1. Home
  2. Partnership

Partnership

Gulf Energy pursues joint venture with Binance, invests in BNB

The Bangkok-based holding company has identified digital infrastructure and “digital-asset related initiatives” as priority areas.

Thailand-based Gulf Energy has made strategic investments in cryptocurrency exchange Binance US and signaled its pursuit of a joint venture with the global Binance exchange as part of a targeted effort to gain exposure to the digital asset market. 

Gulf Energy disclosed in a regulatory filing on April 18 that it invested in “Series Seed Preferred Stock issued by BAM Trading Services Inc.,” which is the operator of Binance US. The investment in Binance US gives Gulf Energy exposure to “one of the fastest user scale-up exchanges in the world” well ahead of the exchange’s planned initial public offering, the company said.

Changpeng Zhao, who runs Binance’s global cryptocurrency exchange, confirmed in July 2021 that Binance US was exploring pathways for a public offering.

In a separate filing on Monday, Gulf Energy disclosed that it is pursuing a “joint venture” with Binance to operate a cryptocurrency exchange in Thailand. Once the joint venture is established, the newly formed entity will apply for digital asset licenses with the appropriate authorities. Gulf Energy’s filing also disclosed investments in Binance Coin (BNB), which is the native crypto asset of the Binance ecosystem.

The collaboration between Gulf Energy and Binance has been in the making for several months now as the cryptocurrency exchange sought to re-establish operations in the Southeast Asian country. In July 2021, Thailand’s securities regulator accused Binance of operating a digital asset business illegally in the country. Binance was the subject of regulatory scrutiny from several other jurisdictions as well, including Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Cayman Islands and the Canadian province of Ontario.

Related: Thailand SEC bans crypto payments, seeks disclosure of system failure from exchanges

While nascent, Thailand’s crypto industry is beginning to crystalize as lawmakers seek to provide more regulatory clarity on the asset class. Recently, the Thai Revenue Department scrapped a planned 15% tax on crypto capital gains amid regulatory backlash.

From Premiums to Discounts: Bitcoin’s Wild Ride Splits Global Markets

Crypto.com’s Cronos partners with Chainalysis to track CRC-20 tokens

Launched in late 2021, the Cronos network has amassed over 450,000 DeFi and NFT users, requiring proper compliance tools.

Cronos has partnered with the blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis to enable real-time transaction monitoring tools for the Cronos (CRO) token and all CRC-20 tokens running on the Cronos network, according to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph on Wednesday.

The new compliance integration aims to enable institutions, cryptocurrency exchanges and digital asset funds to track transactions of CRC-20 tokens, allowing users to trace large volumes of activity and identify high-risk transactions. The partnership specifically allows institutions and exchanges to focus on the most urgent issues and properly report suspicious activity.

The integration is yet another milestone in the development and institutional adoption of the Cronos blockchain and digital assets deployed on Cronos. “Application builders and service providers will have access to the most advanced tools and services. The Chainalysis data platform is one of these essential foundations,” Cronos’ managing director Ken Timsit said.

As previously reported, Cronos mainnet launched in November 2021, aiming to provide greater interoperability between the Cosmos and Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) ecosystems. Designed to support decentralized finance (DeFi), nonfungible tokens (NFT) and GameFi applications, Cronos has amassed more than 450,000 DeFi and NFT users, inking partnerships with about 200 firms and institutions so far.

Launched in 2016, Crypto.com is one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, with daily trading volumes averaging at $3.3 billion at the time of writing, according to data from CoinGecko.

In March 2021, Crypto.com launched its own decentralized open-source blockchain, the Crypto.org Chain, alongside its native token, Crypto.org Coin (CRO). Just about three months after launching Cronos mainnet, Crypto.org rebranded the Crypto.org Coin to the Cronos token in February 2022.

Related: Gemini, Chainalysis and 11 others join Crypto Market Integrity Coalition

Cronos’ new compliance partner, Chainalysis, is one of the world’s largest crypto and blockchain intelligence firms, known for cooperation with major government agencies and financial institutions in the United States and worldwide.

