Jack Kubinec

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



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Donald Trump is yet to take office, but the presumed increase in crypto M&amp;A deals under his presidency already appears to be underway.



Crypto on- and off-ramp platform MoonPay has acquired Solana payments startup Helio in an all-equity deal valued at $175 million, Helio CEO Stijn Paumen confirmed today. Paumen added that the entire Helio team will be joining MoonPay. There could be more M&amp;A action on the horizon, especially in the emerging field of crypto payments. Two other founders in the crypto payments space confirmed to me that they’ve seen recent acquisition interest.



MoonPay is a popular service for users trying to purchase crypto using bank accounts, credit cards or PayPal. Helio is more e-commerce focused, most recently making headlines for <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/helio-upgrades-solana-pay-plugin-for-shopify">its Shopify plugin</a> that lets merchants accept payments via the Solana network.&nbsp;



In acquiring Helio, MoonPay is showing an aspiration to expand beyond buying and selling crypto into providing infrastructure for people to pay for goods and services with crypto, Ben Mills, CEO of the on-ramp company Meso, told me. By combining forces, MoonPay is becoming one of the most vaunted outfits in onchain payments, Paumen said.&nbsp;



MoonPay’s Helio deal is one of the crypto sector’s more notable recent acquisitions, joining <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/lightspeed-newsletter-bridge-solana-vc">Stripe’s October purchase</a> of the stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge for a reported $1.1 billion. It feels notable that both of these deals involved crypto payments — which is the technology’s original use case but not one that has caught on very broadly just yet.



Crypto still believes in payments. In Lightspeed’s recent Solana Founders poll, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/solana-founders-survey-responses">a plurality voted</a> that payments are Solana’s most underrated sector.



Still, how big of a deal this all is remains a matter of perspective. Stripe buying Bridge was a validation for crypto because Stripe isn’t a crypto company, Mills said.



The intra-industry deal of MoonPay buying Helio “feels more like internal consolidation which is probably healthy, but doesn’t tell us much,” he added.



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<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



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<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
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Lightspeed Newsletter

MoonPay acquires Solana startup to grow payments services

James Cirrone

MoonPay locked down yet another European registration on Monday. This time, it’s in Liechtenstein, a small European country that borders Switzerland and Austria.&nbsp;



MoonPay is officially a licensed trustworthy technologies and exchange service <a href="https://www.fma-li.li/en/client-protection/safeguarding-client-protection-in-different-sectors/tt-service-providers.html">provider</a>, following approval from the Liechtenstein Financial Market Authority. It can now facilitate the exchange of digital assets and fiat currencies within Liechtenstein’s borders.



Crucially, this license does not extend to other countries, preventing <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/moonpay">MoonPay</a> from offering similar services throughout Europe.



The same dynamics are present with MoonPay’s Irish virtual asset service provider license, which <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/moonpay-ireland-vasp">it received from the country’s central bank in August</a>.



The UK also <a href="https://www.moonpay.com/newsroom/financial-conduct-authority">granted</a> MoonPay regulatory approval in December 2022. And in June of the same year, it <a href="https://twitter.com/moonpay/status/1535321386893312003?lang=en">became</a> a VASP in Italy.



MoonPay, a company chiefly known for its fiat-to-crypto “onramp” solution, is readying itself for Europe’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) legislation. <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/eu-parliament-passes-mica-vote">MiCA was passed in April 2023</a> and will come into full force in 2024.



“MoonPay is thrilled to expand upon our European registrations as further evidence of our compliance with European regulations,” MoonPay co-founder and Chief Financial Officer Max Crown said in a statement. “We continue to monitor developments in the implementation of MiCA and will fully comply with that framework once it takes effect.&#8221;&nbsp;



Liechtenstein’s <a href="https://www.fma-li.li/en/client-protection/safeguarding-client-protection-in-different-sectors/tt-service-providers.html">regulatory framework</a> for financial service providers that intersect with blockchain came into effect in January 2020. That framework now applies to MoonPay and its main concern is “client protection.”



And once a firm is registered, it must meet requirements on an “ongoing basis.”



Some requirements include having a minimum amount of capital, having sufficient internal control mechanisms, maintaining reporting obligations, among others.&nbsp;



Should a registered firm fail to meet any of the requirements, it could be penalized with a fine of 100,000 Swiss Francs (approximately $112,000).



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Europe

MoonPay is open for business in Liechtenstein

Michael Bodley

Precisely one month after Binance US transitioned to a crypto-only platform by discontinuing its fiat on- and off-ramp services, the exchange seems to be reconsidering its decision.



Binance US has been working on “integrating new [US dollar] on-ramp solutions, such as partnering with third-party payment provider MoonPay” the company told customers in an email on Monday, which was reviewed by Blockworks.



It wasn’t immediately clear what cryptocurrencies would be supported for buying and selling in dollars via the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/moonpay">MoonPay</a> partnership. One indicator pointed to Tether’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/usdt">USDT </a>as being the sole supported asset at launch.



Representatives for <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/binance">Binance</a> US and MoonPay did not immediately return a request for comment. MoonPay supports debit and credit cards, as well as ACH transfers.



The exchange, before the US Securities and Exchange Commission&#8217;s lawsuit earlier this year, previously supported buying most crypto assets via dollar deposits — and, in turn, selling those cryptocurrencies in a dollar conversion, which could then be withdrawn by customers off of Binance’s platform.&nbsp;



An update listed for Binance US’ app on the Apple app store at the end of last week said users could “now buy and sell USDT with USD in-app via <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/moonpay">MoonPay</a>.” 



A MoonPay spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday that the company is “providing a service for those [Binance US] users that want to convert their crypto to fiat and deposit into their US bank account,” adding that MoonPay “performs rigorous KYC [know-your customer] checks on all customers.”



The application on Tuesday continued to refer to Binance US as a “crypto-only exchange,” adding that the stablecoin “USDT is now our new base assets for transactions.” A message posted in the app said customers could purchase Tether’s USDT with dollars.&nbsp;



Users appeared to be able to use Binance US’ platform to buy USDT through MoonPay, which would then be transferred back to a customer’s Binance balance.



Since Binance transitioned to a crypto-only exchange in the wake of its uncertain status amid the <a href="http://blockworks.co/tag/sec">SEC&#8217;s</a> legal proceedings in the US, there has not been a straightforward method to purchase crypto with fiat currency.



Primary workarounds involve transferring digital assets from external wallets or other exchanges to Binance US and then conducting trades — including via the cryptocurrencies pairs that Binance continues to support.



Earlier this year, several crypto exchanges and companies lost their banking partners when industry-friendly banks like Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) faced a liquidity crunch and closed up shop. This sudden banking collapse created a gap in crypto on- and off-ramps for the businesses that depended upon them.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/who-will-bank-crypto">After bank failures, where will crypto firms turn?</a>



Binance US counted as one of its banking service providers Prime Trust, the Nevada-based company that declared bankruptcy.



