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Joe Biden Administration Monitoring Silvergate Situation

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The Biden administration has been monitoring the ongoing Silvergate Bank crisis, White House press sec Karine Jean-Pierre told the media on Monday.

She added that she could not comment on Silvergate specifically, but stated that United States president Joe Biden had urged Congress to act on the situation.

She also said that numerous crypto firms had “experience[d] significant issues” over the last few weeks, citing statements from banking regulators that cautioned of cryptocurrencies’ potential risks to banks and global financial institutions.

Jean-Pierre said in a statement,

“In recent weeks banking regulators have released guidelines on how banks should protect themselves from risks associated with crypto. As you know, this is a president that has repeatedly called on Congress to take action to protect everyday Americans from the risk posted by digital assets and he will continue to do so.”

She added: “[I] won’t speak to this particular company as we have not on other cryptocurrency companies, but we’re going to continue monitoring reports, and currently we’re aware of the situation.”

Silvergate Ties to FTX

The news comes after Silvergate announced on Friday last week it would cease operations of its Silvergate Exchange Network. The platform allowed customers to settle transactions outside normal banking operations or hours.

Silvergate also said in a recent press release that it would delay its annual report filings, adding it would become “less than well capitalized” after selling its debt securities.

This forced multiple exchanges such as Coinbase Global, Gemini, Galaxy Digital, and Bitstamp to sever ties to Silvergate after the bank allegedly facilitated illegal banking transactions for FTX.

Silvergate’s involvement with the now-defunct crypto exchange and its research subsidiary, Alameda Research, took place just days before the latter two firms filed for bankruptcy in November.

The bank’s stock plummeted as a result, falling 58% in a single day before largely stabilizing. A number of the bank’s most prominent crypto clients have announced they would suspend their business with Silvergate,

“[I] won’t speak to this particular company as we have not on other cryptocurrency companies, but we’re going to continue monitoring reports, and currently we’re aware of the situation,” Jean-Pierre said Monday.

Unstoppable Women of Web3 Leads Initiative to Provide Web3 and Metaverse Education for 6 Million African Women

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San Francisco, California, 8th March, 2023, Chainwire

To celebrate International Women’s Day, Unstoppable Women of Web3 (Unstoppable WoW3), a diversity and education group on a mission to equalize the playing field in Web3, today announced a commitment to providing Web3 and metaverse education for six million women in Africa over the next five years. The initiative is launching in partnership with 19+ companies including the African Leadership Group, Africa Women CEOs Network, Chipper Cash, NFT Domains, Polygon Labs, Sankore 2.0, Unstoppable Domains, Uoma Beauty, and the Virtual Brand Group, along with 17 other companies. 

As a first step towards their goal of onboarding six million women in Africa to Web3 and the metaverse, Unstoppable Women of Web3 and Unstoppable Domains will expand access to user-owned digital identity through free Unstoppable domains, which people can claim for the next 30 days. Web3 domains, like dranino.nft, give people ownership of their identity data – allowing them to create a portable, user-owned reputation across Web3 and the metaverse.

“Africa has one of the most rapidly growing Web3 sectors today, but it’s not exempt from the gender equality issues we see across the globe, and we need to make sure everyone has a seat at the table,” said Sandy Carter, Founder of Unstoppable Women of Web3 and COO and Head of Business Development at Unstoppable Domains. “Empowerment starts with education, which is why we’re thrilled to lead this initiative to educate six million more African women on the metaverse and Web3.”

In order to meet this commitment, the partner organizations will offer Web3 and metaverse education via a wide assortment of educational streams, programs, learning materials, in-person events, and online courses: 

  • The African Leadership Group will offer master classes and content on Web3 and the metaverse to their ongoing training and lifelong learning programs across Africa.
  • Africa Women CEOs Network will present a CEO Education in Masterclass Program designed specifically for women in Africa.
  • Educational programs will be available online on the Unstoppable Women of Web3 official website, and will be translated into Portuguese, French, and Arabic. 
  • Chipper Cash will surface Unstoppable Women of Web’s Web3 and metaverse education within its app.
  • Sankore 2.0, an Africa-focused blockchain community builder, will develop and organize online and physical courses on metaverse knowledge and blockchain code development to empower African women in Web3 technology.
  • Unstoppable Women of Web3 and Unstoppable Domains will provide free Web3 domain addresses to expand access to user-owned digital identity. They’ll also launch a set of blogs on digital identity on the Unstoppable Women of Web3 website, available in French and English, and issue special NFT-based Education Badges for women who complete the education programs.
  • Unstoppable Domains and Unstoppable Women of Web3 will launch a blockchain education stream in partnership with Alchemy.  

