTujZZvCtJ
— InvestingDesk (@InvestingDesk) December 9, 2021

So far, Buffett has not shown any intention to sell his position in Nubank.

The Buffett-Bitcoin connection

Buffett's additional investment into Nubank shows his acknowledgment of the fintech sector's underlying theme: the digitization of financial services, as well as his willingness to associate with companies that are involved in the cryptocurrency sector.

In detail, Easynvest, a trading platform that Nubank acquired in September 2020 has been actively offering a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) since June 2021. Dubbed QBTC11, the ETF is backed by QR Asset Management and is listed on the B3 stock exchange, the second-oldest bourse in Brazil.

Thus, it appears that Nubank, which remains exposed to the emerging crypto sector via Easynvest, could use the additional revenue opportunities to benefit its top investor, Warren Buffett, despite his views that Bitcoin is a "rat poison squared."

That is primarily because of the growth of crypto-related investment products in 2021. Notably, their numbers doubled in the year, rising from 35 to 80, as per Bloomberg Intelligence data, while the total valuations of the assets they held reached $63 billion versus $24 billion at the start of 2021.

*Cash flowing into crypto funds doubled in 2021. Source: Bloomberg Intelligence*

Emily Portney, chief financial officer at Bank of New York Mellon Corp. — another firm in Buffett's investment portfolio, noted that digital assets could become a "meaningful source of revenue" for investment banking firms in the future as Bitcoin investment vehicles become more mainstream.

Meanwhile, Leah Wald, chief executive of crypto-asset manager Valkyrie Investments, predicted an increase in the capital flows into crypto-related investment vehicles, saying they have become a "phenomenon that's starting to take off." Wald:

"If you look at inflows from a volume perspective, not only has it been steady even with the price corrections that Bitcoin is notoriously famous for, but you're seeing a lot of institutions jump in."

Buffett's portfolio full of crypto-loving companies

While Buffett might not invest in Bitcoin directly, he is already gaining indirect exposure as companies in his portfolio foray into the crypto sector.

For instance, in October 2021, just a month before Bitcoin reached its all-time high of $69,000, fifth-largest U.S. bank, U.S. Bancorp, launched a cryptocurrency custody service for its institutional investment managers, noting that they witnessed an increase in demand from their "fund services clients" over the last few years.

Similarly, in another announcement made October 2021, Bank of America launched a cryptocurrency research initiative, citing "growing institutional interest."

Months before, BNY Mellon announced that it would hold, transfer, and issue Bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies for its asset-management clients.

Announcing the creation of the BNY Mellon Digital Assets unit - A team dedicated to building the first multi-asset custody and administration platform for traditional and digital assets, including #cryptocurrencies. https://t.co/aZ7wMfAXqg pic.twitter.com/L54TFVpJNv
— BNY Mellon (@BNYMellon) February 11, 2021

"The Nubank investment can be tagged as Buffett's way of supporting the fintech/crypto world without taking back his criticisms of the past," asserted Greg Waisman, co-founder and COO of crypto wallet service Mercuryo, adding that the Berkshire boss is now backing the "digital currency ecosystem indirectly."

"Even an indirect exposure is bound to increase the positive sentiment that may push more investors into the space."

Bitcoin on-chain data hints at institutions ‘deploying capital’ at expense of ‘hodlers’

February 12, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin

On-chain metrics detect strong "sophisticated passive buying" on spot exchanges and a rise in the movements of Bitcoin to whale wallets.

Bitcoin (BTC) hodlers, a class of crypto investors that hold onto their bitcoin tokens for at least 155 days, have been dumping them lately.

*Adjusted Bitcoin supply shock. Source: Willy Woo*

The price recovery witnessed in the Bitcoin market across the last two weeks coincided with a rise in hodlers and speculative investors selling their coins, according to data provided by researcher Willy Woo.

Nonetheless, BTC's price ability to withstand the selling pressure meant there was buying pressure coming from elsewhere. As Cointelegraph reported earlier this week, so-called Bitcoin whales are accumulating BTC at current price levels.

"This selling is contrasted by exchange data showing sophisticated passive buying on spot exchanges and movement of coins to whale-controlled wallets," wrote Woo, adding:

"This view is supported by coins moving away from exchanges to cold storage. Meanwhile, whales who hold more than 1,000 BTC ($45m) are accumulating. This hints at institutional money deploying capital."

*Bitcoin exchange net flows and deposits to/from whale wallets. Source: TradingView*

Despite the price of Bitcoin retreating going into the weekend, the rise in whale addresses controlling 1,000 to 10,000 BTC has also not gone unnoticed by on-chain data resource Ecoinometrics.

The #Bitcoin whales addresses are on a buying spree... so even though BTC could dip following a stock market crash there are signs long term holders find the current price to be a good entry point. pic.twitter.com/z0xSR5pzml
— ecoinometrics (@ecoinometrics) February 12, 2022

BTC price targets

Hunain Naseer, a researcher at OKEx, said Bitcoin would need more time to consolidate ahead, given its recent rejections and deviation from its 20-day moving average, as shown in the chart below. Nonetheless, reclaiming $46,000 would likely have BTC's price test $50,000 next.

