Jeff Albus

This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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



Pipe Network, a decentralized infrastructure project from Permissionless Labs, is publicly spotlighting its verifiable access to Solana snapshots through its decentralized CDN in a new case study. According to internal performance benchmarks provided to Lightspeed, usage points to 30% faster node initialization and far lower infrastructure costs.



Pipe also reports handling approximately 100 TB of snapshot traffic daily, 700 TB weekly, and around 3 PB per month. For context, Solana node operators collectively share an estimated 7–14 PB of snapshot data monthly to help validators and RPC nodes bootstrap. So, the contribution from Pipe is a weighty share of the network&#8217;s overall bandwidth burden.



It’s an interesting early look at the returns from a techy new DePIN startup on Solana. Pipe <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/09/16/multicoin-led-10m-raise-for-crypto-incentivized-internet-infrastructure-network-pipe">disclosed</a> a $10 million funding round led by Multicoin Capital in the fall.



For anyone who doesn&#8217;t know, Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) are distributed systems of servers that deliver mass volumes of content quickly and reliably by caching data closer to where it&#8217;s needed.&nbsp;



In Pipe&#8217;s case, it acts as a high-speed delivery network specifically for snapshots of Solana&#8217;s ledger, which basically show the state of all the network’s accounts at a given point in time. Validators use these snapshots to restore state quickly after outages, updates or desynchronization events, enabling nodes to catch up with the network and rejoin consensus without full reprocessing.



Solana needs this, because the size and frequency of snapshot downloads have far outpaced the capacity of traditional community-run endpoints. Pipe&#8217;s CDN maintains uptime more effectively by making sure that validators can draw down critical data without waiting on slow or overloaded sources.



Solana snapshots tend to be massive. We&#8217;re talking an order of magnitude in the hundreds of gigabytes. The kind of scale you&#8217;d expect from full-resolution 4K video libraries or major enterprise backups, except it&#8217;s happening regularly on a live network.&nbsp;



And yet, in the past, users usually downloaded this data from a modest set of validator-hosted endpoints or community-run servers. As the network&#8217;s ledger continues to grow, those download speeds have slowed, and availability has become patchy. There just aren&#8217;t enough reliable, high-bandwidth sources from which to get these snapshots. That scarcity leads to validators stuck in sync purgatory, which degrades performance for everyone.



Pipe Network&#8217;s solution was to host Solana snapshots on a high-availability CDN designed for bandwidth-intensive applications. Operators can grab snapshots via Pipe&#8217;s Web UI or JSON API and integrate them directly into their validator or RPC setup. Snapshots come in full and incremental formats. Fetching the latest snapshot can be automated, and setup, they say, is minimal.



Pipe also bakes in ways to verify network data in addition to hosting it. &#8220;We verify data integrity using Merkle tree proofs,&#8221; Pipe Network core contributor David Rhodus told Lightspeed. &#8220;When a node serves data, clients can request a Merkle proof to confirm it matches the expected Merkle root. We also run random Merkle proof audits, as well as spot checks to ensure nodes actually have the cached data they&#8217;re reporting.&#8221;



For node operators, the best part might be the price: There isn&#8217;t one.



&#8220;This is currently being offered as a public good funded by the Pipe Foundation for the betterment of the Solana node operator experience,&#8221; Rhodus said.



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</ul>

data

Pipe Network cuts Solana sync time by 30% for some validators

Bessie Liu

Crypto data aggregator CoinGecko has acquired NFT data infrastructure and intelligence company Zash.



Zash is an on-chain NFT data analytics firm that collects data from over 1 million different NFT collections and marketplaces. It provides information on NFT metadata, historical trades, lending and also detects large-scale wash trades.



Originally founded by Parit Patel and Efe Surekli, London-headquartered Zash also covers information derived from 87 different blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Polygon, Binance Smart Chain and Solana, among others.



Its NFT data will be integrated into CoinGecko’s API by the second quarter of 2024. This will give users the ability to access various information on fungible and non-fungible token data. 



Bobby Ong, founder and COO of Malaysia-based CoinGecko, told Blockworks that the company believes in a future where any asset that can be tokenized will be tokenized. 



“On that note, we believe that NFTs will continue to innovate beyond [profile pictures], GameFi and unlock new opportunities and use-cases worldwide,” Ong said. 



Ong noted that its acquisition of Zash will enable the company to become a one-stop comprehensive source for all cryptocurrency-related data. CoinGecko is mostly known for its price and market cap readouts.



