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BlockFi Axes 20% Of Its Staff Citing “Dramatic Shift In Macroeconomic Conditions”

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Crypto lending firm BlockFi has announced slashing 20% of its workforce as digital asset firms grapple to face the bloodbath. This year, cryptocurrency markets have sunk to a new low on the 13th of June.

Sharing the news CEO Zac Prince tweeted that BlockFi has been affected by the “dramatic shift in macroeconomic conditions,” which have had a “negative impact” on growth.

Conceived in 2017, BlockFi has grown dramatically over the years, reaping benefits from low borrowing costs and the surge in crypto prices. Prior to the latest layoffs, the firm had expanded from 150 employees at the end of 2020, to more than 850.

Now, with the global market cap tanking below $1 trillion to $977 billion, around a 12 % fall since yesterday, almost every top coin has lost half or more than their previous peaks.

While this massive monetary downturn can be attributed to a host of factors, including the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, rising inflation figures, and worsening macroeconomic conditions have had a ripple effect on the crypto job landscape.

Crypto entities across the board have been forced to cut costs, as investors are increasingly opting out of the riskiest assets, pulling down trading volumes.

Two weeks ago, New York-based crypto exchange Gemini, said it would be laying off 10% of its workforce Crypto.com too followed the same route by announcing a staff reduction of 260 people.

Unlike BlockFi, A leading Crypto Firm Refused To Follow Suit

The most recent example was one of the biggest players in the crypto lending space- Celsius, pausing all withdrawals and transfers between accounts, due to the “extreme market conditions.”

However, there is one crypto firm that has refused to either slow down hiring or lay off employees. Speaking at the Consensus 2022 conference last week, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao a.k.a CZ said the firm has enough resources to expand its hiring and even focus on new acquisitions.

“We have a very healthy war chest; we in fact are expanding hiring right now,” Zhao said. “If we are in a crypto winter, we will leverage that, we will use that to the max,” he said, adding that the trading platform is “kicking into high gear in terms of M&A activity.”

IRA Files Lawsuit Against Gemini for the $36M Hack Caused Due to Lack of Safeguards

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Gemini Trust Co.’s lack of sufficient precautions resulted in retirement-account holders losing about $36 million in Bitcoin and Ether when the master key was hacked, according to IRA Financial Trust in a new complaint.

According to a complaint filed Monday in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Gemini, a cryptocurrency exchange founded by Cameron and Tyler Winkelvoss.

Gemini was accused of making misrepresentations about two-factor authentication and other safeguards that were supposed to protect customer accounts. Customers can actively trade cryptocurrency in their retirement funds using an IRA.

In September 2019, it reached an arrangement with Gemini that allowed IRA members to trade Bitcoin and Ether, the two largest cryptocurrencies, directly.

Gemini failed to state the power of the master key

Gemini provided IRA with a master key, granting IRA authority over its customer accounts. A person in possession of a crypto master key can circumvent security mechanisms such as multi-factor authentication.

When hackers gained access to IRA’s master key in February, they were able to transfer $36 million in cryptocurrency into their own IRA account.

The hackers eventually cashed out since they were able to circumvent all security processes, according to the complaint filed by the South Dakota-based IRA.

“Gemini never informed IRA about the power of this master key.”

The complaint stated

The complaint comes less than a month after the two parties sought to reach an out-of-court settlement. If IRA Financial Trust wins the lawsuit, it says it will utilize the awarded damages to reimburse investors.

Gemini denied IRA’s assertions in an email to Bloomberg on Monday.

 “We reject the allegations in the lawsuit. Our security standards are among the highest in the industry and we are constantly updating them to ensure our customers are always protected. In this matter as soon as IRA Financial notified us of their security incident we acted quickly to mitigate the loss of funds from their accounts.”

Gemini Payments Become The First Fintech To Score A License From Ireland

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Leading crypto exchange Gemini Payments announced securing an e-money license from Ireland’s Central Bank. It is the first fintech to become authorized for such a license in the Republic since October 2020. By this, the trading platform joins the likes of well-known firms such as Stripe, Facebook, and Google to receive such authorization.

An Irish permit will enable Gemini to issue electronic money which it currently does in the UK thanks to its Financial Conduct Authority [FCA] authorization. The trading platform had submitted an application for a license back in 2020, partly to offset the impact of Brexit. Last year, the firm opened an office in Dublin, hiring Gillian Lynch, former chief strategy officer at Leveris, to lead its operations there.

The crypto exchange was founded by two identical twins called the Winklevoss brothers in 2014. In June 2016, Gemini became the world’s first licensed ether exchange.

Can Gemini level out the competition in the Republic?