In an update to its terms of service on Monday, the company said it was engaging with US-based custodians that maintain <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/fdic">FDIC</a> insurance — provided both the relevant Binance US affiliate and the custodian remain in “compliance with the regulatory requirements for pass-through deposit insurance provided by the FDIC.”



Updated Aug. 22, 2023 at 4:47 pm ET: Added a quote from a MoonPay spokesperson.



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Binance

Binance US renews banking push with MoonPay deal

MoonPay is now registered in Ireland as a virtual asset service provider, allowing the crypto payment company to offer its fiat-to-crypto “onramp” solution in the country.&nbsp;



MoonPay CEO and co-founder Ivan Soto-Wright told Blockworks that there’s a massive benefit to being approved in Ireland prior to MiCA, the European Union’s newest crypto law, coming into full force in 2024.&nbsp;



“We think having an Irish [virtual asset service provider] registration and eventually applying for authorization under MiCA to passport across the EU will be an immense competitive advantage,” Soto-Wright said in a statement shared with Blockworks.



The Central Bank of Ireland is responsible for approving virtual asset service providers (VASPs) and gave the greenlight to MoonPay on Tuesday, according to a press release.



Approved VASPs are permitted to offer five services to Irish customers, including the exchange between digital assets and fiat currencies, as well as enabling the swapping of digital assets for other digital assets.&nbsp;



Furthermore, VASPs in <a href="https://www.moonpay.com/newsroom/ireland">Ireland</a> can facilitate the transfer of crypto tokens between wallets, provide custody services and provide financial services related to token issuers, according to the central bank’s <a href="https://www.centralbank.ie/regulation/anti-money-laundering-and-countering-the-financing-of-terrorism/virtual-asset-service-providers">website</a>.&nbsp;



Soto-Wright told Blockworks that MoonPay is only approved to offer the first service: the exchange of digital assets and fiat currencies.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/gemini">Gemini</a> and <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/coinbase">Coinbase</a> are some of the most high-profile crypto firms to be registered as VASPs in Ireland prior to MoonPay, each of them securing approval in July and December, respectively.



MoonPay was also <a href="https://www.moonpay.com/newsroom/financial-conduct-authority">granted</a> regulatory assent in the UK in December 2022. And in June of the same year, the company <a href="https://twitter.com/moonpay/status/1535321386893312003?lang=en">became</a> a VASP in Italy.



As the fraught US regulatory environment persists or worsens, there’s been a noticeable trend of crypto companies seeking to obtain regulatory approvals in Europe.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/spain-crypto-com-registered">Crypto.com got registered in Spain</a> in June 2023. A little less than a month later, Societe Generale’s crypto subsidiary, SG-FORGE, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/societe-generale-secures-first-french-crypto-license">won the first crypto license in France</a>.



And most recently, of course, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/us-europe-spot-bitcoin-etf">Europe’s first spot bitcoin ETF went live</a> on Tuesday.



Meanwhile, the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-delays-bitcoin-etf-decision">US Securities and Exchange Commission just delayed the approval of a handful of bitcoin spot ETF applications</a>.



Updated Aug. 15, 2023 at 2:45 pm ET: Added comment from MoonPay CEO and co-founder Ivan Soto-Wright.



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Ireland

MoonPay secures VASP registration in Ireland

Ethereum Name Service, or ENS, will allow users to buy .eth domain names with fiat currency using MoonPay. The company indicated that this removes one of the technical roadblocks that come with setting up a crypto wallet and paying with ether.



MoonPay, a crypto payment services provider, allows users to pay with debit or credit, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Additionally, it “accepts 43 local currencies and is in over 160 countries,” according to the press release.



The option to purchase a domain with <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/moonpay">MoonPay</a> will be available right on the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/ens">ENS</a> website, according to Nick Johnson, ENS lead developer and founder.



“We want to make onboarding people into the Web3 ecosystem easier,” Johnson told Blockworks. “You&#8217;ve got a bit of a Catch-22 because you need an ENS name in order to send funds to your wallet, and you need funds in order to register an ENS name.”



MoonPay approached Johnson in the second quarter of 2022, according to the company. Johnson said before MoonPay proposed a partnership, the workarounds available weren’t up to snuff. They often involved embedding a plugin within an app that allowed users to purchase crypto that would then be sent to their wallet. 



He felt there were two problems with that.



“One is that [you’re] expected to already have a wallet. And the other is that, effectively, it&#8217;s indirect. What users are trying to do is get a name and get started. They don&#8217;t want funds. They want the name,” Johnson said.



MoonPay appears to have a similar philosophy: The company told Blockworks that it expects the partnership with ENS “to result in millions of net new users benefiting from true digital ownership over the next few years.&#8221;



The .eth name, Johnson explained, is a form of digital ID that improves “human readability.” Instead of showing up as a long public address with random digits and letters, a user’s wallet shows up as one simple name.&nbsp;



In Blockworks’ breakdown of ENS as a service, we reported that confusion with crypto addresses has on occasion led to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/what-is-the-ethereum-name-service-ens">loss of user funds</a>.



Decentralized naming services have taken off in recent years. At time of publication, there are over <a href="https://www.nft-stats.com/collection/ens">667,000 owners</a> who in total have acquired more than 2.7 million Ethereum Name Service digital tokens. ENS’ main competitor, Unstoppable Domains, had <a href="https://unstoppabledomains.com/blog/the-unstoppable-origin-story">registered</a> “over 3 million Web3 domains” as of Jan. 12, 2023.



Blockworks previously reported that <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/web3-service-providers-focus-on-improving-the-user-experience">Unstoppable Domains had established a similar partnership with MoonPay</a> in July 2022 that allowed the same ease of payment now available on ENS.



Updated April 20, 2023 at 11:57 pm ET: Added context and comment from MoonPay.



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Web3 Onboarding Just Got Easier: ENS Users Can Buy .ETH Name With Fiat

Ben Strack

Web3 company OneOf appointed Stephen Cooper, the former CEO of Warner Music Group and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), as its newest board member.



Cooper held the top spot at Warner from August 2011 until January 2023, leading the record label’s global expansion and digital transformation — and steering it through its initial public offerings in June 2020.&nbsp;



Warner partnered with Web3 protocol POAP Inc. last April to make NFTs available to fans. It then collaborated with NFT marketplace <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/opensea">OpenSea</a> in September to expand Web3 opportunities for artists.&nbsp;



OneOf’s consumer-facing Web3 marketplace launched in 2021 and houses digital collectibles from artists, athletes and brands.&nbsp;



“I am excited about how technology can reshape the future of music, entertainment and business models for many industries,” Cooper said in a statement.