Today, Africa is one of the fastest-growing adopters of blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and Web3 technology globally. The continent already features the world’s second-largest Bitcoin market and a government-backed central bank digital currency. Africa also witnessed a 1,200% increase in crypto payments from 2020 to 2021, showing a massive and rapidly growing demand for the nascent technology.

“Having started my entrepreneurial career in Nigeria at 17, I know the power and opportunity of Africa. I see technology and innovation as the way to unlock this next generation of women,” said Sharon Chuter, CEO & Founder of Uoma Beauty.

However, like many male-dominated tech and engineering sectors, Web3 suffers from uneven representation. In 2021, for example, out of the 121 leading crypto companies, it was discovered that less than 5% were founded by women, and women only represent 10% of partners at crypto funds.

Fred Swaniker, founder and CEO of African Leadership Group, said: “By 2035, Africa will have the largest and youngest workforce in the world and will be the primary driver of the 4th industrial revolution. Considering the burgeoning nature of the Web3 industry and the fact that women currently make up 50% of the African continent, it is incredibly important to educate and empower our women with the tools they need to succeed in this field. This partnership will champion not only diversity in Web3 but also enable Africa to continue establishing itself as a global Web3 hub.” 

Jennifer Kattula, SVP of Marketing at Polygon Labs said: “We believe in diversity and its impact on the web3 industry. We support women on this International Women’s Day and 365 days of the year. We are proud to support Unstoppable Women of Web3 and the Metaverse as they expand into Africa and beyond.”

Dr. Anino Emuwa, Managing Director of Avandis Consulting and Founder of Africa Women CEOs Network, said: “This initiative will give women in Africa a chance to participate in one of the fastest growing industries in the modern world. The tech and Web3 industries have historically faced issues with diversity and a lack of representation, but with this new initiative, women in Africa can learn about a burgeoning industry and be part of building its future.” 

Justin W. Hochberg, CEO and Co-Founder of the Virtual Brand Group, said: “If you can defy gravity in the metaverse, why can’t we defy convention as to who has a voice and the technical skills? This is a once in a generation opportunity to empower diverse talent which will benefit everyone as we collectively build this brave new interconnected world from games to fashion, loyalty to art, sports, music, entertainment and beyond. I challenge everyone to be the change you wish to see in the metaverse and web3 starting here and now with the women of Africa where humankind originated and which over the next decades will be a leading global technology hub.” 

Laura Kennedy, VP of Corporate Development at Chipper Cash, said: “We are delighted to pledge our support to the Unstoppable Women of Web3 initiative. Chipper Cash is a company deeply committed to unlocking global opportunities to connect and uplift Africa. When Chipper launched a crypto product more than two years ago, it was in response to a need expressed by our customers. With this initiative, Chipper and Unstoppable Women share a vision that inclusive access and education are critical to building an equitable online ecosystem where everyone can thrive.”

Other partners supporting this initiative are: African Women in Fintech & Payments (AWFP), Afrilabs, Bookings Africa, Ejara, Eloy Awards Foundation, Emerging Africa Group, Futuresoft, Google Cloud, Kenya Blockchain Ladies DAO, Mission Impact Academy, Miss O Cool Girls, NairaEx, SpaceYaTech, The Product House, Thousand Faces NFT, UTU, Women in Management Africa (WIMA), and Women in Tech.

This is not the first time Unstoppable Women of Web3 has launched an educational initiative to onboard women from underrepresented communities to Web3. Last October, the organization also announced its mission to educate and onboard over five million Latinas into Web3 by 2030.

