Alan Howard · 140

Alan Howard-backed crypto incubator WebN Group is about to shut down

According to news, WebN Group, a crypto incubator supported by billionaire Alan Howard, is about to close. The agency previously invested in digital asset infrastructure projects such as KAIO (formerly Libre), Twinstake, TruFin, and Geometry, and received investment from Laser Digital, a crypto joint venture platform owned by Japan's Nomura in 2023. According to people familiar with the matter, WebN is considered to have completed its mission, and some employees have transferred to Brevan Howard; previously, Brevan Howard's digital asset fund lost nearly 30% in 2025 and drastically reduced BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust holdings by about 85%. (CoinDesk)

177d ago

Federal Reserve's “Election Day”: Interviews for 11 presidential candidates begin. Who is the crypto community looking forward to the most?

At the beginning of September, the personnel and power structure surrounding the Federal Reserve continued to evolve at an accelerated pace. On September 3, it was reported that the White House made it clear that it would finalize the candidate for the next Federal Reserve Chairman as soon as possible. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has begun an interview process with 11 candidates, which will begin a series of interviews this Friday and continue for a week. At the same time, personnel and power actions surrounding a “smooth transition” continue to increase. On the one hand, Trump previously dismissed the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) director, drawing market attention to the independence of official data. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Governor Adrianne Kugler officially submitted her resignation in early August to reserve her seat for the new board of directors. The new US Federal Reserve Governor, Stephen Miran (Stephen Miran), was nominated by Trump and attended the Senate Banking Committee hearing on September 4, local time. Milan emphasized “monetary policy independence” in her written testimony. She will enter the confirmation process with “maintaining independence” as the core statement. Outsiders expect it to advance very rapidly. With more and more movements, the market has cast a layer of fog over the future. Who will become the next chairman of the Federal Reserve will become the focus of the market's attention? Who are the 11 candidates for Federal Reserve Chairman? According to the Federal Reserve's appointment rules, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve must be a current board member. Current President Powell's term as chairman will end in May 2026, and his term as a board member will last until January 2028. If he chooses to continue as a trustee after leaving office, Trump's range of candidates will be limited when appointing a new president in the future. Meanwhile, the current list of 11 core candidates covers elite leaders from all walks of life in politics and business, such as the “Federal Reserve Institution+Former Officials+Wall Street Practitioners.” Christopher Waller is a former director of research at the St. Louis Federal Reserve and has deep academic skills and practical experience in policy practice. Relevant sources and forecasters identified him as the most popular candidate. He is known for his “data-driven but relatively flexible” style. He recently publicly supported cutting interest rates as soon as possible, with a tendency to shift earlier after inflationary pressure eases. Its series of speeches on stablecoins was clear and consistent, arguing that the private sector takes the lead in innovation under the framework of legislation and reserve regulation. At the same time, he was a board member personally nominated by Trump during his first term. This current board member, who is “familiar with the rules and has a dovish stance,” is probably Trump's most reassuring successor. Michelle Bowman, Vice Chairman of Regulation Michelle Bowman, is seen as a representative figure of “hawkish regulators.” As one of the youngest members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, she is the strongest female hawkish representative. In August of this year, she proposed that Federal Reserve staff should be allowed to hold a small amount of crypto assets to improve supervisory understanding, send a signal that they are more “technologically neutral” than before in terms of regulatory standards, but place more emphasis on price stability as a priority in monetary policy. Philip Jefferson Philip Jefferson, the 63-year-old current vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, is also one of the popular candidates. He has a deep background in academic and organizational coordination, and is familiar with the daily operations of the Federal Reserve. He is a representative of the “prudent group”. He is relatively careful about balancing employment and inflation, and is regarded as one of the candidates to ensure the continuity of the existing framework. Notably, if elected, he would be the first African-American chairman of the Federal Reserve in history. Lori Logan, former chairman of the Dallas Federal Reserve, was previously responsible for open market operations at the New York Federal Reserve for a long time. His 23 years of experience at the New York Federal Reserve made him very good at market “techniques and tactics” and crisis management. Previously, the 2008 financial crisis and the 2020 pandemic were handled properly under his leadership. He is regarded as the central banker who “knows the most about transactions.” Kevin Warsh Former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Walsh is a candidate with both “crisis cycle experience” and “reform issues.” Her father-in-law is Estée Lauder's heir. At age 35, he became the youngest board member in the history of the Federal Reserve. After leaving the Federal Reserve, he studied monetary policy reform at the Stanford Hoover Institution. The depth of Washington's connections with Wall Street was also seen as a plus, making him considered a popular candidate as early as 2017 during the last round of elections. James Bullard James Bullard, former chairman of the St. Louis Federal Reserve, is famous for being good at “early judgment on inflationary transitions” and has strong communication skills with academia and the market. The market was warned about the risk of inflation as early as 2021, but due to independent personalities and opinions, it has maintained a relatively “heterogeneous” voting record at the FOMC for a long time. Kevin Hasset...