Cooper has also served as Hawaiian Telcom’s CEO and as executive chairman of Blue Bird Corporation, as well as Collins &amp; Aikman Corporation’s executive chairman.&nbsp;



Crypto startup MoonPay has hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsey-haswell-5190378/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lindsey Haswell</a> as its chief legal officer, Reuters first <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/crypto-startup-moonpay-hires-legal-chief-blockchaincom-2023-02-16/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a> Thursday.&nbsp;



A spokesperson for the company confirmed the hire but declined to comment further.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Haswell had been chief legal officer at Blockchain.com since May 2021, according to her LinkedIn, and also previously worked in leadership roles at Uber and Lime.&nbsp;&nbsp;



She is looking to build a legal team comprising between seven and 20 lawyers, she told Reuters, adding that the industry’s spate of layoffs could present hiring opportunities.&nbsp;



Blockchain.com is among the companies that have slashed workforces over the past year, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/blockchain-com-slashes-25-of-workforce-cuts-exec-compensation">saying last July</a> it was set to cut about a quarter of its staff.



The Cardano Foundation appointed <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreas-pletscher/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Andreas Pletscher</a> as its chief operating officer and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-j-a9ab394a/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nicolas Jacquemart</a> as chief legal officer.



The non-profit organization encourages people to use the Cardano blockchain in business and mission-critical applications.



Pletscher has worked as technological director at PWC and IBM. His most recent project involved leading a transformation for a crypto services provider in Switzerland.&nbsp;



Jacquemart joins from FINMA, the Swiss financial market supervisory authority, and previously held roles at various law firms in Switzerland.



Unpaired, a collective focused on the creator economy, has hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberlyknoller/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kimberly Knoller</a> as chief marketing officer and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/yoavtchelet/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Yoav Tchelet</a> as chief growth and innovation officer.



Knoller — who most recently led marketing for music metaverse project Pixelynx — previously built the first direct-to-fan team at Warner Records and has worked directly with artists such as My Chemical Romance, Green Day and Josh Groban.&nbsp;



Tchelet formerly guided marketing and growth at crypto art market SuperRare Labs. He has also worked with Ford, Unilever, Diageo and Nestle to craft marketing initiatives.



Blockchain company Toposware continued growing its board by adding executives with experience in gaming, technology and engineering.&nbsp;



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulroma/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Paul Roma</a>, a senior adviser to investment firm Francisco Partners, has also held leadership roles at IBM, Deloitte and CIOX Health.</li>



<li></li>



<li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/wischhusen/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Martin Wischhusen</a>, vice president of game development and infrastructure services at Electronic Arts, is also an advisor to venture capital firms Osage Venture Partners and Insight Partners.&nbsp;</li>



<li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sriramvishwanath/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sriram Vishwanath</a> is a professor in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



Toposware is the lead developer of Topos, which is expected to launch its testnet later this year. The startup is aiming to give developers the means to securely deploy natively interoperable sovereign execution layers and decentralized applications



New York-based Blockchain-based payments solutions provider Tassat Group named <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/zain-saidin-397109/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Zain Saidin</a> as its chief operating officer.



TassatPay, which launched in 2019, recently eclipsed $1 trillion in real-time business-to-business payments after processing more than $150 billion in transactions in January alone.&nbsp;



Its partners include Western Alliance Bank, Signature Bank, Customers Bank, Axos Bank, Byline Bank and Cogent Bank.&nbsp;



Saidin, who spent nearly three decades with semiconductor manufacturing company KLA, is set to lead operations and business development as Tassat looks to ink deals with new banking partners.



His appointment comes several months after Tassat hired <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/latest-in-crypto-hiring-morgan-stanley-exec-jumps-ship-to-crypto'">a handful of executives</a>.



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Cardano

Latest in Crypto Hiring: Longtime Music Exec Migrates to Web3

Uniswap Labs is getting into the fiat game.&nbsp;



The developers behind decentralized cryptoasset exchange <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/uniswap" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Uniswap</a> have struck a deal with MoonPay to bridge DeFi and conventional currencies. The partnership allows Uniswap users to buy digital assets via a bank account or supported credit or debit card, the companies said Tuesday. 



The arrangement is designed to resolve a longstanding issue for DEX users: Peer-to-peer blockchain protocols do not support fiat pairs. Centralized exchanges, such as Coinbase and Kraken, do. 



MoonPay, a digital assets infrastructure and payments processor, is handling the back-end of the arrangement, which allows customers in more than 160 countries to purchase crypto via direct bank transfers, as well as credit and debit cards.&nbsp;



Terms of the deal and the exact timeline of the rollout were not disclosed.&nbsp;



The move, once more, pits Uniswap against its centralized counterparts: Coinbase, for instance, has an option to convert assets to the stablecoin USDC and then withdraw for free.&nbsp;



Uniswap representatives in a statement dubbed their fees as the “best rates in [Web3]” and “the lowest processing fees on the market.” The DEX is not planning to take a cut of the spread on USDC transactions, but processing fees do apply, a spokesperson said. The latter typically ranges from 1% to 3%, depending on the payment method. (Credit card purchases would come with a greater cost, for instance.)



Institutional and retail crypto traders alike have lately been reexamining the possibility — and feasibility — of safeguarding crypto on exchanges following FTX’s liquidity crunch and ensuing bankruptcy. And the notion appears to be one part of the marketing pitch for the partnership.&nbsp;



MC Lader, Uniswap Labs’ chief operating officer, told Blockworks that “user experience has been a major barrier to adoption of decentralized tech, and improving that is a priority for Uniswap.” App users maintain custody of their funds.&nbsp;



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“The more users can do in self-custody and on decentralized rails, the better and safer their experience can be,” Lader said in a statement. 
</blockquote>



Supported blockchains include Arbitrum, Ethereum’s mainnet, Optimism and Polygon. Supported tokens at launch: DAI, ETH, MATIC, USDC, USDT, WBTC and WETH. Minimum purchases are typically the local currency equivalent of $15.&nbsp;



Availability for the purchase of each individual cryptocurrency depends on where the customer in question is based, and similar restrictions apply to support for bank account transfers — versus using a debit card. Purchases of cryptocurrencies with fiat are also subject to MoonPay’s know-your-customer (KYC) requirements, which likewise vary by region.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">MoonPay-Uniswap integration is all about choice, the companies say</h3>



For many DeFi adherents, the idea of having to provide personally identifiable information in order to acquire digital assets is antithetical to the idea of DeFi itself: a trustless, permissionless means to freely exchange value around the world, at any time.&nbsp;



Uniswap said MoonPay would not share any user data with the DEX.&nbsp;



Zeeshan Feroz, MoonPay’s chief strategy officer, told Blockworks that there’s a “very clear line” in terms of Uniswap’s function as a decentralized entity and his company’s role as a payment processor, which he dubbed “decoupling the tech stack.”&nbsp;



“The idea is to provide a robust tech stack, provide optionality in terms of payment methods that also provide different price points,” Feroz said. “The idea is to provide choice.”&nbsp;



There are no crypto offramps at the moment, with the companies saying an addition is something they could pursue down the line. It’s the latest instance of a growing number of fiat onramps, though, for acquiring digital assets with real-world money. Users, instead, have to use MoonPay, or another third-party facilitator, to exchange their digital assets for fiat.