TM Lee, the CEO and co-founder of CoinGecko, noted in a press release reviewed by Blockworks that the acquisition of Zash came after evaluating “all existing NFT data providers in the space.”



Zash stood out from the other providers for having built a marketplace product with a comprehensive data set in just three years,” Lee said.



“This acquisition aligns with our commitment and dedication to deliver exceptional value to the crypto community, starting with a unified token and NFT market data offering.”



The acquisition terms remain undisclosed.



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CoinGecko

CoinGecko acquires NFT data startup Zash

Shalini Nagarajan

<div id="highlights-block_633ffe0a9c802" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>User addresses have been redacted, but several other details are included in public documents</li>
 <li>Data in CeFi is potentially exposed from the get-go, a crypto exec told Blockworks</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Embattled cryptocurrency lender Celsius is facing heat for revealing the names and recent financial actions of its users in freely available public court documents.



A <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sWKwbfan6jyslXSX_4uZAT3FN9wLIr7R/view" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">filing</a> submitted to court on Wednesday contains over 14,500 pages that include co-founders Alex Mashinsky, Dan Leon and Nuke Goldstein’s <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/celsius-top-brass-redeemed-millions-weeks-before-withdrawal-freeze/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">financial transactions</a>. But it also lists customer names, date of transaction, type of account, which cryptoasset and how much of it was involved.&nbsp;



The firm appears to have complied with a federal court rule that allows personal information like home addresses to be redacted, however.



Celsius filed a <a href="https://cases.stretto.com/public/x191/11749/PLEADINGS/1174908032280000000088.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">motion</a> on Aug. 3 asking the court to redact names and addresses of its users, citing threats of identity theft and safety concerns. It proposed using an “Address on File” notation instead of providing specific details.



A group representing Celsius’ unsecured creditors had also joined the lender in <a href="https://cases.stretto.com/public/x191/11749/PLEADINGS/1174909132280000000015.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">requesting</a> the court to protect personal information in public filings.



But US Trustee William Harrington <a href="https://cases.stretto.com/public/x191/11749/PLEADINGS/1174908252280000000015.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">objected</a> to the request, arguing that redacting names and other information would violate the principle that all bankruptcy proceedings should be “open and transparent.”



“The movant [Celsius] must demonstrate extraordinary circumstances and a compelling need to obtain protection to justify any such request,” Harrington said. Allowing incomplete statements would be a “slippery slope,” he said, as it would create an unfavorable precedent for crypto and other industries.



The crypto lender, which saw former CEO Alex Mashinsky and co-founder Dan Leon <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/celsius-co-founder-dan-leon-resigns-after-mashinskys-exit/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">exit in the last week</a>, has left investors alarmed over what the risks of their information leak could entail.&nbsp;



Its latest exposé goes to show the perils and downsides of centralized finance, Michael Pearl, COO at smart transaction development platform Kirobo, said.



“While DeFi offers transparency regarding the activities of anonymous wallets, it does not match a name and a face to that wallet (if one undertakes some basic precautions),&#8221; Pearl told Blockworks in an email.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“In CeFi, however, your data is potentially exposed from the get-go,” he said.</blockquote>



Celsius <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/celsius-admits-customer-emails-leaked-in-third-party-data-breach/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">accidentally leaked</a> customer email addresses in a July data breach, two weeks following its filing for bankruptcy protection.



“I can somehow understand why people find comfort in storing their crypto in more ‘trustworthy’ hands,” Pearl said. “However, people also have to be aware of the fact that their crypto and their financial data are not really theirs.”



Celsius didn’t return Blockworks’ request for comment by press time.



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bankruptcy

Celsius Exposes User Information in Public Court Docs

Brian Nibley

<div id="highlights-block_626a9366c3b21" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Soluna Computing integrates the computational work of mining into its overall model of computing</li>
 <li>Proof-of-work blockchains such as Bitcoin have the potential to increase the efficiency and sustainability of the world’s electrical infrastructure</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The science of crypto mining isn’t about spending computational energy. It&#8217;s about building the most efficient computational infrastructure. When you understand the science through this lens, crypto mining is really an entrepreneurial endeavor that will revolutionize data centers and move the world toward green energy.



