James Cirrone

Crypto startups raised just over $90 million this week, with Web3 gaming studio Mythical Games bringing in $37 million of that total. 



The first part of the Series C1 fundraise was led by digital asset manager Scytale Digital. Additional investors included Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest, Animoca Brands, MoonPay and a litany of existing investors, including Andreessen Horowitz. 



Mythical’s $37 million raise maintains its unicorn status and will also be key in achieving profitability in 12 months, according to a press <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230627818251/en/Mythical-Games-Secures-First-Close-of-37-Million-Towards-Latest-Round-of-Funding">release</a>.



Mythical is behind mobile game NFL Rivals and open-world multiplayer game Blankos Block Party. Its next title will be Nitro Nation World Tour, a mobile racing game that sells NFT cars.



Mythical CEO John Linden gave more insight into the company’s goals following the latest cash injection.



“With over a million mobile downloads of NFL Rivals since launch last month and averaging over $1 million in daily transactions via the Mythical Chain, we are focused on getting the company to profitability and are seeing our vision realized and our strategy paying off,” Linden said in a statement.



Mythical’s C1 round is expected to conclude later in 2023 with “an additional $20-30 million.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">New centralized exchange forms, splits from Bitpanda</h2>



One Trading, the crypto exchange formerly known as Bitpanda Pro, secured about $33 million in a series A round led by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures.&nbsp;



Bitpanda Pro was Bitpanda’s idea for a platform that catered to retail traders and institutional investors alike. With this fundraise, however, Bitpanda Pro rebranded to One Trading and will split from the company that created it.



Bitpanda wished the fledgling exchange good luck in a <a href="https://blog.bitpanda.com/en/bitpanda-pro-becomes-one-trading-after-completing-successful-series">statement</a> Wednesday, but mentioned it will retain minority ownership of One Trading.



“While Bitpanda will retain a small stake in the company, One Trading will have complete independence as they embark on this journey with full autonomy to innovate and grow more dynamically,” Bitpanda wrote.



One Trading announced on Twitter Thursday that it would “gradually” begin reopening the platform and listed out the trading pairs it will initially allow.



<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">BTC / EUR BTC / USDT BTC / USDC ETH / EUR USDT / EUR ANT / EUR BEST / EUR BTC / EUROC EUROC / EUR XRP / EUROC ADA / EUR XRP / EUR PAN / EUR&mdash; One Trading (@onetrading_com) <a href="https://twitter.com/onetrading_com/status/1674354162904055809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 29, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



One Trading will also keep its CEO and former JPMorgan executive Joshua Barraclough who joined Bitpanda in 2021.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Other notable fundraises</h2>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Pixion Games <a href="https://twitter.com/PixionGames/status/1673688413881479171">raised</a> $5.5 million to invent a more accessible way to on-chain assets in game.</li>



<li>Metablaze, another game developer, <a href="https://twitter.com/meta_blaze/status/1673332878569091073">locked down</a> $4 million to prepare for a Sept. 15 launch.</li>



<li>Web3 infrastructure developer Startale Labs got $3.5 million from and partnered up with Sony Network Communications, a subsidiary of Sony.&nbsp;</li>



<li>Hook Protocol, a DeFi options startup for NFTs, <a href="https://blog.hook.xyz/announcing-our-fundraising/">raised</a> $3 million from a slew of investors, with the main ones being Collab+Currency and venture capital fund Lattice.</li>



<li>DeFi protocol AlloyX secured $2 million and announced a liquid real-world asset (RWA) vault product, tapping into a <a href="https://app.rwa.xyz/">$537 million loan market</a>.</li>
</ul>



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



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Forward Guidance</a>: Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">0xResearch</a>: Get alpha directly in your inbox — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana, in your inbox, every day from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: The newsletter for crypto collectors and traders, covering games, tokens, apps, memes and more.</li>
</ul>

Crypto funding: Mythical Games, One Trading come out on top in $90M week

Katherine Ross

Coinbase continues to explore relocation options outside the United States in response to prevailing regulatory uncertainty and restrictions.



Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has reiterated that the exchange would maintain a US presence, though it is eager to potentially expand abroad.&nbsp;



So far this year, Coinbase has faced a Wells notice from the SEC – which is essentially a warning about possible enforcement action – which led it to sue the SEC in a bid to demand regulatory clarity. 



In April, Armstrong said that “<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/could-coinbase-leave-us">anything is on the table, including relocating</a>,” at a summit. In a later interview with CNBC, he clarified his comments, stating that Coinbase “is not going to relocate overseas.”



But relocations aren’t the only focus for the crypto exchange. Armstrong praised the European Union and the United Kingdom for taking a more “thoughtful” and “comprehensive” approach to crypto, while the US remains “a little bit behind.”



“Coinbase is committed to the US, but countries around the world are increasingly moving forward with responsible crypto-forward regulatory frameworks,” Coinbase said in a statement.



“We would like to see the US take a similar approach instead of regulation by enforcement which has led to a disappointing trend for crypto development in the US.”



Coinbase has since stepped up its expansions and partnerships to show how it is prioritizing its international arms.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Coinbase partners with Bitpanda</h2>



The most recent move was announced by Coinbase and Bitpanda on May 25.&nbsp;



Bitpanda is an Austrian crypto exchange and investment platform.



Coinbase said it will use Bitpanda’s investing-as-a-service (IAAS) as part of its offerings for foreign institutional clients.



“By using Bitpanda Technology Solutions, banks can use Bitpanda&#8217;s technology to offer their customers trading in as little as three months. The best part? To their customers, it all looks like it’s part of the bank’s own brand,” Bitpanda said in the partnership <a href="https://blog.bitpanda.com/en/bitpanda-partners-coinbase-build-future-digital-investing">announcement</a>.&nbsp;



In return, Coinbase will be added to Bitpanda’s liquidity providers.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Coinbase One launched in 35 countries</h2>



Coinbase <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-one-launches-zero-fees">officially launched Coinbase One</a> earlier this month, after beta testing the service.&nbsp;



Outside of the US, it’ll be available in 34 countries including the UK, Germany and Ireland.



Users get access to 24/7 customer support and zero trading charges as well as $1 million in account protections.&nbsp;



An additional 31 counties will get access to the service in the coming months.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Coinbase launches offshore crypto derivatives exchange</h2>



Earlier this month, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-international-futures-institutional-traders">Coinbase opened its offshore crypto derivatives</a> exchange, which targets institutional investors and traders outside of the US.&nbsp;



Initially, the Coinbase International Exchange will list bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) perpetual futures&nbsp;



The new exchange is based in Bermuda, which leads us to another part of its international expansions…



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Coinbase eyes further expansion internationally </h2>



Coinbase <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-abu-dhabi-bermuda-derivatives">secured a Class F license</a> – which is issued by the Bermuda Monetary Authority – to sell, issue or redeem digital assets in Bermuda.



“Bermuda was one of the first financial centers to pass comprehensive digital assets regulation in 2018, and its regulatory environment is long known for a high level of rigor, transparency, compliance, and cooperation,” the company said in a <a href="https://www.coinbase.com/blog/an-update-to-coinbases-global-scale-to-go-broad-and-deep">blog post</a>.&nbsp;



The exchange also announced plans to operate in Abu Dhabi in an effort to diversify its offerings. It’s also eyeing Brazil.&nbsp;



Coinbase also <a href="https://www.coinbase.com/blog/building-for-canada-and-the-world-from-canada">aims</a> to stay in Canada as competitors – <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-leaving-canada">such as Binance</a> – exit the market in the wake of new regulations.&nbsp;



“We continue to work with policymakers on a strong crypto regulatory framework for Canadians. We applaud the Canadian securities regulators’ efforts to bring clarity to the industry and look forward to continuing our collaboration with them on regulation that protects consumers while embracing innovation,” the exchange said in a March blog post.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">On US soil, Coinbase locked in legal battles</h2>



Back on US soil, a court granted Coinbase the ability to arbitrate an IP claim from MouseBelt Labs, which claims that Coinbase and Armstrong stole its work.&nbsp;



The exchange filed a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-files-mandamus-petition">writ of mandamus in response to the SEC</a> refusing to give Coinbase – or the court overseeing the suit between the exchange and the commission – an answer regarding regulatory clarity.