MetaMask, which already has its own Uniswap integration, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/buy-ethereum-using-paypal-metamask" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">now supports</a> purchases via PayPal within its own mobile app; payment processing giant Stripe now allows customers to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/stripe-enables-crypto-on-ramp" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">swap</a> dollars for digital assets; and Kado, a payment processor that focuses, specifically, on Web3 applications, has <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/kado-brings-fiat-on-off-ramp-to-cosmos" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">set up</a> its own fiat mechanism on the Cosmos blockchain.



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MoonPay

Debit, Credit Cards, Bank Accounts Coming to Uniswap

MoonPay is set to add Time executive Keith Grossman to lead its enterprise business, as he is set to join the crypto payments infrastructure company on Jan. 2.  



Grossman has spent the last three-plus years as president of publishing powerhouse Time. While there, <a href="https://time.com/6121132/time-and-galaxy-digital-partner-to-demystify-the-next-immersive-digital-frontier-the-metaverse-through-a-first-of-its-kind-partnership/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Time teamed up with Galaxy Digital</a> to offer metaverse education, and the publisher’s television and film production division <a href="https://time.com/6123080/time-studios-tap-nft-space-for-animated-franchises/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">partnered with NFT creators</a> to develop animated franchises. 



“In 2020, I noticed a trend too big to ignore: a shift enabling the evolution from online ‘rentership’ to ‘ownership’ that also accommodated a much-needed shift in consumer privacy,” Grossman wrote in <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/after-35-years-time-i-wanted-inform-you-have-accepted-grossman/?trackingId=7LxA7hV0TM%2B8FfdraGylJA%3D%3D" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a blog post</a>. “At that point, I knew it was only a matter of time before I ultimately needed to move from the comforts of being an ‘observer’ to that of a ‘participant’ in the adoption of web3.”



In addition to working at Time, Grossman has held leadership roles at Bloomberg and tech publisher Wired.



The upcoming addition of Grossman comes after MoonPay in July <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/latest-in-crypto-hiring-moonpay-adds-range-of-senior-execs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">filled several executive roles</a>, including the addition of Jim Esposito as chief operating officer and Akash Garg as chief technology officer. 



MoonPay, which reports having 5 million customers and supports more than 80 assets, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/moonpay-marshals-555m-in-series-a-funding-round" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">raised $555 million last year</a> in a Series A round that gave the company a $3.4 billion valuation. 



Blockchain Founders Fund promoted <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobias-man-bauer/details/experience/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tobias Bauer</a> as a partner of the Web3 venture capital fund.     



Bauer has worked at the fund for the last three years, holding roles including head of partnerships and principal. He formerly was a venture partner at Republic, a financial technology company specializing in investment-related services in the private markets.



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/suvratjoshi/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Suvrat Joshi</a> joined identity verification provider Veriff as a senior vice president of product. 



Joshi was most recently chief product officer at FarEye and previously worked in roles at Dropbox, Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon.&nbsp;



“Excited to share that I joined Veriff to bring the digital and physical worlds closer through the identity lens,” Joshi said in a LinkedIn post. “It&#8217;s early days, and Veriff is at the leading edge of this shift.”



Veriff, which <a href="https://www.veriff.com/case-studies/blockchain-veriff-making-crypto-safe-and-accessible" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">partnered with Blockchain.com</a> in 2018, offers various <a href="https://www.veriff.com/industry/crypto" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">verification and fraud prevention services for crypto users</a>. 



It is unclear how much Joshi will be working on Veriff’s crypto products in the new role. He did not immediately return a request for comment.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Firms hiring and firing</h3>



Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell said in <a href="https://blog.kraken.com/post/16442/business-update/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a blog post</a> Wednesday that about <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/kraken-layoffs-30-percent" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">30% of the company’s staff would be laid off</a> as a direct result of the ongoing crypto winter.



“This reduction takes our team size back to where it was only 12 months ago,” Powell said, describing the move as necessary because “negative influences on the financial markets have continued and we have exhausted preferable options for bringing costs in line with demand.”



The cuts amount to more than 1,000 people — roughly the same amount Coinbase laid off as part of <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-cut-workforce-ceo-wary-of-potential-recession" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cutbacks announced in June</a>. 



Not all crypto companies are downsizing.&nbsp;



Digital asset market maker Keyrock said Wednesday it is looking to double its headcount — currently more than 100 — in 2023, despite the bear market. The Brussels-based firm is seeking to expand to Switzerland and Singapore early next year.&nbsp;



Keyrock has already doubled the size of its workforce this year, the company said. The latest hiring plans come after it raised $72 million from investors including Ripple, SIX Fintech Ventures and Middlegame Ventures.



Lantern Ventures, a crypto-focused trading firm led by former Alameda Research co-founder  <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarajmacaulay/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tara Mac Aulay</a>, is hiring an infrastructure lead. Mac Aulay started Alameda Research with Sam Bankman-Fried in 2017 and left the firm the following year.



The infrastructure engineer would be tasked with carving out a new infrastructure team as the company seeks to manage its virtual private network and developer productivity resources.



“We need to secure all these resources against both accidental loss and deliberate compromise, facing the unusually sharp threats and high stakes that are a systemic feature of crypto finance,” the job post states. 



Crypto exchange Bitget has reiterated its intention to increase its number of employees to 1,200 by the first quarter of 2023 — about a 50% increase from its current level.



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crypto hiring

Latest in Crypto Hiring: MoonPay Recruits Time President for 2023

Ornella Hernandez

<div id="highlights-block_62fe10b98bab9" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>“Nine out of 10 celebrities, if they were to do an NFT release today, would fail,” said co-founder of ArtGrails, Avery Andon, brother of Graffiti artist Alec Monopoly</li>
 <li>Celebs should ask themselves if they’re getting paid to promote NFTs, marketing exec warns</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Moonpay, a crypto payments provider, runs a celebrity crypto concierge service to help the rich and famous acquire NFTs and other digital assets without getting their hands dirty.



But when public figures endorse crypto projects with tokens whose prices pump and tank, it not only seems shady, it’s potentially illegal.



MoonPay’s client roster includes Hilton, actress <a href="https://twitter.com/GwynethPaltrow/status/1486482496883625984?s=20&amp;t=UvZMjFLBQkPe_ZeztYveNw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gwyneth Paltrow</a>, artist <a href="https://www.moonpay.com/blog/post-malone" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Post Malone</a>, Madonna and others. Essentially, the company is working with the idea that NFTs are the “future of consumer engagement,” said Moonpay spokesperson Justin Hamilton.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“For major holders of intellectual property — celebrities, musicians, entertainers and athletes — the way that they are going to use this technology will be disconnected from market trading realities,” he said.</blockquote>



That may be true in theory, but there’s a reason crypto companies and projects seek to tie their brands to familiar and popular faces.