As you may have heard, the mining industry has been the subject of much scrutiny for its proof-of-work energy consumption. But mining advocates argue these accusations are not fair, considering that they only account for <a href="https://bitcoinminingcouncil.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021.10.19-Q3-BMC-Presentation-Materials-Final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">0.1% of global energy usage</a>. But more importantly, they argue that mining is a paradigm changer. Its protocols incentivise innovations in green energy.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Crypto users, by no means, have escaped similar criticisms. Some have even gone as far as to suggest that they might be <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/freelance-cryptocurrency-writer_fud-buybitcoin-earnbitcoin-activity-6922646884394176512-21gT?utm_source=linkedin_share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop_web" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">right-wing extremists</a>.



Fortunately, we had a chance to sit down once more with the team at Soluna Computing to learn more about the realities of mining, minus the incendiary rhetoric.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Mining amid data center computing</h3>



Soluna is not a bitcoin mining company per se. Rather, they integrate the computational work of mining into their overall model of computing. Doing so provides benefits to their business endeavors and efforts toward sustainability.



“In our case, [mining is] a fully integrated solution to wasted energy and it&#8217;s really integrated in the sense that it monetizes itself right away. It allows us to pay for all of the infrastructure, electrical cost of buildings, etc., very quickly and then we can reinvest in that facility to put in more general-purpose equipment to go after these other markets,” CEO of Soluna Computing John Belizaire said. “So, mining is a really great catalyzer for the data center business we&#8217;re building. It&#8217;s also a great solution for the green energy problem. That&#8217;s why we invest in it, and we build it.”



John also had some things to say with regard to the factors would-be miners need to consider before setting up shop. There’s more to it than simply buying mining machines and plugging them in:



“So, if you&#8217;re self-miner, there&#8217;s a lot you have to do, you have to figure out how to source your power. Well, we do that by providing a service to the power generation companies. You have to run a multimillion-dollar construction project to build out a facility. You&#8217;ve got to negotiate very large complex relationships with vendors, everything from electrical to contractors, EPCs, and all the way up to the large mining companies that make the computing equipment. And if you&#8217;ve never done that before, it&#8217;s pretty challenging as an entrepreneur to figure that out.”



Mining alone involves bringing together a variety of factors, and as mentioned, mining is not Soluna’s sole endeavor.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">The challenges of creating disruptive enterprises</h3>



Creating a business of any kind comes with plenty of challenges. But doing so in a brand new, disruptive way brings an added dimension of difficulty.



In response to the question, “What’s it like to start this kind of disruptive business?,” Belizaire used a provocative analogy after noting his 20 years of experience in this area: “The best way to describe it is, we&#8217;re all standing in a room, and we have to say, okay, I&#8217;m going to start pumping nitrogen into this room, and we all have to breath nitrogen from now on, and it&#8217;s the right thing to do. It&#8217;s going to make you stronger, actually, it might kill you, but it&#8217;s the right thing, and you&#8217;re like, what? Why is it good to breathe nitrogen? That&#8217;s what it&#8217;s like introducing a new disruptive technology, you have to convince people to change their whole perspective on the world.”



Doing something disruptive involves forcing a paradigm shift. To this end, a process of “missionary-style education” can be necessary, according to Belizaire. He went on to explain that “you have to help them see how the world is changing and the role that this technology will play in generating opportunities from that change.”



Proper education can result in the necessary paradigm shift, as people come to an understanding that goes beyond the mainstream narratives being pushed. As Belizaire puts it, “It&#8217;s a constant process of education. Many who are critical of bitcoin’s impact on the environment don’t see the bigger role it can play. Computing when housed in flexible data centers can be infrastructure, making it not just a power user, but an architectural resource for the grid. Computing is a better battery.”



In this way, mining can be beneficial for power grids and businesses that conduct other modes of computing. Far from a simple waste of energy, proof-of-work blockchains such as Bitcoin have the potential to increase the efficiency and sustainability of the world’s electrical infrastructure.



Check out Soluna’s <a href="https://www.subscribepage.com/cleanintegration" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">newsletter for</a> more insights into the acceleration of renewable energy through crypto mining.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



This content is sponsored by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.solunacomputing.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Soluna Computing</a>.



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computing

Crypto Mining as an Entrepreneurial Endeavor

Casey Wagner

<div id="highlights-block_6266afb71193f" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Data is going to be the crypto industry’s No. 1 tool for promoting fair, comprehensive regulation, researchers say</li>
 <li>Part of the problem: Regulators still don’t understand digital assets, for the most part, putting the onus on the industry to educate them</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



As regulators worldwide continue to jostle for influence over crypto, blockchain researchers are encouraging digital asset newcomer lawmakers to crunch the numbers. 



