tl;dr
• With a valuation of $4.5B, Binance.US gets $200M in a seed round• Starbuck's returning CEO, Howard Schultz, announced they will launch NFTs later this year• PayMaya, the largest digital payment company in Philippines announced they have enabled crypto trading• Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital Holdin...
• With a valuation of $4.5B, Binance.US gets $200M in a seed round
• Starbuck's returning CEO, Howard Schultz, announced they will launch NFTs later this year
• PayMaya, the largest digital payment company in Philippines announced they have enabled crypto trading
• Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital Holdings announced they are going to transition their Montana facility to more sustainable energy
• India's leadership could be seriously miscalculating in their loyalty to Russia
Keeping the list short, but these things are impactful! Here is what's on my mind today.
1. With a valuation of $4.5B, Binance.US gets $200M in a seed round. We are pretty sure the money will be to go for marketshare and that would most likely have to be taken from the biggest in the country, Coinbase. That will be no easy feat, but Circle was the lead investor and clearly thinks Binance.US can make further inroads in the US market. In a separate move, the parent company, Binance, led a $150M funding round for Sky Mavis, the creator of Axie Infinity.
2. Starbuck's returning CEO, Howard Schultz, announced they will launch NFTs later this year. The question is, what does this even mean? Once again, I think there are a lot of companies tossing around the latest buzzwords, like NFT and Web3, but not really getting all too deep in what they mean other than to seem like they are on the pulse. I am interested in what the actual plan for NFTs will be for the company rattled by unionization.
3. PayMaya, the largest digital payment company in Philippines announced they have enabled crypto trading. This is a smart move by the company that has the most registered users in the country. With their existing e-wallet account, users will be able to purchase and trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, Polygon, Chainlink, Uniswap, Solana, Polkadot, Quant, and Tether. It is no secret that Philippines is actively working drive crypto adoption in the country.
4. Looking toward the future, Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital Holdings announced they are going to transition their Montana facility to more sustainable energy, away from fossil fuel. The company has pledged to be at least 100% carbon neutral by the end of 2022. This is a smart move considering reliance on fossil fuel is a more than a little risk and can even result in decrease productivity during a shortage.
5. As an aside, I don't think the leadership in India is thinking things out. They are overtaxing crypto traders and making it hard for people to start a crypto business in the country. That has led to a brain drain. Now they have another problem. They are still doing business with Russia and to many, including the US, which is a clear sign of where India's loyalty lies. They could face economic backlash from the US and that would not bode all too well for anyone concerned. Think about how many companies around the world rely on lower cost resources from India. That said, I think any kind of economic retaliation by the US for such loyalties would hurt India more it would hurt itself. As a matter of fact, it could wind up being a good move by the US and lead to a repatriation of jobs.