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Crypto

US DOJ announces seizure of $3.36B in cryptocurrency • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Bitcoin, Crypto, cryptocurrency, silk road, us governmentNo Comments on US DOJ announces seizure of $3.36B in cryptocurrency • ZebethMedia

The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday announced that law enforcement seized $3.36 billion of bitcoin from a man who “unlawfully obtained” over 50,000 bitcoin from darkweb market Silk Road over a decade ago. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York said that James Zhong of Gainesville, Georgia, pleaded guilty on November 4 to committing wire fraud in September 2012. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The plea came almost a year after law enforcement seized 50,676.17851897 bitcoin, then valued at over $3.36 billion, from Zhong’s home, the statement said. Officials found the bitcoin in an underground floor safe and on a single-board computer that was hidden under blankets in a popcorn tin placed in a bathroom closet. Law enforcement also recovered $661,900 in cash, 25 Casascius coins of bitcoin (valued at about 174 bitcoin), an additional 11.116 bitcoin, and a handful of silver- and gold-colored bars. The whereabouts of this massive amount of bitcoin was a mystery for almost 10 years, U.S. Attorney Damian WIlliams said in the release. It was the largest cryptocurrency seizure in the history of the U.S. DOJ at the time, and today remains the department’s second-largest financial seizure, it stated. Silk Road was an online black market that was launched in 2011 by the then-anonymous “Dread Pirate Roberts” (later uncovered as Ross Ulbricht). It was notoriously known for money laundering activities and for buying and selling illegal drugs with bitcoin. In under two years, the Silk Road was shut down by the U.S. governmen,t and by 2015, Ulbricht was unanimously convicted by a jury and sentenced to life in prison. “This case shows that we won’t stop following the money, no matter how expertly hidden, even to a circuit board in the bottom of a popcorn tin,” Williams said.

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Bitwise, Paradigm and Perkins Coie talk regs at TC Sessions: Crypto

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in bitwise investments, Crypto, cryptocurrencies, Securities and Exchange Commission, TC Sessions: Crypto, TC Sessions: Crypto 2022, TechCrunch Events 2022, VentureNo Comments on Bitwise, Paradigm and Perkins Coie talk regs at TC Sessions: Crypto