As bitcoin was retreating from dizzying record highs last December, Actor Matt Damon <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-com-cmo-on-how-company-went-from-app-to-global-brand/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">appeared</a> in a buzzy Crypto.com advertisement during the Super Bowl and said, “fortune favors the brave.”



A few months earlier, with the crypto bull market in full swing, film star Reese Witherspoon in a now-deleted <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210903001403/https://twitter.com/reesew/status/1433524984723349507" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">post</a> tweeted: &#8220;Just bought my first ETH! Let’s do this<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210903012125/https://twitter.com/hashtag/cryptotwitter?src=hash" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> #cryptotwitter</a>.&#8221; ETH was worth almost $3,900 at the time and now trades for half that. Witherspoon also touted a World of Women NFT.



Earlier still, NFL legend Tom Brady founded his own NFT (non-fungible token) marketplace, Autograph. And like Damon, Brady also marketed a crypto exchange, FTX, alongside his wife, model Giselle Bündchen.&nbsp;



Heiress Paris Hilton then <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zi12wrh5So" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dubbed</a> herself “The Queen of the Metaverse” in January after hosting DJ events in Roblox, bagging blue chip NFTs such as Bored Ape Yacht Club, and even creating her own.



The same thing happened during the mania of the last cycle, when Katy Perry <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BeXchJzFkhJ/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">debuted</a> her “crypto claws” on Instagram — nails emblazoned with digital asset logos including bitcoin, ether and litecoin.



Despite the unfortunate timing of these endorsements, and whether the celebrities truly believe in — or even understand — crypto, their clout helped lend mainstream legitimacy to the industry.



“They know that they&#8217;re constantly going to have to push the envelope to invent new ways to create community, to create buy-in, to create loyalty,” said Hamilton. “Many of them think that NFT technologies will be the way to do that.”&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Effects of the bear market&nbsp;</h3>



Despite the market downturn, rapper Snoop Dogg <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/28/snoop-dogg-on-crypto-winter-and-the-future-of-nfts.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a> CNBC that the crypto winter &#8220;weeded out all the people who weren&#8217;t supposed to be in the space and who were abusing the opportunities that were there,&#8221; during the NFT.NYC conference in June.



MoonPay <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/moonpay-primes-nft-minting-service-hypermint/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">launched</a> HyperMint during the same event, an NFT distribution platform that’s already worked with Universal Pictures and street artist Alec Monopoly.



Monopoly — born Alec Andon — and his brother and manager, Avery Andon, are planning their own concierge-like platform for high-profiles and celebrities who want to foster NFT communities. When asked what he thinks about celebrities jumping in during crypto winter, Andon said:



“There was that moment in the beginning when a couple of celebrities got lucky and made big bucks off of cash grab releases. But I genuinely think those days are done,” he said, pointing to singer Chris Brown’s recent attempt.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“Nine out of 10 celebrities, if they were to do an NFT release today, would fail,” Andon said.</blockquote>



Brown released the Breezyverse collection of 3D animated Brown avatars at the start of July. Only 350 people have bought into the set of 10,000, as seen on OpenSea at the time of publication. Less than 13 ETH ($23,600) has been spent in total.



Web3 enthusiasts “really expect you to be an active member of their community and to really give a part of yourself for the project,” for example through weekly AMA chats or Instagram live chats, according to Andon.



“I think that it&#8217;s just such an in depth, exhaustive [process] that a real, true NFT project requires that most celebrities are not willing to make that commitment,” he added.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Marketing crypto tastefully is still possible</h3>



Geoff Renaud, chief marketing officer of the marketing agency Invisible North, echoed that sentiment.&nbsp;



“You see a lot of love and support from the Web3 community when people come for the right reasons, and the claws come out when endorsements are insincere, [Damon’s] Crypto.com ad being probably the most famous example,” Renaud said.



Still, he pointed to FTX’s “great job partnering with talent in creative and authentic ways. FTX “brilliantly cast” Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David in its own Super Bowl commercial.



FTX leveraged David’s trademark indifference to undersell crypto, unlike Crypto.com’s bullish narrative, and practically the opposite of Kim Karashian’s basic Instagram <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2021/10/ben-mckenzie-crypto-celebrities-kardashian-brady-lohan.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">advertisement</a> for SafeMoon rip-off EthereumMAX, which is now almost worthless.



“[FTX] made their athlete partners like Tom Brady and Steph Curry stakeholders in the company. The partnerships are always ‘on,’ and the athletes seem personally engaged, which is really rare,” Renaud said.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Celebs must ask themselves if they’re getting paid to promote NFTs</h3>



In any case, Renaud advised public figures to stay cautious about what they&#8217;re promoting. Referencing the ICO (initial coin offering) “craze” of 2017 and 2018, Renaud noted there’s still ongoing litigation over “empty celebrity promotions” from that era.



Most recently, the law firm Scott+Scott claimed that Bored Ape Yacht Club creators Yuga Labs used celebrity promoters and endorsements to inflate the price of its NFTs by overpromising high returns. Yuga Labs <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/yuga-labs-faces-potential-class-action-lawsuit-over-inflated-bayc-nfts/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">could face</a> a class action lawsuit.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“It&#8217;s a real shame that you can be dragged into a lawsuit just because you&#8217;re excited about a piece of digital art that you own,” Renaud said.</blockquote>



Kayvan Ghaffari, head of legal at NFT art marketplace MakersPlace, reasoned that it’s too soon to tell the exact regulatory implications, but public figures must ask themselves: “Am I receiving any sort of financial benefit from this NFT?”&nbsp;



“If the answer is yes, the FTC [Federal Trade Commission] will start to enforce the law,” Ghaffari said.&nbsp;&nbsp;



He added that federal agencies such as the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will emerge as primary NFT watchdogs.



19 celebrities have been warned by consumer watchdog group Truth in Advertising against shilling NFTs, Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton, Tom Brady and many others <a href="https://truthinadvertising.org/industries/celebrities-promoting-nfts/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">were called out</a> for “a failure to clearly and conspicuously disclose the promoter’s material connection to the endorsed NFT company.”



There has been no official involvement from the FTC, yet.



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Alec Monopoly

Celebrities Shilled Crypto at the Top. Can They Learn for Next Cycle?

<div id="highlights-block_62d17d16f7672" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>MoonPay’s new executives bring experience from Block, Coinbase and others</li>
 <li>OpenSea became the latest to announce job cuts as crypto downturn lingers</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Crypto payment service MoonPay has filled several C-suite and senior management roles, including the addition of <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesaesposito/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jim Esposito</a> as chief operating officer and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/akashdgarg/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Akash Garg</a> as chief technology officer.&nbsp;



Esposito was formerly the head of operations for Block’s <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/cash-app/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cash App</a> and the president of Cash App Investing. Garg previously worked as vice president of engineering at Block and was a CTO at Afterpay.