351d agoLuxurytracy#Federal Reserve

The bottom of Bullish: The parent company threw over 160,000 BTC and made a huge profit of 10 billion dollars in 6 years

Author: Jaleel Plus 6, Peggy Original title: Bullish: The parent company underwent 160,000 BTC and earned 10 billion USDC in 6 years, successfully listed on the US stock market, surging 168% on the first day, raising 1.1 billion US dollars, becoming the first stablecoin; Gemini also followed suit and submitted an IPO file; while Bullish, another trading platform that few people mentioned before, was also revealed by the media that it had secretly submitted a listing application to the SEC. Bullish isn't a familiar name on the most profitable CEX circuit in the coin industry, but in fact, its “origin” is actually very prominent. In 2018, EOS came out of nowhere, claiming to be the terminator of Ethereum. Block.one, the company behind it, relied on this boom to conduct the longest and most expensive ICO (initial coin offering) in history, raising an astonishing $4.2 billion. A few years later, when the popularity of EOS dissipated, Block.one “started again” and turned its head into Bullish, a cryptocurrency trading platform that focused on compliance and aimed at traditional financial markets, and was “swept away” by the EOS community as a result. Bullish was officially launched in July 2021. The initial start-up capital included $100 million in cash, 164,000 bitcoins (worth around $9.7 billion at the time), and 20 million EOS; external investors also added $300 million, including PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, hedge fund mogul Alan Howard, and Mike Novogratz, a well-known investor in the crypto industry. Calculated in this way, Bullish's total assets when it went live exceeded 10 billion US dollars, making it extremely luxurious. Far from “Circle” and “Tether,” Bullish's position of “aiming for compliance” was clear from the beginning. Scale is not important, but compliance is important. Because Bullish's ultimate goal is not to make a lot of profit in the crypto world, but to be a formal trading platform that “can go public.” Prior to official operation, Bullish reached an agreement with Far Peak, a listed company, to invest US$840 million to acquire 9% of the company's shares and carry out a US$2.5 billion merger to achieve a curved listing and lower the traditional IPO threshold. According to media reports at the time, Bullish was valued at $9 billion. Thomas, the former CEO of the merged company Far Peak, is the current CEO of Bullish. He has a strong compliance background: previously the chief operating officer and president of the New York Stock Exchange, where he excelled during his time; he has established deep relationships with Wall Street giants, CEOs, and institutional investors; and has extensive resources at the regulatory and capital levels. It is worth mentioning that there aren't many foreign investment and acquisition projects by Farley in Bullish, but there are quite a few popular ones in the cryptocurrency industry: Bitcoin staking protocol Babylon, re-staking agreement ether.fi, and blockchain media CoinDesk. Anyway, it can be said that Bullish is a trading platform that most wants to become a “regular Wall Street army” in the coin industry. But ideals are rich, and reality is very painful. Compliance is more difficult than they thought. The US regulatory attitude is getting tougher. Bullish's original merger listing agreement ended in 2022, and the 18-month listing plan came to an end. Bullish also considered the acquisition of FTX to achieve rapid expansion, but ultimately failed to do so. Bullish was forced to find new paths to compliance — such as moving to Asia and Europe. At the Hong Kong Consensus Conference, Bullish also obtained a Class 1 license (engaging in securities trading) and a Class 7 license (providing automated trading services) and a virtual asset trading platform license from the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission (BaFIN) at the beginning of this year; in addition, Bullish also obtained the required licenses for crypto asset trading and custody from the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFIN). Bullish has around 260 employees around the world, with more than half based in Hong Kong, and the rest in Singapore, the US, and Gibraltar. Bullish “Aims to be compliant...