“There is real-time transaction data that&#8217;s forever available on the blockchain,” Kim Grauer, director of research at Chainalysis, said during a panel discussion at the <a href="https://cornellblockchain.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cornell Blockchain Conference</a> in New York Friday. “Even if you wanted to investigate something from 10 years ago, you can. This is a really powerful data set.”



The research speaks for itself, according to Eric Turner, director of research at Messari, and regulators have been keen to gather more information as of late.



“There has been a big change in the way regulatory participants are involved in the space,” Turner said. “Now, it&#8217;s like every regulator wants to get a piece of what&#8217;s going on.”



Lawmakers’ concern that sanctioned Russian entities might use digital assets to sidestep punitive measures shows the importance of data in shaping narratives, Grauer said. Jonathan Levin, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Chainalysis, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/impossible-for-russia-to-evade-sanctions-with-crypto-fincen-rep-says/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">appeared before Congress</a> last month to make the same point.



“Elizabeth Warren asked, ‘Are oligarchs going to send billions of dollars into cryptocurrency?’” Grauer said. “That&#8217;s an interesting idea. Let&#8217;s look at what the data says.”&nbsp;



Grauer and her team found that high-risk Russian exchanges marked stable inflows and outflows — not the big-money transactions many high-profile industry types were expecting.&nbsp;



“Crypto crime isn’t different from regular crime — it&#8217;s just a new tool in the toolkit for criminals to use,” Grauer said. “Data is highly, highly important, especially for myth-busting.”&nbsp;



In addition to research, Turner said, the industry needs to take a more active role in engaging regulators.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“The crypto industry as a whole has done a terrible job of interacting with regulators historically,” he said. “Up until a couple of years ago, we largely ignored the actual impacts regulators have on the space.”&nbsp;



Education is key for winding up with fair, comprehensive regulation, which ought to bring millions more regular, retail investors into the space, according to both researchers.&nbsp;



“You want to encourage people to get into the space, and people want to do it safely,” Grauer said. “I see a lot of really good intentions and as a researcher, all I can do is give you all the data that you could possibly need to inform your decisions to debunk myths.”



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chainalysis

As US Watchdogs Sink Teeth Into Crypto, Data Are Paramount for Fair Rulemaking

<div id="highlights-block_61ddc7f9edcd5" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Data standardization is a critical issue for funds within the digital asset space</li>
 <li>“The need to continually adapt and develop new data standardization is ever present. The exponential growth in decentralized activity over the past two years is an example of the ever changing nature of the environment that funds in this space operate in.&#8221;</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Not all crypto markets are created equal.



At least, that’s how it looks from the perspective of a fund manager in the digital asset space. While exchanges may trade the same assets, the way they report those assets can look different.



Some exchanges list bitcoin under the “BTC” ticker while others list it under the “XBT” name, for example. To the everyday trader, this might not seem like a big deal. It’s not that hard to figure out which asset is which.



But for those managing large funds dealing with a lot of capital and a high volume of trades, these minor differences can create a huge headache.



Keeping track of transactions and all related data becomes difficult when you don’t know for certain which asset was involved. There needs to be a way to clarify each trade for reporting purposes, and it can’t be done manually. This type of organization is referred to broadly as data standardization.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Data standardization from an auditor’s point of view</h3>



For more on this topic, we reached out to Patrick Clancy, an experienced auditor in the digital assets sector, for his perspective.



He summarized the problem like this:



“Each platform is going to spit out its own raw data, organized with the platform&#8217;s dev team&#8217;s preferences. If you&#8217;re a fund, this needs to be ingested and centrally housed internally or through your fund admin.”



Clancy went into further detail on the challenges associated with integrating all the different types of crypto transactions into a single dataset:



“Standardization of data on all these various exchanges, NFT projects on various chains, defi / liquidity pools, staking and other related on-chain activities really starts with the manager of the fund or trading entity and their support structure. Management&#8217;s communication with their service providers has been more important than ever because each platform / token traded is or can be different from an output perspective.”



In other words, a lack of standardization can manifest in multiple ways, and the problem can present itself at many points. This problem requires a systematic approach to ensure the accuracy of the trading data captured from the funds’ counterparties, including centralized exchanges as well as decentralized protocols and blockchains.



