CoinDCX Raises $135M at $2.15B Valuation
In April 2022, popular Indian cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX raised $135 million in a Series D funding round that gave it a mammoth valuation of $2.15 billion. The funding round was co-led by crypto investment firm Pantera Capital and SteadyView, with significant participation from Coinbase Ventures, Republic Capital, and Kindred Ventures.
CoinDCX plans to use the new capital to expand its product offerings and hire more team members. Since its inception in 2018, the crypto exchange has raised over $245 million in funding.
It is the first Indian startup to attain unicorn status (a $1 billion valuation) in 2021 and boasts an impressive user base of 10 million. India’s largest crypto exchange allows its users to purchase digital assets for as low as 100 Rupees (equivalent to about $1.30).
Moonbirds NFT Generates $280M
MoonBirds, an Ethereum-based NFT collection created by entrepreneur Kevin Rose, has had a blockbuster debut in the NFT market and generated over $280 million in sales since its launch on 16 April, 2022.
According to data analytics firm CryptoSlam, this sales figure includes the original mint and secondary market sales across various marketplaces. Moonbirds is a bird-themed series of 10,000 randomly generated profile picture NFTs.
Proof Collective, the developer of MoonBirds, initially released 7,875 NFTs with an original minting price of 2.5 ETH (about $7600) for a single token. The series was also an instant hit on the secondary market with OpenSea reporting especially high trading volumes.
WonderFi to Acquire Coinberry for $38M
Decentralized finance (Defi) platform WonderFi has announced plans to acquire popular Canadian cryptocurrency exchange Coinberry for $38.3 million by the end of Q2 of 2022 after receiving approval from the country’s financial regulators.
The acquisition will increase WonderFi’s valuation to $100 million and add 220000 users.
Backed by investors like FTX’s Sam Bankman Fried and Shark Tank’s Kevin Oleary, the startup has created an ambitious development plan through strategic acquisitions. The company previously bought First Ledger Corp, the parent company of the BitBuy cryptocurrency exchange, for $162 million.
Beanstalk Hacked for $182 Million
BeanStalk fell victim to one of the biggest exploits in decentralized finance when a hacker stole $182 million worth of ETH, BEAN, and several stablecoins.
The Ethereum-based protocol that provides a stablecoin as well as lending, borrowing and trading services replacing unnecessary third-party intermediaries with smart contracts. According to blockchain security firm PeckShield, the attacker made off with $80 million after using the rest of the funds to pay fees on decentralized exchanges and lending platforms.
The hack deployed a flash loan which allows a user to borrow a specific amount of cryptocurrency and to pay it back immediately in the same transaction. These loans are usually made in order to exploit arbitrage opportunities across different trading platforms.
Blockchain.com Planning 2022 IPO
Crypto financial services company Blockchain.com is exploring ways to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) in 2022. Bloomberg reported the company has had preliminary discussions with financial institutions in the United States.
If its plans are realized, Blockchain.com would be only the second cryptocurrency exchange in the United States to go public, the first being Coinbase which opened with a share price of $381 at a valuation of $100 billion in April 2021. As of March 2022, Blockchain.com had a total valuation of $14 billion with latest funding from Lightspeed Ventures and Baillie Gifford. The company has been active for over a decade having famously created the first Bitcoin block explorer back in 2011.
However, Blockchain.com is not the only crypto exchange racing to become the second public exchange in the United States. Binance’s U.S. affiliate is also planning to go public. In order to do so the US branch of the world’s largest crypto exchange will have to prove its independence from its parent company.
Fed's Monetary Moves Will Drive BTC Higher
The Fed’s long-term target for the interest rate is around 2%, but forcing it any higher could lead to severe consequences. Cambridge economist Mohamed El-Erian said that it’s too late to achieve the Fed’s desired interest rate, and any hard push from the central bank would push the economy into a long-term recession.
The economist believes that alternative safe-heavens like Bitcoin and gold will thrive in such a situation.
The United States Federal Reserve is more likely to hike up interest rates on lending services in order to temper rising inflation. El-Erian has stated that such a move will drive investors to gold and Bitcoin.
