Sam Reynolds

<div id="highlights-block_6054a2bc12261" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>A report by Korean internet giant Naver confirmed an investment in Seoul-based Bithumb by Morgan Stanley</li>
 <li>Industry insiders say institutional interest in digital asset infrastructure providers has accelerated as regulations will soon require legacy financial participation in the space.</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Reports that Morgan Stanley is making a play for a stake in Bithumb, Korea’s largest digital assets exchange, are part of a “continued interest” in Korean digital asset infrastructure providers by legacy financial services institutions according to industry insiders.&nbsp;



Naver, a Korean search engine and media company similar to Yahoo, <a href="https://n.news.naver.com/article/277/0004868332?event_id=277_1616119235505" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported Friday that earlier rumors</a> of Morgan Stanley’s interest in Bithumb had legs and the bank is making an investment in the company. Citing anonymous sources, Naver said that Morgan Stanley was planning to invest between $254 million to $441 million (300 and 500 billion Korean won) in the exchange.



“There is continued interest from the financial services industry in the Korean crypto infrastructure providers. Korea has historically been and continues to be one of the major hubs of crypto innovation and trading,” Sang Lee, president of VegaX, a Seoul-based digital asset management company, told Blockworks. “We are seeing a refreshed interest from both the retail and institutional markets which will make Korean crypto infrastructure providers that much more important.”



<h3>New exchange partnership requirements</h3>



Lee explained to Blockworks that the increased interest in digital assets infrastructure from legacy financial services comes as a new set of<a href="https://argos-solutions.io/aml-law-passed-south-korea-legalizes-cryptocurrency/"> anti-money laundering and tax laws in Korea</a> regarding maintaining fiat onramps requires exchanges to partner with traditional banks and <a href="http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20210303000849">register their clients with an account at said bank</a>. This is both to verify the client’s identity for anti-money laundering and tax reporting reasons.



“The Korean crypto market is huge enough to interest global institutions,” added Simon Seojoon Kim, CEO of Korean blockchain venture fund Hashed. “Excluding the closed Chinese market, it is the second largest market after the US. Bithumb and Upbit are the top two Korean crypto exchanges and making tons of money these days.”



As there are no listed or publicly available closed-end funds in Korea, local investors tend to access digital assets primarily through exchanges, said VegaX’s Lee.&nbsp;



Kim added that a number of local Korean banks, including KB Bank, the largest bank in Korea, are getting into the digital asset business — partially because this change in law requires participation from the legacy financial industry. Kim said that KB Bank<a href="https://jinhashed.medium.com/hashed-to-lead-koreas-digital-asset-industry-with-kb-financial-group-1a72ee356f6b" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> co-founded a crypto custody business with Hashed last year.</a>



<h3>The tax man cometh </h3>



To put it mildly, South Korea is in the middle of the mother of all bull markets when it comes to bitcoin and digital assets — and tax authorities want their cut.



Recently, local financial news outlet <a href="https://www.hankyung.com/economy/article/202103149779g" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hankyung</a> reported that the combined volume of the four major digital asset exchanges in the country — Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone and Kobit— is $14.6 billion surpassing the local stock indexcalled KOSPI’s volume of $14.5 billion. 



Hankyung cited both local currency devaluation (<a href="http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=31833">used as a </a><a href="http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=31833" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">trade</a><a href="http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=31833"> war tool</a> to make Korean exports more competitive against Trump-era tariffs and a devaluing Chinese RMB) and fears about US inflation as reasons for the accelerating interest in digital assets.&nbsp;



All this hasn’t gone unnoticed by the tax man. Earlier this year tax authorities in the country announced that Korean investors that make more than $2,260 (2.5 million won) in gains on the market will be subject to a 20% tax, and all digital assets valued over $442,088 (500 million won) that aren’t stored with Korean exchanges must be reported.



<a href="http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20210222000880#:~:text=South%20Korean%20investors%20who%20make,million%20won%20is%20tax%2Dfree.">Local media </a><a href="http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20210222000880#:~:text=South%20Korean%20investors%20who%20make,million%20won%20is%20tax%2Dfree." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a> that tax authorities are “struggling” to deal with the complexity of taxing the digital assets market with its long list of digital protocols, assets and investment vehicles. At the same time, digital assets investors are reportedly complaining about the higher tax rate when compared to capital gains from securities.&nbsp;



However Hashed’s Kim doesn’t think the new tax will seriously impede the market.&nbsp;“It&#8217;s still hard to imagine if this would be a way to track or effectively tax all DeFi activity,” he said.



Considering the confluence of factors at play in Korea, including a bull market, financial regulation requiring legacy bank participation, and fear of missing out, Morgan Stanley’s potential Bithumb buy is another way for the bank to enter an expanding industry. Just this week, the bank <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/morgan-stanley-to-launch-bitcoin-funds-for-wealthy-clients/">said</a> that it would offer bitcoin exposure to its wealthiest clients via three funds.



Earlier this month, Morgan Stanley was among a number of institutions that <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/nydig-closes-200m-round-from-institutional-investors/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">led</a> a $200 million round of funding for NYDIG, Stone Ridge Asset Management’s digital assets vertical. In January, it <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-09/morgan-stanley-unit-boosts-stake-in-bitcoin-loving-microstrategy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">boosted</a> its stake in Microstrategy, by about 650,000 shares, as the price of bitcoin broke $40,000 for the first time.

Morgan Stanley’s Rumored Bithumb Play Shows Institutional Interest in Korea’s Digital Asset Infrastructure

Ben Strack

As the CFTC perpetuated a string of enforcement actions against crypto companies by <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-and-ether-are-commodities-says-cftc-in-binance-lawsuit">suing Binance and its CEO</a> Monday, industry watchers warned that the crypto exchange could have a hard time defending itself.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The action also illustrates the continued turf war between the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/cftc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFTC</a> and <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/sec" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SEC</a>.



The CFTC is attempting to strike a “fatal blow” to Binance, Adam Cochran, a partner at Cinneamhain Ventures tweeted Monday.&nbsp;



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-and-ether-are-commodities-says-cftc-in-binance-lawsuit">The commodities-focused regulator alleges</a> that Binance and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, broke trading and derivatives laws. Samuel Lim, Binance’s former chief compliance officer, is also named as a defendant in the case — filed Monday in US district court for the Northern District of Illinois.



“At first read through&#8230;I think they actually have really strong chances here of succeeding in toppling the Binance empire,” he wrote.&nbsp;



A Binance spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.



Zhao tweeted “4” Monday —&nbsp; a reference to a January <a href="https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1610018096122851328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1610018096122851328%7Ctwgr%5Efe7f86147f98f69aafcb0b668d34c4bfec02d954%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bsc.news%2Fpost%2F4-czs-resolution-to-handle-binance-fud-in-2023">tweet</a> in which he said he would use the number to encourage people to “ignore FUD, fake news, attacks, etc.” The executive commonly uses FUD, an oft-used crypto industry term meaning fear, uncertainty and doubt.&nbsp;&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">I mean no matter how bullish you are, you cannot believe that &quot;the CFTC filed a case against us&quot; is FUD because it legit happened. It&#39;s not a rumor, it&#39;s not a matter of uncertainty, the case is damning and has chat records from insiders&#8230; <a href="https://t.co/WK1KJxyuyJ">https://t.co/WK1KJxyuyJ</a>&mdash; Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) (@adamscochran) <a href="https://twitter.com/adamscochran/status/1640380231155343360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 27, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h2>Commodities versus securities</h2>



Meltem Demirors, chief strategy officer at crypto investment firm CoinShares, said in a tweet that all eyes are on the lawsuit.&nbsp;



She noted that the case is similar to the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitmex-agrees-to-settlement-up-to-100m-with-us-cftc-and-fincen">CFTC’s case against BitMEX</a> — “albeit less OFAC violation focused and more concerned [with] marketing and product access for US retail,” the executive tweeted.



The regulator <a href="https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8412-21">ordered</a> BitMEX entities to pay a $100 million in August 2021 after alleging that the crypto platform illegally accepted orders and funds from US customers to trade derivatives on bitcoin (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BTC</a>), ether (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/eth" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ETH</a>), and litecoin (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/ltc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">LTC</a>).



Demirors added that the CFTC’s claims in the latest suit against Binance that bitcoin and ether are commodities counter the SEC’s stance.&nbsp;



SEC Chair Gary Gensler has said in interviews in the past year that while he views bitcoin as a commodity, most other crypto tokens are securities.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Monday’s complaint also labels litecoin, as well as stablecoins tether (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/usdt" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">USDT</a>) and Binance USD (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/busd" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BUSD</a>) as commodities. This distinction points to “the confusion being caused by the lack of clear regulations in the US,” according to Yankun Guo, a partner at Chicago law firm Ice Miller.&nbsp;



“It shows that both the multifaceted nature of how tokens function and how they are used can cause them to fall under multiple agency’s jurisdiction; but this is also an issue if the same company/exchange is sued by the multiple agencies for the same tokens,” Guo told Blockworks in an email. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see a similar lawsuit by the SEC naming all the same tokens except BTC as securities.”



