US tech giant Robinhood has agreed a deal to buy London-based cryptocurrency app Ziglu.
The retail brokerage, which shelved plans to launch in the UK two years ago in order to prioritise expansion in its home market, is now targeting growth in the UK and Europe with the acquisition for an undisclosed sum.
Ziglu allows users to buy and sell 11 cryptocurrencies, earn interest on their holdings and pay using a debit card. Its CEO Mark Hipperson was previously a co-founder and CTO at digital bank Starling.
Founded in 2018, it has raised a total of £17.5 million, including £13.4m via equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs. It was valued at £85m by its last round of funding while its customer base grew four-fold last year.
Nasdaq-listed Robinhood, which saw shares climb more than 5% when the deal was announced, allows users to trade stocks, funds and cryptocurrencies via its app.
It has suffered since the GameStop trading controversy last year and reported a drop in monthly active users in the fourth quarter of 2021 to 17.3m, with expected Q1 2022 revenue of less than $340m, down 35% from 2021.
KuCoin launches $100m NFT creators fund
Cryptocurrency trading platform KuCoin has launched a $100 million creators fund for NFT projects.
Its venture capital arm KuCoin Ventures and KuCoin NFT Marketplace-Windvane says the fund, launched yesterday, will support and incubate early-stage NFT projects, covering fields including arts, sports, PFPs (profile pictures), Asian culture, celebrities and GameFi.
It will also invite 99 NFT creators to join the Windvane NFT marketplace to accelerate the growth of Web 3.0.
Windvane is a new decentralised NFT marketplace powered by KuCoin. It provides NFT mint, trade, management and storing.
Cryptocurrency shorts
Solana-based decentralised finance protocol Delta One has raised a $9.1 million seed round of funding.
The round was led by Alameda Research and DeFi developer collective Ship Capital and will be used to power development of the protocol, which offers users an automated, low-risk way to earn yield.
Crypto platform Blockchain.com is reported to be speaking with a number of banks ahead of a potential initial public offering in the US.
Crypto prices
The overall market cap of the almost 19,000 coins is at $1.92 trillion, a 1.9% increase in the last 24 hours, with Solana and Terra enjoying a bounce in value.
Market leader Bitcoin – the original cryptocurrency created by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto – is around $41,450 at the time of writing (7am UK), up 2%. BTC is 3% up in a week.
Ethereum, the second most valuable crypto coin – created as a decentralised network for smart contracts on the blockchain – gained 2% to $3,100. ETH, set for a huge upgrade soon, is 1% up over the course of a week.
Binance Coin is a cryptocurrency created by popular crypto exchange Binance to assist its aim in becoming the infrastructure services provider for the entire blockchain ecosystem. Its BNB token rose 1% to $422, leaving it 1% up over seven days.
The XRP token of Ripple, a payment settlement asset exchange and remittance system, acts as a bridge for transfers between other currencies. XRP dropped slightly to just below 77 cents, which leaves it 7% up over seven days.
Solana is a blockchain built to make decentralised finance accessible on a larger scale – and capable of processing 50,000 transactions per second. Its SOL token rose 6% to $108 and is 3% up on its price last Wednesday morning.
Terra, described as a programmable money for the internet, gained 7% to $95. Its payment token LUNA is 10% higher than its price a week ago.
Cardano is an open source network facilitating dApps which considers itself to be an updated version of Ethereum. Its ADA token, designed to allow owners to participate in the operation of the network, added 2% to just below 95c. It is 1% down over the course of a week.
Avalanche, a lightning-quick verifiable platform for institutions, enterprises and governments, came out of nowhere months ago to break into the top 10 currencies. Its AVAX token rose 2% to $79.28 and is 2% up in a week.
Meme coin Dogecoin was created as a satire on the hype surrounding cryptocurrencies but is now a major player in the space. DOGE added 4% to 14.5c while it is 3% up over seven days.
Polkadot was founded by the Swiss-based Web3 Foundation as an open-source project to develop a decentralised web. Its DOT token, which aims to securely connect blockchains, rose 5% to $19.04 and is 6% higher than its price a week ago.
To see how the valuations of the main coins have changed in the last few days, click here.
For valuations of the top 250 coins by market cap plus 24-hour price change and volume traded, see below.
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