Crowdfund Insider teams up with Draper Goren Holm for industry education; Ireland imposes KYC and CFT regulations; Our investment into Black Ocean
For the week ending March 21st, 2021
Hi everyone! This week was replete with investment news, including our own, which saw RedBlock Capital, our digital fund, invest into dark pool project Black Ocean: Full Press Release
We also have regulatory developments coming out of Ireland and the very welcome news of Crowdfund Insider teaming up with Draper Goren Holm to provide digital asset/security token industry education!
Read on for this week’s highlights!
1. Ireland imposes AML and CFT regulations on crypto firms
News out of Ireland this week as legislators in the country have just imposed CFT (Combatting the Financing of Terrorism) and AML regulations on crypto firms. This, because of the country’s “inclusion of the latest European Union AML Directive into Irish law”.
As with the overwhelming majority of regulatory clarity, leaders in Ireland’s fintech industry praise the move as one that will facilitate the digital asset industry’s growth and bring in more revenue, create jobs, and allow the Irish economy to benefit from resultant tax measures. The regulation goes into effect in April. (CoinTelegraph)
1. Crowdfund Insider and Draper Goren Holm link up in the name of industry education
We have a development on the front of industry education this week, as Crowdfund Insider and Draper Goren Holm have partnered for industry cultivation vis a vis the latter’s Security Token Summit.
The Security Token Summit, due to take place in just under a week from today, features industry leaders and will focus on digital securities and security tokens. The event, which will live-stream on the Crowdfund Insider website, seeks to make evident how the industry is doing and where it is headed. (Crowdfund Insider)
1. Digital asset marketplace, STOKR, secures 3.9million EUR in pre-series A round
Luxembourg-based digital asset investment platform STOKR, just closed its pre-series A funding round, to the tune of €3.9million (~$4.655million USD at time of writing).
It plans to use the funding to “scale up its investment platform to meet the surging demand for EU-compliant security token offerings (STOs).”
It is important to note that the investors leading this past round bring more than just funding. Borderless Capital has integrated with STOKR to allow it to offer “Algorand as an issuance platform for security tokens”; G1 Ventures avails its blockchain network so that “STOKR [can] better service its venture partners”. (EU-Startups)
2. BNY Mellon leads $133 million funding round for digital asset custody, settlement and issuance platform, Fireblocks
American investment banking services holding company, BNY Mellon, has announced its investment into Fireblocks, a digital asset trading platform. Fireblocks allows users to “store , transfer, and issue digital assets across [their] entire ecosystem”. It also boasts a DeFi API.
The funding round, totaling $133 million, signals the ever-increasing interest of large institutions in digital assets and digital asset service providers. (Warrior Trading News & Fireblocks)
3. Our investment into Black Ocean
Rounding out the news of the week is our fund’s investment into dark pool project Black Ocean!
The Black Ocean team brings decades of traditional finance experience to the table and we are proud to work with them to tackle the issue of liquidity for institutional and corporate entities conducting large crypto transactions.
Our recently launched digital fund, RedBlock Capital, invests in promising projects across the blockchain stack with a particular focus on Web3.0 and DeFi infrastructure.
That wraps it up for this week!
Join us next week, to get up-to-date on the latest in industry news👋
References
Regulatory News
1. “Irish crypto firms will impose Anti Money Laundering ID checks from April”
Industry Updates
1. “Crowdfund Insider Partners with Draper Goren Holm’s Security Token Summit to Educate Masses on Digital Securities”
Investment and Financing
1. “Luxembourg-based STOKR lands €3.9 million to meet surging security token demand”
2. “BNY and others invest in Fireblocks for digital asset API flex”
Fireblocks Homepage
3. “RedBlock Capital makes strategic investment into Black Ocean”
Visit us at: redblockcap.com
For questions and business inquiries, contact us at info@redblockcap.com
About RedBlock
RedBlock Inc is a digital investment and fintech firm leveraging blockchain technology for asset digitization and management, from issuance to secondary liquidity. Its global network of capital market participants, including issuers, broker-dealers, secondary exchanges, funds, liquidity providers and custodians, are supported by its end-to-end blockchain-powered asset management platform. RedBlock also manages an investment fund to support companies in its ecosystem that align with its investment thesis. With a growing track record and pipeline, the RedBlock team hails from top tier global investment banks, venture capital firms and blockchain technology companies.
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