Its biggest rival Coinbase which also has a presence in the Republic has gained a more popular fan base. Gemini on the hand aims to capitalize on its close connection with regulators. Last month, the Crypto Council for Innovation, or CCI, had announced that the trading platform would be joining its list of crypto-friendly firms aimed at supporting lawmakers on related regulation.

Data from public records through the U.S. Senate showed the exchange had declared spending a total of $120,000 on lobbying activities in the states during the third and fourth quarters of 2021 contracted with the Sternhell Group.

Peter Oakes, a former Central Bank enforcement director and founder of Fintech Ireland, said he expects Gemini will complement its new fintech license with an Irish crypto-asset registration to replicate its UK and international services. Oakes further said,

Gemini doesn’t provide services in Ireland [yet] but residents in other member states can open accounts. The combination of an e-money authorization and a virtual asset services provider registration should provide Irish consumers and corporates a fuller range of Gemini’s digital assets and non-fungible tokens services such as buying and selling, interest on accounts, payments, credit cards, and e-wallets.

Coinbase outlines a multi-layered global sanctions program

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Leading crypto exchange Coinbase announced implementing a plan in order to comply with the current global sanctions. The platform through its blog rolled out steps to initiate the compliance program which it mentioned would help protect ‘the integrity of all transactions supported by its platform’.

The post, written by Paul Grewal who is the Chief Legal Officer of Coinbase then talked about the measures it has adopted while adhering to economic penalties.

First, it worked on screening out sanctioned individuals or entities prior to providing accessibility. They use geofencing controls to block access to the Coinbase website, products, and services, by anyone using an IP address in a sanctioned geography.

Next, they monitor against evasion attempts. According to the blog, Coinbase regularly updates the global sanctions lists and works to map transactions beyond the entities and individuals specifically flagged by governments.

To safeguard against malicious attacks, Coinbase maintains a sophisticated blockchain analytics program to identify high-risk behavior, study emerging threats, and develop new mitigations. The platform cited an example in a 2020 case where it identified over 1,200 additional addresses potentially associated with the sanctioned individual.

Besides that, the platform till now has prevented access to over 25,000 addresses related to Russian individuals or entities believed to be engaging in illicit activity. “Once we identified these addresses, we shared them with the government to further support sanctions enforcement,” the blog added.

Coinbase- Crypto can deter evasion attempts

On the role of digital assets’ ability to deter fraud, the report argues that crypto transactions are ‘traceable, permanent, and public.’ which is makes it competent enough to detect and deter evasion compared to the traditional financial system.

Amidst fears that Russia might use crypto to circumvent sanctions, several digital asset platforms have announced plans to prevent that.

One of them is Gemini which in a recent interview revealed that it is taking measures to stop those trying to evade sanctions on Russia. Another cryptocurrency firm, eToro announced that its investment platform is not open to users in Russia. A spokesperson further added that eToro is “rigorous in its compliance with all relevant rules and regulations, including sanctions.”

Gemini raises $400 million dedicated to building a metaverse

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The New York-based crypto exchange platform Gemini is the latest addition to the list of multi-million fundraising companies during this bull run. With the recent report by Forbes, it is clear that the company is gearing up to close a $400 million first round giving it a valuation of more than $7 billion. 

After seven years of its establishment, Gemini’s founders, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, are now closing the first round of capital. The latest funding round has almost doubled the cumulative wealth of the twins from $6 billion to $10.5 billion.

Morgan Creek Digital led this massive funding round where many major companies, including decentralized finance venture firm ParaFi Capital, Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners, and technology investment firm WnderCo participated. Other than these, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, family office advisory Netflow Partners, equity firm 10T, and Jane Street also joined the round with massive enthusiasm.

It is also revealed that the twin founders will hold 75% of the shares while the rest will be distributed among the newly joined board members.

40-years old young billionaire Cameron Winklevoss said that there are two technological paths currently. He added:

“There’s a centralized path, like Facebook or Fortnight, that is one step away from being a metaverse, and that’s totally fine. But there is another path, which is the decentralized Metaverse, and that’s the Metaverse where we believe there’s a greater choice, independence, and opportunity, and there is a technology that protects the rights and dignity of individuals.”

Gemini dives into the Metaverse world

Winklevoss twins and Facebook’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared a past. The three were college friends who created Facebook and a lawsuit. Eventually, the twins lost Facebook to Zukerburg, but now things are different. After the Gemini’s jump to the Metaverse world, many compare the twin and Zukerberg scenario with tortoise vs. hare competition. 

The current scenario of Facebook transforming itself into Metaverse named Meta and Gemini’s actions seems like history repeating itself. Winklevoss twins, however, definitely have the edge over Zuckerberg this time.