About Unstoppable Women of Web3

Launched in 2022, Unstoppable Women of Web3 is a diversity and education group focusing on training the next generation of talent, with a mission to equalize the playing field early in the Web3 era. All 206 collaborators have pledged to feature work created by historically marginalized groups in at least half of all materials used for Web3 education.

About Unstoppable Domains

Launched in 2018, Unstoppable Domains is a Web3 domain name provider and digital identity platform working to onboard the world onto Web3. Unstoppable Domains offers Web3 domains minted on the blockchain that give people full ownership and control of their digital identity, with no renewal fees. With Unstoppable Domains, people can replace lengthy alphanumeric crypto wallet addresses with a human-readable name and log into and transact with more than 720 apps, wallets, exchanges and marketplaces. The company was named by Forbes as one of America’s Best Startup Employers in 2022. 

About African Leadership Group

The African Leadership Group (ALG) is an ecosystem of independent entities with a shared vision for transforming Africa by developing three million ethical and entrepreneurial leaders by 2035. Anchored in its unique and effective learning model, ALG has been at the forefront of developing diverse talent for the past two decades, equipping and harnessing the potential of African youth to meaningfully engage with — and contribute to — the global digital economy as leaders and innovators. As a leading technology training provider, its mission is to solidify Africa’s place as the final frontier for technology, while providing a lasting solution to the global technology talent shortage. ALG was named by Fast Company as one of the 50 most innovative companies in the world in 2019.

About Africa Women CEOs Network

Africa Women CEOs Network, is a community of women leading businesses. Our peer network helps women combat the lonely-at-the -top syndrome supporting their professional growth through the provision of bespoke leadership development and access to business opportunities.

As UN Women Generation Equality Action Coalition commitment makers, we collectively contribute to accelerating progress towards gender balanced leadership across the continent through our advocacy and DEI initiatives.

About Chipper Cash

Chipper Cash is a financial technology company serving more than five million customers across the African continent. In 2018, Chipper Cash revolutionized moving money in Africa with the introduction of fee-free transfers for personal payments—providing a frictionless way to send and receive money cross-border and enabling financial inclusivity across the continent. Since then, Chipper has increased its product suite by offering personal investments and digital business transactions, and expanded its reach into the US. Led by co-founders Ham Serunjogi and Maijid Moujaled, Chipper Cash is focused on its mission to provide the most trusted and accessible financial services for people living in Africa and beyond. For additional information, please visit www.chippercash.com.

About Polygon Labs

Polygon Labs develops Ethereum scaling solutions for Polygon protocols. Polygon Labs engages with other ecosystem developers to help make available scalable, affordable, secure and sustainable blockchain infrastructure for Web3. Polygon Labs has initially developed a growing suite of protocols for developers to gain easy access to major scaling solutions, including layer 2s (zero-knowledge rollups and optimistic rollups), sidechains, hybrid chains, app-specific chains, enterprise chains, and data availability protocols. Scaling solutions that Polygon Labs initially developed have seen widespread adoption with tens of thousands of decentralized apps, unique addresses exceeding 220.8 million, over 1.18 million smart contracts created and 2.48 billion total transactions processed since inception. The existing Polygon network is home for some of the biggest Web3 projects, such as Aave, Uniswap, and OpenSea, and well-known enterprises, including Robinhood, Stripe and Adobe. Polygon Labs is carbon neutral with the goal of leading Web3 in becoming carbon negative.

About Virtual Brand Group

The Virtual Brand Group (VBG) is an award-winning metaverse pioneer transforming businesses by strategizing, building, and operating brands in virtual worlds. VBG works in partnership with global intellectual property across entertainment, fashion, retail, lifestyle, and beauty to deliver immersive experiences, social games, digital marketing campaigns, virtual fashion, and next-level token reward programs.