Last month, Chainalysis partnered with the American financial services organization Cross River to ensure safe cryptocurrency trading and compliance amid the institution expanding its crypto services. The firm previously collaborated with platforms like the crypto-friendly trading app Robinhood and provided its compliance tools to the CryptoKitties game creator Dapper Labs.

Cronos, the Ethereum-compatible blockchain network backed by the major global cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com, is moving to ensure compliance with a new partnership.

From Premiums to Discounts: Bitcoin’s Wild Ride Splits Global Markets

UK-based loan provider lets investors tokenize their fund with Securitize partnership

The bridge financing fund becomes the first UK-based company to establish such partnership with a U.S. platform.

Whitehall Capital, a London-based loan provider, struck a deal with an American digital asset securities marketplace Securitize to enable its investors to hold their units as blockchain tokens.

According to an April 11 announcement, Whitehall investors will be able to use buy and sell units in the Whitehall fund via Securitize platform. After registering on Securitize, an investor will see their assets as a number of tokenized units, with the performance markers, investment reports and other valuable information included. They could also trade the units with other investors by posting a bid to buy or sell a certain quantity.

According to Anthony Bodenstein, managing partner at Whitehall Capital, the blockchain tokens, backed by loans that are secured by property assets, will deliver an 8-10% income annually:

“As there is currently no secondary market for investments in Whitehall Capital, we anticipate investors will quickly take to the benefits of working with this easy-to-use and interactive platform and holding units in this way.”

Securitize will be responsible for issuing tokenized shares, delivering them to shareholders and tracking transaction activity on the blockchain.

Related: Old but gold: Can digital assets become part of Americans’ retirement plans?

In September 2021, Securitize has already partnered with Arca Labs, the innovation arm of digital asset investment firm Arca, to provide a smart contract and issuance platform for the firm, starting with a tokenized fund named the “Arca U.S. Treasury Fund”. Arca Labs claimed it to be the first treasury fund registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 to issue shares as digital assets via the blockchain.

From Premiums to Discounts: Bitcoin’s Wild Ride Splits Global Markets

UFC to pay out fighter bonuses in Bitcoin for its upcoming PPV events

Sports and crypto have gone hand in hand over the past couple of years, as most sporting companies across various niches have on-boarded crypto firms as their brand partners.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the popular mixed martial arts organization, will be paying out Fan bonuses to its fighters in Bitcoin (BTC).

The fan bonus will be paid out to the top-three fighters of the pay-per-view event in association with its official cryptocurrency platform partner Crypto.com. There will be a total of three Bitcoin fan bonuses of the night ranging from $10,000 to $30,000. Fans from around the globe can vote for the BTC bonuses of the night on the official Crypto.com website on the day of the event.

The first Bitcoin fan bonus will be introduced during the upcoming “UFC 273: Volkanovski vs the Korean zombie” PPV event scheduled for April 9. The Bitcoin fan bonus will be an addition to the traditional Fight of the Night and Performance bonuses awarded to UFC athletes.

UFC president Dana White lauded their recent association with Crypto.com, saying:

"This new Fan Bonus of the Night is an awesome way to get fans more engaged in our events while rewarding the fighters for bad-ass performances.”

Related: NFT-funded racing aims to disrupt sports sponsorships

Sports and crypto have shown one of the best synergies over the past couple of years, with several major sporting companies and events partnering with emerging crypto tech. UFC being a global sporting brand was among the first to integrate crypto-based promotions and even inked a $175 million sponsorship deal with Crypto.com in July last year.

UFC fighters quite similar to NFL stars have also opted for BTC and crypto paychecks over fiat payouts. The major mixed martial art sports company has also bet big on nonfungible tokens as the firm had launched its first official NFT in November last year.

Apart from UFC, other major sporting companies such as Formula One, NBA and several Soccer clubs around the world have on-boarded crypto companies as their major brand partners over the past few years.

From Premiums to Discounts: Bitcoin’s Wild Ride Splits Global Markets

FTX and CoinShares launch physical staked Solana ETP

CoinShares FTX Physical Staked Solana will be listed on Germany’s major digital market Xetra and is the fourth ETP rolled out by CoinShares this year.

