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Nasdaq to Launch Digital Asset Custody Services

by Blockchain NewsMarch 24, 2023

The global securities marketplace known as Nasdaq is planning to join the cryptocurrency business by the end of the second quarter of 2022 when it will provide its custody services for digital assets. Ira Auerbach, Senior Vice President of the exchange operator, is in charge of the digital assets division, which has submitted an application to the New York Department of Financial Services for a limited-purpose trust company charter. This charter would allow the department to monitor the new business.

The initiative, which was unveiled for the first time in September, will begin with the storage of Bitcoin and Ether, with the intention of ultimately offering a whole suite of services for the division, including the execution of transactions for financial institutions. Before the launch, Auerbach stressed the group’s commitment to ensuring that all of the essential governmental permissions and technological infrastructure are in place.

It is possible that Nasdaq’s introduction into the cryptocurrency market will be a big step forward for the industry. This comes at a time when conventional financial institutions are increasingly filling the void left by industry bankruptcies. The reputation of the exchange and its presence in the worldwide market might help enhance institutional investor trust in the cryptocurrency market, which would pave the road for more conventional financial institutions to follow suit in the future.

The decision by Nasdaq is similar to those taken by other prominent financial institutions, such as BNY Mellon and Fidelity, who provide services related to the storage of cryptocurrencies. These offers are a reflection of the increased demand from institutional investors for exposure to digital assets. Digital assets are considered by some as an alternative asset class that may bring advantages of diversification when included in a portfolio.

Traditional financial institutions have been hesitant to provide these types of services despite the rising interest in digital assets; this reluctance may be attributed to worries over the regulatory clarity and security risks connected with digital assets. But, with Nasdaq’s introduction into the market, it is feasible that more institutions may follow suit, as they attempt to profit on the potential development prospects that exist within the cryptocurrency business.

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Argo Blockchain IPO: Lawsuit Claims Miner Made Untrue Statements

by Blockchain NewsJanuary 27, 2023

During the selling phase of the initial public offering (IPO), which took place in 2021, investors in the cryptocurrency mining firm Argo Blockchain have launched a class-action complaint against the miner. The investors accuse the miner of making deceptive promises and omitting essential facts in their complaint. The investors claim that the miner purposefully deceived them in their dealings with him. According to the allegations that have been levelled against the miner in this scenario, the miner is said to have acted in such a way on purpose with the intention of misleading prospective investors.

Argo was the target of a fresh new legal action that was initiated on January 26. In addition to important staff members, the lawsuit counts as defendants a considerable number of directors on the company’s board of directors as well as other employees. It is alleged that the corporation did not provide an explanation as to the extent to which it was susceptible to difficulties such as network connection, financial restrictions, and the cost of electricity.

In the lawsuit, it was alleged that the offering papers were drafted in a sloppy manner, and as a consequence, they contained inaccurate representations of important facts or failed to give additional information that was essential to ensure that the assertions made did not mislead anyone. In addition, it was alleged that the offering papers contained representations of important facts that were inaccurate, and as a result, the lawsuit was filed. The corporation that was sued is the one that was responsible for putting out the offering papers. In addition to this, it was stated that the offering materials included deceptive assertions of key facts with the goal of deceiving potential investors.

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Tagged : Bitcoin / Bitcoin Mining / Business / Mining / Nasdaq / News / Regulation / Shares

Argo Blockchain regains stock listing compliance with Nasdaq

by Blockchain NewsJanuary 23, 2023

The Bitcoin (BTC) mining company Argo Blockchain has regained stock listing compliance with Nasdaq, which coincides with the recent positive movement seen on cryptocurrency markets.

Amidst the recent uptick in share price, Argo made the formal announcement on January 23 that the firm had once again achieved compliance with the minimum bid price guideline imposed by Nasdaq. Argo has been advised by the Nasdaq stock market listing requirements department that it has successfully satisfied a criteria to maintain a minimum closing bid price of $1 for ten consecutive trading days in order to be eligible for listing on the Nasdaq stock market.

On January 13, this criteria was satisfied, and Nasdaq subsequently confirmed that it believes the situation to be resolved.

After notifying Argo on December 16 that the company was not in compliance with Nasdaq’s minimum bid price standard, Nasdaq has now made this notice approximately a month and a half later.

The problem arose as a result of the fact that Argo’s common stock had not been able to maintain its minimum bid price of $1 during the prior thirty consecutive business days, as is required by the listing regulations of the Nasdaq.