MoonPay is also bringing aboard <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/asiff-hirji/details/experience/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Asiff Hirji</a>, a president at Figure and ex-president of Coinbase, and an ex-operating adviser at a16z, as a senior adviser to the CEO; <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrettmcmanus/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Garrett McManus</a> as head of marketing; <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-capone-53903b86/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tom Capone</a> as head of MoonPay Studios; and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/abmav/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Abhay Mavalankar</a> as head of corporate development.  



The executives are set to join a MoonPay team with roughly 300 employees. MoonPay is planning to double its headcount between now and the end of the year.&nbsp;&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/petermaerkl/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Peter Märkl</a> is set to join Valour&#8216;s asset management team next month as its general counsel, becoming the latest to jump ship from 21Shares.&nbsp;



Märkl is currently the head of legal for the crypto fund issuer. Prior to his role at 21Shares, he worked in the Zurich office of law firm Heuking, where he concentrated on the fintech and private banking business. Märkl also previously held management positions at UBS in Germany and Switzerland.



DeFi Technologies subsidiary Valour, a technology company seeking to bridge the gap between traditional capital markets and decentralized finance, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/cardano-polkadot-etps-hit-frankfurt-stock-exchange/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">has a range of crypto ETPs</a>.



Märkl’s move comes after <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/marco-infuso/?originalSubdomain=ch" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Marco Infuso</a>, who also left 21Shares as its head of Germany, joined Valour to lead the global sales of the firm’s ETPs (exchange-traded products), the company <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/latest-in-crypto-hiring-binance-us-hires-cfo-to-help-it-chart-ipo-path/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">revealed</a> earlier this month.



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dina-ellis-rochkind-95bb26a/details/experience/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dina Ellis Rochkind</a> joined the advisory board of crypto startup Earnity, a crypto platform and marketplace where users can share, buy, gift or create collections of crypto.&nbsp;



Rochkind has worked on every major piece of financial regulation over the last two decades, according to Earnity. She is a legal adviser to fintech, crypto and blockchain clients at law firm Paul Hastings.



In addition to working with senators and other members of Congress, she worked as deputy assistant secretary for consumer affairs and community policy at the Treasury Department from 2001 to 2002, according to her LinkedIn profile.



&#8220;Clear guidance and regulation will be critical to the evolution of the crypto industry,&#8221; Earnity CEO Dan Schatt said in a statement. &#8220;We are thrilled to be working with Dina, whose reputation for getting things done in Washington and reading the tea leaves on what is going on in DC, will further Earnity&#8217;s ability to provide valuable services and insights to its community of customers, professionals and the overall crypto industry.”



NFT Technologies appointed <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/adecata/?originalSubdomain=au" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Adam De Cata</a> as its new CEO after the company revealed Thursday that it is set to acquire blockchain, metaverse and NFT development studio Run It Wild. He replaces <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mario-nawfal/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mario Nawfal</a>, who will continue working as a strategic adviser for the company.



De Cata founded Australia-based Run It Wild in 2021 and was head of partnerships at virtual reality platform Decentraland since March 2021, according to his LinkedIn profile. In the latter role, he was responsible for establishing the presence of brands such as Sotheby&#8217;s, Coca-Cola, ConsenSys and Bored Ape Yacht Club within Decentraland.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“They’ve established themselves as the only publicly-traded company focused on extending real-world utility and value in NFTs to mainstream adoption,” De Cata said of NFT Technologies in a statement. “As an industry, we are only scratching the surface of what can be achieved.”



ORIGIN Metaverse, a company focused on streamlining metaverse real estate NFT transactions, added <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mo-kumarsi/?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egoogle%2Ecom&amp;originalSubdomain=ca" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mo Kumarsi</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/globalresourcebroker/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Adam Russell</a> to its team.



Russell and Kumarsi are co-founders of REV3AL — which offers artists, creators and intellectual property owners protection and authentication of digital assets in Web3 and the metaverse. They work as the company’s chief revenue officer and CEO, respectively.



Layer-2 blockchain infrastructure provider Bosonic hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-briand-80a097133/?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egoogle%2Ecom&amp;originalSubdomain=uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Julie Briand</a> as head of client success and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarthakjain1/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sarthak Jain</a> as regional manager of institutional sales.



Briand, with experience in client onboarding and service, was previously responsible for several of the largest institutional clients while at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.



Sarthak joins Bosonic after selling institutional enterprise solutions in the UK and Europe for Bloomberg and, most recently, crypto exchange Binance.&nbsp;



In case you missed it, OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer revealed on Twitter Thursday that the NFT marketplace would be <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/opensea-lays-off-20-of-staff/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cutting its staff by 20%</a>. The news followed similar announcements by <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/gemini-joins-growing-list-of-crypto-exchanges-cutting-staff-amid-downturn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gemini</a>, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-com-parts-ways-with-nft-head-following-layoffs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Crypto.com</a>, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/cryptocurrency-lender-blockfi-set-to-cut-staff-by-a-fifth/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BlockFi</a> and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/coinbase-cut-workforce-ceo-wary-of-potential-recession/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Coinbase</a> in recent weeks.



“The reality is that we have entered an unprecedented combination of crypto winter and broad macroeconomic instability, and we need to prepare the company for the possibility of a prolonged downturn,” Finzer wrote.



Meanwhile Fidelity Digital Assets, which <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/fidelity-digital-assets-to-double-headcount/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">laid out plans in May</a> to double its headcount by the end of the year, remains on pace to hit those hiring goals, a spokesperson told Blockworks.



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<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

21Shares

Latest in Crypto Hiring: MoonPay Adds Range of Senior Execs

<div id="highlights-block_62ced49ece387" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Web3 identity providers such as ENS and Unstoppable Domains use NFTs as a gateway to alphanumeric wallet addresses</li>
 <li>MoonPay is one of 265+ applications that supports Unstoppable Domains</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Unstoppable Domains and ENS (<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/?s=ethereum+name+service" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ethereum Name Service</a>) have become the top two blockchain domain name providers for Web3 users. Web3 domains are NFTs that can be traded, but they can also be used as a shorthand for cryptocurrency wallet addresses to send or receive crypto.



On <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/opensea/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">OpenSea</a>, ENS <a href="https://opensea.io/rankings?category=domain-names&amp;sortBy=one_day_volume" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ranks</a> first within the domain names category in terms of cumulative trading volume and for having the largest collection of items, while Unstoppable Domains ranks second. 



During the first weekend of July, the number of ENS registrations peaked from 11,042 to 34,357, <a href="https://datastudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/8785928a-71d5-4b17-9fea-fe1c937b064f/page/RoKgC" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a> to a data tracker created by ENS developer Nick Johnson, possibly due to the falling price of ether (ETH) and lower than average gas fees. Even social media activity surrounding ENS reached new highs that week, the social tracking platform Lunar Crush <a href="https://twitter.com/LunarCrush/status/1544591008230281216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1544591008230281216%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcointelegraph.com%2Fnews%2Fethereum-name-service-registrations-surge-by-200-amid-lower-gas-fees" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>.