Crypto entities ranging from major exchanges to small projects are on the road to stateside regulation. Whether it comes through the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, many actors in the space are looking for concrete future guidance on how to build compliant businesses in an emerging sector while navigating rules built for traditional finance. And, while crypto founders and investors know regulation is inevitable, they’re also looking to find the sweetest deal possible as they try to influence policymakers. It’s a challenging balance — enough regulation to protect retail investors from a hostile environment but not so much that it stifles the crypto sector’s growth and future innovation in the space. This regulatory tug-of-war is just one reason why we’re thrilled that Katherine Dowling, general counsel and chief compliance officer at Bitwise Asset Management; Sarah Shtylman, partner at Perkins Coie; and Justin Slaughter, policy director at Paradigm, will join us for a session called, “Is Crypto Regulation Ready” at TC Sessions: Crypto in Miami on November 17. We’ll discuss whether or not there’s been an increase in institutional adoption and how the regulatory framework might impact adoption going forward. Given the frustration over the lack of clarity in regulatory guidance, we’ll ask Dowling, Shtylman and Slaughter how legal crypto firms and counsels advise clients to navigate the present landscape while still operating in a compliant way. Dowling brings a unique perspective to the table, having experience working both in private equity firms and as a federal prosecutor in the Economic Crimes Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Shtylman brings deep knowledge of fintech and blockchain and Slaughter brings legal and advisory experience in both the public and private sectors. We’ll dive into the latest insights on how emerging regulatory frameworks will affect the digital asset industry and get their take on whether we can expect to see clarity on this in the U.S. by the end of the year. Prior to joining Bitwise, Dowling served in general counsel, CCO and COO roles at several financial and private equity firms. She also co-founded Luminate Capital Partners, where she held positions as GP, managing director and COO. A Harvard Law graduate, Dowling spent more than a decade as a federal prosecutor, most recently in the Economic Crimes Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, where she worked with the FBI, SEC, IRS and other agencies to prosecute insider trading, fraud and money laundering cases, among others. She also serves on the boards of two nonprofit organizations. As a partner at Perkins Coie, Sarah Shtylman focuses on the fintech and blockchain industries. The clients she advises range from entrepreneurs and startups to big tech and regulated financial institutions. Shtylman counsels on a variety of regulatory, commercial, compliance and product development projects — including NFTs, regulated digital asset platforms, in-game currencies and payment services integrations.  Shtylman has advised clients through the application and compliance processes for state and federal trust charters, money transmission licensing and registration and lending licenses. She has engaged directly with state and federal regulators to discuss the applicability of various financial services regulatory regimes to emerging blockchain technology platforms and protocols that her clients are developing.  Prior to Perkins Coie, Shtylman served as in-house regulatory counsel at Coinbase and has experience with cryptocurrency network development and launches, asset-backed digital tokens (including stablecoins), peer-to-peer lending, corporate governance, Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) compliance, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration and financial services litigation. Prior to joining Paradigm, Justin Slaughter was director of the office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs and senior advisor to Acting Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Allison Herren Lee. He has also served as chief policy advisor and special counsel to former Commissioner Sharon Bowen at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and general counsel to Senator Edward J. Markey.  Slaughter has also served as a consultant in private practice focusing on fintech and smaller technology companies, and he began his career as a law clerk to Judge Jerome Farris on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Justin has a B.A. from Columbia University and a J.D. from Yale Law School. Take advantage of our early bird pricing and save $150 on General Admission passes. Buy your pass today, and then join the blockchain, crypto, DeFi, NFT and web3 communities at TC Sessions: Crypto on November 17 in Miami. Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TC Sessions: Crypto? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

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Ledger, Tezos and Chainalysis talk web3 security at TC Sessions: Crypto • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Chainalysis, Crypto, Ledger, TC Sessions: Crypto 2022, Tezos, web3No Comments on Ledger, Tezos and Chainalysis talk web3 security at TC Sessions: Crypto • ZebethMedia

The crypto ecosystem may be experiencing fewer hacks and alleged fraud incidents, but they’re still occurring as bad actors take hundreds of millions of dollars from users in the space. According to Immunefi’s Crypto Losses Q3 2022 report, crypto losses have declined for the past three quarters in a row, but it’s not clear whether that trend will continue for the rest of the year. And as more people become crypto-curious or continue to build in this space, they might be susceptible to fraud or hacks. So how can people protect themselves? And how can startups, projects and protocols protect their users? Answers to those questions and more are up for discussion during a panel with guests Pascal Gauthier, CEO of Ledger; Kathleen Breitman, CEO and co-founder of Tezos; and Pratima Arora, chief product officer at Chainalysis at TC Sessions: Crypto on November 17 in Miami. During the conversation called “Securing Web3,” we’ll dive into how these executives navigate safety and security in the Wild, Wild West — aka crypto. Whether it’s through holding your own crypto wallet keys to making codes open source, we’ll find out what the panelists think are the best ways to keep users safe. Too often, security is not at the forefront of crypto startup founders’ minds and might only be addressed in dire moments (like when they’re hacked for millions of dollars). So how can the industry encourage founders and developers to prioritize safety from an early stage? We’re curious to learn more about how the current crypto market affects web3 security and what sectors need more work when it comes to protecting users. We’re also interested in hearing their thoughts on which blockchains, decentralized applications and projects are role models for security — and which ones they think need improvement. Ledger has more than 4 million customers and is primarily known for its hardware wallets that let people secure, trade and hold their digital assets (NFTs included) on an external physical ledger. In June, Ledger partnered with VC firm Cathay Innovation to launch a $110 million fund dedicated to a broad range of segments across the crypto landscape, including DeFi, security and infrastructure. Gauthier joined Ledger almost eight years ago and became president in 2019. Prior to that, Gauthier was a venture partner at Mosaic Ventures and focused on Series A companies. He also founded and is a non-executive chairman of Kaiko, a Bitcoin-focused data provider. Tezos, a proof-of-stake blockchain, focuses on smart contracts and is seen as a potential competitor to the Ethereum blockchain. It had the biggest initial coin offering of all time after raising $232 million in 2017. Husband-and-wife team Arthur and Kathleen Breitman created the blockchain, which initially launched under the pseudonym “L.M. Goodman,” in 2014. Lastly, Chainalysis is a blockchain data platform that provides data, software, services and research to any entity, ranging from government agencies to financial institutions. Its investors include Accel, Addition, Benchmark, Coatue, GIC, Paradigm and Ribbit. Arora joined the Chainalysis team in June 2021 to lead its research and development. Prior to that, she was the general manager and vice president of Confluence — a revenue-generating product for Atlassian — and she also spent more than nine years at Salesforce in a variety of roles. TC Sessions: Crypto takes place on November 17 in Miami. Buy an early bird pass today, save $150, and then join the web3, DeFi and NFT communities to keep up with the ever-evolving and always exciting crypto world.