Trading on the Nasdaq was temporarily halted because the cryptocurrency mining firm was experiencing financial difficulties as a result of declining Bitcoin (BTC) prices in addition to rising energy expenses.

In September 2021, trading of American depositary shares (ADS) issued by Argo began on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker code ARBK.

After opening at a price of $15, ARBK shares have been continuously decreasing in price, and by October 2022, they will have fallen to a price lower than $1.

After receiving a warning from Nasdaq in December that the company was on the verge of becoming noncompliant, ARBK shares eventually began to rebound.

According to information provided by TradingView, the price of Argo’s shares hit $1 for a short period of time on December 30, but it was unable to sustain that price.

After making another attempt at the price level on January 3, ARBK stock has kept trading higher than it was before.

At the end of trading on January 20th, the share price was $1.73.

Argo is not the only publicly traded Bitcoin mining company that has been fighting a losing battle to keep its share values at or above $1.

The Bitcoin mining business Bitfarms, which is based in Canada, was issued a similar warning by Nasdaq on December 15 about its Bitfarms shares (BITF).

In contrast to ARBK, shares of Bitfarms have not yet shown sufficient growth to satisfy the requirements of the Nasdaq for listing.

After reaching beyond $1 for the first time on January 12, BITF fell back below the barrier for the second time on January 18.

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Tagged : Bitcoin / Business / Mining / Nasdaq / News / Stocks

Bitcoin Miner Digihost Under Risk of Delisting from Nasdaq

by Blockchain NewsOctober 17, 2022

Crypto miner Digihost is under scrutiny and has been threatened with getting delisted by Nasdaq for trading below $1 for 30 consecutive days.

The bitcoin miner is among the many that have fallen into the danger zone of losing their spots on major U.S. stock exchanges.

Digihost has been given grace periods of up to 180 days to resolve the issue. The company must comply with Nasdaq listing rules by trading for $1 or more for at least 10 consecutive days.

In a document filed on last Friday, Digihost stated that the company’s operations have been going on as usual despite the complaint.

“The Company’s business operations are not affected by the receipt of the Notification Letter, and the Company fully intends to resolve the deficiency and regain compliance with the Nasdaq Listing Rules,” Digihost said in the filing.

Besides Digihost, two other public mining companies have also come close scrutiny from Nasdaq.

Public miners — Mawson Infrastructure Group and BIT Mining – need better stock performance to keep their listings on Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), respectively.

Three other companies fell under the $1 threshold last week alone, and only a few have been trading slightly above that threshold.

In case, the stock price does not recover to over $1 per share, many companies will potentially get delisted from Nasdaq.

The stock price fall is related to the coin’s cost, which has fallen about 50% in the last six months and 70% since the all-time high of around $67,550 in November last year.

Furthermore, rising power costs have also added to the strain as it has squeezed profits for bitcoin miners and mining difficulty jumped 13.55% last week to an all-time high.

Meanwhile, last week, a group of crypto firms led by Bitcoin mining tech provider Braiins and Block Inc’s subsidiary funding Bitcoin development called Spiral are promoting the adoption of Stratum V2 protocol.

The upgrade from Stratum V1 would improve security for miners and for the network, help further decentralize the network, and make communication more efficient, a joint statement from Braiins and Spiral said.

Stratum’s second version (V2) promises to bring many improvements to the protocol, including censorship resistance and allowing miners to choose their own work rather than being assigned workloads by pools, which would increase the Bitcoin network’s decentralization. The report elaborated that the upgrade is necessary to support an increase in pooled mining and further growth in hashrate.

The working group now focuses on building and sharing tools for all mining firms to rapidly and seamlessly upgrade to Stratum V2 protocol.

As per the announcement, the working group has released the first version of an open-source Stratum V2 reference implementation (SRI) for testing. The report said that the SRI will allow anyone to run the upgraded protocol or use it as a guide for their own implementation of Stratum V2.

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Tagged : Bitcoin / Blockchain / Crypto / DIGIHOST / Mining / Nasdaq

No Plans to Launch Crypto Platform Yet: Nasdaq

by Blockchain NewsOctober 5, 2022

Nasdaq plans to wait for further clarity in terms of crypto adoption globally, the company’s executive vice president and head of North American markets said.

Tal Cohen said that the world’s second-largest stock exchange is awaiting greater regulatory clarity and institutional adoption around crypto exchanges before planning to launch a platform of its own.

“Those are discussions we are happy to have,” Cohen told Bloomberg TV on Tuesday.