437d agoburnking#Circle #USDC #Crypto listing topics #Bitcoin

A crypto fund worth 80 million dollars is being liquidated, and its founder lost his connection after visiting China

Comparatively, according to Fortune, a former Huobi employee David Gan, who was selected in Asia's “Forbes” Under30 Elite List in 2019, founded his own venture capital fund, initially called OP Crypto. During the prime of 2021, the fund attracted heavyweights such as Bill Ackman, Garry Tan, and Alan Howard as limited partners in its $50 million fund. OP Crypto changed its name to Inception Capital this year and performed well, including completing a $30 million fund raising in early 2024 and expanding its managed assets to nearly $100 million according to the company's latest US SEC documents. But in May, Gan sent a cryptic email to limited partners (LPs). His father, a retired senior Chinese official from Wuhan, Hubei, China, is being investigated. Gan will go to China to help. This is the last time investors have heard from him in over a month. While Gan was out of touch, some puzzled limited partners said they voted to liquidate the company in an orderly manner in Gan's absence. During the vote, Gan returned and agreed to relinquish key responsibilities within the company. Today, Inception is at a crossroads, and the company continues to manage its holdings, but has agreed not to use the remaining 25% of uninvested capital. Inception said they plan to officially launch a plan in October to allow limited partners to invest the remaining capital, but this may not be the most attractive option for a company that has experienced turbulence over the past few months. Inception laid off half of its employees after suspending investments.

698d agoburnking

Inception Capital founder reappears after being out of touch for a few months and agreed to relinquish some of his key responsibilities

Comparative news, according to Fortune, in May of last year, David Gan, founder of Inception Capital, told investors that his father was being investigated and went to China, after which he had been out of touch for several months. During this period, investors were dissatisfied with its “disappearance” and voted to close the fund. At the end of June, Gan re-emerged and agreed to relinquish some of his key responsibilities. Gan said the fund is working well and he has resumed his daily work. According to reports, in 2019, Gan was selected for the “Asia's Top 30 Elites Under 30” list due to her work as a managing director at Huobi Labs. He left Huobi in 2021 to raise the first $50 million venture capital fund supported by prominent figures such as Bill Ackman, Alan Howard, Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan, and Galaxy, and closed the second $30 million parent fund in 2024. Inception has close to $100 million in assets under management, according to SEC documents.

702d agoburnking#Inception Capital

Crypto venture capital fund Halo Capital has raised $25 million, and the fund has invested in projects like Bima Labs

According to Bloomberg, Daniel Howard, son of British hedge fund billionaire Alan Howard, and partner Bhavin Vaid announced the establishment of the crypto venture capital fund Halo Capital. The fund has raised $25 million to bring a growth investor mindset to early-stage crypto projects. Halo Capital is headquartered in New York and invests in a wide range of fields, from Bitcoin to decentralized artificial intelligence. The fund has invested in projects such as Bima Labs and Andriena, and brought in around 20 partners to provide expert advice. Both founders are from 10T Holdings, a private equity firm focused on cryptocurrencies. They began raising capital in March of this year and officially launched fund operations in June.

716d agoburnking#Halo Capital

Zodia Markets Announces It Will Acquire Elwood Technologies' OTC Division

Comparing news, Standard Charter-backed cryptocurrency trading company Zodia Markets said it is buying Elwood Technologies' OTC division, confirming media reports that the division is selling and sales negotiations are ongoing. The company said Monday that after moving the business, Elwood, backed by billionaire Alan Howard, will focus on its trading technology software as a service (SaaS) products and services.