CoinShares, one of the largest crypto investment firms in Europe, and FTX crypto exchange have united forces to launch a new physically-backed Solana (SOL) exchange-traded product (ETP).

The new product, titled CoinShares FTX Physical Staked Solana, is launching with 1 million SOL in seed capital, allowing investors to get 3% in staking rewards, CoinShares officially announced on Wednesday. The new cryptocurrency ETP is the first initiative between FTX and CoinShares.

The product will be listed on Germany’s major digital market Xetra and is the fourth ETP rolled out by CoinShares in 2022. The firm previously launched the CoinShares Physical Staked Cardano ETP in early March after starting trading the CoinShares Physical Staked Tezos ETP and the CoinShares Physical Staked Polkadot ETP in January. 

Similarly to previously launched staked ETPs, the new CoinShares FTX Physical Staked Solana has a unique staking mechanism that allows issuers to share staking rewards with investors by reducing the management fee and increasing the coin entitlement of the ETP each day.

“Staked coins do not move from the secure custodian where they are stored, and the ETPs remain 100% physically-backed at all times,” CoinShares noted in the announcement.

FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried noted that the latest ETP launch follows the launch of FTC Access, a new tool combining the expertise behind FTX and FTX US to provide global institutional clients with access to digital asset products, adding:

“The goal of FTX Access is to bring institutional-grade services and products to market in a cost-effective manner. CoinShares has a proven track record of providing European investors with innovative and regulated crypto-asset investment vehicles for close to a decade.

Related: SEC pushes decisions on WisdomTree’s and One River’s applications for spot Bitcoin ETFs

The news comes shortly after FTX officially announced the expansion in Europe in early March after receiving approval from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission. One of the world’s fastest-growing cryptocurrency companies, FTX in mid-March also won a license in Dubai to open local headquarters and offer crypto derivatives products.

From Premiums to Discounts: Bitcoin’s Wild Ride Splits Global Markets

Bitcoin Miner Mawson Inks Hosting Deals With Celsius Mining and Foundry Digital

Bitcoin Miner Mawson Inks Hosting Deals With Celsius Mining and Foundry DigitalThe bitcoin mining operation Mawson Infrastructure Group (MIGI) has started to make hosting deals with key players in the mining industry. On March 1, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents show that Mawson signed a 100-megawatt (MW) co-location agreement with Celsius Mining. Three days later, Mawson announced a 12-megawatt (MW) co-location deal with Foundry Digital. […]

From Premiums to Discounts: Bitcoin’s Wild Ride Splits Global Markets

Cointelegraph partners with Nitro Network to bring digital mining and decentralized internet to the masses

What happens when you combine NFTs with a revolutionary Web3 company? You get the future of the decentralized internet.

Over the past few years, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have become a multibillion-dollar industry and have solidified themselves among the most tech savvy. They have opened the portal to infinite possibilities and carved out a new direction for the future of the internet. Enter Nitro Network, which is set to revolutionize the NFT space and take it to new heights. With its groundbreaking Non-Fungible Miners (NFMs), Nitro Network will solidify the decentralized web, all while offering generous rewards to its users.

That is why Cointelegraph has partnered up with Nitro Network, to pioneer the future of a decentralized internet through the Non-Fungible Miner. NFMs are a unique innovation — an NFT that provides all users the ability to digitally mine Nitro’s native token, NCash, from anywhere in the world. For the end-user, Nitro has made crypto mining a fully digital experience, one where they don’t need to hold and manage their own physical miners. In addition to enabling users to digitally mine, each NFM currently offered by Nitro comes in the form of a Nitro Bot NFT, which has its own value structure and rarity levels.

Nitro is now offering three tiers of “Nitro Bot NFMs,” sold via its website. Each location-based NFM provides a generous reward structure and a unique NFT. For example, Tier 1 NFMs are connected to premium locations such as New York City, London and Dubai. These NFMs yield the highest rewards and come in the form of the rarest Nitro Bot NFTs.