Clancy went on to explain why these features are important for fund managers, namely that they need to be able to report accurate numbers when it comes to things like net asset value (NAV):



“…That coupled with establishing best practices for operational excellence (efficiency/compliance) and notes (like a notebook) for trading events/investment realization activity will be key when trying to report NAV or performance numbers.”



We also reached out to Christian Randall, senior manager with Cohen &amp; Co., for further insight on related matters. He noted that “many of the challenges present in the digital asset industry today are similar to those our firm experienced in the managed futures space during the ‘80s and ‘90s. While there are a variety of digital asset challenges — general taxonomy of terms, token reference data, diversity in accounting treatment of blockchain activity — many of them stem from unmet data needs at the blockchain or protocol level and are impeding downstream, off-chain operations. Blockchain and protocol communities are in the best position to address this through community-driven standardization.”



So while these problems may not exactly be new, they take on a new form in the world of blockchain protocols.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Digital asset data standardization and MG Stover</h3>



Overall, it’s clear that data standardization is a critical issue for funds within the digital asset space. Fund administrators serve a central role by providing the books and records that audit and tax firms rely on, as well as investor-level reporting. 



MG Stover began servicing digital asset clients in 2014 and has led the way in the development of technology to standardize and ingest data from its clients, exchanges, blockchains and protocols. MG Stover constantly faces the challenges involved in the standardization problem head on and is well positioned to continue developing innovative ways to ensure accurate reporting for its clients.



MG Stover partners with other leading companies, like Digital Asset Research, to help serve their data needs. The firm’s deep experience in the space and its technology-first approach are key to the data standardization practices that it employs.&nbsp;



According to Seth Altman, senior director of blockchain and digital assets, “The need to continually adapt and develop new data standardization is ever present. The exponential growth in decentralized activity over the past two years is an example of the ever-changing nature of the environment that funds in this space operate in. We are constantly collaborating with our clients and other service providers in the industry to ensure that the solutions we develop will benefit all stakeholders and result in a highly efficient and accurate service.”   



Josiah Reich, the firm&#8217;s senior director of hedge fund client services, noted that MG Stover is working with many institutional asset managers who are rapidly developing more sophisticated and streamlined internal processes to capture trading activity for investment book of records and shadow accounting.  He described how a service-based approach, coupled with the industry leading technology creates a compelling solution for fund managers:



“We work with each of our clients in partnership to ensure that there is a continual flow of information between clients, their trading counterparties, and our internal systems which reduces the risk that data may be misinterpreted or accounted for incorrectly. Because of the vast differences in funds and strategies, this approach ensures that we have a tailored approach, knowledgeable teams that understand our clients’ trading, layered with technology designed specifically for integrating digital asset trading activity and data standardization.”  



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



This content is sponsored by <a href="https://www.mgstover.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MG Stover</a>. To learn more about MG Stover, explore its <a href="https://www.mgstover.com/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">crypto fund offerings</a> or read &#8220;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/mg-stovers-top-3-digital-asset-trends/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Top 3 Trends in Private Funds</a>.&#8221;

cryptocurrency

The Importance of Data and Standardization Within Digital Assets

Sam Martin

Bitcoin

Ethereum and Bitcoin Price Action, Fundamentals Diverge: Markets Wrap

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_616456c209801" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>“Interest in crypto continues to grow at pace, and it’s clear that banks and tech companies have recognized that crypto is an inevitable part of our future finance and tech ecosystems,” Maini said</li>
 <li>The London-based company provides services to traditional financial institutions, FinTechs, crypto businesses and government agencies</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Elliptic, a blockchain analytics and crypto compliance company, raised $60 million in a Series C funding round led by Evolution Equity Partners, the company said in a statement Monday.&nbsp;



The round included new investment from SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and included existing investors Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, AlbionVC, Digital Currency Group, Octopus Ventures, SBI Group, SignalFire and Paladin Capital Group.



“Interest in crypto continues to grow at pace, and it’s clear that banks and tech companies have recognized that crypto is an inevitable part of our future finance and tech ecosystems,” Simone Maini, CEO of Elliptic, said to Blockworks in an email. 



The fundraise will be used to help the company capitalize on this growing momentum and interest in the space through team expansion and product development, Maini said.



The London-based company provides services to traditional financial institutions, FinTechs, crypto businesses and government agencies. To date, it has raised $100 million and is on track for 100% year over year growth in revenue by early 2022, Maini said.