766d agoLuxurytracy#Elwood Technologies #Zodia Markets #OTC trading

[Weekly Web3 News Picks] Powell says the Fed doesn't need an inflation rate of less than 2% before cutting interest rates. J.P. Morgan Chase brought forward the Fed's interest rate cut expectations from November to September; the German government address has cleared all of its bitcoins; Cboe has submitted Solana ETF applications for 21Shares and VanEck; Trump will speak at the Bitcoin conference in Nashville on July 27

Weekly Web3 News Picks: [Powell Says the Federal Reserve Doesn't Need an Inflation Rate Below 2%] Comparative News, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell said that inflation has declined, but prices are still very high. There is no specific inflation figure to determine interest rate cuts. There is indeed some confidence that inflation is falling. The Fed does not need an inflation rate of less than 2% before cutting interest rates. [J.P. Morgan Chase brought forward the Fed's interest rate cut forecast from November to September] Comparing news, J.P. Morgan economists believe that the Fed's interest rate cut cycle will start early, based on good US inflation data for June. They now expect the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates in September instead of November as previously estimated. J.P. Morgan economist Michael Feroli said in a research report that Federal Reserve Chairman Powell said that the central bank wanted to see more good news on inflation, and the latest CPI data provided decision makers with the information they needed. Feroli wrote, “We now think this inflation report paved the way for the first rate cut in September (previously forecast for November), and will be lowered every quarter thereafter.” [The German government address has cleared all of its bitcoins] In comparison, according to Arkham's monitoring, the German government address has run out of bitcoins, and the current Bitcoin balance in the address is zero. The address began selling on 6/19, totaling 49,858.7 BTC, recovering approximately $2,915 million in capital. [Cboe submits Solana ETF application for 21Shares and VanEck] According to a public document, Cboe submitted a 19b-4 application to the US SEC to list 21 Shares Solana ETF and VanEck Solana ETF. The form is intended to keep the agency informed of proposed rule changes and is part of the crypto ETF approval process. The exchange stated in both documents: “Very similar to Bitcoin and ETH, the exchange believes SOL is resistant to price manipulation and that there are 'other means to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices', thus justifying the cancellation of necessary surveillance sharing agreements.” Nate Geraci, president of The ETF Store, commented that once the SEC confirmed these documents, the decision clock began “ticking.” [Trump will be speaking at the Bitcoin conference in Nashville on July 27] Bitcoin Magazine, the organizer of the Bitcoin conference, announced on Wednesday that US Republican presidential candidate Trump will deliver a 30-minute speech at the conference at 2 p.m. US Central Time on July 27. Earlier, there was growing speculation that Trump would attend the conference, as some speakers at the conference told CoinDesk that their speaking time was reallocated to make room for “a very special guest” as described in the email. [Paxos wins the US SEC investigation against BUSD stablecoins; SEC will not take enforcement action] According to an official announcement, Paxos announced that it received an official termination notice from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on July 9, 2024, stating that it will not recommend enforcement action against Paxos Trust in the BUSD investigation. Last year, the SEC notified cryptocurrency infrastructure provider Paxos about its participation in the BUSD stablecoin. The SEC later sued Binance and stated in the lawsuit that BUSD is a security. A US SEC spokesperson said the agency did not comment on “whether there is a possible investigation.” [Chairman of the US CFTC: 70% to 80% of the cryptocurrency market are non-securities] In comparison, according to Fox Business Correspondent Eleanor Terrett, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Rostin Behnam said that the Illinois State Court has confirmed that BTC and ETH are digital commodities under the Commodity Exchange Act. Behnam also stated that 70%-80% of the cryptocurrency market is in the non-securities category. [US SEC abandons targeting blockchain software developer Hiro...

770d agoWendy#Weekly review of the comparison

[Comparative Daily News Picks] Powell: Inflation has slowed significantly, but is still above the 2% target; Invesco Galaxy and BlackRock have each submitted new 8-a12b forms for their Ethereum ETFs; Data: The number of new addresses added to the Bitcoin network hit a two-month high