The company won Licensing International’s “Best Digital Licensed Product” for its work building Forever21’s Shop City into the #1 retailer on Roblox (the first-ever metaverse winner). VBG was recently credited with making Forever 21 one of the “top 10 metaverse companies for 2023.” Additionally, the company has been featured in over 500 top-tier media outlets for its work with other brands, including Barbie, for which it designed the iconic character’s first-ever virtual fashion line and putting “The Voice” singing competition with NBC – airing in 145 territories – into the metaverse for the first time securing record-breaking numbers. VBG is credited with developing “Infinite Loop Marketing,™” the first-ever avatar-to-ecommerce program where items can be sold simultaneously in the metaverse and real life.

#GetMetaversed on Twitter and LinkedIn. For more, visit virtualbrandgroup.com.

Contact

Nora Chan
press@unstoppabledomains.com

TeraWulf Leverages Nuclear Energy for Low-kWh Bitcoin Mining Operation

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The United States’ first nuclear Bitcoin mining plant, the Nautilus Cryptomine, is now home to TeraWulf (WULF) cryptocurrency mining operations.

It currently has 8,000 functioning mining rigs operating at 1.0 exahashes per second (EH/s), it said in a press release on Monday.

TeraWulf hopes to have a further 8,000 machines over the next few weeks to boost capacity to 1.9 EH/s, it added.

The company added it had energised around half of its 50-megawatt stake in the Cryptomine facility in a joint venture with Cumulus Coin LLC.

The Nautilus Cryptomine is set to slash TeraWulf energy costs. According to the statement, the latter secured a 2 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) deal with the facility for five years.

This aims to cut energy consumption costs to around 4 cents per kWh at its two locations. TeraWulf typically pays 5 cents per kWh at its New York site.

Nuclear-Backed Bitcoin?

The news comes as the mining enterprise faced several issues in recent months such as plummeting crypto prices and higher energy costs.

TeraWulf chairman and chief executive Paul Prager said that roughly 16,000 company miners representing 1.9 EH/s of self-mining capacity were “onsite and being brought online daily.

He concluded,

“The Nautilus nuclear-powered mining facility benefits from what is arguably the lowest cost power in the sector, just $0.02/kWh for a term of five years […] We look forward to continuing to work alongside Cumulus Coin as the Nautilus facility increases operational hash rate in the coming weeks.”

Everscale garners 41,281,985 votes to win listing competition on Bybit

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Seoul, Korea, 7th March, 2023, Chainwire

Everscale is continuing the growth that has seen it rise to one of the most eminent blockchains in the industry. The network has already been added to some of the largest crypto exchanges including KuCoin, Huobi, Gate.io, MEXC, INDODAX and more. Now another exchange has been added to the list, after Everscale won a community-driven vote to determine which asset would be listed next on Bybit, one of the top 10 cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. 

According to Bybit rules, only its users can choose the assets that get listed on the exchange through a voting process held on the ByVotes platform. The latest asset vote took place on March 2 and lasted for 24 hours. The community was asked to choose between three tokens — EVER, VRA and POOLZ. In the first 60 seconds, EVER received 1,182,781 votes and took a substantial lead over the other assets, which it retained until the conclusion of the voting period. By the time voting had concluded, it became clear that Everscale set a new record for the number of votes cast for a project on the ByVotes platform with 41,281,985.

Before voting started, both Everscale and Bybit held AMA sessions for their users. Bybit held their AMA on Telegram with an $1,000 prize pool and Everscale held theirs on Twitter with a 5000 EVER prize pool. Both sessions were well attended and served as comprehensive introductions for the newest addition to Bybit’s stable of digital assets. 

The prize pool established for the scenario of Everscale winning on ByVotes was 1,200,000 EVER, and an airdrop took place immediately after the vote concluded, with all participants who voted for Everscale receiving a share of the pool proportional to their contribution to the vote tally.

Everscale also held a contest among its voters, which was the first step toward gaining VIP access to EVERPOINT 2023, a conference and party in honor of the network’s third anniversary which will be held in the UAE on May 7.

The listing is the latest demonstration of the budding strength of the Everscale community and its high level of loyalty and involvement in the life of the project. The listing on a new exchange of this calibre also constitutes a milestone for the network as it will open up an entirely new level of accessibility and exposure to Everscale.

