Incidentally I paid a visit to the offices of Binance Markets Limited’s auditors recently - as listed on accounts signed off in April - just a stone’s throw from my grandparents’ house…
Personal news! Thrilled to announce that I'm joining Bloomberg as a senior editor focused on crypto in APAC. I start Monday and will be based in the Kuala Lumpur office. Can't wait to get stuck in!
If you want to catch up before then, please reach out on Telegram.
@crypto
Scoop:
@PayPal
is exploring the launch of a stablecoin. Sources tell me the company has held talks about this with Ava Labs, the team behind the Avalanche blockchain, among others.
Scoop! Crypto trading firm
@wintermute_t
is in talks with investors including Chinese tech giant Tencent to raise money at a valuation of roughly $2 billion
On the Terminal now 🖥️
Excited to announce that I've joined
@FinancialNews
! I'll still be covering fintech. Drop me a line if you'd like to catch up/air an earth-shattering opinion.
After a thoroughly enjoyable year and a half, today is my last day at Financial News. I'll be going freelance and will continue to write the
#FintechFiles
newsletter for FN. So please keep the fintech tips/pitches coming!
Depressing, baffling news. What angers me most is that we are now forced to defend our work - which I’ve been particularly proud of this year - because of the actions of one person. Bitterly disappointing.
SCOOP: Luna Foundation Guard has raised $1 billion through a private sale of LUNA tokens to form a bitcoin reserve for UST, the algorithmic stablecoin.
The token sale, one of the largest in history, was led by Jump Crypto and Three Arrows Capital.
In addition to the
#FintechFiles
and other stuff, I'm now contributing to the
@TheBlock__
, so hit me up - and I say this with some apprehension - with all your blockchain/crypto news and tips: rweeks
@theblockcrypto
.com.
This is anything but a puff piece. It’s a scathing examination of how 3AC’s founders continue to live large instead of being held to account, as many believe they should. Crypto twitter cries puff far too often.
Going forward I'm going to be fintech editor at
@TheBlock__
which I'm most excited about. The line between crypto and fintech is blurring and The Block is expanding its coverage accordingly. So expect more stories like these (yesterday's scoop)...
2/3
Sam Altman's
@worldcoin
has acknowledged “suspicious and potentially fraudulent activity whereby individuals were incentivized to sign up for a verified World ID that was then delivered to a third party’s World App rather than their own.”
Scoop: Mechanism Capital is among the many VCs to have taken a hit from the implosion of FTX, but the fund remains operational and is exploring legal options.
And so the freelancing begins! Please get in touch with tips, pitches and ideas at ryanjamesweeks1
@gmail
.com.
I'll still be writing my weekly Fintech Files newsletter for Financial News/chasing stories, but am also available for commissions, so please shout if I can help you.
Scoop!
@circle
, issuer of crypto’s second-largest stablecoin, plans to shift its legal base to the US from the Republic of Ireland
On the terminal now 🖥️
@ryandhorrigan
@fintechfrank
@moonpay
I asked MoonPay that directly in relation to Fallon and they said they had no commercial relationship with him. They also said concierge clients get invoiced for the full amount of their NFT/crypto purchases + any other services rendered.
You heard it here second! Delighted to be teaming up with
@i_woodford
on Sifted’s new fintech newsletter. Hitting your inbox every Tuesday.
Sign up here:
Have you heard the news? I’m launching a fintech newsletter (!) with the brilliant
@RyanJamesWeeks
, starting next Tuesday 🥳 Would love you to subscribe and be part of our club. Here’s a little thread to show you what to expect in your inbox
like any really ambitious project, maybe it works out and maybe it doesn’t, but trying stuff like this is how progress happens.
in either case, we especially love our haters, it gives us energy, please keep it coming!
Steered my first
@crypto
newsletter!
This one’s on the spike in new token launches, which hit a two-year high in Q1. Some see this as a scramble to capture favourable market conditions, some as the result of VC pressure.
Scoop:
@RevolutApp
is set to lose four department heads, including director of marketing and communications
@ChadWestTweets
- who will be joining an unnamed startup in the coming months.
The firm is also losing its head of growth, business, and support.
Here's my exclusive interview with hedge fund heavyweight Alan Howard, who for the first time outlines the full extent of his crypto activities at Brevan Howard and beyond, and explains why he is investing across the entire crypto ecosystem
Signing off for 2022. What a year it was to cover crypto. Here’s a chronological (not to mention vainglorious) list of the stories I’m proudest of this year 🧵
Profile of
@NYDIG_BTC
president Yan Zhao for
@TheBlock__
.
We cover recent deals with Morgan Stanley and big insurers, why the firm only advises clients to buy bitcoin, why it isn’t yet sold on MPC for crypto custody and much more.
Scoop: SolChicks’ creator Catheon Gaming raised $55m to build one of the most hyped crypto games on Solana. But as the crypto winter set in, the startup halved its headcount and saw a planned $100m fundraise led by Lazard fall through.
Audio from my first interview with Sam Bankman-Fried. SBF talks bankruptcy, the alleged “backdoor,” donations to the Democratic Party, Ukraine money laundering rumors, the hack, Alameda’s margin position on FTX, using FTT as collateral & more. 👀
Mini scoop: RIT Capital Partners, a £3.8bn British investment trust managed by J. Rothschild Capital Management Limited, has acquired a stake in the cryptocurrency exchange
@krakenfx
Scoop: Ethereum developer
@ConsenSys
is poised to more than double its valuation in its latest fundraise. The company has held talks with backers about investing at a valuation of around $6.5bn, but the post-money valuation will be higher still.