<h2>Regulation by enforcement nothing new</h2>



The case is the latest enforcement action against a crypto company as some industry participants say US regulators seek to regulate the industry by force in the absence of a comprehensive framework for the sector.&nbsp;



US regulators have targeted other platforms for the failure to register with them, said Jeffrey Blockinger, chief legal counsel at decentralized exchange Vertex Protocol.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-sues-justin-sun">The SEC sued Tron Network founder Justin Sun</a> last week for allegedly selling unregistered securities. The commission also <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-serves-coinbase-in-latest-alleged-crypto-securities-violation">served Coinbase with a Wells notice</a> related to potential alleged securities violations. The notice relates to an “unspecified portion” of its listed digital assets, according to Coinbase — which the company says are not securities.



“Binance may choose to fight this but if the alleged facts are true, it will have a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-cftc-damning-quotes">difficult time defending itself</a>,” Blockinger told Blockworks in an email. “The issues are much less nuanced than current matters involving the SEC related to whether a particular token satisfies court-established precedent for what constitutes a security,” he said.



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‘Fatal Blow?’: Crypto Industry Reacts to CFTC Suit Against Binance

Bessie Liu

ApeCoin DAO, the community that governs ApeCoin — the Ethereum governance token used to aid decision-making in the APE ecosystem — has voted against introducing two new NFT collections.



The proposal wanted to introduce two new NFT collections: Multi-Link Ape Coin Armory Club and Ape Coin Pet Club.



Each NFT collection would be made of <a href="https://forum.apecoin.com/t/aip-206-more-apecoin-holding-utility-and-growth-incentive-gift-and-create-multi-link-ape-coin-armory-club-and-ape-coin-pet-club-decentraland-otherside-sandbox-to-apecoin-bayc-and-other-yuga-nft-holders/10587">20,000</a> unique tokens, with existing ApeCoin holders receiving an airdrop of a non-unique version of the NFT.&nbsp;



NFTs would be linked to popular metaverse projects including Decentraland, Otherside and The Sandbox.



In total, the project would have cost the DAO $168,000.



Aaron Leupp, an ApeCoin DAO community member and author of the proposal, said that the project would “bring more massive utility to all NFTs by making them the first multi-metaverse linked wearable NFTs.”



In an on-chain <a href="https://snapshot.org/#/apecoin.eth/proposal/0xf08cc4304b694beac9d15153fe08a17f677f3b9afd80c8920d6f91e568e24fa2">snapshot vote</a>, results show that over 84% of delegates voted against the proposal, with almost 10% voting in favor and 6% choosing to abstain.



“Let me know if [there is] anything we can change you think could get your Yes vote next time around or more information we can give you on it that may have been missed if you have any questions,” Leupp <a href="https://twitter.com/AaronLeupp/status/1639729203162796032" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>.



Adding, “We have put a ton of money and work into this pitch alone, so worth the ask on our end.”



Leupp did not immediately respond to Blockworks&#8217; request for comment.



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No New NFT Collections for ApeCoin DAO, Community Says

Jon Rice

The CFTC has <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-and-ether-are-commodities-says-cftc-in-binance-lawsuit">sued Binance</a> and two of its executives, CEO Changpeng Zhao and Samuel Lim, the exchange’s former chief compliance officer. In its complaint, the regulatory agency has included numerous internal communications that it claims show deliberate obfuscation and efforts to sidestep regulation.



Here are some of the most damning quotes from the CFTC complaint.



<h2>That pesky OFAC problem</h2>



According to the complaint, in 2018 Lim acknowledged that <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/binance" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Binance</a> was operating “in the USA” and advised his colleagues that “there is no fking way in hell I am signing off as the cco for the ofac shit.”



The US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) administers and enforces trade sanctions, and much of the document produced by the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/cftc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFTC</a> is concerned with Binance&#8217;s alleged efforts to avoid such oversight.



<h2>Terrorists send small sums</h2>



The complaint alleges that in February 2019, after receiving information “regarding HAMAS transactions” on Binance, Lim explained to a colleague that terrorists usually send “small sums” as “large sums constitute money laundering.” Lim’s colleague replied: “can barely buy an AK47 with 600 bucks.”



<h2>KYC optional</h2>



The CFTC continues, with the ever-more loose-lipped Lim allegedly stating in January 2019 that “Cz doesn’t wanna do us kyc on .com.”



<h2>2 BTC limit and US citizens</h2>



Regarding the implementation of a 2 bitcoin trading limit for non-verified customers, in 2019, Lim apparently told Zhao that “a huge number” of Binance’s “TIER 1 [meaning customers trading via the two BTC-no KYC loophole] could be US citizens in reality. They have to get smarter and VPN through non-U.S. IP.”



<h2>We&#8217;re doing things that are not in line with the US</h2>



The complaint states that during a management meeting in June of 2019 Zhao stated that &#8220;[T]here are a bunch of laws in the US that prevent Americans from having any kind of transaction with any terrorist, and then in order to achieve that, if you serve US or US sanctioned countries there are about 28 sanctioned countries in the US you would need to submit all relevant documents for review [but that is not] very suitable for our company structure to do so. So, we don’t want to do that and it is very simple if you don’t want to do that: you can’t have American users. Honestly it is not reasonable for the US to do this . . . . [U.S. regulators] can’t make a special case for us. We are already doing a lot of things that are obviously not in line with the United States.&#8221;



<h2>VPNs are not very subtle</h2>



The CFTC states that in March 2019, Lim said: “We are actually pretty explicit about [encouraged VPN use] already – even got a fking guide. Hence CZ is ok with blocking even usa.”



<h2>Creative onboarding of US users</h2>



The ever-obliging Lim allegedly told an employee that, &#8220;On the surface we cannot be seen to have US users but in reality we should get them through other creative means.&#8221;



<h2>Who&#8217;s in Chicago?</h2>



The complaint notes that a VIP team member contacted Zhao regarding a &#8220;Chicago-headquartered trading firm.&#8221;



VIP team member: Hi CZ . . . I went through list of affected API clients, it includes a number of large strategic accounts including [a Chicago-headquartered trading firm] who is currently is a top 5 client and 12% of our volume 



Zhao: Give them a heads up to ensure they don’t connect from a us Ip. Don’t leave anything in writing. They have non us entities. Let’s also make sure we don’t hit the biggest market makers with that email first. Do you have signal?&#8221;



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Despite Binance&#8217;s long-standing protestations of compliance, the CFTC <a href="https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8680-23">appears</a> to have significant and detailed information to support its complaint. And that can only be bad news for Binance.



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7 Damning Quotes From the CFTC Binance Lawsuit

Casey Wagner

Crypto prices dipped moments after news broke Monday of the CFTC <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-and-ether-are-commodities-says-cftc-in-binance-lawsuit">suing Binance and affiliated executives</a> on allegations of trading and derivatives violations.&nbsp;



<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/bnb" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BNB</a>, Binance’s native token, lost around 5% in short order.&nbsp;



Bitcoin (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BTC</a>) dropped 3.8% to $26,737, before recovering to $26,917 Monday just after 12 pm in New York. On Nov. 11, 2022, the day FTX filed for bankruptcy, bitcoin lost more than 6%.&nbsp;



Ether (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/eth" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ETH</a>), which lost nearly 7% on Nov. 11, was trading about 3.5% lower by early Monday afternoon. 



&#8220;Based on recent actions taken by US regulators, the CFTC taking actions against Binance isn&#8217;t entirely surprising. This may be why the markets are largely nonplussed by the lawsuit,” Darius Tabatabai, co-founder of decentralized exchange Vertex Protocol, said.&nbsp;



“That said, when you consider that suits have been announced against KuCoin, Kraken, and Coinbase, it certainly appears that there are headwinds that traders should consider as we move into the second quarter, and it will be fascinating to see how this all plays out in the court system,&#8221; Tabatabai added.



In the lawsuit, filed Monday in Illinois, the CFTC claims that Binance “has solicited and accepted orders, accepted property to margin, and operated a facility for the trading of futures, options, swaps, and leveraged retail commodity transactions involving digital assets that are commodities including bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), and litecoin (LTC) for persons in the United States.”



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/binance" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Binance</a> CEO Changpeng Zhao and Samuel Lim, the exchange’s former chief compliance officer, are named in the complaint as defendants.



The lawsuit comes shortly after Binance announced it would do away with zero-fee trading for 13 bitcoin spot trading pairs. Volumes on the exchange plummeted, moving Binance’s market share down 20%, according to data from research firm Kaiko.&nbsp;



“As of mid-March 2023, zero-fee trade volume accounted for a majority of total volume, clocking a high of 66%,” Kaiko analysts said in a note Monday before the lawsuit was filed.



Updated March 27, 2023 at 12:30 pm ET: Added comment from Darius Tabatabai, co-founder of decentralized exchange Vertex Protocol.



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Crypto Markets Stumble on Binance Legal Woes, but Not as Bad as FTX

Crypto exchange Binance and its CEO have been sued by the CFTC.



The regulatory agency filed the lawsuit Monday in US district court for the Northern District of Illinois. The CFTC alleges that the executive and his company broke trading and derivatives laws.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/binance" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Binance</a> CEO Changpeng Zhao and Samuel Lim, Binance’s former chief compliance officer, are named in the complaint as defendants.