Elliptic was founded in 2013, and in the span of eight years, the crypto landscape has changed dramatically, Maini said. According to its <a href="https://www.elliptic.co/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">website</a>, the business has over 100 customers across 29 countries and about ⅔, or 66%, of crypto volume runs through exchanges using Elliptic, which provides more than 100 crypto assets and over 10 billion data points. 



“Awareness, excitement, innovation and regulatory clarity have all grown considerably and this has changed the investment landscape for us at the same time,” Maini said. “We’ve been committed to bringing about mainstream crypto adoption for many years and that clarity of purpose has served us well,” she added. 



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



 Are you a UK or EU reader that can&#8217;t get enough investor-focused content on digital assets? <a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/das-london/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us</a> in London on November 15th and 16th for the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) London. Use code ARTICLE for £75 off your ticket. <a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/das-london/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Buy it now</a>.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>

Blockchain Analytics Firm Elliptic Raises $60M SoftBank, Wells Fargo, More

<div id="highlights-block_610b0716638ea" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Over the last three years, the startup established the Zabo API to connect users to any crypto exchange platform, wallet, protocol or account</li>
 <li>Coinbase is scheduled to announce its Q2 earnings on August 10 with an expected earnings per share of 2.57 and an expected revenue of $1.83 billion</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Coinbase is acquiring a cryptocurrency data aggregator, Zabo, according to a <a href="https://zabo.com/blog/zabo-is-joining-coinbase/#" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blog post</a> announcement on Wednesday.



Zabo began in 2018 with a mission to build new tools to bring cryptocurrency into mainstream financial services, co-founders Christopher Brown and Alex Treece wrote in the blog.



Over the last three years, the startup established the Zabo API, which is a single application programming interface that connects users to any crypto exchange platform, wallet, protocol or account.



“The cryptocurrency industry is still early, and there are many fundamental technologies which need to be built to make the stack work for mainstream participants. Ultimately the technology needs to be safe and usable even as we see more groundbreaking innovation within the cryptocurrency space,” Brown said in an email to Blockworks. “We think this acquisition will help drive the development of key technologies.”



Zabo could not share the value of the deal or what the integration into Coinbase’s platform will look like. However, Brown said that the acquisition will take place “as soon as possible,” and the two companies are in the final stages of the process.



Coinbase’s mission “of increasing economic freedom in the world is bold and important,” Brown said. “Once we understood there is mutual benefit to be had with our team and technology, then it became an easy decision for us,” he added.&nbsp;



In March 2020, Zabo announced a $2.5 million seed raise led by Moonshots Capital and was joined by Blockchange Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, Digital Currency Group, CoinShares, Tezos Foundation, Capital Factory and others.



In the last <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/?s=coinbase" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">few months</a> alone, Coinbase has has launched crypto savings high-yield <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/coinbase-compound-labs-launch-usdc-high-yield-accounts/">USDC accounts</a>, a prime brokerage <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/coinbase-launches-revamped-prime-brokerage-services/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">service</a> and expanded into <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/coinbase-expands-borrowing-using-bitcoin-as-collateral/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">borrowing bitcoin </a>as collateral, among other developments.&nbsp;



The first half of 2021 was one of the most active periods on record for crypto, said Brian Foster, a member of Coinbase’s Institutional Sales, Trading, and Prime Services team and Coinbase Ventures, in the company’s H1 2021 Review report. The first six months brought in new all-time highs in asset prices, user adoption and trader activity, Foster said.&nbsp;



In Q1 2021, Coinbase had a net revenue of $1.597 billion, up 792% from $179 million in the year-ago quarter. During Q1, Coinbase also acquired Bison Trail, which will allow companies to send and store crypto, accept crypto payments and build their businesses with crypto-native infrastructure, it said in a shareholder <a href="https://s27.q4cdn.com/397450999/files/doc_financials/2021/q1/Q1'21-COIN-Shareholder-Letter.pdf">letter</a>.&nbsp;



At the time, the company said that the rapid expansion of the crypto economy creates new challenges as competition is increasing among the marketplace as new groups join the space every month. While Coinbase said they welcome these challenges, they said they have to continue to move quickly to address them through action and growth.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Coinbase is scheduled to announce its <a href="https://investor.coinbase.com/financials/quarterly-results/default.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Q2 earnings</a> on August 10 with an expected earnings per share of 2.57 and an expected revenue of $1.83 billion.&nbsp;



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>.

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