Unstoppable is the fifth collection under collectibles NFTs with the most users in the past 24 hours, <a href="https://dappradar.com/rankings/category/collectibles/1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a> to DappRadar, ahead of Art Blocks and Yuga Labs’ Otherdeed for Otherside.



Sandy Carter, senior vice president and channel chief at Unstoppable Domains, explained to Blockworks that Web3 may feel “complex and confusing for people getting started.” NFT domains serve to expand access and “bring more people into the world of Web3.”&nbsp;



Part of its mission is to make the user experience “easy to navigate,” which includes accepting credit card, PayPal and cryptocurrency to buy Unstoppable domains. In contrast to ENS domains, which can carry an annual renewal fee anywhere between $5 to $640 paid in ether, Unstoppable Domains charges a one-time fee that generally starts at $5 but can cost more.



On Wednesday, Unstoppable announced a partnership with crypto payment services provider MoonPay to enable users to buy cryptocurrency and send it to their wallet using their Unstoppable Domains name.&nbsp;



The two companies aim to make all .crypto or .nft decentralized URLs more useful.



<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">Welcome to a simpler web3 🌙 We’re stoked to announce our partnership with <a href="https://twitter.com/moonpay?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@moonpay</a> to make buying crypto even easier 🤝 Try it out ➡️ <a href="https://t.co/nT3xr7s6zB">https://t.co/nT3xr7s6zB</a> <a href="https://t.co/bfgz4yL3BB">pic.twitter.com/bfgz4yL3BB</a>&mdash; unstoppable.nft (@unstoppableweb) <a href="https://twitter.com/unstoppableweb/status/1547174139131305988?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 13, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



MoonPay enables users to buy and sell 90 cryptocurrencies using credit and debit cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay to include over 30 fiat currencies.&nbsp;&nbsp;



That “reduces a major barrier to entry,” said Carter, who believes that NFT domains “will be as ubiquitous as email” in the future. As opposed to Web2, where “your identity and data are owned by corporations,” users can own, control and choose to share an identity built across Web3, she added.



MoonPay shared with Blockworks that it wants to “make sure that the infrastructure of Web3 is attuned to the evolving needs of consumers” in order to “support greater use and familiarity with Web3.”



The company also confirmed that there are no additional fees associated with the Unstoppable integration. Currently, a flat fee of $4.99 plus a 3.5% transaction fee is applied to purchases below $141, and a fee of 7% is deducted from purchases over $142.&nbsp;



<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/moonpay-primes-nft-minting-service-hypermint/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Moonpay recently launched HyperMint</a>, a self-service platform that enables large companies and brands to create, manage and mint utility NFTs at scale.&nbsp;



Since its 2019 inception, MoonPay has processed more than $3 billion in transactions and counts on a customer base of more than 12 million global users.



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Web3 Service Providers Focus on Improving the User Experience

<div id="highlights-block_62b1f774382ae" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Launch partners include Fox, Creative Artists Agency and Universal Pictures</li>
 <li>The platform intends to lower barriers to entry into Web3 for developers</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Crypto payment services provider MoonPay announced the launch of a new self-service platform called HyperMint that enables large companies and brands to create, manage and mint utility NFTs at scale. MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright debuted the new product in a keynote address at Radio City Music Hall during the NFT.NYC conference Tuesday.



<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">Today, our CEO <a href="https://twitter.com/isotowright?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@isotowright</a> demonstrated our new minting-as-a-service tool to the public for the first time ever. <a href="https://t.co/8A3hKVqRqZ">pic.twitter.com/8A3hKVqRqZ</a>&mdash; MoonPay @ NFT.NYC (@moonpay) <a href="https://twitter.com/moonpay/status/1539267659438731265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 21, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



The following partner brands will leverage HyperMint’s advisory services and distribution capabilities: Fox Corporation, Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Universal Pictures, music producer Timbaland’s Beatclub, and lifestyle and gaming platform FaZe Clan.&nbsp;



British luxury department store Selfridges, in collaboration with fashion house Paco Rabanne, has also used HyperMint to create NFTs (non-fungible tokens) tied to physical merchandise and access to in-person events.&nbsp;



Creators, brands and enterprises often struggle with “project-killing complexity, untrusted systems and partners, and prohibitive costs,” MoonPay said in a statement.



Other challenges include strategy development, scaling, and the deployment and sale of utility NFTs worldwide.&nbsp;



HyperMint is designed to help users avoid those obstacles, the company said. It allows NFT creators to quickly take their ideas to market, eliminating reliance on third-party developers. The company stated that HyperMint can mint hundreds of millions of utility NFTs in a day. 



Moonpay wants to be known not just as a payment infrastructure company but as a Web3 infrastructure company, Soto-Wright said on stage.



HyperMint should play the same role for Web3 that Amazon’s cloud computing service Amazon Web Service (AWS) did for Web2, MoonPay said, to help companies rethink their industries and underpin the future of Web3.



The Web3 space has “a long way to go to elevate the content of NFTs around real-world utility and functionality,” Soto-Wright said.



MoonPay’s other products include NFT Checkout — which lets users buy NFTs with credit and debit cards — and MoonPay Concierge, a referral-based service for high net worth individuals that purchases crypto and blue-chip NFTs on their clients’ behalf for a fee.



In April, the company revealed that $87 million of the <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/moonpay-marshals-555m-in-series-a-funding-round/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$555 million they raised in a Series A</a> round came collectively from more than 60 public figures and celebrities, artists and athletes.



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Hypermint

MoonPay Primes NFT Minting Service HyperMint

Morgan Chittum

<div id="highlights-block_623a30e6a5406" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Venture capital firm Andreesen Horowitz (a16z) led the round</li>
 <li>Yuga Labs recently acquired the intellectual property rights to NFT collections CryptoPunks and Meebits from Larva Labs</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Yuga Labs has secured a virtually unprecedented $450 million in seed funding, bringing the startup to a post-money valuation of $4 billion.



Best known as the creator of popular NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club, Yuga Labs will use the capital for staff expansion and future partnerships, according to a Tuesday <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220322006088/en/Yuga-Labs-Closes-450-Million-Seed-Round-of-Funding-Valuing-the-Company-at-4-Billion-Confirms-Plans-for-Metaverse-Project" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announcement</a>.



The raise was led by venture capital firm Andreesen Horowitz (a16z). Other participants included blockchain-based game studio Animoca Brands, The Sandbox, LionTree, Sound Ventures, FTX and MoonPay.



“This capital will give Yuga speed to market on many things underway, and bring in new partners with strategic thinking that share the vision,” Guy Oseary, partner at Yuga Labs, said in a statement.