Binance has executed commodity derivatives transactions to and for people in the US since July 2019, the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/cftc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFTC</a> alleges. But the company did not require its customers to provide identity-verifying information and failed to put in place compliance procedures, according to the lawsuit.



According to the complaint, “Binance, under Zhao’s direction and control and with Lim’s willful and substantial assistance, has solicited and accepted orders, accepted property to margin, and operated a facility for the trading of futures, options, swaps, and leveraged retail commodity transactions involving digital assets that are commodities including bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), and litecoin (LTC) for persons in the United States.”



The complaint alleges numerous attempts to evade US regulation, some of which are <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-cftc-damning-quotes">documented in significant detail</a>.



A Binance spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment. BNB coin (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/bnb" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BNB</a>), the native token launched by Binance in July 2017, was trading down -4.5% through 11:46 am ET on the news.&nbsp;



CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam said in a statement that the US commodities overseer is looking to continue to regulate what he called the “volatile and risky” digital asset market. The CFTC also is in charge of regulating derivative products, including financial instruments tied to commodities.&nbsp;



“For years, Binance knew they were violating CFTC rules, working actively to both keep the money flowing and avoid compliance,” Behnam said. “This should be a warning to anyone in the digital asset world that the CFTC will not tolerate willful avoidance of U.S. law.” .&nbsp;



The crypto exchange has previously been <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-under-investigation-over-bank-secrecy-act-report">investigated by the US Justice Department</a> to discover whether Binance violated the Bank Secrecy Act, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/exclusive-us-sought-records-binance-ceo-crypto-money-laundering-probe-2022-09-01/?rpc=401&amp;">reported</a> last year. A spokesperson said at the time the company “[works] with agencies regularly to address any outstanding questions,” but did not comment on whether it was being investigated for violating act.



The reported action is the latest in a string of measures taken by US regulators against large crypto players in recent weeks.&nbsp;



The SEC <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-serves-coinbase-in-latest-alleged-crypto-securities-violation">served Coinbase with a Wells notice</a> last week for alleged securities violations. The company’s CEO, Brian Armstrong, said the next day <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/coinbase" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Coinbase</a> would be <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-happy-to-go-to-court-with-sec">happy to take the commission to court</a> if necessary to defend itself and other industry firms.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Zhao reacted to the news on Twitter with the number “4”, which he has previously indicated means that he considers the news to be either fake, or ‘“FUD” (fear, uncertainty, and doubt).



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">4&mdash; CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) <a href="https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1640372505046052866?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 27, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



This is a developing story.



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Bitcoin and Ether Are Commodities, Says CFTC in Binance Lawsuit

The options for layer-2 scaling are expanding as Polygon launches its long-awaited zkEVM technology on Ethereum mainnet today.



The zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine is a technology that can execute smart contract transactions in a way that can prove the information is executed correctly without revealing the information itself on Ethereum’s mainnet, thereby bundling more transactions in less mainnet blockspace.



Sandeep Nailwal, the co-founder and chief operating officer of Polygon, told Blockworks this type of technology is considered the “<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/polygon-unveils-zkevm-the-holy-grail-of-scaling">holy grail of scaling</a>.”



“With the power of mathematics…you can compute something off-chain on layer-2, then verify everything back on Ethereum in a very succinct way in a very short amount of time,” Nailwal said.&nbsp;



Polygon’s launch on Ethereum comes just days after Matter Labs zkSync Era opened to the public on <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/zksyncs-evm-era-opens-to-the-public">Ethereum mainnet</a>.



Similar to zkSync’s offering, most of the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/polygon">Polygon</a> zkEVM’s code is open-source, but under an AGPL v3 license.



“That means that not only current repositories, but all future modifications and distributions as well, will remain open source, ensuring the code cannot be used for proprietary purposes,” Nailwal said.



The exception is the Polygon <a href="https://github.com/0xPolygonHermez/zkevm-prover#license">zkEVM prover</a>, for which an open-source license has not been selected at time of publication.



Nailwal notes that Polygon zkEVM is EVM equivalent, whereas zkSync’s offering is EVM compatible.



According to the <a href="https://vitalik.ca/general/2022/08/04/zkevm.html">framework</a> laid out by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin in August 2022, zkSync Era is classified as a “Type-4 (high-level-language equivalent),” and there are advantages and disadvantages of various approaches to bringing the EVM to a zero-knowledge rollup. The merits of various tradeoffs are an ongoing topic of debate.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Like zkSync Era, and the current crop of optimistic rollups, the Polygon zkEVM is not yet decentralized, but eventually, Nailwal hopes that Polygon’s new offering will take that step.



“Everything is in the hands of the community,” he said.&nbsp;



<h2>Security comes first</h2>



In addition to three internal audits, Nailwal notes that Polygon’s zkEVM has also gone through two rounds of external security audits from blockchain cybersecurity companies Hexens and Spearbit.



Ongoing, continuous audits are expected for the next three to four months following mainnet launch and a multi-million dollar bounty program will also be in place, he said.



The emphasis on security was also central to zkSync Era’s mainnet release, but Polygon said that Matter Labs had shared audits that cover their smart contracts and sequencer, not their prover.



“This raises serious questions about security, at least until a full audit is released. The prover for Polygon zkEVM, meanwhile, has been audited, and is open-source,” Brendan Farmer, Polygon Zero co-founder, told Blockworks.



A spokesperson for zkSync told Blockworks that the prover had been audited by Halborn Security, and pointed to the blockchain’s <a href="https://era.zksync.io/docs/dev/troubleshooting/audit-bug-bounty.html#audits">documentation</a>, which notes that a recently completed review has not yet been published.



Even conscientious security measures can leave gaps, however, and Nailwal notes that he does not wish users to bring millions of dollars to the zkEVM immediately.



&nbsp;“Zk is new technology…so we [want] people [to be] as cautious as possible,” he said.



Drawing on the example of the recent <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/euler-suffers-200m-exploit">Euler Finance attacks</a>, Nailwal cautioned that interacting with smart contracts is not without risk.&nbsp;



“Euler, after running for two years, a bug was found — this can happen any day, on any smart contract-based application.” he said.



ZkEVMs are sure to be compared to their <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/arbitrum-optimism-exceed-ethereum">optimistic rollup counterparts</a> — the most successful to-date being Optimism and Arbitrum.



“Arbitrum took one and a half years before people actually started bringing in money,” Nailwal said. “So we don’t expect people to bring a lot of money [initially].”



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Polygon’s zkEVM Goes Live on Ethereum Mainnet

MicroStrategy is on a spending spree. The business intelligence company shelled out millions in the past few weeks to scoop up an additional 6,455 BTC and pay off its loan from collapsed Silvergate Bank early, according to a regulatory filing Monday.&nbsp;



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/microstrategy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MicroStrategy</a> has paid off its $205 million loan from Silvegate, which it took out in March 2022, making its final payment of $161 million earlier this month. The loan, set to mature in March 2025, was collateralized with around $820 million in bitcoin, regulatory <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1050446/000119312522087494/d312252d8k.htm#:~:text=On%20March%2023%2C%202022%20(the,pursuant%20to%20which%20the%20Lender">filings</a> show. 



The news comes weeks after MicroStrategy told investors <a href="https://twitter.com/MicroStrategy/status/1631366897378680835?s=20">via Twitter</a> that Silvergates’ “insolvency or bankruptcy” would not “accelerate” the loan.&nbsp;



MicroStrategy <a href="https://www.microstrategy.com/en/investor-relations/press/silvergate-bank-issues-205-m-loan-to-macrostrategy-collateralized-by-bitcoin_03-29-2022">said in 2022</a> it would use the $205 million to purchase bitcoins and/or for “general corporate purposes.”&nbsp;



Monday’s SEC <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1050446/000119312523079839/d467124d8k.htm">filing</a> also shows the company purchased 6,455 <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BTC </a>over the past several weeks “for approximately $150 million in cash, at an average price of approximately $23,238 per bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses.” Microstrategy now holds more than 130,000 BTC, totalling around $4.1 billion, the regulatory form adds. That makes MicroStrategy’s the largest corporate treasury of any public company, per <a href="https://bitcointreasuries.net/">BitcoinTreasuries</a>.



MicroStrategy shares were relatively unchanged in pre-market trading following the regulatory filing Monday, losing less than 0.1%. The company’s stock has had an explosive first quarter, gaining nearly 80% since the start of 2023.&nbsp;



Last week, however, shares dipped about 9% as concerns about the company’s ties to Silvergate grew. Analysts surveyed by <a href="https://www.marketbeat.com/stocks/NASDAQ/MSTR/price-target/">MarketBeat</a> still give MSTR a hold rating, with a price target of $294. MSTR closed Friday’s trading session at $256.67. 



Reports of insider <a href="https://simplywall.st/stocks/us/software/nasdaq-mstr/microstrategy/news/bullish-insiders-at-microstrategy-incorporated-nasdaqmstr-lo">buying</a> – independent director Carl Rickertsen allegedly bought $608,000 in shares over the past 12 months –  may have fueled the recent rally in the past few months and drive future price moves.



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MicroStrategy Buys More Bitcoin Below Average Cost Price

Shalini Nagarajan

Gucci is set to take &#8220;an active role&#8221; in the upcoming Bored Ape Yacht Club metaverse offering, Otherside, after striking a multi-year strategic partnership with creator Yuga Labs.