Nitro’s digital miners provide additional value as well. Not only do you get your rewards and NFT instantly, but you can also purchase as many miners as you want without having to worry about storage space, hardware shortage, shipping delays, electricity costs or set up!

Alongside allowing users to digitally mine and earn massive rewards via an NFM, Nitro enables select users to host a network point called a “Nest.” These Nesters will be the backbone for a new decentralized internet. All Nests will be geographically distributed to maximize coverage and scalability with no overlap. This will ensure there is no competition between hosts, and it allows each user to maximize their rewards. You can apply to be a Nitro Nester and get a miner shipped to you for free.

By creating a decentralized internet run by Nitro’s own users, people can possess full knowledge of and control over where their data is and how it’s being used. Moreover, when the network is fully deployed, communities across the globe will be able to interact and engage with smart city technology on the Nitro Network. A new era is upon us!

Cointelegraph conceptualized and designed the Nitro Bot NFTs, which double as one’s digital NFM. When engineering the NFMs, Cointelegraph wanted to encapsulate multiple facets of what drives value for NFTs by incorporating utility, a rewards structure, dynamic rarity traits, sensational art aesthetics and an array of unlockables. By joining forces with Nitro, Cointelegraph is becoming an active participant in building the Web3 future that it has been covering and watching evolve for nearly a decade.

The best part is that the Nitro NFM presale is happening right now! Those inspired to preorder a miner and reserve their spot in the decentralized internet should head over to Nitro’s website and join its social media channels: TwitterInstagram, DiscordTelegram, Reddit.

From Premiums to Discounts: Bitcoin’s Wild Ride Splits Global Markets

Red Bull Racing Partners With Bybit, F1 Team Says It’s the ‘Largest per Annum Crypto Sports Deal to Date’

Red Bull Racing Partners With Bybit, F1 Team Says It’s the ‘Largest per Annum Crypto Sports Deal to Date’Red Bull Racing (RBR) has announced the cryptocurrency exchange platform Bybit has joined RBR as a principal team partner. According to the announcement, RBR says the deal is the “largest per annum cryptocurrency sports agreement to date.” Red Bull Racing and Crypto Exchange Bybit Ink Multi-Year Deal On February 16, 2022, the Formula One racing […]

From Premiums to Discounts: Bitcoin’s Wild Ride Splits Global Markets

Red Bull Racing scores $150M sponsorship with Bybit

Formula One team Red Bull Racing scores a multi-year partnership worth $50 million per annum with crypto exchange Bybit.

Following Red Bull Racing's most recent wins at Formula One (F1), the racing team scores a three-year partnership with Singapore-based crypto trading platform Bybit for $50 million per year. According to the announcement, the fee will be paid in a combination of fiat and BitDAO (BIT) tokens.

The company announced that the partnership aims to broaden the F1 team's fan engagement through its capabilities as a crypto exchange. Bybit will act as an issuer of fan tokens and as a tech incubator for Red Bull Racing as part of the deal. This means that the exchange will help the team distribute its digital asset collections and support its other initiatives, such as developing talent through the Red Bull Technology Campus in Milton Keynes.

Red Bull Racing's CEO Christian Horner expressed his excitement for the partnership. According to Horner, Bybit shares the team's "passion to exist at the forefront of technological innovation, to set the competitive pace and to disrupt the status quo." He is also very delighted with Bybit’s commitment to enhancing the experience of F1 fans through innovations in the digital space.

Following this, Bybit's cofounder and CEO also commented that their crypto exchange team connects with the core values of Red Bull Racing and how they changed the F1 game similarly to how digital assets are disrupting finance. Zhou says that Bybit has found our kindred spirit and the perfect harmony of speed, safety and reliability is everything our users are looking for on our platform."

Related: Man United onboards Tezos as its official Web3 and training kit partner

A week ago, Bybit partnered with ramp service Cabital to offer crypto purchases using Euro (EUR) and British pound sterling (GBP). With this ramp infrastructure, Bybit’s users can purchase crypto within their exchange platform with lower gas fees.

From Premiums to Discounts: Bitcoin’s Wild Ride Splits Global Markets