The move follows <a href="https://mirror.xyz/0xEc9f53fA69682833FBd760C104B5D61aE29221E0/Km81y6Mc3O5LzS0wnrghVIV0HnZgLOd4wsnfcGw3_2I" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Yuga Labs&#8217; recent acquisition</a> of commercial rights to NFT (non-fungible token) collections CryptoPunks and Meebits from Larva Labs. The consolidation gives Yuga Labs the intellectual property rights of some of the three most profitable cryptoassets in the industry.



“Already, a new economy is possible with the IP of Apes, Punks, and Meebits, owned by the community,” Nicole Muniz, chief executive of Yuga Labs, said in a statement. “The possibilities for blockchain’s impact on culture are endless, and so we are building a beautiful, interoperable world for people to explore and play in. There’s a lot to come.”



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a16z

Bored Ape Yacht Club Creator Snags $450M in Funding for $4B Valuation

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_61def9ebe3a32" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Financial service companies are beginning to realize they can no longer ignore digital assets, Woodford said</li>
 <li>According to an SEC filing, Interactive Brokers CEO Milan Galik and Co-founder of thinkorswim and tastytrade Tom Sosnoff also participated in the round, but Woodford declined to comment on their participation</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Zero Hash raised $105 million in a Series D funding round, a few months after its last fundraise in October, the company shared on Wednesday.&nbsp;



The company provides businesses the ability to embed crypto and NFT products and services into their own platforms so that customers can trade, reward, earn and stake digital assets.&nbsp;



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“Every company will be a crypto company in some form,” Edward Woodford, co-founder and CEO of Zero Hash told Blockworks in an interview.</blockquote>



The company powers retail brokers, neo-banks and payment processors for companies like MoneyLion, Wirex, MoonPay and TradeZero. Additionally, Zero Hash gives back-end coverage and the regulatory licensing required to offer these services. “They’re coming to us for a number of different products, it really depends on what they offer customers,” he noted.



The company provides various types of licensing depending on the circumstances, Woodford noted. In the US, for example, Zero Hash has <a href="https://seedcx.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360008819314-State-Money-Transmitter-Disclosures-" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">state-by-state licensing</a> as a regulated money transmitter.



“A lot of companies are thinking about the big picture here,” Woodford said. “Things like the metaverse, Web3 and crypto [are] an inherent part of that strategy and that’s why large customer-facing businesses are now having to think about digital assets more and more,” he added. 



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/1rjTwLjBFLrpOi3W4yvkxN841g-QkV1D5SpklPVYCbRAt0ukXE1dwincZM-HceMUP2KM-nP72GR1CwN3MU8LF2SYoT-K8hs0eI5ugRRa9gnOk5Nkr4px5Eir_5fokdRX0VdG5nsN" alt=""/></figure>



New investors in this round include Steven Cohen’s <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/point72-ventures-led-35m-raise-for-zero-hash-gelato-network-closes-11m-round/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Point72 Ventures</a>, Bain Capital Ventures, and NYCA. According to an SEC <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1657176/000165717622000001/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">filing</a>, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/interactive-brokers-launches-crypto-trading-through-paxos/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Interactive Brokers</a> CEO and President Milan Galik and Co-founder of thinkorswim and tastytrade Tom Sosnoff also participated in the round, but Woodford declined to comment on their participation. 



In total, the B2B digital-asset-as-a-service infrastructure firm has raised $165 million. There is no valuation being disclosed at this time.&nbsp;



“[This Series D] is really about expanding our team geographically,” Woodford said. “We’re working with companies with a global client base so we have to be more global in terms of our regulation presence. European licensing, APAC licensing, LATAM licensing are now all very much on our roadmap,” he added.&nbsp;



Financial service companies are beginning to realize they can no longer ignore digital assets, Woodford said. “They have existing clients and they want crypto to be part of their portfolio,” he said. “So rather than the client going elsewhere and potentially losing that client, ultimately I think more traditional financial services are looking for interesting ways to integrate crypto,” he added.&nbsp;



Alternatively, Woodford thinks crypto-focused companies like <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/bank-of-america-coinbase-revenue-diversification-to-accelerate-in-2022-and-beyond/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Coinbase</a> will build out more traditional financial services like banking and equity services. 



These two worlds will compete with one another to keep clientele, he said. 



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Bain Capital

Zero Hash Raises $105M to Bring Crypto Products to All Financial Companies

<div id="highlights-block_619bd8a66a9be" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>This is the largest Series A funding round for any crypto company, MoonPay said in a blogpost on Monday</li>
 <li>Other participants in the financing round include Paradigm, Blossom Capital, Thrive Capital and NEA</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



MoonPay, a cryptocurrency payment services provider, raised a whopping $555 million in Series A funding, the company announced on Monday. This brings the Miami-based startup to a post-money valuation of $3.4 billion, according to a press release. 



The fresh capital will go towards expanding staff, scaling up MoonPay’s crypto payment solutions and its efforts to drive mainstream adoption of the digital asset class at-large, according to co-founder and CEO Ivan Soto-Wright. 



&#8220;The raise will provide the funds to continue with our aggressive growth ambitions in markets around the world to support our core goal of giving the next one billion people access to cryptocurrency by 2030,&#8221; Soto-Wright told Blockworks. &#8220;With this fundraise, we will also grow our world-class team and support an expanding number of innovations in the crypto economy for our partners, creators and users.&#8221;



Led by Tiger Global Management and Coatue, other participants in the financing round include Paradigm, Blossom Capital, Thrive Capital and NEA. This is the largest Series A funding round for any crypto company globally, MoonPay said in a <a href="https://www.moonpay.com/blog/funding-round" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blogpost</a>.



&#8220;Crypto is growing rapidly, but bringing aboard the next billion people requires services that make it even easier to access,” Matt Huang, co-founder of Paradigm, said in a statement. “MoonPay has built a simple and secure way for people globally to participate in this new economy.&#8221;



MoonPay allows users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies using bank cards and mobile wallets. The company made <a href="https://www.moonpay.com/blog/post-malone" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">headlines</a> earlier this month for its feature on artists Post Malone and The Weeknd’s music video. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc0tLGWIqxA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">“One Right Now”</a> has racked up over 12 million views and features Malone buying a non-fungible token (NFT) via MoonPay’s platform. (Malone owns two Bored Apes, which he purchased for a combined $734,401 or 160 ether.)&nbsp;



Founded in 2019, the company has onboarded a slew of other celebrities into the crypto world, including <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K20WJixuLV0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jimmy Fallon</a>. Fallon announced that he used the startup’s services to buy his first NFT, describing “MoonPay [as] PayPal, but for crypto.” 



“This historic financing round is a vote of confidence for what we’re doing and where we’re headed next. It’s proof that people believe in our ability to bring the next billion people to crypto, a way station to our final destination: the moon,”<a href="https://www.moonpay.com/blog/funding-round" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> Soto-Wright</a> said.



MoonPay has processed more than $2 billion in transactions and accumulated over 7 million users.



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