Everscale Foundation Board Member Moon Young Lee said: “This listing on Bybit is a massive achievement, especially considering the way it came about. Getting listed on one of the world’s top ten exchanges is going to allow Everscale to expand much further and introduce many new people to the network. In addition to all that, we could not be more pleased with how strongly the Everscale community showed its support during the voting process.”

About Everscale
Everscale is a uniquely designed blockchain of the 5th generation that proposes a scalable decentralized world computer paired with a distributed operating system. Everscale is based on a platform called Ever OS, capable of processing 64,000 TPS, with Turing-complete smart contracts and decentralized user interfaces. 

Everscale has a number of unique features like dynamic multithreading, soft majority consensus and distributed programming, which enable it to be scalable, fast and secure at the same time. It is governed by a decentralized community founded upon meritocratic principles via the Soft Majority Voting protocol.

Everscale has powerful developer tools, such as compilers for Solidity and C++, SDK and API, client libraries ported to more than 20 languages and platforms, a range of decentralized browsers and wallets empowering many applications in DeFi, NFT, tokenization and governance domains.

Contact

Lili Kuvardin
lili.pr@everscale.network

Binance Reached Out To Gary Gensler to Smooth Ties to US Regulators

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Binance, the world’s largest crypto trading platform, reached out to current United States Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC) chairman Gary Gensler, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) alleged in a report, citing documents, messages, and interviews.

The report also added statements from former employees of the firm. In it, the WSJ alleges that Binance approached Gensler from 2018 to 2019.

At the time, he served as the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The report referenced messages that former Head of Binance Ventures Ella Zhang and Koi Trading co-founder Harry Zhou had contacted Gensler in 2018.

According to the message as quoted by the WSJ, Zhou wrote, “I observe that while Gensler declined advisor-ship, he was generous in sharing license strategies.”

A further Binance worker allegedly wrote: “[Gensler would] likely back in a regulators seat if Dems win the 2020 election.”

The WSJ also alleges Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and Gensler met in Tokyo in 2019, just two years before the latter became chairman of the SEC. Numerous private firms also reportedly approached Gensler, who turned down the offers.

It added Binance and Binance.us, the firm’s US division, aimed to avoid regulations with the latter entity setting up to protect Binance from US regulators.

The news comes as Binance faces regulatory scrutiny from the SEC, FTC, and other US agencies for its Paxos-minted Binance USD (BUSD) token. Regulators allege Binance sold the token as an unregistered security, triggering over $831 million USD in outflows from the exchange.

US DoJ to Set New ‘Dumb Phone’ Bail Conditions for FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried

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Former FTX chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried has proposed new bail conditions, the United States Department of Justice (US DoJ) said in a 3 March court filing.

US district court judge for the Southern District of New York, Lewis Kaplan, said in his proposal to block Bankman-Fried from access to tablets, smartphones, computers, video game platforms, and chat or voice communication devices.

The disgraced executive will only have access to “a flip phone or other non-smartphone with either no internet capabilities or internet capabilities disabled.“

Further documents have called for the new conditions to remain after Bankman-Fried’s defence team negotiated the new terms via a proposal on 3 March.

The teams also proposed temporary restrictions such as ending contact or communications with ongoing or previous FTX and Alameda Research employees. Exceptions to the restrictions include communications in the presence of counsel.

Furthermore, Bankman-Fried cannot use encrypted or disappearing messages, virtual private networks, and other services.

Sanctioned websites for browsing have been limited to Wikipedia, YouTube, Etherscan, DoorDash, Netflix, NFL, and government websites, among others. Authorities will also monitor his communications with security software.

The proposal adds: “The defendant will not object to the installation of court-authorized pen registers on his phone number, Gmail account, and internet service. Those pen register orders will be sought by the Government and maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.“

The news comes after the ex-CEO received a $250 million USD bail after Bahamian authorities detained him and extradited him to New York courts. To date, he faces 12 charges such as wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and others related to political donations.

Silvergate Shares Fall after Ceasing Crypto Network

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Silvergate Capital Corp has stated it would cease crypto payments on its exchange network, Reuters revealed on Friday. The news comes just two days after reports surfaced over its financial standing.