*BTC/USD daily price chart with blue arrows marking recent Fridays. Source: OKX/TradingView*

On the other hand, Woo called $33,000 a solid bottom for Bitcoin, given the recent selling sentiment among hodlers and speculative investors. As Cointelegraph reported, $40,000 remains a key level to hold while $46,000-$48,000 remains a heavy resistance area for the bulls.

Binance invests $200M in Forbes to boost consumer knowledge on Bitcoin

February 10, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Binance

“Media is an essential element to build widespread consumer understanding and education,” Binance CEO CZ said.

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volumes, is making a strategic investment in the 104-year old magazine Forbes to improve consumer understanding of cryptocurrencies and blockchain.

Forbes and Magnum Opus Acquisition Limited, a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), officially announced Thursday securing a $200 million strategic investment from Binance.

Forbes previously announced plans to go public through a business combination with Magnum Opus in August 2021, with the deal expected to close in Q1 of 2022.

Binance’s strategic investment will be through Binance’s assumption of subscription agreements representing $200 million of commitments in the $400 million private investment in public equity (PIPE) that was announced along with Forbes’ intention to go public.

“With Binance assuming existing PIPE commitments, the overall size of the PIPE will remain at $400 million, and Binance’s investment will be according to substantially the same terms as the existing PIPE investors,” the announcement reads.

As part of the deal, Binance’s chief communications officer Patrick Hillmann and head of Binance Labs Bill Chin will join the Forbes board of directors.

According to Forbes CEO Mike Federle, the investment from Binance will help the firm get “experience, network and resources of the world’s leading crypto exchange and one of the world’s most successful blockchain innovators.”

“Forbes is committed to demystifying the complexities and providing helpful information about blockchain technologies and all emerging digital assets,” he noted.

Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao emphasized the importance of supporting media in the crypto industry as part of the company’s commitment to boost consumer knowledge and adoption of crypto, stating:

“As Web3 and blockchain technologies move forward and the crypto market comes of age we know that media is an essential element to build widespread consumer understanding and education. We look forward to bolstering Forbes’ Digital initiatives, as they evolve into a next level investment insights platform.”

A spokesperson for Binance told Cointelegraph that their investment in Forbes "would be the first investment of this kind" in the media industry, adding: "Web2 had a profound impact on the media sector. We believe that Web3 may have an equally important role to play in the future of journalism and publishing.”

Binance has apparently been succeeding on its mission to promote knowledge about crypto and Bitcoin so far. In April 2020, Binance acquired CoinMarketCap, the most popular crypto website with 187 million visits as of August 2021. Apart from offering market capitalization charts, the website provides news, updates, and current market leaders. The firm subsequently launched its own crypto education portal known as CMC Alexandria in September 2020.

Binance Is Investing $200M in Forbes

February 10, 2022 The Crypto Briefing

Privacy-focused applications platform Aleo raises $200M

February 7, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Aleo

Aleo will use the funds to support developers in building applications within its private and scalable platform.

Zero-knowledge applications platform Aleo has raised $200 million in a solid investment round, pushing the company forward and supporting its goals to develop products and services that encourage and assist developers in building applications on top of its decentralized network.

The Series B investment round was led by Kora Management LP and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, which invest in fintech projects within emerging digital economies. Samsung Ventures also participated in the raise along with Tiger Global, Sea Capital, Slow Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).

Aleo is building a network that integrates zero-knowledge proofs, a cryptography technique that lets the platform become scalable, private and interoperable.

Aaron Wong, an investor at SoftBank Investment Advisers says that Aleo is creating a foundation that ensures that Web3 is scalable, safe and secure. Wong added that this will enhance financial transactions and gaming applications as well.

“As the blockchain industry continues to evolve, it is proving its potential to support a digital ecosystem defined by accessibility, efficiency, and interoperability.

Daniel Jacobs, Founder at Kora Management LP says that the biggest challenges in the industry are privacy and scalability. According to Jacobs, Aleo “will have profound impacts on a large and growing number of applications in the blockchain space and beyond.”

Jacobs explained that the project could protect user and application identity without giving up on performance that’s required to support many users. He also further noted that Aleo will become a catalyst that spurs the next generation of gaming, decentralized finance, and other use cases within the blockchain industry.

As Cointelegraph reported in April, Aleo secured $28 million in a private investment round to bring its platform for zero-knowledge applications to a wider audience. Venture capital firm a16z led the effort followed by investments from Coinbase Ventures, Galaxy Digital, and others.

Investment

BTC back below $40K as oil soars

Multi-year ascending trendline support

Number of BTC whales on the rise

Bitcoin outflow trend intact

No selloff yet among high-profile GBTC backers

ETF hype?

LUNA decouples from the crypto market

29M Terra tokens destroyed

What's ahead for LUNA?

Bitcoin wave fractal eyes repetition

The Buffett-Bitcoin connection

Buffett's portfolio full of crypto-loving companies

BTC price targets

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