The Italian luxury fashion house aims to formally join Yuga Labs in exploring the &#8220;intersection between fashion and entertainment in the metaverse,&#8221; Business of Fashion reported.



Gucci had already <a href="https://opensea.io/collection/10ktf-gucci-grail" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">worked</a> with Yuga Labs&#8217; 10KTF project, the NFT-powered browser game created by digital artist Beeple, in which players deck their avatars out in clothes tied to digital collectibles. Gucci issued branded 10KTF outfits in Mar. 2022, with Yuga Labs acquiring 10KTF by September.



Yuga Labs also manages NFT projects MeeBits and CryptoPunks, which the Florida-headquartered startup bought from Larva Labs last year.



&#8220;Existing in a world where physical and digital realms collide, and are shaped by creative storytelling, the first activation in the partnership will give a glimpse of Gucci’s participation in Otherside, Yuga’s gamified, metaRPG universe, beginning this week,&#8221; Gucci said in a press release.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Continuing to explore the Metaverse, the House comes together with <a href="https://twitter.com/yugalabs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@yugalabs</a>. Stay tuned as a new narrative takes shape, blurring the boundaries between the physical and digital. <a href="https://t.co/v60mzcgqqY">pic.twitter.com/v60mzcgqqY</a>&mdash; gucci (@gucci) <a href="https://twitter.com/gucci/status/1640307726319513602?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 27, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Robert Triefus, chief executive of Gucci Vault &amp; Metaverse Ventures, <a href="https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/technology/gucci-teams-up-with-company-behind-bored-ape-yacht-club/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reportedly</a> said the partnership “will give us an active role in Otherside and 10KTF’s continuing narrative, unfolding in multiple forms.” Blockworks has reached out to Gucci and Yuga Labs for comment.&nbsp;



Triefus reportedly said 2021 hype in the NFT market has eased. And since it’s now in a more “sensible place,” Gucci intends to “capitalise on the the expertise of creatives.” 



Gucci created its metaverse division about six months ago. A top executive at Gucci owner Kering previously said the company wants to be a pioneer in the Web3 and NFT industry, <a href="https://www.voguebusiness.com/technology/gucci-owner-kering-says-crypto-no-longer-niche-wants-to-be-web3-pioneers">Vogue Business</a> reported. 



“Luxury has a role to play. There’s a real opportunity for us to create digital products that would be ways to express our houses,” chief client and digital officer Grégory Boutté told the outlet.



“Our vision is around two pillars: metaverse and Web3. We think the metaverse is already here, the best evidence being video games. Some 2.5 billion people use video games. These virtual worlds will be more and more immersive and present in our lives,” Boutté said.



Gucci began accepting ApeCoin (APE), which is set for use across Yuga Labs&#8217; in-development metaverse offerings, at some of its US retail stores last August.



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Gucci To Take ‘Active Role’ in Bored Ape Yacht Club Metaverse

Sebastian Sinclair

The Group of Seven (G7), consisting of the world’s largest industrialized democracies, is expected to discuss the adoption of stricter crypto regulations in two months’ time as attention on the nascent asset class mounts.



In a bid to promote what officials are calling transparency and consumer safeguards, the G7 will speed up discussions ahead of a meeting of finance ministers and central bankers in mid-May, <a href="https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2023/03/694fcb5d1fa9-g-7-to-push-for-tighter-cryptocurrency-regulations.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kyodo News</a> reported Sunday. 



Discussions will commence just days before the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, which is expected to involve talks surrounding the risks digital assets pose to the global financial system.&nbsp;



The G7’s decision to prioritize stricter regulations on crypto could have wider implications for the industry and investors. Similar issues are expected to be discussed by finance ministers and central bankers from 20 major economies in Washington in mid-April, per the report.



It follows in the wake of FTX’s implosion in November, which prompted regulators to formulate stricter rules for exchanges and digital asset service providers as they sought measures to enhance transparency and accountability.



The G7, comprising Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Japan, the US and the EU is seeking the establishment of further regulations as well, recognizing digital assets via a legal framework.



Japan is one of the few member states within the G7 to have industry-related regulations in place, while the EU continues its work on <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/mica">MiCA</a>, expected to govern digital assets in the bloc, and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/mica-delay-until-april-gives-eu-crypto-firms-ample-breathing-room">set to begin</a> its 18-month transitional period in April.



Across the Atlantic, the US and Canada are attempting to retroactively apply existing financial regulations against the crypto industry as concerns mount over <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bidens-view-on-crypto">how to police</a> the nascent asset class.



Moves from regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission against crypto firms like Ripple, have prompted industry participants to call for an <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ripple-counsel-crypto-usa">exit from the US</a>.



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G7 Members Likely To Discuss Stricter Crypto Regulation in May

The number of individuals holding select amounts of bitcoin rose to new heights on Sunday as the broader traditional market continues to digest an easing of US Federal Reserve fund rates.



Data from provider Glassnode <a href="https://twitter.com/glassnodealerts/status/1640145532206170112?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">shows</a> the number of addresses holding more than one bitcoin (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc">BTC</a>) rose to an all-time high of 989,875, as the asset’s price hovers near $28,000.



Buying pressure remains resilient despite fluctuations and recent market volatility. Of the total addresses currently holding bitcoin, 70% or roughly 31.96 million addresses are now in profit, <a href="https://app.intotheblock.com/coin/BTC/deep-dive?group=all&amp;chart=all" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">IntoTheBlock</a> data shows.



US equities finished positive on Friday following a volatile week of trading which saw the Fed raise rates by a further 25 basis points, putting to rest investor fears of steeper rate hikes.



Inflation remains a primary concern for the central bank, despite recent bank failures, including the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank earlier this month. The Fed is now attempting to walk a tightrope between persistent inflation and triggering a nationwide recession.



On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the US government is prepared to take further action to shore up the banking sector, providing a temporary reprieve to heightened uncertainty.



That has so far had little impact on investor sentiment, as <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/032523bc-3b92-4b94-b6b8-ebbe1d606b2c" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">money market funds</a> offered by the likes of Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase &amp; Co. and Fidelity have surged by more than $286 billion over the past two weeks.



Investors are likely to remain skittish regarding the safety of bank deposits as they seek out alternatives, Singapore-based crypto financial services firm Matrixport said in its latest report.



“This flight to quality…will likely continue, so we have to be careful that the US bank run might not have run its course,” it said.



The <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/indices/equity/dow-jones-us-select-regional-banks-index/#overview" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">US regional bank index</a> will likely serve as an indicator of the severity of the stress in the system, which could see further allocation to digital assets as a risk hedge, Matrixport said. 



Major stock market indexes clocked a winning week, with the Dow Jones average rising 1.2%, the S&amp;P 500 gaining 1.4% and the Nasdaq Composite finishing up 1.7% higher.



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Bitcoin Holders Hit New Highs as Fed Tightening Eases

Funding in cryptocurrency startups picked up this week. Almost $190 million went into industry startups this week, a significantly greater amount than the previous seven day period, which saw only $37 million injected into the ecosystem.



Of all the funding raises, Web3 gaming developer CCP Games, a Reykjavík-based startup, managed to secure the largest amount of cash over the same span.



It closed a $40 million seed round led by prominent venture capitalist firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Participating investors included Makers Fund, BITKRAFT, Kingsway Capital, HASHED and Nexon, among others.



“With advancements made within blockchain, we can forge a new universe deeply imbued with our expertise in player agency and autonomy, empowering players to engage in new ways,” Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of CCP games said in a <a href="https://www.projectawakening.io/">statement</a>.



This round of financing will be used to accelerate the studio&#8217;s development of gaming in the virtual world.&nbsp;



<h2>More gaming news…</h2>



CCP Games was not the only Web3 gaming developer that took in fresh funding this week. NFT gaming protocol Aavegotchi also secured $30 million.



The open-source protocol first launched a token sale in September 2020 in the form of a DAICO (Decentralized Autonomous ICO).&nbsp;



According to the company, the haul marks one of the largest fundraising rounds in the gaming sector this year where “no VCs or Angel Investors were directly involved in the raise.”



&#8220;The successful conclusion of this sale represents a watershed moment for the decentralized fundraising space and, we hope, a model for responsible fundraising for projects in the future,&#8221; Coder Dan, co-founder and CEO of Pixelcraft Studios <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/developers-of-nft-gaming-metaverse-raise-30m-from-community-and-players-in-worlds-longest-token-sale-301776390.html">said</a> in a statement.



Funding will be shared across community participants. Developers will receive 25% of the funding, with the remaining amount controlled by the DAO treasury. Funds are expected to be used to continue development, as well as spent on marketing and other protocol initiatives.



