5 Tales from the Crypto: Pillow Raises $18 Million; BlueSnap and BitPay; Coinbase and Google

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<h2>Cryptocurrency Funding Platform Pillow Raises $18 Million </h2>

In a spherical co-led by Accel and Quona Capital, crypto funding platform <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pillow.fund" rel="noopener">Pillow</a> has <a target="_blank" href="https://www.blockchaingamer.biz/news/19990/crypto-investment-platform-pillow-secures-18-million-in-funding/" rel="noopener">secured</a> $18 million in Collection A funding. Additionally taking part within the spherical had been Elevation Capital and Soar Capital.

Singapore-based Pillow permits people to save lots of and spend money on a wide range of main cryptocurrencies. The corporate will use the capital to energy growth of its cryptocurrency financial savings and funding providers into rising markets in Africa and Southeast Asia. Pillow already operates in Nigeria, Ghana, and Vietnam. This week’s funding provides to the $3 million in seed capital Pillow secured earlier this 12 months.

Based in 2021, Pillow has greater than 75,000 customers in additional than 60 nations on its app. Among the many cryptocurrencies obtainable are: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, and Axie Infinity, in addition to USD-backed stablecoins, USDC and USDT. Pillow plans to assist greater than 20 totally different digital property over the subsequent few months. The corporate provides returns of greater than 10% on its stablecoins and roughly 6% on Bitcoin and Ethereum. Pillow earns its cash by investing person funds in DeFi protocols on blockchain networks.

<h2>BlueSnap and BitPay Crew Up for Crypto Acceptance and Payout </h2>

Fee orchestration platform <a target="_blank" href="https://home.bluesnap.com/?utm_campaign=BitPay&utm_source=press-release&utm_medium=press-release&utm_term=bit-pay&utm_content=home-page" rel="noopener">BlueSnap</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bluesnap-partners-with-bitpay-to-offer-cryptocurrency-acceptance-and-payout-301648197.html" rel="noopener">announced</a> a brand new partnership this week. The corporate is teaming up with cryptocurrency funds firm <a target="_blank" href="https://bitpay.com/" rel="noopener">BitPay</a> to allow companies to just accept and make payouts in as many as 15 totally different cryptocurrencies – in addition to seven fiat currencies. The currencies obtainable embody main digital property equivalent to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, and Dogecoin. 5 stablecoins pegged to the U.S. greenback and one stablecoin pegged to the Euro may even be supported.

Courtesy of the partnership, clients will be capable of settle for cryptocurrencies and be paid out in fiat currencies together with the U.S. greenback, the Euro, the British pound, and the Mexican peso, in addition to the Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand {dollars}.

BlueSnap and BitPay famous in an announcement {that a} rising variety of retailers are accepting cryptocurrencies as fee, and that buyers had been turning into more and more “crypto curious.”

“By working with probably the most well-respected crypto firms within the business, we’ll be capable of make the brand new fee expertise as frictionless as potential,” BlueSnap Managing Director for Europe Nihkhita Hyett stated. “We look ahead to making an actual influence on this new house – via growing applied sciences like blockchain and cryptocurrency – as we foster higher innovation in funds, and additional our progress throughout Europe.”

<h2>WSJ: NYDIG Lays Off a Third of its Workforce </h2>

In accordance with reporting within the Wall Road Journal, institutional cryptocurrency custody agency <a target="_blank" href="https://nydig.com/" rel="noopener">NYDIG</a> has <a target="_blank" href="https://coingeek.com/nydig-quietly-laid-off-a-third-of-its-staff-in-september-report/" rel="noopener">laid off</a> greater than 100 of its staff, an quantity believed to be roughly a 3rd of the New York-based crypto agency’s whole workforce. The layoffs happened over plenty of weeks per the Journal’s sources, and are available nearly a 12 months after NYDIG <a target="_blank" href="https://nydig.com/news/nydig-announces-1-billion-funding-round" rel="noopener">raised</a> $1 billion in funding at a valuation of greater than $7 billion. NYDIG talked about utilizing the capital to “additional develop its world-class crew throughout the globe” – although this was famous towards the tip of the corporate’s funding announcement. Utilizing the capital to “develop NYDIG’s institutional-grade Bitcoin platform” was famous in paragraph two.

Extra not too long ago, NYDIG was within the headlines for the C-suite shuffle in October that had CEO Robert Gutmann and President Yan Zhao <a target="_blank" href="https://nydig.com/news/nydig-promotes-leaders-amidst-record-bitcoin-balances" rel="noopener">stepping down</a> and returning to NYDIG’s guardian firm Stone Ridge Holdings. Gutmann and Zhao co-founded Stone Ridge, together with Ross Stevens, in 2012.