Web3 news selected for you every day by the editor: [Powell: Inflation has slowed significantly, but is still above the 2% target] Comparative News. Federal Reserve Chairman Powell said in his speech that inflation has slowed significantly, but it is still above the 2% target. The “unsupported” first-quarter data gave more confidence in the path of inflation, which is what the Federal Reserve needed to cut interest rates. GDP growth appears to have slowed in the first half of 2024. [Invesco Galaxy and BlackRock have each submitted a new 8-A12b form for their Ethereum ETF] In comparison, Invesco Galaxy and BlackRock have each submitted new 8-A12B application documents to the US SEC for their Ethereum ETFs. [Data: The number of new addresses added to the Bitcoin network reached a two-month high] Compared to news, The Block data shows that despite the recent downturn in the market, the number of new addresses on the Bitcoin network has reached the highest level in two months. The 7-day moving average (7DMA) recorded more than 317,000 new addresses on July 5, while the 7DMA added only 263,000 addresses at the beginning of last week, which marks a sharp increase of 20% from week to week. Meanwhile, the seven-day moving average of Bitcoin's average transaction fee fell to a low of $1.75. Analysts said this discrepancy highlights an interesting dynamic within the Bitcoin network, where new players are joining, which currently doesn't necessarily mean higher transaction fees or increased on-chain activity. [US Treasury Secretary Yellen says she will not act as a “commander/coordinator” between the SEC and CFTC in terms of crypto regulation] Comparing news, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen (Janet Yellen) stated that in terms of crypto regulation, she will not act as a “commander/coordinator” between the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). [Bloomberg: Zodia Markets, a crypto company owned by Standard Chartered Bank, is in talks to acquire some shares in Elwood Technologies] According to Bloomberg, Zodia Markets, a cryptocurrency subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank, is in talks to acquire part of Elwood Technologies's shares. Elwood Technologies is a digital asset company supported by billionaire hedge fund manager Alan Howard. People familiar with the matter said that Zodia Markets is about to reach an agreement to acquire Jersey-based Elwood Capital Management Ltd., which provides OTC trading and settlement services. Since the negotiations have yet to be made public, people familiar with the matter declined to be named. A person familiar with the matter said the deal is expected to close this month. The negotiations come at a time when Standard Chartered Bank is further entering the digital asset sector. Bloomberg News reported last month that Standard Chartered Bank plans to set up Bitcoin and Ether trading counters. A person familiar with the matter said that the acquisition of Elwood Capital will allow Zodia Markets to obtain a Jersey virtual asset service provider and investment business license, thereby supporting the company to focus more on OTC settlement services. [Data: The number of independent depositors of the Ethereum L2 rollup hit a new annual low, down 33% from last week] Comparing news, The Block data shows that the number of independent depositors of the Ethereum L2 rollup solution (especially Optimistic Rollup and ZK Rollup) has reached the lowest level of the year, with only 34,920 users in the past week. This is a 33% drop from the previous week's total, in stark contrast to mid-April, when the number reached 250,000 in one week. Analysts say this decline may be due to a variety of factors, including shifts in user preferences, lack of growth in the dApp ecosystem, and users' lack of motivation to continue using these Rollups after the Arbitrum, Optimism, zkSync, and Starknet airdrops. Author: BitPushNews Mary LiuTwitter: https://twitter.com/BitpushNewsCN比推 TG Community: https://t.me/BitP...

774d agoWendy#Compare Daily Picks

Bloomberg: Standard Chartered's crypto company Zodia Markets is in talks to buy a portion of Elwood Technologies

Comparing news, according to Bloomberg, Zodia Markets, a cryptocurrency subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank, is in talks to acquire part of Elwood Technologies, a digital asset company supported by billionaire hedge fund manager Alan Howard. People familiar with the matter said that Zodia Markets is about to reach an agreement to acquire Jersey-based Elwood Capital Management Ltd., which provides OTC trading and settlement services. Since the negotiations have yet to be made public, people familiar with the matter declined to be named. A person familiar with the matter said the deal is expected to close this month. The negotiations come at a time when Standard Chartered Bank is further entering the digital asset sector. Bloomberg News reported last month that Standard Chartered Bank plans to set up Bitcoin and Ether trading counters. A person familiar with the matter said that the acquisition of Elwood Capital will allow Zodia Markets to obtain a Jersey virtual asset service provider and investment business license, thereby supporting the company to focus more on OTC settlement services.

774d agoWendy#Elwood Technologies #OTC #Zodia Markets #takeovers #Standard Chartered Bank