<h2>Other notable funding rounds this week:</h2>



<ul>
<li>Decentralized multi-chain wallet BitKeep secured $30 million from Bitget at a $300 million valuation.</li>



<li>Animoca Brands led a $28 million Series A for social platform OP3N, bringing its valuation to $100 million.&nbsp;</li>



<li>Auros secured $17 million from VivCourt with participation from BitDigital, Trovio, Epoch Capital and Primal Capital, plus a handful of senior alumni from Optiver.</li>



<li>Layer-1 DeFi protocol Radix secured $10 million in funding from DwfLabs.</li>
</ul>



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Web3 Gaming Developers Continue To Be Favored by Investors

The White House’s Council of Economic Advisors published its annual report this week, dedicating an entire chapter of its 500 pages to digital assets.&nbsp;



The crypto industry is seeking to exist outside of government bounds, the report alleges, which sets it up for failure.&nbsp;



“Digital asset proponents are now aspiring to create a decentralized financial system without relying on governments,” the CEA <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/ERP-2023.pdf">report</a> reads. “Proponents have been relearning the lessons from previous financial crises the hard way.”&nbsp;



Many industry members found the report troubling, especially given its publication during a time of extreme regulatory uncertainty.&nbsp;



“The authors [of the CEA report] repeatedly cite crypto’s most sordid bad actors as broadly indicative of the industry as a whole,” Galaxy analysts wrote in a report Friday. “When referring to frauds, they use BitConnect, one of the most blatant scams of the 2017 bull run (which by the way was exposed by the crypto community in real time and only charged by the SEC 4 years after the scam had run its course in 2021).”&nbsp;



Others pointed out that the report’s attitude toward crypto is only going to push companies offshore, taking innovation away from the US and potentially setting up investors to have exposure to risky business practices.&nbsp;



“While other countries are increasingly receptive to the burgeoning crypto industry, some in government appear increasingly allergic to its promise, sending companies and innovators offshore,” Kristin Smith, CEO of the Blockchain Association, said in a statement this week. “Crypto is here for good, promising a safer and sounder financial system and a consumer-centric internet.”



There are US regulators trying to push crypto out, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce confirmed <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/gensler-too-much-too-fast">in an appearance before Florida International University law students</a> earlier this week.&nbsp;



“Some people in the regulatory world are perfectly fine with having innovation in crypto move away from the United States because they don’t think that there’s anything positive that’s going to come out of it,” Peirce said. “I tend to be of a different mindset.”



The CEA report goes on to quote prominent computer scientists and their issues with crypto as evidence that the underlying technology may not be legitimate.&nbsp;



“But the authors fail to note that there are thousands of prominent computer scientists that believe the technology is transformational or are even working on it,” Galaxy researchers said. “For example, the authors fail to note that MIT, Stanford, [U.C. Berkeley], University College of London, and hundreds more prominent universities are deep into conducting significant technical research on blockchain and crypto assets, or to mention the myriad prominent cryptographers and computer scientists who advocate for and develop on blockchain technology.”&nbsp;



The report came during an unexpectedly explosive week for cryptocurrency regulatory actions. <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/do-kwon-indicted-for-fraud">Do Kwon, the long-wanted founder of collapsed Terraform Labs</a>, was arrested and indicted, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-serves-coinbase-in-latest-alleged-crypto-securities-violation">Coinbase was served a Wells notice</a>, and the SEC targeted <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sushiswap-served-by-sec">SushiSwap with new securities violations</a>.&nbsp;



Peirce said SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s agenda is ambitious, so the industry may want to brace for additional enforcement actions.



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White House ‘Allergic to Promise’ Says Crypto Industry

The real estate market is seen as a profitable avenue for investors wanting to have diverse investment options. But soaring house prices have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/05/realestate/housing-prices-affordability.html">overtaken</a> wage growth, rendering home ownership almost unaffordable to swathes of the global population.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/what-it-takes-to-tokenize-the-world">Tokenized real estate</a> is a novel solution to this problem, opening the doors to <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fractionalownership.asp">fractionalized</a> digital assets.



The concept means that buyers can opt in for a share of one chunk of real estate for as little as a dollar. They can then simply choose to sell their share as and when the value of the property rises or falls.&nbsp;



In 2021, accountancy firm Moore Global <a href="https://www.ledgerinsights.com/moore-global-says-tokenized-real-estate-could-reach-1-4-trillion-in-five-years/">predicted</a> tokenization is “absolutely going to be a disruptor in global property markets.” It would turn into a $1.4 trillion industry even if a small fraction of those markets were tokenized in the next five years.



We may be far from that target, but some companies are already using blockchain-powered tokenized models that allow users to invest in fractions of properties.



<ul>
<li>Tokenized REITs, or Real Estate Investment Trusts: ownership of shares in a portfolio of real estate assets</li>



<li>Tokenized rental properties: purchase tokens representing ownership either in a single property or multiple properties&nbsp;</li>



<li>Tokenized mortgage-backed securities: acquire tokens representing ownership in a single mortgage or multiple mortgages, which gives access to the same rate of return as traditional MBS investments</li>
</ul>



Marius Grigoras, CEO of crypto launchpad for startups BHero, said he’s seen the direct impact DeFi is having on the real estate industry.



“The tokenization of real estate assets has introduced more liquidity and access to investments previously available only to high-net-worth individuals,” he told Blockworks.



Bob Ras, co-founder of Sologenic, a network for tokenizing securities, said tokenized real estate is gaining attention because smart contracts reduce the need for paperwork. They also cut down the cost, time and effort involved in buying property. Fractional ownership also offers investors exposure to high-value assets at lower costs.



“Rather than investing thousands of dollars, investors can participate with as little as a few hundred dollars. This trend is expected to continue, with more potential homeowners turning to tokenization for cheaper investment opportunities in real estate,” Ras told Blockworks.



<h2>Atlanta home tokenized on Ethereum</h2>



Fintech and single family-focused rental platform <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/tokenized-home-nets-thousands">Roofstock recently sold a Georgia home to ReaIT</a>, a platform that offers fractional real estate investment in tokenized assets. The transaction was facilitated via an Ethereum-based NFT on OpenSea.&nbsp;



ReaIT acquired the property from Rootstock so it could proceed to sell tokenized shares to investors, a novel way to allow investors in other countries access to equities originated in the US. The property, which was acquired for 218,000 USDC, saw some 670 unique token holders snap up more than 700 orders.



<h2>Selling rental properties as NFTs</h2>



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/roofstock-sells-property-via-nft">Roofstock last month sold a home in Harvest, Alabama</a> via NFT marketplace built by Origin Protocol to an unknown buyer. And last year, the same platform <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2022/10/18/2536481/0/en/Roofstock-onChain-Sells-First-Real-Estate-NFT-Purchased-with-USDC-through-On-Chain-Home-Financing.html">sold</a> an NFT-based residential home for $175,000 to local real estate investor Adam Slipakoff.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/a-real-estate-backed-nft-sold-for-653000">Real estate startup Propy sold its first NFT-backed four-bedroom property</a> in Florida in February last year. The winning bidder got the house for 210 ETH, or $653,000 at the time. Under the agreement, the NFT holder claims ownership via a limited liability company that holds title for the property.



Propy also <a href="https://propy.com/browse/propy-nft/">facilitated</a> the sale of TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington’s Ukraine apartment via an NFT, which had a starting price of $20,000.



<h2>Rental income by holding tokens</h2>



Tokenization company BinaryX recently put up a villa in Bali for $700,000 on its testnet, which is also expected to be listed on the mainnet.



Anyone who buys a fractionalized token becomes the villa’s co-owner in the real world and will be offered $6.25 rent per token.&nbsp;



<h2>Real estate NFTs can still flop</h2>



Shane Dulgeroff, a real estate broker in the US, wanted to jump into the world of tokenized real estate in 2021. He offered to sell a <a href="https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/221-Dryden-St-Thousand-Oaks-CA-91360/16482013_zpid/">house</a> in Thousand Oaks, California along with an <a href="https://opensea.io/assets/ethereum/0x495f947276749ce646f68ac8c248420045cb7b5e/2486869023454245507069933349028388716405620900153834793415058191888540499969">NFT video </a>of the house.&nbsp;



The offer saw a minimum bid of 48 ETH, or $117,000 at the time, on OpenSea, but Dulgeroff wanted a minimum of $2 million. Two years later, it has still not been sold.



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Tokenized Real Estate: Crypto Hungry for Real-world Assets

Tether is reportedly expecting more big profits this quarter under market conditions that bode well for stablecoin issuers holding piles of short-dated, yield-bearing securities in a high interest rate environment.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Tether Chief Technology Officer Paolo Ardoino estimates the company is set to book a $700 million profit in the first quarter, Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/tether-expects-first-quarter-profit-of-700-million-cto-says-1.1899916">reported</a>.&nbsp;



The company added $700 million to its Tether reserves via net profits during the fourth quarter of 2022, Tether said in February. The fourth quarter report highlighted a $300 million reduction in secured loans and “the highest percentage to date of assets allocated in US Treasury Bills,” — with exposure amounting to 58%.&nbsp;



A Tether spokesperson did not immediately comment.



A spokesperson for the issue of stablecoin tether (USDT) told Blockworks earlier this month that it holds “a strong, conservative, and liquid portfolio” that comprises short-term US Treasurys, as well as cash and cash equivalents.



An allocation to short-dated Treasurys securities, such as Treasury Bills, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/treasury-markets-stablecoins-liquidity">has protected stablecoin issuers</a> from a decrease of liquidity in the Treasury bond market, Kaiko research analyst Conor Ryder said at the time.&nbsp;



“Put simply, Tether holds a giant pile of yield-bearing fixed-income securities and passes none of the interest income it earns on those assets to stablecoin holders, instead retaining it all as profit,” said Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy Digital. “As rates rise, their profit rises.”