Gemini to list Shiba Inu and other DeFi tokens for users

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Gemini, a cryptocurrency exchange based in New York, has announced support for new DeFi tokens along with people’s favorite Shiba Inu. In an attempt to provide better services to its users, the crypto exchange has also included Metaverse tokens in its list.

“Shiba Inu (SHIB), Audius (AUDIO), Mask Network (MASK), Wrapped Centrifuge (wCFG), Quant (QNT), Radicle (RAD), Burn (ASH), SuperRare (RARE), Fetch AI (FET)*, and Numeraire (NMR) are now supported for deposits and custody on Gemini.”

said the announcement from Gemini

The cryptocurrency exchange earlier supported the custody of API3 and USD Coin (USDC) and now will list them for trading too. The trading will “first open on our API/FIX and ActiveTrader applications for USD trading pairs,” as the announcement said. 

The trading will then start on the Gemini Mobile App and website. Furthermore, there are now around 60 new tokens that will be available for custody, with 16 new tokens available for custody. The cryptocurrency exchange is the first regulated digital asset service provider in the United States to provide trading for API3, ASH, and RARE.

Gemini steps in for Metaverse

Metaverse tokens have grown in popularity as Facebook’s recent transformation to Meta turned every investor bullish on these tokens. The listing of said tokens on the Gemini exchange depicts the gradual transformation and increased interest in Metaverse projects.

Recently Nike, the major firm in the designing and footwear industry, also decided to enter the Metaverse as it filed for seven trademark applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Oct 27. This development was revealed by CNBC.

Also, the humongous rise of the metaverse token, Decentraland (MANA), which also backs the Grayscale Decentraland Trust, portrays the rising interest in metaverse-based projects. Using the token, users can buy, develop, and sell LAND in the Decentraland metaverse as it represents land ownership in the virtual world.

MANA rose by more than 163% in just two weeks, reaching a new all-time high at $4.69. Currently, as per data from the Gemini exchange, the Decentraland token is down by 11.48%, and nearly 30% from its all-time high.

Gemini Aims To Capture The DeFi, NFT Mania With Latest Addition

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DeFi and NFTs have been the talk of the town. To capture this growth, Gemini has become the latest platform to have jumped into the bandwagon.

The Winklevoss twins led cryptocurrency exchange, Gemini announced support for new decentralized finance [DeFi], gaming, non-fungible tokens [NFT], and infrastructure tokens on the 22nd of March. The new addition which will be supported for both trading and custody are Bancor [BN], 1inch [1INCH], Loopring [LRC], The Sandbox [SAND], Skale [SKL], and The Graph [GRT].

Furthermore, the Ethereum-based Enjin [ENJ], which is currently supported for custody, will also be available for trading, said Gemini.

With the latest development, the New York-based cryptocurrency exchange becomes the first regulated platform to offer trading and custody support in the State of New York for SAND and 1INCH. In fact, the additions have also increased the number of tokens and cryptocurrencies that Gemini trades all the way to 33 in total, along with another 10, that are supported for custodial services.

According to the official press release, deposits for the aforementioned crypto-assets are now open, and trading availability for all six new tokens and ENJ will soon follow. These are set to roll-out first on its API/FIX and ActiveTrader platforms for USD trading pairs.

Trading on Gemini’s mobile application as well as the website will open on a rolling, token-by-token basis for USD, GBP, EUR, CAD, AUD, HKD, and SGD trading pairs. The cryptocurrency exchange also noted,

“As the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) revolution has come into bloom, over the past weeks we have seen an explosion of interest around digital art and NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and we are excited to continue supporting the development of the space”

The latest news comes amidst rising decentralized exchanges [DEX] such as Uniswap, Sushiswap, 0x, Curve, Serum, that have managed to thrive in a short period of time threatening to disrupt the centralized counterpart.

Gemini Dives Into Singapore Shores By Adding Support To SGD

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The Winklevoss twins have been rolling out several developments with regard to its cryptocurrency exchange Gemini. The platform has managed to stay relevant despite the great loss the COVID-19 pandemic had cast upon the entire world. Gemini even went on to reveal that it considered going public like another popular crypto exchange, Coinbase.

Gemini To Venture Into Asia

Several platforms figured that Asia was a promising market for cryptocurrencies. Gemini went all out with regard to its new venture. In a recent press release, Gemini revealed that it was moving into Singapore with an array of features. The platform started off by onboarding the Singapore Dollar [SGD] for both the desktop as well as the mobile application.