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Why the CEO of the world’s largest crypto exchange backed Musk’s Twitter buyout • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Binance, Chain Reaction, Chain Reaction podcast, CryptoNo Comments on Why the CEO of the world’s largest crypto exchange backed Musk’s Twitter buyout • ZebethMedia

Binance’s CEO and founder, Changpeng Zhao, made headlines outside his typical wheelhouse of web3 as an investor in Elon Musk’s Twitter buyout. Zhao, who put in $500 million, told an audience at Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal this week that he would consider joining the social media company’s board if Musk asked him to do so. But why is he eager to get involved with the messy process of running of a social media company when that seemingly has little to do with crypto, Binance’s core business? Essentially, what’s in it for the exchange? We attempted to answer that question on this Thursday’s episode of Chain Reaction, where we unpack and explain the latest in crypto news, drama and trends, breaking things down block by block for the crypto curious. You can listen to the full episode below: On this episode, we also talked about: NFT marketplaces such as LooksRare and Magic Eden pulling the plug on creator royalties and how the decisions could affect web3 artists Speaking of Zhao, he is one of the speakers set to join us at our upcoming crypto event in Miami on November 17th, and we’ll be sure to ask him about his plans for Twitter. If you’re interested in hearing more, you can use the promo code REACT for 15% off a General Admission ticket to the event. Chain Reaction comes out every Tuesday and Thursday at 12:00 p.m. PT, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

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Bitcoin’s future could hinge on mines over matter • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Chain Reaction, Chain Reaction newsletter, CryptoNo Comments on Bitcoin’s future could hinge on mines over matter • ZebethMedia