Coinbase argued that the court should “order the SEC to explain its delay to date, state when it will respond, and provide progress reports” to the court.”



<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">Late last night Coinbase replied in the Third Circuit to the SEC’s arguments against our petition for a writ of mandamus. Mandamus is the tailor-made remedy for the extraordinary facts presented here. We continue to appreciate the Court&#39;s consideration. <a href="https://t.co/OD02kX3524">https://t.co/OD02kX3524</a>&mdash; paulgrewal.eth (@iampaulgrewal) <a href="https://twitter.com/iampaulgrewal/status/1661025095173947393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



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



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Forward Guidance</a>: Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">0xResearch</a>: Get alpha directly in your inbox — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana, in your inbox, every day from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: The newsletter for crypto collectors and traders, covering games, tokens, apps, memes and more.</li>
</ul>

Coinbase Makes International Moves as US Regulators Stall

Bessie Liu

Pantos, a multichain token system developed by the team at Bitpanda, is launching the public beta of its multichain protocol today.



Users can use this new token standard, dubbed PANDAS (Pantos Digital Asset Standard), to send tokens, wrap coins and create and deploy tokens across multiple chains with very few clicks.



Its beta launch will be trailed on testnets on seven chains — Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, BNB, Cronos, Cleo and Fantom — with plans to integrate into other chains eventually.



Pantos will not have a dedicated blockchain, but rather deploy the same smart contracts across multiple blockchains, Markus Levonyak, a blockchain engineer at Pantos, told Blockworks.



In this case, the two smart contracts that will be deployed in the new token standard are the Pantos Hub contract and the Pantos forwarder.



“The Pantos Hub contract will manage all external communications, it’s also where our nodes register and tokens are managed,” Levonyak said. “There’s also the Pantos forwarder, which does signature verification for token contracts.”



Existing cross-chain communication systems fall into three categories: Consensus light clients, validator-based systems and Optimistic messaging systems.



Pantos will be a validator-based system and the network will be run by Service and Validator Nodes, which will initiate transfer and relay the information to the other chain. During the Public Beta, Pantos will only introduce the Service Nodes to network, meaning that everyone can set it up and run their own service node, he said.



Levonyak notes that Pantos is in the process of full decentralization: “The goal is to have a fully decentralized permissionless system in the end,” he said.



Pantos was born in 2018, as a research project by Bitpanda and two European universities with the goal to create a fully decentralized multichain token transfer and blockchain interoperability system.&nbsp;



Despite being a centralized company, Bitpanda’s investment in Pantos shows its commitment to a decentralized future, a trend among centralized players.



Coinbase has <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-diversified-revenue-with-staking-now-comes-the-sec">made moves into staking services</a>, which now makes up over <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-diversified-revenue-with-staking-now-comes-the-sec">10% of its revenue</a>, and Binance has also twice launched and promoted a BNB Chain in an attempt to capture the growing activity and developer talent on decentralized blockchains.  



Eric Demuth, chief executive officer and co-founder of Pantos and Bitpanda notes that Pantos isn’t just about DeFi.&nbsp;



“That’s only half the story,” Demuth told Blockworks. “Currently, communication between different chains is difficult, and any sort of mainstream adoption is unlikely.”



Demuth believes that one of the main headaches for crypto projects today is being tied down to one blockchain.



“If that blockchain falls behind technologically or simply becomes irrelevant, they cannot easily switch to another,” he said. “The newly introduced multichain token standard drastically increases the usability of DeFi which is very much needed.”



Pantos’ latest protocol is designed to tackle the underlying issue of interoperability between coins and token projects, Demuth said.