The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates by 75 basis points or 50 basis points over the past year. Its latest bump this week <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/federal-reserve-interest-rate-25-bps-march">amounted to a 0.25% increase</a>.&nbsp;



Circle, the issuer behind USDC, did not return a request for comment on its estimated first quarter earnings.



The fair value of assets held in Circle’s USDC Reserve was $42.3 billion, as of Jan. 31, according to a Circle accounting <a href="https://www.circle.com/hubfs/USDCAttestationReports/2023%20USDC_Circle%20Examination%20Report%20January%202023.pdf">report</a>. Roughly $33.7 billion of that amount, or nearly 80%, was allocated to US Treasury securities.&nbsp;



Meanwhile MakerDAO, which has its own stablecoin, DAI, declined to forecast its financials, noting it would produce a first quarter financial report in the coming weeks.&nbsp;



The DAO was seeking to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/makerdao-more-us-treasury-bond-investments">increase its investments in US Treasurys and bonds</a> to $1.25 billion, according to a proposal earlier this month.&nbsp;



“In a high-interest rate environment, these issuers should be receiving significant yield on stablecoin collateral — varying significantly, though, depending on the composition of reserves and portfolio duration,” Thorn said.



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Stablecoin Issuers Like Tether May Book Big Profits Soon

Bitcoin and ether have managed to stay in the green throughout the current banking crisis, even as regulatory pressures continue to mount. Trying to determine why and how bitcoin especially has remained resilient is a nearly impossible task, analysts said, but there are key factors investors should keep an eye on.&nbsp;



Bitcoin (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BTC</a>) is up more than 20% over the past month, while ether (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/eth" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ETH</a>) has gained around 10%. Market research firm Global Macro said its highest performing index for the week has been its bitcoin index, which is up 13% week over week. 



Analysts say macro conditions are helping support crypto for the time being.&nbsp;



The Federal Reserve’s decision <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/federal-reserve-interest-rate-25-bps-march">to bump interest rates 25 basis points</a> Wednesday was followed by promising remarks from Chair Jerome Powell that should the banking crisis continue and contaminate other areas of the economy, the central bank will be forced to take a more aggressive stance.&nbsp;



Markets like the sound of lower hikes, Noelle Acheson, author of Crypto is Macro Now and former head of market insights at Genesis, said.



“The persistent and spreading concerns plaguing the banking industry are showing in fed funds expectations,” Acheson said.&nbsp;



Fed funds futures are dramatically lower than the central bank’s official year-end target of 5.1%. Markets are anticipating ending 2023 at around 4%.&nbsp;



“This is also seen in the continued drops in key US treasury yields,” Acheson added. “The 10-year and the 2-year are now back to where they were in early September, when the fed funds range was still 2.25-2.50%.”



However, investors still need to keep an eye on stocks, analysts warn, because a major sell-off is bound to impact crypto markets. 



“The banking crisis, which caused the market to price in rate cuts starting in the summer, has had little knock-on effect on crypto (so far),” analysts from Macro Hive wrote in a note Friday. “The short-term pause in BTC and ETH is technically a correction, but if equities break down meaningfully, crypto will struggle to remain buoyant as investors source liquidity from everywhere.”



Recent regulatory developments — <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-serves-coinbase-in-latest-alleged-crypto-securities-violation">Coinbase’s Wells notice</a>, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/do-kwon-arrested">Do Kwon’s arrest</a> and indictment, and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sushiswap-served-by-sec">charges against SushiSwap</a> — should maybe have crypto investors wary, the analysts say.



For now, though, volatility and bitcoin dominance indicators show that crypto, particularly BTC, is holding firm.



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How Crypto Has Stayed in the Green During Banking Crisis

Token protocol Noble wants to establish what it says are building blocks missing in the Cosmos ecosystem.



It’s now coming out of stealth mode after six months of development, setting its mainnet launch for Monday.



Cosmos needs a native stablecoin to deepen the liquidity of the Cosmos ecosystem, Jelena Djuric, Noble CEO, told Blockworks. Stablecoins like USDC and DAI can already be <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/usdc-is-coming-to-cosmos-in-2023">ported</a> to Cosmos appchains (layer-1 networks launched to power a single app), through bridge protocols Gravity and Axelar.



Having liquidity split across so many <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/solving-game-developer-problems">appchains</a> can slow interoperability, as tokens must be manually swapped between networks for use across Cosmos. There can also be security concerns <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bridge-protocols-race-to-win-consumer-trust">associated with network bridges</a>,&nbsp;



“We are very much laser-focused on this one very specific application,” Djuric said. “Within the Cosmos ecosystem, I think it became very apparent that there are certain building blocks or fundamentals that were missing, and one of those things is a native stablecoin to the ecosystem.”



Noble doesn’t consider itself a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, as in something like Uniswap. Those platforms don’t support token issuance, but they do allow cryptocurrencies to be freely listed and sold peer-to-peer.



Built using the Cosmos software development kit (SDK), Noble instead helps issuers manage their tokens: burning, minting, blacklisting and other functions.



Noble wants to inspire token issuances to port liquidity from other layer-1 ecosystems by being their token <a href="https://github.com/strangelove-ventures/noble">factory</a>, in a sense. “We’re looking to facilitate the native asset issuance by working with protocols and institutions,” Djuric said.&nbsp;



By staying neutral in the ecosystem, Noble hopes it can “provide something that everyone can get behind,” per Djuric. Beyond stablecoins and the like, tokenization of real-world assets was also floated.



<h2>Noble evaluating ‘Interchain Security’</h2>



The Cosmos Hub — the primary validator set of the Cosmos mainnet — allows upstart networks to borrow its validators for a fee, part of its <a href="https://interchainsecurity.dev/">recent</a> Interchain Security (ICS) push.&nbsp;



A properly secure blockchain network should have a measurably decentralized validator set, which consumer chains can struggle to put in place. ICS is intended to help with that, opening the door for more startups to launch their own chains on Cosmos.



Noble’s mainnet will launch as a “proof of authority chain” with a permissioned set of validators, all of which are also Cosmos Hub validators, but it’ll run ICS once it can evaluate how the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/noble-ditches-cosmos-interchain-security">software handles slashing</a>.



Djuric tells Blockworks this decision is only temporary. “There was this last-minute design chain around slashing which we haven’t formed an official opinion on whether it is positive or negative.”



“We still intend to launch with ICS. We just want to see how it plays out in production,” she said.



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Noble Comes Out of Stealth To Solve Cosmos Liquidity

Matthew Fiebach

AVAX

Avalanche Update: Elastic Subnets, AWM, and The HyperSDK

Digital Asset Summit (DAS) is returning March 2024.



This year&#8217;s event will be held in our nation’s capital, where industry leaders, policymakers, and institutional experts will come together to discuss the latest developments and challenges in the ever-evolving world of cryptocurrency.



What you can expect:



<ul>
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<li>Access to institutional dinners and exclusive networking events,</li>



<li>Unparalleled insights from industry leaders</li>
</ul>



And more! Don’t miss out on the opportunity to be in the room when the future of crypto is decided.



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March 18-20 | Washington, D.C.

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Digital Asset Summit 2024 | Washington, D.C.

Permissionless is the brainchild of Blockworks and Bankless. Over 5,500 people attended the inaugural event in 2022, making Permissionless the world’s largest DeFi conference.&nbsp;



What sets Permissionless apart? It’s a crypto native’s paradise, crafted specifically for both builders and investors who are dedicated to scaling the industry.&nbsp;



Permissionless is headed to Austin in 2023, and you know what they say… Everything is bigger in Texas.&nbsp;



Permissionless 2023 will feature the biggest names in Web3, a gargantuan exposition hall filled with the top brands in the space, an awe-inspiring NFT Gallery, inclusive, community-focused parties and events, metaverse experiences, and so much more.



See you in Paradise.

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Speakers

Erik Voorhees

Mary-Catherine (MC) Lader is the Chief Operating Officer of Uniswap Labs, a developer of foundational web3-based products and applications. In this role, she oversees the company’s growth efforts, strategic initiatives, and operations. Previously, she held various leadership roles at BlackRock, including as the Global Head of the firm’s digital sustainability business, Chief Operating Officer of the firm’s digital wealth business, and leader of the firm’s strategic fintech investments and blockchain activities. MC began her career as an investor in Goldman Sachs’ Special Situations Group. She received her J.D. and M.B.A. degrees at Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School, respectively, and her B.A. at Brown University.

Mary-Catherine Lader

Zaki Manian is a Co-Founder of Sommelier, the most powerful coprocessor yet for DeFi traders and Liquidity Providers. He’s also a Co-Founder of iqlusion, which provides infrastructure like a data center and a Cosmos validator for next-gen crypto technologies. Previously, Zaki helped build the Cosmos ecosystem, including launching the first public Cosmos testnet, and served as a director of Tendermint. Zaki has been a leading developer in the blockchain space since 2014, when he taught himself cryptography and began contributing to projects including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Zcash, and Tendermint. Having studied history of science at the University of Pennsylvania, Zaki’s skill sets in software engineering, programming, and computer science are largely self-taught.