Image Credits: ZebethMedia Welcome back to Chain Reaction. Last week on the podcast, we talked about Apple’s App Store tax and how it could hinder NFT adoption. This week, we dug up a few stories about bankruptcies brewing in the bitcoin mining sector and asked ourselves whether this could unfold in a similar way to the troubles faced by DeFi lenders just a few months ago.  We’re incredibly excited to chat with some of the biggest names in web3 at our first dedicated crypto event in Miami on November 17. We’ll be hearing from experts such as FTX’s Amy Wu, OpenSea’s Devin Finzer and Binance’s Changpeng Zhao on how their companies are shaping the future of the industry. We’d love to have you join us: use the promo code REACT for 15% off a General Admission ticket. Do you want Chain Reaction in your inbox every Thursday? Sign up here: techcrunch.com/newsletters. this week in web3 Here are some of the biggest crypto stories ZebethMedia has covered this week. Coinbase and Polygon back new crypto advocacy group in India Top crypto firms including Coinbase and Polygon are among the firms that have formed an industry body in India to promote dialogue between key stakeholders and drive awareness about web3, months after the largest local crypto advocacy group was disbanded. Members of the new industry body, named Bharat Web3 Association (BWA), include top local crypto exchanges, including CoinDCX, CoinSwitch Kuber and WazirX, ZebethMedia’s Manish Singh reports. Web3 infrastructure startup Tenderly takes on Infura, Alchemy with new node offering Web3 developer tooling startup Tenderly is getting into the node game with a new product it announced today called Web3 Gateway. The new offering is a sign of competition between web3 infrastructure providers heating up, as it puts the startup in direct competition with ConsenSys, the company that owns popular node-as-a-service provider Infura, and Alchemy, another widely used node provider in the industry. What’s going on with NFT royalties? (TC+) Creator royalties were originally introduced across the NFT community as a way to pay artists for their work in both primary and secondary sales. In recent months, conversations around these royalties shifted as some platforms, including LooksRare and Magic Eden, abandoned them for other alternatives. Not everyone is happy about it, as the decisions have huge potential implications for creators in the web3 space. Indonesia weighs blockchain-powered carbon trading scheme Indonesia wants to direct the blockchain craze toward greener use. The Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Metaverse Green Exchange (MVGX), a Singaporean startup that specializes in digital exchange technology. The intended collaboration centers around IDX’s emission trading scheme that is slated to launch in 2025, and MVGX’s job is to help IDX build a carbon registry and exchange with blockchain as the infrastructure layer, ZebethMedia’s Rita Liao reports. Ex-Bain investor launches $30M web3 consumer VC fund as solo female founder Mags Kala was able to raise her first fund as a solo GP focused on early-stage consumer startups in the web3 space in just four months, despite a broader downturn in the crypto market. Her Miami, Florida-based firm, Double Down, blew past its initial fundraising target of $20 million in one month and closed its first fund with a total of ~$30 million this week, according to Kala. The fund has already made nine investments in web3 consumer startups, including Miami-based OnChain Studios, which makes Cryptoys, and Tally Labs, the company behind the Jenkins the Valet & Azurbala franchises. Magdalena “Mags” Kala is the solo GP behind consumer crypto VC firm Double Down. Image Credits: Courtesy of Magdalena Kala the latest pod For this week’s Tuesday episode, where we chat with a web3 expert, we played a recording of our discussion live onstage with a16z GP Chris Dixon that took place recently at ZebethMedia Disrupt. We chatted with Dixon about the venture firm’s new creator economy-focused crypto accelerator program, why a16z backed controversial WeWork founder Adam Neumann and where Dixon sees opportunity across the web3 landscape in this bear market. For our Thursday episode, where we discuss the latest in crypto news, we talked about a string of issues that have unfolded for various bitcoin mining companies over the past month, from Argo Blockchain to Core Scientific, and what it would take to unearth (ha ha, get it?) the sector from its woes.  We also discussed: Chain Reaction comes out every Tuesday and Thursday at 12:00 p.m. PT, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast and Spotify to keep up with the action. Chris Dixon speaking at ZebethMedia Disrupt in San Francisco on October 18, 2022. Image Credits: Darrell Etherington / ZebethMedia follow the money South Korean video game developer Wemade raised $46 million from Microsoft, Shinhan Asset Management and Kiwoom Securities to expand its web3 presence. Zebra Labs raised $5 million from the Chinese gaming firm NetDragon and the Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo to help Chinese celebrities enter the metaverse. Blockchain data terminal Token Flow raised $12 million in a Series A from investors including Electric Capital and Delta Blockchain Fund. NiftyApes, an NFT lending protocol, snagged $4.2 million in seed funding from Variant, Polygon, Coinbase Ventures and others. Crypto wallet startup Braavos raised $10 million in a funding round led by Pantera Capital. This list was compiled with information from Messari as well as ZebethMedia’s own reporting.

