Tag: Citi

Citi Believes The Merge Will Make Ethereum a “Yield-Bearing Asset”

by Blockchain News

Citigroup Inc. or Citi, an American multinational investment bank, disclosed that the merge would make Ethereum (ETH) a deflationary asset.

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As a result, the second-largest cryptocurrency will become a “yield-bearing asset.”

The transition from a proof-of-work (PoW) to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism called the merge is speculated to be the biggest software upgrade in the Ethereum ecosystem. 

 

Citi’s research report pointed out that the merge would slash the overall Ether issuance by 4.2% annually, making it deflationary. Therefore, shifting to a PoS consensus mechanism would enhance Ethereum’s quest to become a store of value. 

 

Crypto service provider LuckyHash had previously shared similar sentiments by noting that the merge would prompt a 1% annual deflation rate, Blockchain.News reported. 

 

Market analyst Lark Davis was of a similar opinion that a PoS framework would trigger a supply growth rate of -2.8% in the Ethereum network.

 

By becoming a “yield-bearing asset,” Citi stated that Ethereum would experience more cash flows. As a result, prompt more valuation methods that were not available before. 

 

The report noted:

“Because Ethereum will be both yield-bearing and deflationary, it is less likely to be the blockchain with the highest throughput. Given its “enhanced store-of-value properties,” it is more likely to be where a growing amount of total value locked is secured and transacted.”

In the post-merge era, Citi expects ETH to be more environmentally friendly and energy-efficient. Moreover, Ethereum might experience a scalable future through sharding.

 

During a recent developers’ call, September 19 emerged as the most probable date for the merge.

 

Meanwhile, a DeFi educator under the pseudonym Korpi opined that the merge would be a game-changer because it would shift the selling pressure experienced in the Ethereum network

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Three Ex-Citi Executives Launch Crypto Investment Firm

by Blockchain News

Three former Citi executives have started a new crypto investment firm named Motus Capital.

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Alex Kriete, Greg Girasole and Frank Cavallo started the company after leaving Citi a few months ago following a long stint at the multinational investment bank. The Block reported that Kriete and Girasole worked as co-heads of the Citi Global Wealth digital assets group.

Although details are yet to be revealed, Kriete said in a LinkedIn post that it would aim to bring the trio’s “decades of combined experience advising and managing clients’ wealth” to the crypto sector.

Kriete told The Block before unveiling Motus Capital that “financial institutions have a hard time keeping pace in this market,”  adding that “We’re excited to build something that caters to these people.”

Kriete and Girasole had become in-house experts at Citi in 2017 after starting an internal, crypto-focused newsletter.

According to The Block, their departures in April are just the latest example of talent flowing from Citi out into the wider crypto sector. 

According to a recent report by Blockchain.News, Citi expects the metaverse to be worth between $8 trillion and $13 trillion by 2030.

The report added that despite the metaverse concept being around for a few decades, interest in the virtual world gained steam at the end of 2021 based on the exponential growth of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

In accordance with a report dubbed “Metaverse and Money, Decrypting the Future,” Citi believes that metaverse users will have grown to 5 billion by 2030.

As per the study: “users should increasingly be able to access a host of use cases, including commerce, art, media, advertising, healthcare, and social collaboration. A device-agnostic metaverse would be accessible via personal computers, game consoles, and smartphones, resulting in a large ecosystem.”

While in November last year, Citi had begun hiring 100 employees as part of a renewed strategy to expand the business of its digital assets.

The digital assets team will offer expertise and outline important strategies on how Citi’s Institutional Client Group (ICG) should pursue digital asset opportunities, including new investments, new products and new clients, Emily Turner, the ICG’s head of business development

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Citi Sees the Metaverse to Reach $8 Trillion to $13 Trillion by 2030

by Blockchain News

Citi, a leading American multinational investment bank, expects the metaverse to be worth between $8 trillion and $13 trillion by 2030.

Despite the metaverse concept being around for a few decades, interest in the virtual world gained steam at the end of 2021 based on the exponential growth of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

In accordance with a report dubbed “Metaverse and Money, Decrypting the Future,” Citi believes that metaverse users will have grown to 5 billion by 2030. Per the study:

“Users should increasingly be able to access a host of use cases, including commerce, art, media, advertising, healthcare, and social collaboration. A device-agnostic metaverse would be accessible via personal computers, game consoles, and smartphones, resulting in a large ecosystem.”

As the next iteration of the internet or Web3, Citi expects the metaverse to move away from the confines of a video game played on a virtual reality (VR) headset to become an “Open Metaverse” that will be owned and governed by a community.

Furthermore, the metaverse will consist of a freely interoperable version, which prompts privacy by design. 

Infrastructural investments required

Citi noted that for the metaverse to get to the speculated market level, it will require significant infrastructural developments and investments. Per the report:

“The content streaming environment of the Metaverse will likely require a computational efficiency improvement of over 1,000x today’s levels. Investment will be needed in areas such as compute, storage, network infrastructure, consumer hardware, and game development platforms.”

For a frictionless user experience in the metaverse, Citi believes a seamless exchange and interoperability between the underlying blockchain technology will be required.

Citi added:

“We believe the metaverse may be the next generation of the internet – combining the physical and digital world in a persistent and immersive manner – and not purely a virtual reality world.”

The report noted that the metaverse would enhance current activities like commerce, education and training, entertainment and media, and manufacturing and enterprise.

Earlier this year, leading American multinational technology company Nvidia Corporation revealed plans to incorporate more creativity into the metaverse through various marketplace and software deals, Blockchain.News reported.

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Former Citi banker launches $1.5B crypto fund, taps Algorand as first partner

by Cointelegraph

A Wall Street veteran with over 14 years of experience has launched a new venture fund dedicated to cryptocurrency and blockchain startups, offering further evidence that smart money investors are pivoting to the emerging world of digital assets. 

On Monday, former Citi executive Matt Zhang introduced Hivemind Capital Partners, a $1.5 billion multi-strategy fund designed to bootstrap promising crypto plays and “institutionalize crypto investing.” The fund will prioritize projects focused on building crypto infrastructure, virtual worlds and programmable money, and will also trade digital assets as part of its underlying strategy.

Hivemind’s first technology partner is Algorand, a proof-of-stake protocol that is increasingly focused on creating infrastructure for the global financial industry. Algorand is a top-20 blockchain project, with its native ALGO token valued at $11.2 billion in total market capitalization, according to Coingecko.

Zhang described blockchain technology as a “paradigm shift” and said his firm will provide crypto entrepreneurs with infrastructure support that is not currently available within traditional asset management models. However, the company has yet to announce any major funding.

Venture capital has flooded the cryptocurrency industry this year, with major funds allocating billions of dollars towards promising startups. Successive funding rounds have given birth to at least a dozen crypto unicorns, a term used to describe startups with a valuation of $1 billion or more.

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Zhang’s Hivemind is one of a small handful of multi-billion-dollar crypto funds. As Cointelegraph reported, Silicon Valley venture firm Andreessen Horowitz launched a $2.2 billion crypto fund in June, which was the largest ever at the time. In November, crypto investment firm Paradigm revealed a $2.5 billion portfolio dedicated to crypto companies.