“We are establishing the first true multi-blockchain token system,” he said.



The system will be competing against a variety of other <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/rethinking-bridges-orb-labs-imagines-world-where-every-transaction-is-free">approaches to cross-chain communications</a>, many of which use existing token standards.



The continued development of blockchain interoperability will be necessary to ensure mainstream adoption, as distributed systems mature and proliferate.



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



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Forward Guidance</a>: Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">0xResearch</a>: Get alpha directly in your inbox — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana, in your inbox, every day from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: The newsletter for crypto collectors and traders, covering games, tokens, apps, memes and more.</li>
</ul>

Bitpanda Moving Into DeFi With Its Latest Multichain Token System

Ben Strack

<div id="highlights-block_62bf2533b47ae" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Metamask operations lead set to join the BitDAO ecosystem</li>
 <li>Abra and Bitpanda cut jobs while Kraken still on the hunt for talent</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The global head of business development for <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/9869818Z:US" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Citadel Securities</a> is set to lead the company’s joint venture focused on increasing investor access to crypto, Bloomberg News <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-28/citadel-securities-nazarali-leaves-to-run-firm-s-crypto-venture" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.



Citadel Securities and Virtu Financial were in the process of building a cryptocurrency trading platform, a source familiar with the matter <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/citadel-securities-virtu-financial-building-crypto-trading-platform/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told Blockworks last month</a>. Jamil Nazarali is reportedly expected to become CEO of the platform.



Citadel Securities did not immediately return a request for comment.&nbsp;



Web3 gaming company Immutable hired a former global head of product design for payments at Facebook to lead the protocol’s product design.



Henry Cho will help the company build an API-only user experience that enables mainstream developers to build simply.&nbsp;



“Immutable will continue hiring the best talent across the globe to continue building our vision of enabling the next billion players to truly own their in-game items,” Immutable co-founder Robbie Ferguson said in a Twitter post.



Andrei Serjantov joined crypto startup Nym as its chief financial officer. He is set to develop the company’s multi-purpose mixnet that helps enable privacy for any application, as well as the underlying finances of its NYM token.



Serjantov joins Nym from French banking group BNP Paribas, where he worked for 16 years. He was most recently the company’s head of electronic credit trading and head of flow credit quantitative research.



“As the bear market rages on, all eyes are on crypto to prove its worth,” Serjantov said in a statement. “Skeptics assume people join crypto to make a quick buck and scam the typical user, but those working through the bear market have something more to prove.”



The former operations lead for self custodial wallet MetaMask is set to join the BitDAO ecosystem to accelerate the adoption of Web3 gaming.



Jacob Cantele is now head of product strategy for BitDAO’s <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=RahCDqBPLaBstxmOiHGQa1CDZiEMesp8Rq0nyXTHCEpKTcTSFrZNgyb-TjJRHcgYqG_b2Y9OQw4S5FdLSsh8dg==" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Windranger Labs</a> and head of product for the <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=8VFB9yNCFXlRwlXlNa_pyfLRfykSOvleobU6PPWrNw6gy8oJY0kZWyRKlngn5dRx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Game7</a> DAO. 



Before working at MetaMask, Cantele led product for the Panvala grant funding DAO (decentralized autonomous organization), one of the earliest grant DAOs in the Web3 ecosystem.&nbsp;



NFT marketplace Magic Eden hired Joseph Doll to the role of general counsel.



Doll previously served as a corporate associate for Fenwick &amp; West, where he structured, negotiated and executed equity and token funding.



Web3 Ventures appointed Zach Rosen to its advisory board as the company gains Rosen’s expertise in software engineering and investment banking.&nbsp;



Rosen is a co-founder of Brydge, a startup that enables decentralized applications to deploy on one chain and accept payments from others. He said in a statement that he would leverage his network and background within the Web3 space to help identify and evaluate crypto projects for Web3 Ventures’ platform.