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Bitwise, Paradigm and Perkins Coie talk regs at TC Sessions: Crypto

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in bitwise investments, Crypto, cryptocurrencies, Securities and Exchange Commission, TC Sessions: Crypto, TC Sessions: Crypto 2022, TechCrunch Events 2022, VentureNo Comments on Bitwise, Paradigm and Perkins Coie talk regs at TC Sessions: Crypto

Crypto entities ranging from major exchanges to small projects are on the road to stateside regulation. Whether it comes through the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, many actors in the space are looking for concrete future guidance on how to build compliant businesses in an emerging sector while navigating rules built for traditional finance. And, while crypto founders and investors know regulation is inevitable, they’re also looking to find the sweetest deal possible as they try to influence policymakers. It’s a challenging balance — enough regulation to protect retail investors from a hostile environment but not so much that it stifles the crypto sector’s growth and future innovation in the space. This regulatory tug-of-war is just one reason why we’re thrilled that Katherine Dowling, general counsel and chief compliance officer at Bitwise Asset Management; Sarah Shtylman, partner at Perkins Coie; and Justin Slaughter, policy director at Paradigm, will join us for a session called, “Is Crypto Regulation Ready” at TC Sessions: Crypto in Miami on November 17. We’ll discuss whether or not there’s been an increase in institutional adoption and how the regulatory framework might impact adoption going forward. Given the frustration over the lack of clarity in regulatory guidance, we’ll ask Dowling, Shtylman and Slaughter how legal crypto firms and counsels advise clients to navigate the present landscape while still operating in a compliant way. Dowling brings a unique perspective to the table, having experience working both in private equity firms and as a federal prosecutor in the Economic Crimes Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Shtylman brings deep knowledge of fintech and blockchain and Slaughter brings legal and advisory experience in both the public and private sectors. We’ll dive into the latest insights on how emerging regulatory frameworks will affect the digital asset industry and get their take on whether we can expect to see clarity on this in the U.S. by the end of the year. Prior to joining Bitwise, Dowling served in general counsel, CCO and COO roles at several financial and private equity firms. She also co-founded Luminate Capital Partners, where she held positions as GP, managing director and COO. A Harvard Law graduate, Dowling spent more than a decade as a federal prosecutor, most recently in the Economic Crimes Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, where she worked with the FBI, SEC, IRS and other agencies to prosecute insider trading, fraud and money laundering cases, among others. She also serves on the boards of two nonprofit organizations. As a partner at Perkins Coie, Sarah Shtylman focuses on the fintech and blockchain industries. The clients she advises range from entrepreneurs and startups to big tech and regulated financial institutions. Shtylman counsels on a variety of regulatory, commercial, compliance and product development projects — including NFTs, regulated digital asset platforms, in-game currencies and payment services integrations.  Shtylman has advised clients through the application and compliance processes for state and federal trust charters, money transmission licensing and registration and lending licenses. She has engaged directly with state and federal regulators to discuss the applicability of various financial services regulatory regimes to emerging blockchain technology platforms and protocols that her clients are developing.  Prior to Perkins Coie, Shtylman served as in-house regulatory counsel at Coinbase and has experience with cryptocurrency network development and launches, asset-backed digital tokens (including stablecoins), peer-to-peer lending, corporate governance, Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) compliance, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration and financial services litigation. Prior to joining Paradigm, Justin Slaughter was director of the office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs and senior advisor to Acting Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Allison Herren Lee. He has also served as chief policy advisor and special counsel to former Commissioner Sharon Bowen at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and general counsel to Senator Edward J. Markey.  Slaughter has also served as a consultant in private practice focusing on fintech and smaller technology companies, and he began his career as a law clerk to Judge Jerome Farris on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Justin has a B.A. from Columbia University and a J.D. from Yale Law School. Take advantage of our early bird pricing and save $150 on General Admission passes. Buy your pass today, and then join the blockchain, crypto, DeFi, NFT and web3 communities at TC Sessions: Crypto on November 17 in Miami. Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TC Sessions: Crypto? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