With this option, users would be able to purchase crypto with SGD through a debit card or even FAST transfers. Users from Singapore could even employ MyInfo through SingPass to auto-fill registration forms of Gemini accounts.

Singapore has been a hopeful market for many. OKCoin, a crypto exchange from San Fransisco recently revealed that it was diving into Singapore with a new office. Speaking about the potentials of Singapore, Gemini’s CEO and co-founder, Tyler Winklevoss said,

“Singapore is a financial epicenter in the heart of Asia and is a fast-growing market for cryptocurrency. Singapore is one of our biggest markets and supporting SGD is another exciting milestone on our mission to empower the individual through crypto.”

Additionally, the crypto exchange even set up an Asia Pacific office in Singapore. The office is reportedly hiring for several roles. The Head of Asia, Jeremy Ng suggested that the team was focused on localizing the exchange’s products to comply with both institutional as well as retail users. Ng added,

“We will continue to build out our presence and are aggressively hiring top calibre talent to join our mission to empower the individual through crypto.”

Gemini Follows Coinbase’s Trail; Winklevoss Twins Affirm Going Public Is An Option

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The cryptocurrencies paved the way for an array of benefits to people. Crypto exchanges like, Gemini, Coinbase, Bitfinex, and many more made immense profit over the years while generating jobs for several. Now, while the crypto industry is worth $1 trillion, the globe is taking interest in it. As the demand for exchanges has been surging amidst this highly volatile period of crypto, prominent digital asset platform, Gemini revealed that it was considering going public.

Gemini Considers Going Public

Recently, Bloomberg reported that the Winklevoss twins, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss were contemplating taking their crypto platform, Gemini public. The duo was reportedly yearning to take the Gemini Trust Co. public either by signing a merger with a special-purpose acquisition firm or via an initial public offering [IPO].  Speaking about the same, Cameron Winklevoss said,

“We are definitely considering it and making sure that we have that option. We are watching the market and we are also having internal discussions on whether it makes sense for us at this point in time. We are certainly open to it.”

It wasn’t long ago that Coinbase revealed it was prepping to go public. The exchange even wanted banking giant, Goldman Sachs to spearhead its IPO.

The Winklevoss twins have been widely endorsing Bitcoin for several years now. While people have been cribbing about the king coin’s volatility, the founders of Gemini revealed that they were HODLers. Cameron Winklevoss said,

“We are very much ‘hodlers’ at this price. We have a lot of exposure as it is, so we are not actively looking to increase our position.”

While this news surfed the crypto industry, Gemini made an announcement regarding the launch of the Gemini Credit Card. The card will reportedly allow users to garner crypto rewards on everyday purchases. Users would have to join the waitlist to bag one of these credit cards after which users would be able to acquire up to 3% back in Bitcoin as well as other crypto-assets.

Brave Browser Integrates Anti-Phishing Solutions To Prevent Crypto Scams

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Prominent privacy-centric web browser, Brave has been making headlines lately with several updates along with its Gemini integration to enhance its crypto features. The platform once again made news following its association with a cybersecurity firm, PhisFort.

Protection Against Crypto Scams

As the popularity and the value of the crypto industry have been progressing rapidly, the attacks and scams pertaining to the same seem to be following suit. While every other crypto platform has been taking the necessary measures to prevent scams and attacks, Brave joined the list and collaborated with PhisFort. On Tuesday, Brave browser took to Twitter to announce that the platform had incorporated PhishFort’s anti-phishing solutions to steer clear of potential crypto scams.

The tweet read,

“Brave now uses @PhishFort’s open source anti-phishing solutions for our in-browser Crypto Wallets to better protect our users. PhishFort’s spam list detects crypto scams and immediately warns our users of any suspicious domains.”

PhishFort isn’t new to the crypto-verse, the cybersecurity firm has partnered with several notable crypto platforms including MyEtherWallet as well as Binance Labs. PhishFort also elaborated on its latest affiliation with Brave and suggested that users of the browser would be protected with additional security that would have a vital impression on the protection of the community.

The anti-phishing platform shared a blog post detailing the importance of its integration on the browser. The post indicated,

“This integration provides additional security to their users who use the crypto wallet functionality built into the browser as they are now protected by our real time intelligence feed.”

Previously, PhishFort had highlighted that crypto users are prone to scams as “crypto is a high-value target for criminals.”

Back in June, Brave Browser was subject to immense backlash for the inclusion of affiliate links to the searches of its users. This further redirected the users of the browser to another website. However, the platform rectified its mistake and affirmed that the personal data of its users were not compromised.

The platform’s latest move along with Gemini integration reveals that Brave is diving deep into the crypto industry by bolstering its features related to crypto.