“But right now, on the retail side, the market is fairly saturated,” he added. “There’s a number of exchanges servicing the retail customer base.”

Nasdaq instead plans to stay focused on its crypto custody services. Cohen said that these services are foundational for clients, citing “massive” demand ad opportunity there.

“We think if you can safe-keep peoples’ assets, they’ll trust you to do everything else afterwards,” he said.

Cohen added that along with safe-keeping services, Nasdaq is working on facilitating the movement and transfer of the assets by building out its execution capabilities.

In September, Nasdaq announced it would offer custody services for Bitcoin and Ether to institutional investors. To do so, the firm hired Ira Auerbach, who ran prime broker services at crypto exchange Gemini, to head the new Nasdaq Digital Assets unit.

The primary target market for the Nasdaq exchange is institutional investors, as adoption has grown remarkably amongst these classes in the past few years. While accumulating crypto is one thing, safeguarding them is another, and company-owned funds are not supposed to be handled by solely one person.

According to Blockchain.News, This calls for the need for custodial services. While exchanges like Coinbase, Gemini, and Kraken are already dominating the crypto custody space for institutional investors, many believe Nasdaq is not yet late to the party.

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Tagged : Blockchain / Crypto / Cryptocurrency / Custody / Nasdaq / News

Bitcoin Miner Rhodium Plans to List on Nasdaq through Reverse Merger

by Blockchain NewsSeptember 30, 2022

Bitcoin miner Rhodium Enterprises is planning to list on Nasdaq under the ticker “RHDM” through a reverse merger with business consulting firm SilverSun Technologies Inc., Bloomberg reported on Sept. 30.

The deal is scheduled to close by the end of this year, and investment bank B. Riley will serve as Rhodium’s financial advisor.

Rhodium, one of the few major Bitcoin miners that use a proprietary liquid-cooling system, has been seeking a listing since last year that delayed its debut in the $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion valuation range on the Nasdaq earlier this year due to a sharp drop in the price of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) plans for a public offering.

According to the official filing, SilverSun shareholders will receive a cash dividend of at least $1.50 per share, for a total of $8.5 million and additional stock dividends.

Under the merger agreement’s terms, Rhodium will also create stock in a new subsidiary that incorporates SilverSun’s traditional business. SilverSun’s board members will continue to serve after the transaction closes.

Rhodium CEO Chase Blackmon said in a statement that:

“We believe access to U.S. capital markets is paramount to sustainable, long-term success in our capital-intensive industry. We believe this strategic transaction will unlock long-term accretive value for Rhodium’s shareholders.”

Rhodium, which recently closed an $11.9 million financing round, plans to raise $30 million through debt, options, and securities, according to SEC filings earlier this month.

The company had planned to issue 7.69 million shares for $12 to $14 apiece, according to IPO documents filed with the SEC in January.

Texas-based Rhodium mines bitcoins on its own using “proprietary liquid-cooled mining technology,” allowing it to average $2,507 in electricity bills per bitcoin it mines throughout 2021, according to the company’s website.

For the nine months ended Sept. 30, Rhodium recorded a net income of $46.1 million, or $0.10 per share, on revenue of $82.1 million.

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Tagged : Bitcoin / Blockchain / Enterprise / Listing / Mining / Nasdaq / RHODIUM

Nasdaq to Offer Institutional Crypto Custody Services

by Blockchain NewsSeptember 21, 2022

The world’s second-largest brokerage, Nasdaq Global Select Market, is reportedly on track to dive deeper into the digital currency ecosystem with preliminary plans to offer custody services for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).

This calls for the need for custodial services and while exchanges like Coinbase, Gemini, and Kraken are already dominating the crypto custody space for institutional investors, many believe Nasdaq is not yet late to the party.

According to Tal Cohen, Nasdaq’s executive vice president, the current outlook and interest among institutional investors is likely to stir a revolution.

The Emergence of Nasdaq Digital Assets Unit

The crypto custody services that are bound to be offered by the Nasdaq will be through a newly spun Digital Assets Unit, which will be headed by Ira Auerbach, the former head of Prime Brokerage Services at Gemini Exchange.

“We believe this next wave of the revolution is going to be driven by mass institutional adoption,” Auerbach said in an interview. “I can think of no better place to bring that trust and brand to the market than Nasdaq.”

It is not uncommon to find mainstream financial services players offering targeted services bordering on crypto to their clients. In one of such bold moves, BlackRock, branded as the world’s largest asset manager with $10 trillion in Assets Under Management (AUM) entered into a strategic partnership with Coinbase Global Inc to offer its institutional investors a room to gain adequate exposure to cryptocurrencies.