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Coinbase and Polygon back new crypto advocacy group in India • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in coinbase, CoinDCX, CoinSwitch, Crypto, india, Polygon, WazirXNo Comments on Coinbase and Polygon back new crypto advocacy group in India • ZebethMedia

Top crypto firms including Coinbase and Polygon are among the firms that have formed an industry body in India to promote dialogue between key stakeholders and drive awareness about web3, months after the largest local crypto advocacy group was disbanded. Members of the new industry body, named Bharat Web3 Association (BWA), include top local crypto exchanges including CoinDCX, CoinSwitch Kuber and WazirX. It also includes Hike, Biconomy, ZebPay and Tax Nodes, BWA said in a statement. “India’s Web 3.0 potential – in terms of talent, investment, and innovation – is revolutionary, and will surely place the nation as a global leader in this fast-emerging field,” said Nana Murugesan, Vice President of International and Business Development at Coinbase, in a statement. “We support the BWA’s mission of boosting the Web 3.0 ecosystem through stakeholder collaboration, thought leadership, and education. Building robust infrastructure and designing the favourable environment can allow players like Coinbase to build a more free, open and safer Internet.” Murugesan and several other Coinbase executives are in India currently, where they have spent the last few days holding dialogue with key ministers, a person familiar with the matter told ZebethMedia. Coinbase had an unsuccessful launch in India earlier this year after it rolled back the service in the launch week itself after a regulatory body expressed concerns. Dialogues between Coinbase and government officials have yet to move the needle about the restoration of the service in the country, the person said, requesting anonymity speaking private matters. Bharat Web3 Association will also seek to chalk up standardised principles for the web3 industry and help nurture India’s talent pool. The Indian central bank continues to force the hand of banks from engaging with crypto platforms in India, a move that has made on-ramp a nightmare for the firms involved, people familiar with the matter said. Many investors and entrepreneurs in the country have been scrambling for months to find newer, more effective ways including engaging with Niti Aayog, a powerful think tank, to liaison with policymakers, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. Niti Aayog resisted getting involved with the crypto industry, sources added. Indian lawmakers, on their part, have met several industry faces in the past one year, but so far they are of the view that the fast adoption of crypto trading has hurt most consumers and more safeguards should be put in place, the sources said. In the wake of the uncertainty, the local ecosystem has seen some talent move outside of the country and a growing number of local entrepreneurs build for the foreign markets and avoid serving customers in India, the world’s second-largest internet market. The local industry was previously represented by the Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council, part of the influential technology lobby group Internet and Mobile Association of India in the country. The advocacy group said in July that it was dissolving the crypto unit because “a resolution of the regulatory environment for the industry is still very uncertain.” The move was the culmination of years of frustration for the Indian crypto industry, which felt that the lobby group’s influence and reach had been unable to deliver landmark results, ZebethMedia previously reported, citing sources. “Owing to its thriving developer community, entrepreneurial spirit, fast-growing economy, sound digital infrastructure, and deep digital adoption, India is poised to become a leader in the Web3 space,” said Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of Polygon, in a statement. “Indian entrepreneurs have already made a mark in the ecosystem and are innovating for the world, developing valuable public use cases. BWA will play a pivotal role in helping India achieve its potential as a global Web3 leader.”

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Web3 infrastructure startup Tenderly takes on Infura, Alchemy with new node offering • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Alchemy, Crypto, Infura, tenderlyNo Comments on Web3 infrastructure startup Tenderly takes on Infura, Alchemy with new node offering • ZebethMedia