Crypto trading and lending platform Abra reportedly laid off about a dozen employees this week as market turbulence continues. Abra CEO Bill Barhydt <a href="https://www.theblock.co/post/155209/abra-becomes-latest-crypto-firm-to-cut-jobs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told The Block</a> that the job cuts — representing about 5% of the company’s workforce — were done “purely as a cost-saving measure.”



An Abra spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment. &nbsp; &nbsp;



In case you missed it, crypto exchange Bitpanda <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/bitpanda-to-slash-nearly-30-of-workforce-citing-recession-threat/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">is letting go about a third of its workforce</a>. The company, backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, wrote in a <a href="https://blog.bitpanda.com/en/way-forward" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">letter to employees</a> that it wants to cut down its headcount from more than 1,000 to 730 as it seeks to improve its financial health.



Meanwhile, crypto exchange Kraken posted more than 600 new job ads in the United States in the last seven days, according to a June 29 study by <a href="https://cryptojobslist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Crypto Jobs List</a>. The Kraken listings account for nearly 20% of the new American crypto job ads over the span.



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



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Forward Guidance</a>: Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">0xResearch</a>: Get alpha directly in your inbox — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana, in your inbox, every day from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: The newsletter for crypto collectors and traders, covering games, tokens, apps, memes and more.</li>
</ul>

Latest in Crypto Hiring: Former Facebook, BNP Paribas Pros Join Space

Shalini Nagarajan

<div id="highlights-block_62b999ed17c35" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>“Nobody knows when the market sentiment will change,” Bitpanda told employees</li>
 <li>Bitpanda is struggling to keep up with the crypto industry’s pace, the firm admitted</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Bitpanda is letting go of about a third of its workforce as the firm looks to navigate a period of turbulent markets and uncertainty.



The Peter Thiel-backed cryptocurrency exchange said in a <a href="https://blog.bitpanda.com/en/way-forward" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">letter to employees</a> that it wants to cut down its headcount from more than 1,000 to 730, citing a need to improve its financial health against the effects of an anticipated recession.



“Over the past few months, the market sentiment has dramatically changed, fuelled by geopolitical tensions, rising inflation and concerns about the imminence of a recession,” Bitpanda said in the letter.&nbsp;



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“There’s lots of uncertainty in the financial markets right now and, while we do know that the industry is cyclical, nobody knows when the market sentiment will change.”</blockquote>



Bitpanda admitted to facing challenges in keeping pace with the crypto industry’s growth. The company also said it has rescinded new offers as the roles it was previously hiring for are no longer available. It now plans to focus on safety and compliance, user experience, education and community.



&#8220;Move fast and break things&#8221; has been the motto of many companies looking to adapt [in] the Web3 space, Sheraz Ahmed, managing partner at STORM Partners, told Blockworks. “Now we can&#8217;t be acting surprised when the latter happens after the former,” he said.



The Vienna-based firm joins a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-industry-layoffs-may-have-unintended-consequences/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">series of other crypto firms</a> looking to cut costs by slashing staff. Coinbase, one of the best-known exchanges, recently said it would <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/coinbase-cut-workforce-ceo-wary-of-potential-recession/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cut 1,100 jobs</a> due to expectations of a recession. <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/coinbase-backed-vauld-cuts-workforce-by-30-seeks-to-halve-exec-pay/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Vauld</a>, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/cryptocurrency-lender-blockfi-set-to-cut-staff-by-a-fifth/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BlockFi</a>, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-com-cutting-5-of-workforce-amid-digital-asset-downturn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Crypto.com</a>, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/gemini-joins-growing-list-of-crypto-exchanges-cutting-staff-amid-downturn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gemini</a>, BitMEX, Buenbit and Bitso have all recently announced layoffs during a difficult period for the industry.



Record inflation and commodity shortages due to Russia’s war in Ukraine have created production challenges all over the world. David Malpass, head of the World Bank, said on Sunday that some countries will find it especially <a href="https://fortune.com/2022/06/27/world-bank-david-malpass-us-global-recession-inflation-interest-rates/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hard to avoid a recession</a>.&nbsp;



Economists at Goldman Sachs see an increased risk of a US recession. In a research note dated June 22, the bank said it now estimates a 30% probability the US economy enters a recession over the next year, up from a previous estimation of 15%. Additionally, it sees a 25% conditional probability of a recession in the second year if one is avoided in the first.