Zaki Manian

Justin Drake

At Alluvial, Chief Growth Officer Mara Schmiedt focuses on advancing industry participation and adoption of Liquid Collective, seeking out world-class partnership opportunities, and overseeing Business Development, Sales, and other strategic functions. Mara recently joined Alluvial as Chief Growth Officer from Coinbase, where she served as the Head of Sales for Coinbase Cloud, the leading developer platform for blockchain-based infrastructure products and APIs. She expanded Cloud's staking business, supporting large-scale organizations, enterprises, and institutional investors. Prior to joining Coinbase, she managed Business Development at Bison Trails, a leading provider of blockchain-based infrastructure acquired by Coinbase in February 2021. Mara also served as Strategy Manager at ConsenSys, where she supported the strategic development of Codefi, the blockchain application suite for Web3 Commerce and Finance.



Mara is passionate about open-source technology and has published multiple research reports and papers on liquid staking, such as <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/13-s15SvCIUBukhSZiNkpd0sTff3izQ5G/view">The Internet Bond</a> and <a href="https://consensys.net/insights/eth-2-staking-ecosystem-report/">Ethereum 2.0 Staking Ecosystem Report</a>.&nbsp;



Additionally, she has led various industry initiatives, including leading the working group with the Ethereum Foundation that developed the Ethereum Launchpad and the first distributed validator technology (DVT) PoCs. Mara's deep experience in bringing technology and blockchain-based products and services to market — as well as her track record of building world-class business and sales organizations — bolsters Alluvial's support of Liquid Collective.

Mara Schmiedt

Stani Kulechov

Hasu

Christine is a Partner and Head of Digital Asset Strategy at Apollo Global Management, Inc. In this newly created position, Christine leads digital asset strategy across the firm, exploring more ways to apply blockchain technologies to Apollo’s business. She also plays a key role in Apollo’s strategy to invest in some of the most innovative digital asset companies and founders, with a specific focus on those transforming the financial services sector where Apollo can serve as a validator and enabler of new technologies. Previously, she was a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan and led its Blockchain/Crypto/Metaverse program through initiatives in digital assets, tokenized payments, internet of-things, decentralized identity, NFTs, and virtual worlds. She is a graduate of Brown University. Christine was named in Fortune’s The Ledger 40 Under 40 list of “the most impressive, young superstars transforming business at the leading edge of finance and technology.”

Christine Moy

Santiago Roel Santos (CryptoPunk #9159) is an investor focusing at the intersection of DeFi and the Web3 metaverse (NFTs/gaming). Most recently was a Partner at ParaFi Capital, one of the largest crypto funds specializing in DeFi. Prior to that, he was at Sageview Capital investing in Internet and software and, before that, at JP Morgan investment banking. Santiago began investing in crypto in 2012.

Santiago Roel Santos

Michael Anderson is the co-founder of Framework Ventures, one of earliest and largest VC firms to enter the “DeFi” or Decentralized Finance industry. With over $1B in AUM, the firm has since expanded into additional maturing verticals like blockchain gaming and social crypto. Prior to Framework, Michael and his co-founder Vance Spencer launched Hashletes, a digital collectible startup with official licensing from the NFL. Before entering crypto, Michael served as a product manager at both Snapchat and Dropbox, where he helped build out their monetization platforms.

Michael Anderson

Soona Amhaz is founder and GP of Volt Capital, a venture firm that focuses on pre-seed and seed companies in the digital assets space. Soona is also an advisor to On Deck, Forbes 30 under 30 in VC, and an alum from the University of Michigan School of Engineering.

Soona Amhaz

Colleen Sullivan is Co-Head of Ventures at Brevan Howard Digital. Prior to joining Brevan Howard Digital, Colleen co-founded and served as CEO of CMT Digital, where she was also a partner with the broader CMT Group and commenced activities in the crypto industry in 2013. Prior to starting CMT Digital, Colleen co-founded Sullivan Wolf Kailus, a boutique law firm that specializes in hedge fund, private equity, venture capital, digital assets, and other alternative investment products. Colleen also previously practiced law in the Investment Funds and Derivatives group at Sidley Austin LLP and, at age 25, co-founded a company called iOptions Group LLC, which developed hedging and monetization strategies for holders of employee stock options. Ms. Sullivan currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Chamber of Digital Commerce.

Colleen Sullivan

Tarun is an alumni of D. E. Shaw Research (DESRES), Vatic Labs, an HFT firm, and Cornell. He fell into the blockchain world in 2011, when he was working on ASICs at DESRES and observed Bitcoin ASIC mining rigs substantially delay DESRES’s ASIC production. He has spent the last seven years working on simulation-based R&amp;D at the intersection of high-performance computing and AI and is applying this knowledge to the blockchain ecosystem.

Tarun Chitra

Kevin Owocki is the founder of Gitcoin.co — Where builders &amp; funders come together to build the open web.  Gitcoin has delivered <a href="http://gitcoin.co/results">$50mm worth of value</a> to OSS devs in the last several years. He has a BS in Computer Science, 15 years of engineering leadership experience in Open Source Software and Web Startups. Kevin is a community organizer in the Boulder Colorado Tech Scene.

Kevin Owocki

Meltem Demirors is Chief Strategy Officer of CoinShares, a publicly listed investment firm that manages over five billion in digital assets on behalf of a global investor base, and is a trusted partner to investors and entrepreneurs navigating the digital asset ecosystem.



 An established veteran of digital asset investing, Meltem draws on her substantial experience and widespread influence to accelerate growth and acceptance of the asset class. Prior to joining CoinShares, Meltem helped build and grow Digital Currency Group, raising capital from the world’s largest corporations and managing a portfolio of 120 companies and 4 subsidiaries. Before she was bitten with the bitcoin bug, Meltem worked in the Oil &amp; Gas industry in trading, corporate treasury, and M&amp;A roles. 



Meltem has been recognized for her personal contributions to the industry and serves as an outspoken advocate. She is a founding member of the World Economic Forum Blockchain Council. Meltem teaches at her alma mater MIT as well as Oxford, and is passionate about privacy and civil rights.

Meltem Demirors

Vance is the co-founders of Framework Ventures, a thesis-driven venture capital firm whose team of technologists, researchers, and investors partner with founders and teams to build token-based networks and develop the requisite cryptoeconomics, governance, and community to scale.

Vance Spencer

Jim Bianco is President and Macro Strategist at Bianco Research, L.L.C. Since 1990 Jim’s commentaries have offered a unique perspective on the global economy and financial markets. Unencumbered by the biases of traditional Wall Street research, Jim has built a decades long reputation for objective, incisive commentary that challenges consensus thinking. In nearly 20 years at Bianco Research, Jim’s wide ranging commentaries have addressed monetary policy, the intersection of markets and politics, the role of government in the economy, fund flows and positioning in financial markets.



Jim appears regularly on CNBC, Bloomberg and Fox Business, and is often featured in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, Grants Interest Rate Observer, and MarketWatch. Prior to joining Arbor and Bianco Research, Jim was a Market Strategist in equity and fixed income research at UBS Securities and Equity Technical Analyst at First Boston and Shearson Lehman Brothers. He is a Chartered Market Technician (CMT) and a member of the Market Technicians Association (MTA). Jim has a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Marquette University (1984) and an MBA from Fordham University (1989).

Jim Bianco

Mr. Forman is the Founder and Managing Partner of ParaFi Capital. ParaFi is a leading investment firm focused on the blockchain and digital asset markets, and an early pioneer in decentralized finance (“DeFi”). ParaFi is one of the largest investors, users, and governance participants within the DeFi ecosystem, spanning the full network lifecycle from pre-launch to full decentralization. Mr. Forman serves as the Chief Investment Officer across the firm’s strategies, which include investing in public and private cryptoassets, systematic credit and market neutral DeFi strategies, and blockchain-focused venture capital and growth equity investing.



Prior to founding ParaFi in 2018, Mr. Forman spent 10 years at leading alternative investment managers, including KKR and TPG. While at KKR, Mr. Forman served as a Director in the Credit business, investing across a wide array of industry sectors and strategies, including distressed special situations, private credit, and opportunistic and liquid credit. Prior to KKR, Mr. Forman served as a Vice President with TPG’s former credit business, Sixth Street Partners, as one of the first investment professionals to join the platform, helping scale its private credit vehicle, TPG Specialty Lending, which listed publicly in 2014. Earlier in his career, Mr. Forman worked in private equity at Littlejohn &amp; Company and investment banking at Rothschild &amp; Co. Mr. Forman graduated with a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania.

Ben Forman

Haseeb is a Managing Partner at Dragonfly. He was previously a partner at Metastable Capital, and has a background in software engineering at Airbnb and Earn.com (acquired by Coinbase).

Haseeb Qureshi

Vanessa Grellet is a Managing Partner at Aglaé Ventures. Vanessa is a Global Executive with over 20 years of expertise in the Financial Services and Tech industry. At Aglaé Ventures she manages the Web 3 focused fund. Prior to joining Aglae she has Head of Portfolio growth at CoinFund and Executive director at ConsenSys where she focused on driving adoption for Ethereum based products,  Strategic initiatives, Alliances and Channels.  She was involved in setting up the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA), the Accounting Blockchain Coalition (ABC) and the Blockchain for Social Impact Coalition (BSIC). Prior to ConsenSys she was a Strategy Executive at NYSE focused on investments and M&amp;A and a key member of PwC’s global wealth management team. Vanessa is a Founding Board member of AABC focused on Blockchain and Art, a member of the Advisory Council of ConsenSys, a Milken Institute Associate, a contributor to the  World Economic Forum Digital Future Council and part of <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/top-people-in-crypto-and-blockchain-2022/vanessa-grellet">Cointelegraph’s list of 100 most influential people for 2022</a>. Mrs. Grellet graduated Cum Laude from Law School (Paris II Assas) and Business School (HEC).

