Cryptocurrency

Google is the world’s largest backer of cryptocurrency and blockchain companies.

The tech giant’s parent company, Alphabet, has invested $1.5 billion in just four crypto startups since September 2021, according to a report by Blockdata.

The companies backed were digital asset custody platform Fireblocks, Web3 gaming company Dapper Labs, infrastructure tool Bitcoin Voltage and venture capital firm Digital Currency Group.

Samsung was the most active investor in the period, backing 13 companies with a total investment of $979.2 million.

BlackRock and Morgan Stanley have invested more than Samsung – $1.2 billion and $1.1 billion respectively, but over just three and two funding rounds.

Goldman Sachs finished fifth with $698 million over five rounds of investment, followed by BNY Mellon ($690 million over three rounds) and PayPal ($650 million over four rounds).

A total of 61 blockchain or crypto companies — active in more than 20 industries and 65 use cases — received funding across 71 rounds from 40 backers, according to the report, with $6 billion invested.

Of these, 19 companies offered some form of non-fungible tokens.

“Banks have started increasing their exposure to crypto and blockchain services in light of increased customer demand,” the report said.

“Traditional societies [such as Samsung] are already supporting the blockchain landscape, as indicated by the trend of funding over the years.

Cryptocurrency Shorts

Samsung is looking to launch its own cryptocurrency exchange based in its native South Korea. He previously attempted to develop a crypto trading platform in 2021 but struggled to acquire the necessary talent.

Skybridge Capital CEO Anthony Scaramucci said Bitcoin has yet to reach the bandwidth of one billion wallets needed to qualify as an inflation hedge. He told CNBC that BTC is still an “early adoption technical asset.”

Pavel Durov, founder of encrypted messaging app Telegram, likes the idea of ​​NFT-like smart contracts to auction off popular usernames. He said domain name auctions by The Open Network (TON), a layer-1 blockchain originally designed by the Telegram team, were successful.

A new outlet, Platypus Terminal, claims to give its members industry insights to help them stay ahead of the curve while investing in crypto. It provides access to blockchain research, analysis, and discussion.

Crypto prices

The aggregate market cap of over 20,600 coins is $1.01 trillion at the time of writing (7am UK), a drop of 1.7% in the last 24 hours.

Market leader Bitcoin – the original cryptocurrency created by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto – fell 1% to $21,000. BTC is down 12% from a week ago.

Ethereum, the second most valuable crypto coin – created as a decentralized network for smart contracts on the blockchain – fell 2% to $1,575. ETH is down 16% in a week.

Binance Coin is a cryptocurrency created by popular crypto exchange Binance to help its goal of becoming the infrastructure service provider for the entire blockchain ecosystem. Its BNB token fell 1% to $295, leaving it down 7% over seven days.

Ripple’s XRP token, a payment settlement asset exchange and remittance system, acts as a bridge for transfers between other currencies. XRP fell 1% to 33.5c, with the price down 10% from seven days ago.

Cardano is an open-source network facilitating dApps that sees itself as an updated version of Ethereum. Its ADA token, designed to allow owners to participate in the operation of the network, fell 2% to below 45c and is down 19% in a week.

Solana is a blockchain designed to make decentralized finance accessible at scale – and capable of processing 50,000 transactions per second. Its SOL token lost 5% to $34.38 and is 20% lower than its price a week ago.

The Meme DOGE coin was created as a satire on the hype surrounding cryptocurrencies, but is now a major player in the space. DOGE fell 2% to 6.7c and is down 15% over seven days.

Polkadot was founded by the Swiss-based Web3 Foundation as an open-source project to develop a decentralized web. Its DOT token, which aims to securely connect blockchains, fell 2% to $7.23 and is down 17% from its price a week ago.

Polygon aims to securely connect blockchains as a kind of decentralized internet. Its MATIC token fell 2% to 80c, while it is down 15% in a week.

Avalanche is a lightning-fast auditable platform for institutions, businesses, and governments. Its AVAX token fell 4% to $21.94 and is down 20% in a week.

To see how the valuations of major coins have changed lately – and for a roundup of recent developments in cryptocurrency news – click here.

For valuations of the top 100 coins by market cap in US dollars, plus 24-hour price changes, see below.