#25 BlackRock confirms plans to offer crypto services. Africa - Web3’s Next Market?
Disclaimer: Everything we write in "The Crypto Insider Report" is an x-ray of the industry as we see it, through the lens of publicly available information. We are not financial advisors.
BlackRock, the largest asset manager, confirms plans to offer crypto services
After numerous rumors circled around back in February, about BlackRock planning to enter the crypto space, the company’s CEO, Larry Fink, confirmed in a letter to their shareholders that they are exploring ways of meeting the demand coming from clients and offer digital currencies services.
Larry’s opinion has changed since July 2021 when in an interview he stated that he is seeing ‘’very little demand’’ for crypto. In his statement he also wrote that in the light of current political events, countries are assessing currency dependencies and looking for ways to reduce cross-border payments costs. The $10 trillion asset manager’s arrival would be a big deal for crypto. According to CoinDesk, BlackRock will probably offer crypto trading to its clients through Aladdin, the $10 trillion asset manager’s integrated investment management platform.
The $10 trillion asset manager’s arrival would be a big deal for crypto. According to CoinDesk, BlackRock will probably offer crypto trading to its clients through Aladdin, the asset manager’s integrated investment management platform. Aladdin powers the back office for at least $20 trillion of assets, equivalent to 10% of global stocks and bonds.
BlackRock is an extremely important party in facilitating the government securities trading that gives U.S. monetary policy teeth. This is a vaunted position in the global economy not to be taken lightly. That said, beyond helping move financial instruments as needed for the Fed, BlackRock takes part in other ancillary businesses where it can make money, such as buying and selling equities, commodities and real estate on behalf of those businesses or its investors.
Evelyne
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Flared gas used for Bitcoin mining in the US
Exxon, one of the largest publicly traded international energy companies, has been part of a pilot program that uses excess natural gas that would otherwise be burned off to power Bitcoin mining servers, according to sources cited by Bloomberg. Flaring represents the controlled burning of natural gases released from wells through a flare stack and pipes. An operator may choose to flare for safety reasons, or when pipeline transport is not available or economical. It causes less environmental harm than releasing unburned gasses into the environment.
In this pilot program, Exxon has an agreement with Crusoe Energy Systems to take gas from an oil pad in a shale basin in North Dakota and to power Bitcoin mining operations on site. The program was launched in January 2021 and uses gas that otherwise would have been flared given the lack of available pipelines. The report cites that Exxon is considering launching similar programs in Alaska, Nigeria, Argentina’s Vaca Muerta shale field, Guyana and Germany.
The project comes as oil and gas companies across the world are seeking to reduce routine flaring to zero in the mid-term future. Bitcoin mining comes into play as these companies look for gas capture projects. Another major player in the industry, ConocoPhillips, said in a statement on February 15th, that it is selling extra flare gas to bitcoin miners in North Dakota - at the Bakken shale basin, where Exxon is piloting its program.
Razvan
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NFTs, engines ready!
With all this craziness of Yuga Labs acquiring the rights for CryptoPunks and Meebits from Larva Labs, in a move that seems like Apple acquired Nokia and Samsung and, at the same time, launching the ApeCoin that took the crypto world by storm on almost every single major CEX, more and more people are starting to think that, maybe, something is going on with these NFTs 'thingies'. There are still a lot of questions about them from the macro point of view and curiosity about the stats.
So, here we go. The NFT industry surpassed the $40 billion cap in 2021, with more than 28.6 million wallets trading at least one NFT (that's a giant leap, considering that in 2020 there were less than half a million wallets).
December came with a small break, given that the market started to shake, but things are turning around lately.
Hard to spot from the get-go a great project, that's why some people tend to wait and see how the roadmap plays, but this is only because most people still purchase the NFTs having Collectibles in mind (VEVE) or utility.
The art NFTs, especially the music NFTs are starting to grow, as Endi wrote in our Romanian Pro newsletter last week, but the Game and Metaverse NFTs are still crawling babies compared with the other ones.
But soon enough, people will start to understand that they'll grow into giants.
And what YUGA Labs did, together with announcing their version of the Metaverse called Otherside, it's just the beginning. Getting to use your NFTs from other collections as avatars inside this Metaverse seems incredible, but the look and feel make it even more remarkable. Sandbox, Decentraland, watch out.
This means April is going to be a hell of a month. Keep your eyes open.
Even if you don't understand it yet, read some more into it, because, if you think about it, what Yuga labs did puts them in the first position from every point of you:
"Miami-based NFT startup Yuga Labs has raised $450m ( in a seed funding round to scale its fast-growing team and build its media empire around gaming and the metaverse."
That's the biggest seed round. Not only in crypto. And Amy Wu is involved.
Vlad knows what that means: Amy Wu at StakeborgDAO
Maybe NFT should stand for: "Not for Tourists". Keep close.
Cosmin
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Africa - Web3’s Next Market?
While we usually talk about Crypto developments in the US, Europe and Asia, a recent piece in CoinDesk argues that Africa is the next frontier for Web3’s expansion. AZA Finances’ CEO, Elizabeth Rossiello, writes that the continent is home to the second largest Bitcoin market and that its Crypto market grew by more than 100B USD last year.
At one point African users' Crypto accumulation rate even surpassed the US equivalent. Furthermore, Rossiello writes that e.g. Morocco, a country with a GDP almost 200 times smaller than the US, has one of the highest Crypto holdings rate, with 2.5% of people having some sort of cryptocurrency.
This does not come as a surprise, given Africa’s financial and banking history. Its currencies are undervalued and illiquid, its population is unbanked (66% in 2019) and remittances are a big deal.
Having started with mobile money through M-Pesa, the continent’s population proved that it was ready and eager to adopt new technology. Now more than 60% of all global mobile money transactions happen there. Crypto is the logical next step.
Mihnea
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For more educational crypto content, check out the links below:
The Stakeborg DAO Talks on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOrFZZifNn4Nx4nSQL3WS52ALPXgrTSVG
Discord channel: https://discord.com/channels/901898461568442458/903006233584341052
StakeborgDAO Quarterly Reports: https://docs.stakeborgdao.com/reports/dao-quarterly-reports
Stakeborg Academy: https://academy.stakeborg.com/
Great info! Thanks! 🙏
Very well documented and complex info! Thank’s guys! Appreciate your effort! 🚀