BlackRock’s appetite for Bitcoin mining stocks ?; Crypto mining unicorn ??; Facebook eyes NFTs on its radar ??

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Last week (23-27 August) was another super hot and interesting week in Blockchain & Cryptocurrency space.?We will look at?how the world's largest asset manager is exploring crypto; a crypto mining unicorn; how Facebook eyes NFTs on its radar, and other interesting news and developments.

Without further ado, let us dive into what has happened in the Blockchain & sector last week. Let’s connect the dots.

BlackRock’s appetite for Bitcoin mining stocks ?

SEC filing ???BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, had nearly $400 million invested in?Bitcoin?mining companies at the end of the second quarter, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings.

Two companies ??The SEC filings dated June 30 show BlackRock held stakes of 6.71% in Marathon Digital Holdings and 6.61% in Riot Blockchain, Forbes?reported.

The money ???The total amount invested in the two companies amounts to just under $383 million. The investment is spread across a number of BlackRock's mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), such as its iShares Russell 2000 ETF.

Still a drop in the ocean ???Given that BlackRock has around $9.5 trillion in assets under management, $400M is less than 0.1% of their portfolio and is just a small drop in the ocean. On the other hand, you gotta start somewhere… ??

?? THE TAKEAWAY

Mainstream FinServ players go crypto??BlackRock’s stakes in the crypto mining firms are very very small but they are starting to reflect a bigger trend. One can remember that earlier this month, fellow asset manager Fidelity Investments also?disclosed?an investment in Marathon Digital. This is reflecting the increased interest mainstream financial services companies are taking in the crypto sector. Who’s next? ??

Crypto mining unicorn ??

The funding ???Bitcoin technology firm?Blockstream?has raised $210M in a Series B funding round that values the company at $3.2B and will fund an expansion into manufacturing mining chips.??

U.K. investment management firm Baillie Gifford and iFinex, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex and stablecoin issuer Tether, participated in the round.

The USP ???Blockstream was?founded in 2014?with a focus on building infrastructure and applications based upon the Bitcoin network.?The firm was co-founded by CEO Adam Back (inventor of Hashcash, a system for discouraging spam emails that influenced Satoshi Nakamoto’s proof-of-work consensus mechanism design for Bitcoin) and nine others, including Bitcoin Core developer Gregory Maxwell.

?? THE TAKEAWAY

Brilliant timing.?Giving the growing adoption and popularity of cryptocurrency, it’s a brilliant time to focus on the hardware. The funding will enable Blockstream to build out a business line making specialized mining chips known as ASICs. And they have serious ambitions here as following the fundraiser, Blockstream had acquired the intellectual property and key employees of Israeli Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer Spondoolies for undisclosed terms.

Facebook eyes NFTs on its radar ??

The talks ???Social media giant?Facebook?is in a good position to explore supporting NFTs through its new digital wallet, though it is too early to talk about specific plans, Facebook Financial head David Marcus?said?in an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday.

All in Novi ???He said that the Novi wallet could be used to store NFTs once it goes live. Alluding to the sorts of services the NFT ecosystem needs, Marcus said, "If you're a creator and you're creating your NFT, you may want to rent your NFT, you may want to sell your NFT. You'll have to store your NFT."?

?? THE TAKEAWAY

It’s all about trust… ???It’s clear for a while now that Facebook is really keen to tap into financial services and have a piece of the FinServ pie. Not only it is a strategic?world domination?move, but at the core, it’s a quest to diversify revenues so that FB wouldn’t be that reliant on ads. When it comes to digital assets, NFTs are one of the hottest areas right now which is growing by 1,000s of percent. Hence, it would be foolish for FB not to consider this vertical. But then again, the core question remains - would you trust FB to hold your NFT? ??

Extra Reads & Quick Bites for Curious Minds??

• Wells Fargo goes Bitcoin ???Wells Fargo?has registered a private Bitcoin fund?with U.S. regulators, becoming the latest bank with an indirect crypto investment vehicle for its wealthiest clients. NYDIG and FS Investments are partnering on the offering. The new fund is passive, a break from earlier reports that Wells Fargo would pitch wealthy investors with an actively managed offering, a source familiar with the matter told CoinDesk.?
• SEC wants to regulate DeFi ???The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has its eye on the decentralized finance (DeFi) space but has yet to figure out how to develop a regulatory framework. SEC Chairman?Gary Gensler?told the Wall Street Journal that some DeFi schemes have the characteristics of systems that would fall under the agency’s oversight.
• Circling in reserves ?? Circle’s?(the company behind the USDC stable coin) latest announcement is all focused on?reserves about reserves?when it comes to stablecoins. Crypto exchange Coinbase and network Centre are collaborating to support Circle's USD Coin (USDC), in part by shifting the mix of assets and holdings that back the stablecoins themselves. As an effect, the company is backing each coin with $1 in reserves – via cash and short-term U.S. Treasuries.
• Growing institutional demand in the UK for crypto?????Research by Nickel Digital, a digital asset hedge fund manager founded by former Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan investment professionals, found that more than 50% of U.K. institutional investors in a survey plan to increase their crypto-asset exposure between now and 2023.

??Money Moves??

• Blockchain infrastructure startup?InfStones?raised $10M in a Series A funding round that was led by Shanghai-based Qiming Ventures.
• Fractional Solana’s?Apricot Finance?raises $4M in ‘Party’ funding round. Apricot said it intends to use its newly raised capital to support the roll-out of its initial flagship services.
• Alethea AI, a Mark Cuban-backed startup, raised $16M?from private venture and restricted token sale.
• Paradigm leads an?$8M Series A?into DeFi lending company?Euler.

Continue reading by subscribing to?Linas's Newsletter.?You will receive fresh news about FinTech, and Blockchain & Crypto with hot takeaways every day.

P.S.?You might enjoy my earlier pieces as well:

???The Perfect Pitch Deck: How Coinbase Raised Seed Capital and Began Journey Towards $100B Worth Public Company

???Cutting Through the Noise: Bitcoin Fundamentals & Why it Was Created

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About: I am?a business developer, sales professional, FinTech strategist, as well as Cryptocurrency and Blockchain enthusiast. I'm highly passionate about Financial Technology and Digital Innovation, and strongly believe that it will change the world for the better. Apart from my daily job at a global payments startup where I'm leading the company's expansion into Europe, I'm an active member of the FinTech community and a TechFin evangelist.

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