Bitpanda last raised $263 million in a Series C round at a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-exchange-bitpanda-valuation-spikes-242-to-4-1b-in-five-months/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$4.1 billion valuation</a> in August 2021. The company said it was the first Austria-based firm to pass the billion dollar valuation mark.



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



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Forward Guidance</a>: Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">0xResearch</a>: Get alpha directly in your inbox — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana, in your inbox, every day from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: The newsletter for crypto collectors and traders, covering games, tokens, apps, memes and more.</li>
</ul>

Bitpanda To Slash Nearly 30% of Workforce, Citing Recession Threat

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_611bbc90aa229" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The seven-year-old company is one of Europe’s fastest growing financial technology companies and was the first Austrian-based company to pass the billion-dollar valuation mark, the company said</li>
 <li>In August, multiple other cryptocurrency exchange platforms reached unicorn status &#8212; and it’s not even the end of the month. </li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Bitpanda has its “hypergrowth mode on” as it announced its new valuation of $4.1 billion and funding of $263 million in a Series C round, just five months after its last valuation and raise, the company’s co-founder and co-CEO Eric Demuth said in a post Tuesday.&nbsp;



The new valuation raises the company about 242% from its previous valuation of $1.2 billion in March, when the crypto exchange company <a href="https://blog.bitpanda.com/dear-pandas/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">first marked</a> its unicorn status after raising $170 million in a Series B round.&nbsp;



The Series C investment round was led by Valar Ventures, with the participation of billionaire hedge fund manager Alan Howard and REDO Ventures, as well as existing investors LeadBlock Partners and Jump Capital, Demuth said. The funding will be used to build the team, open new offices and launch new markets and products as the company continues to scale, he said.&nbsp;



The seven-year-old company founded by Demuth, Paul Klanschek and Christian Trummer, is one of Europe’s fastest growing financial technology companies and was the first Austrian-based company to pass the billion-dollar valuation mark, the company said.&nbsp;



It began as a crypto-trading company and has grown into an investment platform of 3 million users where investors can trade stocks, cryptocurrencies and precious metals with any amount of money, Demuth said.&nbsp;



Although Bitpanda hit unicorn status in March, this new valuation enhances its place on a list of over 900 private companies with valuations of $1 billion or more, according to <a href="https://www.crunchbase.com/lists/crunchbase-private-unicorn-company-list/f406c855-fff9-419b-9b44-324e1bfe3081/organization.companies" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data</a> on the Crunchbase Unicorn Board.&nbsp;



In August, multiple other cryptocurrency exchange platforms reached unicorn status &#8212; and it’s not even the end of the month.&nbsp;



Last week, Cryptocurrency exchange platform CoinDCX, scored $90 million in Series C funding, making it India’s first crypto-related unicorn, while FalconX raised $210 million in Series C funding to expand into Asia, Blockworks previously <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/falconx-coindcx-hit-unicorn-status-amid-uncertain-regulatory-environment/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.



Earlier this month, Singapore-based crypto financial service platform <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/matrixport-raises-100m-and-hits-unicorn-status-with-1b-valuation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Matrixport</a> announced it closed its $100 million Series C funding round also with a valuation over $1 billion.



In late July, the first non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea also reached unicorn status after raising $100 million in a Series B funding round led by a16z, which brought its valuation to $1.5 billion, Blockworks <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/a16z-leads-100m-round-for-nft-unicorn-opensea/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>. These crypto-companies are some of the latest organizations to join the growing list of unicorns in the global marketplace.



Want more investor-focused content on digital assets?&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/digital-asset-summit-2021-2/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us</a>&nbsp;September 13th and 14th for the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) in NYC. Use code ARTICLE for $75 off your ticket.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/digital-asset-summit-2021-2/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Buy it now</a>.