Scoop: Crypto startups are giving up hope of continuing to do business in the UK under pressure from the FCA.
Among them is B2C2 Ltd., one of the crypto sector’s largest market makers, which has withdrawn from the temporary register.
I have done that thing where you forgo a big fundraising scoop in favour of an exclusive + interview in a few weeks.
Will let you know if I get horribly, horribly burned.
New from me: Staff at
@RevolutApp
have spent the past nine months in the dark about their share options thanks to a protracted back and forth between the start-up and HMRC over the value of its shares.
Scoop: Two more people execs quit
@RevolutApp
, including its head of diversity and inclusion.
The start-up has also parted ways with MHP Communications, which was brought in amid widespread criticism of its culture in April 2019.
via
@FinancialNews
🚨Some personal news! 🚨
Excited to say that I've joined
@TheBlock__
as a fintech reporter 💸🎉🥳
Shoot me an email at tom.matsuda
@theblockcrypto
.com for tips or even just to say hi!
A few updates of the personal kind. Today marked my last fintech newsletter for
@Siftedeu
(link below). It's been a delight working with the whole team to launch this over the past 6 months or so. Special thanks to star co-author
@i_woodford
.
1/3
Getting sent analysis of the latest development in the Monzo/Starling “feud” by PRs is pretty weird, especially since the main development concerns an unsatisfying Sunday roast
SBF: ‘I don’t think I ever had literally zero visibility into Alameda.’ He says he saw balance sheets and P&L graphs.
Frank: So you saw all that FTT and that didn’t raise any red flags?
SBF: ‘I’m not sure that I even saw it being broken out by token.’
Worldcoin suspended in Kenya.
An investment deck I obtained previously showed that Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi had been a key market for the project, responsible for more than a quarter of a million sign-ups as of December last year.
Enjoyed this chat with Visa’s head of crypto
@cuysheffield
about how the company’s new stablecoin settlement system could also be used for CBDC payments in the not too distant future
Sifted’s latest fintech newsletter, hot off the press:
Come for more on Bitpanda’s stocks push, TransferWise’s rebrand and fintechs going green. Stay for the strained wordplay.
W/
@i_woodford
Fintech friends, please share! The Block is hiring a fintech reporter to help expand its coverage beyond digital assets. Really interesting role with a rapidly growing company.
New: Makor Group has raised $17m, in part to fuel the growth of Enigma Securities, its crypto brokerage. British billionaire Alan Howard and Algorand have invested at a valuation of $200m.
Exclusive w/
@fintechfrank
: DeFi exchange
@dydxprotocol
closes $65 million raise led by Paradigm.
“Our goal for dYdX is to make it one of the biggest crypto exchanges period, but on a three to five-year time horizon,” Antonio Juliano, founder of dYdX, tells me.
FEATURE: After scoring $200 million from SoftBank, Mercado Bitcoin wants to quicken the growth of Latin America’s crypto market
@RyanJamesWeeks
interviews
@ftota
Scoop: Recent filings reveal that British billionaire Alan Howard has a c. $60m stake in CoinShares, Europe's largest crypto asset manager, through a Jersey entity named AH (St Helier) Limited
My latest for
@wired
: Negative interest rates are bad news for neo banks.
Their advent has been likened to Y2K for big banks. Startups should be able to manage the tech side, but whether their business models can take the hit is another matter.
Looks like tomorrow’s front pages will report
@RevolutApp
has closed its $500m fundraise, valuing the company at $5.5bn. I did not receive an embargoed press release today, but fortunately had the (pre-money) numbers right in mid-Jan:
Interview with former chancellor
@PhilipHammondUK
following the announcement of his new advisory role at
@CopperHQ
.
He says UK regulators need to shift “from talking about digital assets to implementing a legal framework that enables firms to embrace them.”
Hark! Sifted's latest fintech newsletter has arrived.
Delve into our analysis of whether JPMorgan overpaid for Nutmeg (valuation: £560-600m). Ponder the significance of fintech firms finally taking on card giants Visa and Mastercard.
W/
@i_woodford
This article has generated a crazy number of subscription sales for
@TheBlock__
so my challenge now is to come up with a subject that warrants the headline: "Want a wilder ride than the wilder-than-bitcoin ride offered by bitcoin mining stocks? Try TKTKTK"
SCOOP: Chartered crypto bank
@ProtegoTrust
is targeting a $2 billion valuation in its latest fundraising effort, after quietly closing a $70 million Series A round last year.
So this year alone I've covered Plum, Freetrade, MoneyLion, Brex, Trade Republic and now N26 all planning expansions into crypto trading or rewards. All 'non-crypto' fintechs up to this point.
How long till holdouts Monzo, Starling, etc. fall into line?
Scoop: Digital bank
@monese
plots hundred-plus hiring drive, has a fresh fundraising in the works and will soon publish its first set of accounts (interview with
@NorrisKoppel
) via
@FinancialNews
Scoop: Crypto art collector
@PleasrDAO
- the group that splashed millions of dollars on an NFT of the image that inspired Dogecoin and on a rare Wu-Tang Clan album - is raising $69 million. Sources say the raise will value the DAO at around $1bn.