Web3 developer tooling startup Tenderly is getting into the node game with a new product it announced today called Web3 Gateway. The product will help web3 developers read, stream and analyze blockchain data, according to the company. The offering builds on the company’s observability stack, which it says indexes over nine billion transactions across more than twenty blockchain networks. While many blockchain and crypto companies have struggled to grow amid unfavorable market conditions, infrastructure providers such as Tenderly have remained relatively resilient to the headwinds, buoyed by the trend of steady developer interest in building web3 products. The new offering is a sign of competition between web3 infrastructure providers heating up, as it puts the startup in direct competition with ConsenSys, the company that owns popular node-as-a-service provider Infura, and Alchemy, another widely-used node provider in the industry. Prior to this, Tenderly was focused solely on the smart contract space with its dashboard and API that helped engineers develop, test and monitor the health of decentralized applications. Node providers, meanwhile, are often compared to Amazon Web Services (AWS) for web3 companies because they provide a critical layer of blockchain infrastructure. Belgrade, Serbia-based Tenderly last raised a $40 million Series B announced in March this year, just before crypto prices started a substantial descent. The financing came just months after the startup’s Series A round and it was announced in the same month as Alchemy’s $200 million Series C extension, which valued the latter company at $10.2 billion. The company says its platform is used by tens of thousands of developers from apps such as Uniswap, Yearn Finance and OpenSea and that it works with the majority of the top 100 Ethereum projects, ZebethMedia reported in March. Yasmin Razavi, a growth investor at Spark Capital who helped lead the firm’s investment in Tenderly, told ZebethMedia that the startup’s new offering came as a result of its developers finding they could not rely on existing node providers for their purposes and deciding to instead build out that capability themselves. “The issues you hear with Alchemy and Infura are mostly around their inability to scale,” Razavi said. According to Razavi, customers report that Tenderly’s offering is three times as performant as Alchemy’s based on beta testing the company has conducted. While its performance has yet to be validated in the public realm, it’s clear that this offering brings Tenderly closer to being a full-suite provider of web3 infrastructure services and therefore a more formidable force in the subsector.

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What’s going on with NFT royalties? • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Creators, Crypto, EC Blockchain, EC Cryptocurrency, looksrare, NFTs, raribleNo Comments on What’s going on with NFT royalties? • ZebethMedia

In recent months, conversations around NFT creator royalties shifted as some platforms abandoned royalties for other alternatives. Not everyone is happy about it. “Every platform had royalties about a year ago,” Alex Salnikov, chief strategy officer and co-founder of NFT marketplace Rarible, said to ZebethMedia. Then half a year passed and some marketplaces stopped implementing them, he added. Creator royalties were originally introduced across the NFT community as a way to pay artists for their work in both primary and secondary sales. In general, the content creator royalty is 2.5% to 10% of an item’s purchase price. Most royalties average about 5%, Salnikov said. A lot of creators’ initial income comes from primary sales, but over time, secondary sales can build out their income through royalties, Alex Fleseriu, CEO of fine-art-focused Solana NFT marketplace Exchange.ART, told ZebethMedia. “It holds up their success and it’s very important for them to make a living.” “Let’s pick one of these ways and get all of the NFT marketplaces behind it. We’re cursing the market by fighting over market share.” Rarible co-founder Alex Salnikov Royalties and rewarding creators are the foundations for building long-term value, Shiti Manghani, COO of web3 gaming and development studio Find Satoshi Lab, said to ZebethMedia. “The creators and artists will work with platforms that value their work, stop their exploitation and consequently empower them to create their best work.” Find Satoshi Lab launched a multichain NFT marketplace on Tuesday that enforces royalties. “Web3 was born in many ways to solve for the challenges faced by creators with centralized institutions that did not allow for fair rewards to be awarded,” Manghani said. “[We] would like to stay true to that ethos.” Separately, Exchange.ART on Wednesday launched its “Royalties Protection Standard,” which enforces creator royalties on secondary sales of NFTs on its platform. This means that new NFT collections on its marketplace can utilize the standard to ensure artists that their work won’t be traded on marketplaces without their consent. “We’ve seen royalties come under a lot of pressure lately,” Fleseriu said. “We’ve seen marketplaces, protocols, basically allow buyers and sellers to circumvent those royalties, which intensifies this predatory nature of the NFT ecosystem overall, especially in the [profile picture] market.”

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