Apparently, it only took a pandemic for the writers behind the animated TV series South Park to offer their take on nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrencies… and it’s not a positive outlook. In its “Post COVID: The Return of COVID” special that aired Thursday, South Park depicted one of the show’s protagonists, Leopold "Butters" Stotch, also known as Victor Chaos, locked away in an insane asylum for years after it’s discovered he has a certain power to wreak havoc on the world. That power? Gathering investors to put all their money into NFTs. When he manages to get out of …

Crypto asset manager Valkyrie has launched an exchange-traded fund with exposure to Bitcoin on the Nasdaq Stock Market. In a Wednesday SEC filing, Valkyrie said its Balance Sheet Opportunities ETF will not invest directly in Bitcoin (BTC) but 80% of its net assets would offer exposure to the crypto asset through securities of U.S. companies with BTC on their balance sheets. These companies may include custodians, crypto exchanges, and traders. The filing specifies that Valkyrie’s ETF may invest up to 10% of its net assets in securities of Bitcoin mining firms, as well as up to 5% in the securities …

Nexo, the crypto borrowing and exchange platform, has launched an NFT Lending Desk in partnership with NFT hedge fund Three Arrows Capital. The new lending desk caters to over-the-counter, or OTC, clients to offer crypto credit backed by NFTs. Nexo is one of the first crypto lenders to allow customers to borrow stablecoins, ETH, and other cryptocurrencies using certain NFTs as collateral. The company stated that in its initial iteration, the service will accept Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks NFTs, with more collections on the way. Clients can also use issued lines of credit as a means of art …

How can users take advantage of opportunities in an uncertain market? Wallets that take out some of the steps in exchanging assets can help investors act on market opportunities quickly. Freewallet offers a family of mobile-first cryptocurrency wallets with built-in functionality for buying and exchanging cryptocurrency assets. Freewallet launched its first offering back in 2016 at the beginning of the cryptocurrency boom. Following this period of growth, the platform has now reported over 3 million users. Looking forward to today, the Freewallet family now includes solutions for over 100 different cryptocurrencies, each of which is available for iOS, Android and …

The single largest Ethereum contract containing 8,641,954 Ether (ETH) worth $33.5 billion is sitting idle because it cannot be spent or sent. A Twitter user highlighted the Beacon chain contract claiming it to be the largest Ethereum contract with billions of dollars worth of ETH “trapped” inside it. BREAKING: 8,641,954 ETH ($32 billion) trapped in single largest Ethereum contract and unable to be sent or spent. Will require hard fork that hasn't been written or specified yet. Timing and terms of hard fork still unknown.https://t.co/xcXPwbS93v — Tomer Strolight | Not interested in your trades. (@TomerStrolight) December 14, 2021 The contract …

Major cryptocurrency custody bank Anchorage Digital has closed a fresh funding round, bringing its valuation to over $3 billion. Anchorage Digital announced Dec. 15 that it raised $350 million in a series D round led by equity investment giant KKR. According to the announcement, this is the first time for KKR to directly invest in equity in a company in the crypto industry. The company invested through its Next Generation Technology Growth Fund II, which is dedicated to developing equity investment in the technology space. “As a pioneer in enabling institutional investors to access digital assets, Anchorage has built a …

Tokyo-based financial services giant SBI Holdings announced a joint investment in Coinhako, Singapore’s first licensed crypto exchange approved by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The Coinhako investment was made via a fund jointly set up by SBI and Swiss-based Sygnum Bank, namely, the SBI-Sygnum-Azimut Digital Asset Opportunity (DAO) Fund, according to the notice. Speaking to Cointelegraph, a MAS spokesperson highlighted the importance of seeking licensing approvals for crypto businesses: “MAS' approach to regulation under the Payment Services Act seeks to facilitate innovation while ensuring that adequate controls are in place to address key risks such as money laundering and …

Cove Markets, an API platform that enables users to trade across multiple centralized exchanges and manage aggregate financial data, will become part of Robinhood Crypto, as announced by the discount brokerage late Tuesday. Traders and investors can connect up to seven exchanges, including Coinbase Pro, Kraken, Bitfinex, etc., using Cove Markets to trade over 50 major currencies and altcoins. The two trading firms said they plan to increase the volume of order routing and execution on Robinhood with the acquisition. Christine Brown, chief operating officer of Robinhood Crypto, made the following remarks regarding the development: The Cove Markets team's wealth …

On Tuesday, New York Digital Investment Group, or NYDIG, a financial institution specializing in Bitcoin financial services such as savings accounts, trading brokerage, 401(k)s, etc., announced it had secured a $1 billion equity investment led by WestCap. The funding places its valuation at nearly $7 billion. The firm has proved to be popular among institutional investors. Last year, Stone Ridge, a $10 billion asset manager, purchased 10,000 Bitcoin (BTC) via NYDIG's services. NYDIG is also set to bring BTC adoption to over 650 U.S. banks and credit unions, as well as launching BTC trading for 18 million U.S. banking customers. …

The Russian central bank continues its strict policies regarding the cryptocurrency industry, now officially banning mutual funds from investing in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC). On Dec. 13, the Bank of Russia published an official statement on regulating investment opportunities by mutual investment funds. Despite expanding the number of assets available for investment by mutual funds, the document prohibits fund managers from buying cryptocurrencies as well as “financial instruments whose value depends on prices of digital assets.” The statement emphasizes that mutual funds are not allowed to provide crypto exposure both to either qualified or unqualified investors. The Bank of Russia …

Institutional interest in cryptocurrencies is increasing as the space continues to mature. A survey released on Dec. 8 by European investment manager Nickel Digital Asset Management found that 85% of institutional investors and wealth managers have dedicated teams to review cryptocurrencies and digital assets. The study noted that the investors surveyed manage around $108.4 billion in assets. The London-based firm also released a report in September of this year showing that 62% of global institutional investors with zero exposure to cryptocurrencies expect to make their first crypto investments within the next year. It’s also notable that Wall Street veterans are …

Much to the chagrin of cryptocurrency proponents who call for the immediate mass adoption of blockchain technology, there are many “digital landmines” that exist in the crypto ecosystem such as rug pulls and protocol hacks that can give new users the experience of being lost at sea. There’s more to investing than just technical analysis and gut feelings. Over the past year, a handful of blockchain analysis platforms launched dashboards with metrics that help provide greater insight into the fundamentals supporting — or the lack thereof — a cryptocurrency project. Here are three key factors to take into consideration when …