There was no touch upon the lay off report from NYDIG right now.

<h2>Mastercard Groups Up with Blockchain Platform Paxos</h2>

Our <a target="_blank" href="https://finovate.com/5-tales-from-the-crypto-nydigs-new-leadership-juno-raises-18-million-circle-acquires-elements-and-more/" rel="noopener">last edition</a> of 5 Tales highlighted <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mastercard.us/en-us.html" rel="noopener">Mastercard’s</a> new Crypto Safe resolution that helps card issuers assess the danger profile of crypto exchanges and different suppliers.

This week we share extra information of Mastercard and its enterprise within the crypto house. The corporate has <a target="_blank" href="https://paxos.com/2022/10/17/mastercard-to-bring-crypto-trading-capabilities-to-banks/" rel="noopener">announced</a> a partnership with blockchain infrastructure platform Paxos that may allow monetary establishments to supply safe cryptocurrency buying and selling capabilities to their clients. Mastercard’s Crypto Supply program will give its monetary establishment companions entry to a set of providers that may allow them to purchase, maintain, and promote choose crypto property.

The suite of providers gives expertise and partnership assist to allow FIs to purchase, promote, and maintain choose digital property; safety administration, together with AML, transaction monitoring, and KYB; crypto spend and money out capabilities; and crypto program administration, together with go-to-market optimization.

“What we're saying at this time is a related strategy to providers that may assist deliver the subsequent billion customers safely and securely into the crypto ecosystem,” Mastercard President, Cyber & Intelligence, Ajay Bhalla stated.

Mastercard demoed its expertise at <a target="_blank" href="https://finovate.com/videos/finovatefall-2017-mastercard/" rel="noopener">FinovateFall 2017</a>. Extra not too long ago, the corporate demoed in partnership with Strands at <a target="_blank" href="https://finovate.com/videos/finovatespring-2019-strands-and-mastercard/" rel="noopener">FinovateSpring 2019</a>.

<h2>Coinbase Expands in Europe – And Provides a Good friend in Google</h2>

Cryptocurrency trade <a target="_blank" href="https://www.coinbase.com/" rel="noopener">Coinbase</a> has had greater than its justifiable share of lower than nice information over the previous few days. At the moment we learn headlines concerning the firm experiencing the <a target="_blank" href="https://cryptoslate.com/thousands-of-bitcoin-leave-coinbase-for-the-first-time-since-june/" rel="noopener">largest outflow</a> of Bitcoin since June. This follows reviews of tons of of Coinbase customers within the Republic of Georgia who allegedly profited from a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/10/17/coinbase-threatens-to-sue-crypto-traders-who-profited-from-pricing-glitch/" rel="noopener">pricing glitch</a> – and what Coinbase could must do to get the cash again.

In the meantime, the San Francisco-based firm continues to develop, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.coinbase.com/blog/bringing-safer-and-easier-crypto-access-down-under" rel="noopener">expanding</a> its operations in Australia earlier this month with a pair of recent options. PayID will allow Australians to prime up their Coinbase accounts immediately with Australian {dollars}. Retail Superior Buying and selling will give native shoppers entry to low volume-based pricing and buying and selling instruments with one unified stability.

And earlier this week, Coinbase <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nftgators.com/coinbase-hires-former-solarisbank-coo-daniel-seifert-to-lead-emea-region/" rel="noopener">introduced</a> the person who will lead the corporate’s growth in Europe: former Solarisbank Chief Working Officer Daniel Seifert. The appointment comes as Coinbase beneficial properties momentum within the area, incomes regulatory approval to supply its providers to clients in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/07/18/coinbase-secures-regulatory-approval-in-italy/" rel="noopener">Italy</a> in July and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/09/22/crypto-exchange-coinbase-secures-registration-from-netherlands-central-bank" rel="noopener">the Netherlands</a> in September. Coinbase VP of Worldwide and Enterprise Growth Nana Murusegan has known as worldwide growth an “existential precedence.”

However the greatest information of the week for the corporate is the announcement that Google has <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/11/google-selects-coinbase-to-take-cloud-payments-with-cryptocurrencies.html" rel="noopener">partnered</a> with Coinbase to permit choose clients pay for cloud providers through cryptocurrencies beginning early subsequent 12 months. The potential might be made potential because of an integration with Coinbase Commerce, which helps 10 cryptocurrencies together with Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and Litecoin. Coinbase will earn a fraction of every transaction processed, in response to the corporate’s VP of Enterprise Growth Jim Migdal.

Coinbase made its Finovate debut in 2014. Greater than 100 million people and corporations use Coinbase’s expertise to purchase, promote, and maintain cryptocurrencies.

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