Vanessa Grellet

Mihailo Bjelic received his MSc in CS from the University of Belgrade. Prior to entering Web3/blockchain industry, he co-founded an AI/ML-powered platform for automotive industry and several other smaller startups and side projects. In 2017, he decided to join the Web3 movement full-time, primarily as a researcher interested in Ethereum scaling and multi-chain paradigms. In parallel with his work, he became one of the prominent Ethereum proponents and community members. In 2019, he started working on Polygon and conceptualized its architecture, vision and brand. In 2020, he joined hands with the Matic Network team and they have been working together on Polygon since then.

Mihailo Bjelic

Ben is a co-founder of Optimism, a leading Ethereum L2 ecosystem. He served as Chief Scientist before becoming a director at the Optimism Foundation. In his free time, he makes Ethereum-based parody songs under his stage name, Weird ETH Yankovic.

Ben Jones

Kristin is the CEO of the Blockchain Association, the Washington, D.C.-based trade association representing more than 100 of the industry’s leading companies. She also serves as a board member of the Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web. Kristin serves as a liaison between policymakers and the cryptocurrency industry to assist in the creation of legislation and regulation that promotes the growth of the cryptocurrency ecosystem in the U.S. She is also a leading, public voice advocating for the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry through top-tier media interviews, op-eds and letters to the editor, and global speaking engagements. Kristin is a renowned voice for the industry, having been featured on Fortune’s 2020 40 under 40 list, CoinDesk’s 2021 50 people who defined the year in crypto, and CoinTelegraph’s 2022 top 100 Influencers in Crypto and Blockchain. Prior to leading the Blockchain Association, Kristin helped blockchain and technology companies achieve their public policy objectives in Washington. She served as a Senate and congressional aide on Capitol Hill for nearly ten years, much of which was spent focusing on technology policy.

Kristin Smith

Avichal is a successful entrepreneur with executive experience at Google and Facebook, which acquired his previous company. As an angel investor, Avichal has invested in 15 unicorns and 5 decacorns including Airtable, Boom Supersonic, Color Genomics, Cruise, Deel, Figma, Newfront Insurance, Notion, Nova Credit, Pulley, and others. He co-founded Electric Capital in 2018 and has grown it to one of the largest crypto venture firms globally. Electric is an investor in many of the leading web3 protocols and companies such as Bitwise, Bitnomial, dYdX, Frax, Kraken, Magic Eden, NEAR, and Solana.

Avichal Garg

Matt Hougan is one of the world’s leading experts on crypto, ETFs, and financial technology. He is Chief Investment Officer for Bitwise Asset Management, a pioneer in cryptoasset index funds with more than $1.2 billion in assets under management. He was previously CEO of ETF.com, where he helped build the world’s first ETF data and analytics system, the leading ETF media site, and the world’s largest ETF conference, Inside ETFs. Hougan is co-author of both “A Comprehensive Guide to Exchange-Traded Funds” and “Cryptoassets: The Guide to Bitcoin, Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies for Professional Investors” from the CFA Institute’s Research Foundation. He is a crypto columnist for Forbes, and a three-time member of the Barron’s ETF Roundtable.

Matt Hougan

Li Jin

Ethan is the co-founder of the Cosmos network and serves as the CEO of Informal Systems. Informal Systems is a member-driven worker’s cooperative building software that enables trustworthy relationships between protocols and people to flourish. Ethan also serves as the President of the Interchain Foundation which funds and coordinates development of public goods in the Cosmos ecosystem. Ethan sees local money systems as the basis for self-sufficient local economies to prosper. With a background in cell biology, neuroscience, mathematics, machine learning, and distributed systems, his goal is to build systems that encourage humans to work cooperatively through methods of self-organization. He is currently focused on blockchain technology as a means to bring greater political and economic sovereignty to local communities around the globe. Prior to Informal Systems, Ethan co-founded the Tendermint and Cosmos projects, and served as CTO of Tendermint Inc. Today, dozens of projects are adopting technology conceived in the original Cosmos whitepaper, including the Inter-Blockchain (IBC) Communication protocol – an industry-standard for permissionless communication between sovereign blockchains. Today, the Cosmos ecosystem continues to pioneer technological paradigms for building interoperable application-specific blockchains.

Ethan Buchman

Tyrone leads J.P. Morgan’s Blockchain team and is responsible for creating innovative Web3-focused products &amp; solutions for J.P. Morgan’s businesses and clients, and for engaging with the industry at large in order to provide a holistic blockchain strategy for the firm. Tyrone is also the Head of Onyx Digital Assets, a multi-asset tokenization platform that enables the exchange of value for various types of digital assets. Tyrone was previously a Senior Blockchain Product Manager in J.P. Morgan’s Blockchain Center of Excellence and was also the Head of Product for Quorum, an open-sourced Ethereum-based blockchain platform built for Enterprise use. Prior to moving into the blockchain industry in 2015, Tyrone was a software engineer within J.P. Morgan's Credit Markets business, and before that he spent several years in Product transformation, managing and delivering large strategic programs across various businesses within J.P. Morgan, across Front, Middle and Back Office risk and trading systems. Tyrone sits on the Board of Directors of The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance and The Hyperledger Foundation.

Tyrone Lobban

Rich is a Co-Founder and President of GSR and leads the group across strategic initiatives and growth. He began his career at Goldman Sachs where he spent 11 years between New York and London in commodities trading as a Managing Director and Global Head of Crude Oil and Derivatives Trading. Prior to joining GSR, he spent a few years on the buy-side, running energy trading teams at two New York-based hedge funds. Rich earned a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Columbia University.

Rich Rosenblum

Kain Warwick is an Australian cryptocurrency entrepreneur most-known as the founder of Synthetix protocol. Synthetix is a financial primitive that enables the creation of synthetic assets, offering unique derivatives and exposure to real-world assets on the blockchain.&nbsp;In 2020, Kain popularised the concept of yield farming that sparked the 2020 DeFi boom, earning the moniker: ‘the father of modern agriculture.

Kain Warwick

Brian Quintenz is the Head of Policy for a16z crypto, where he helps to translate between the crypto and policy communities.



Brian has long stood out as an innovative thinker in crypto and DeFi and was one of the earliest leaders in Washington to recognize the value of crypto. Brian initially joined a16z crypto as a senior advisor. In December 2022, he moved to the full-time role leading its policy team.



Prior to joining a16z, he was nominated by both Presidents Obama and Trump to serve as commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and, in August 2017, was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He also led the agency’s Technology Advisory Committee, which hosted the most comprehensive set of public crypto-related policy discussions and briefings of any federal financial regulator. During his service, the CFTC oversaw the listing of the first U.S. regulated Bitcoin and Ether futures contracts on derivatives exchanges, and the rapid expansion of DeFi. All the while, he was a champion for tailored, risk-calibrated regulation.



Prior to his appointment to the CFTC, Brian was the Founder and Managing Principal of Saeculum Capital Management, LLC where he developed and implemented Saeculum’s long term, momentum-based investment process for both traditional discretionary accounts as well as a managed-futures, commodity pool hedge fund.



Brian began his career on Capitol Hill, where he worked for 6.5 years and served as senior policy aid to a Member of Congress. He received his B.S. from Duke University and M.B.A. from Georgetown University.

Brian Quintenz

Robby Yung, Animoca Brands’s CEO of Investments, partner at Animoca Capital, a leader in digital entertainment, blockchain, and gamification with a portfolio of products and games including the REVV and SAND tokens, as well as investment and partnerships with companies like Axie Infinity,  OpenSea, Dapper Labs, and Alien Worlds and subsidiaries like The Sandbox, Gamee, Quidd, and Lympo. Robby has been in gaming since 2012 and blockchain gaming since 2018. He served as the first CEO of Animoca Brands after taking the group public in 2015. Prior to that, he cofounded magazine publisher, One Media Group, which he listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. He also founded Chinese television and outdoor media concern, Redgate Media Group, which was acquired by  Inno-Tech Holdings . He began his career in technology, building wireless telecom networks in China and Indonesia with Metromedia.

Robby Yung

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<h2>Why Sponsor Permissionless 2023?</h2>
If you’re serious about crypto, you have to be at Permissionless. Permissionless brings together DeFi builders, DAO participants, protocol developers, crypto companies, funds and institutions, and more. It’s a true crypto-native’s paradise, where you’ll have the opportunity to showcase your offerings and form lasting connections with the community.
We’ll work with your team to define the perfect sponsorship opportunity that best fits your needs and budget. Want to do something completely revolutionary? Our team can help design a bespoke package that brings your vision to life.
Get in touch with us at <a href="mailto:sales@blockworks.co">sales@blockworks.co</a>
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