It said in a statement: “Effective immediately Silvergate Bank has made a risk-based decision to discontinue the Silvergate Exchange Network (SEN). All other deposit-related services remain operational.”

The developments triggered a two percent decline in the company’s shares, which closed at 0.9 percent, or 5.77 percent and a 97 percent decline from November 2021.

The news as Silvergate allowed investors and cryptocurrency platforms to perform rapid transfers compared to bank transfers.

It said in a filing it would reassess its operations amid the concerns. The company explained that it had sold further debut securities and would become “less than well capitalized.”

Cryptocurrency firms such as Galaxy Digital, Coinbase Global, Gemini, and Bitstamp, among others, have also cut their banking partnerships with the embattled bank.

Many of Silvergate’s troubles began after reported ties to now-defunct cryptocurrency platform FTX. Silvergate allegedly facilitated illegal banking transactions for FTX and Alameda Research transactions just days before the latter cryptocurrency exchange filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy Judge Voices Outcry over Binance.US-Voyager Deal

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US Bankruptcy Judge Michael Wiles has voiced criticism over the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s crackdown on Binance.US’s attempted buyout of Voyager Digital.

At a court hearing on Thursday, the US regulator ruled it would not sanction Binance.US’s $1.02 billion USD Voyager Digital deal as the latter’s native token may constitute as an unregistered security.

He told the SEC in a statement: “You come here and tell me […] that I should stop everybody in their tracks because you might have an issue. It’s kind of a weird objection.”

Wiles said in a statement at the time that he was “absolutely shocked” at the objection, citing inadequate guidance from the SEC.

He added: “I get the feeling that this objection has been made as a kind of cover, so you can say later that we’ll see we raised these issues. You haven’t really, you have done nothing … I need to know specifics.”

Conversely, SEC prosecutor William Uptegrove said creditors did not receive sufficient regulatory risk warnings. Despite stating this, he failed to specify his position on Voyager Digital’s token (VGX) security status.

Voyager counsellors told courts that the Binance.us-Voyager defal could recover 73 percent of total funds to creditors.

According to court filings, roughly 97 percent of customers have backed the deal. Despite this, the SEC and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched a probe against Voyager, citing market malfeasance.

The news comes as Binance faces additional investigations over alleged tie to Russian darkweb Bizlato, and its native token, Binance USD (BUSD), minted by Paxos.

SEC regulators have blocked further minting of the digital asset, citing unregulated securities, without providing further clarification.

Coinbase To End Partnership with Silvergate amid FTX Probe

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Ongoing investigations against crypto platform Coinbase have forced it to end its partnership with Silvergate Bank, it announced on Thursday.

In a tweet, it said: “In light of recent developments & out of an abundance of caution, Coinbase is no longer accepting or initiating payments to or from Silvergate.“

Coinbase also stated it would facilitate institutional client cash transactions with banking partners. It had also taken proactive action to “help ensure that clients experience no impact” from the measures.

Coinbases primary banking partner is now Signature Bank.

According to Coinbase: “The vast majority of Coinbase client cash is stored in FDIC-insured bank accounts. When a client has a large dollar balance, Coinbase stores their cash in a U.S. government money market fund to keep it safe and liquid.”

It added: “[We] hold client cash 1:1 and your assets are your assets. We do not lend or take any action with your assets unless you specifically instruct us to.”

Silvergate-FTX Ties

The insolvent bank’s stocks plummeted an additional 40 percent in premarket trading, reports revealed. JP Morgan also downgraded the bank from “underweight” to “neutral.”

The bank also failed to file its 10-K report in a timely manner and has requested an additional two weeks to complete it. Authorities such as the US Securities and Exchange Commission require the document to assess a company’s financial standing.

The news comese after the bank after now-defunct cryptocurrency platform FTX collapsed on 11 November and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Its toubles intensified after the US Department of Justice (US DoJ) launched investigations due to Silvergate’s ties to FTX, primarily linked to disgraced former chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried, who owned an account with the institution.

Silvergate and its CEO Alan Lane currently face a class-action lawsuit in California courts. Authorities aim to penalise the bank for allegedly facilitating illegal money deposits amid a massive bank run, triggered by FTX’s huge liquidity crunch last year.

DigiFT DEX Raises $10.5M in Pre-Series A Funding Led by Shanda Group

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Singapore, Singapore, 3rd March, 2023, Chainwire

DigiFT, a Singapore-based decentralized exchange (DEX) for asset-backed tokens (STO), has completed a Pre-Series A funding round, securing US$10.5 million.  

The investment round was led by Shanda Group, a global privately-owned investment group founded by Chinese online entertainment pioneer Tianqiao Chen and family in 1999. Shanda Group’s business is segmented into four units: Private Equity (Venture Capital) Investments, Public Market Investments, Real Estate, and Natural Resources.

Other investors included HashKey Capital, a multi-stage global venture capital firm investing in visionary blockchain founders; Hash Global, a Web3 venture capital firm with offices in Singapore and Shanghai; Xin Enterprise Pte. Ltd., a Singapore investment firm wholly owned by Liang Xinjun, co-founder of Fosun Group; and North Beta Capital, an eco-building firm in the digital technology industry.  

DigiFT was founded in 2020 by Henry Zhang, formerly Greater China CEO of East West Bank, deputy China CEO of Citibank and Standard Chartered Bank, and is helmed by a leadership team with extensive experience in financial institutions and fintechs. With a vision to bridge the gap between centralized and decentralized finance, DigiFT is the first and only DEX enrolled in the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) FinTech Regulatory Sandbox.

It aims to provide regulated decentralized finance solutions on the Ethereum public blockchain via an Automatic Market Making (AMM) mechanism that facilitates secondary trading liquidity for security tokens backed by financial assets such as bonds and equities. 

Asset owners can issue blockchain-based security tokens efficiently and cost-effectively. Investors are also able to trade with continuous liquidity via the AMM mechanism and retain control over digital assets in their own wallets.  

Funds from the Pre-Series A round will be used to support license applications in Asia, the Middle East and Europe, go-to-market plans, technology development and to expand the company’s innovation capabilities.  

Henry Zhang, founder and CEO of DigiFT, said: “We are encouraged by investors’ confidence in our vision to become a regulated DeFi exchange. The industry has been through a tough time in the past year. This fundraise is a testament that this industry has huge potential if the gap between traditional finance and Web3 can be bridged.”

“It gives us the arsenal to transform the industry and we are excited to see where the journey takes us. As a key international financial hub, Singapore boasts a robust legal framework and government support for tokenization with blockchain technology. We look forward to further working with regulatory bodies to steer our industry in the right direction.”  

Tianqiao Chen, founder, Chairman and CEO of Shanda Group, said: “DigiFT’s appeal is their leadership team’s ability to understand the gaps within the DeFi industry, and how they’ve effectively combined their extensive backgrounds in traditional financial institutions with a deep knowledge of Web3 financial services. They convinced us that they will not only be market leaders, but the market standard for the DeFi industry.”  

Plans for new hires are in the pipeline with the injection of the fresh funds to support the growth of the exchange. DigiFT will look to bring on board experienced hires that understand traditional finance as well as Web3 experts. These talents can be based either in Singapore or in regions that DigiFT is looking to expand into.  

For more information or media enquiries, please contact:

DigiFT
Evelyn Xiong
Email: media@digift.com.sg

SPRG
Pooja Shah
Email: pooja.shah@sprg.com.sg
Hp: +65 8889 1321

Deborah Dayani Nanayakara
Email: deborah.dayani@sprg.com.sg
Hp: +65 9758 4071

About DigiFT 

DigiFT, founded in 2020, is a decentralized digital asset exchange (DEX) for asset-backed tokens (STO). DigiFT is the first and only decentralized digital asset exchange enrolled in the Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS”) FinTech Regulatory Sandbox. It aims to provide regulated decentralized finance solutions on the Ethereum public blockchain offering an Automatic Market Making (AMM) mechanism that facilitates secondary trading liquidity for security tokens backed by financial assets.

Contact

Marketing Manager
Evelyn Xiong
DigiFT Tech (Singapore) Pte Ltd
evelyn.xiong@digift.com.sg

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