The Coinbase partnership fueled a lot of succeeding pushes into the crypto industry for BlackRock as the asset manager launched a private Bitcoin Trust a short while after. With higher demand from institutional investors, Nasdaq is positioning itself to tap into the market aggressively.

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Tagged : Bitcoin / Crypto / CUSTODIAL SERVICES / Ethereum / Exchanges / Nasdaq

Brazil’s Digitra.com Launches Crypto Platform Using Nasdaq’s Cloud-Based Tech

by Blockchain NewsAugust 31, 2022

Brazil-based cryptocurrency exchange Digitra.com on Tuesday launched a digital asset trading platform powered by Nasdaq’s cloud-based crypto trading service.

Built on market infrastructure technology from Nasdaq, Digitra.com now uses exchange-grade matching technology to provide 24/7/365 robust and frictionless trading services on Digitra.com for retail and institutional investors worldwide.

Launched in June 2020, Nasdaq’s Marketplace Services Platform is a cloud-based SaaS platform that supports digital assets exchanges and crypto markets for exchanging digital assets, offering services across the lifecycle of a transaction including trading, issuance, surveillance, and pre-trade risk management.

While Nasdaq is offering digital asset services, it is collaborating with Microsoft Azure on designing solutions for next-generation marketplaces.

The Nasdaq’s cloud-based platform allows exchanges to attract liquidity and scale transaction volumes to correspond with different market conditions. The technology also enables exchanges to develop new features for their clients.

Digitra.com founder and CEO Rodrigo Batista talked about the development: “Nasdaq brings extensive experience and expertise in capital markets technology to Digitra.com and our industry. Our technology collaboration gives us a robust foundation to grow and build new features for our clients.”

One feature that Digitra.com is already leveraging from Nasdaq’s Marketplace Services Platform is a new commission and fee structure, called Trade to Earn. Through the newly created structure, Digitra.com has eliminated transaction fees while introducing a monetary incentive program that awards customers with native Digitra tokens (DGTA) on every executed trade.

Although Digitra.com already provides digital assets such as bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and USD coin (USDC) to its customers, the exchange said it plans to use the Nasdaq’s technology to offer 50 additional asset classes and coins by the end of the year.

“By offering additional services on top of cryptocurrency spot trading, we will create new revenue streams that replace the traditional transaction fees,” Batista said.

Nasdaq’s cloud-based Marketplace Services Platform is designed to dynamically scale as the marketplace grows and adds new asset classes to its trading platform.

Nasdaq’s Marketplace Services Platform will enable Digitra.com to grow and scale, which is crucial as the exchange continues expanding and offering new asset types.

Digitra.com will be able to introduce new products rapidly – from cryptocurrencies and stablecoins to security, energy, and carbon credit tokens – as such opportunities arise.

By using Nasdaq technology, Digitra.com said it will be able to respond to the demands of the market and offer new types of services and products that don’t exist today.

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Tagged : Brazil / Crypto / Cryptocurrency / DIGITRA / Nasdaq / News

Crypto Miner HIVE Requested for Resubmission of Form 40-F

by Blockchain NewsJuly 6, 2022

Hive Blockchain Technologies Ltd, a Vancouver-based cryptocurrency mining company headquartered in Canada, said it received a letter from Nasdaq requesting the company to renew its annual report on Form 40-F (“Form 40-F”).

The letter reads, “due to delays in filing submit plans to meet exchange listing compliance”. Form 40-F includes audited financial statements, the chief executive officer and chief financial officer certification, management discussions, and analysis.

HIVE went public in 2017 and is currently listed on the Toronto exchange, Nasdaq, and Frankfurt stock exchange. The company expects to submit the relevant documents on July 15.

The delay in its annual report on Form 40-F, the company said, will face a shorter deadline for non-VC issuers in Canada due to its listing on U.S. exchanges.

HIVE did not attribute these factors to the recent cold winter in the cryptocurrency market and said it would hire more relevant employees to meet the reporting work that will be foreseen in the future.

The Nasdaq transaction noted that Hive Blockchain Technologies Ltd failed to comply with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5250(c)(1) of its timely filing of a 40-F.

The company is required to resubmit a planned report on pre-compliance with Rule 5250(c)(1) within 60 calendar days. If accepted, Nasdaq may grant the cryptocurrency miner up to 180 calendar days from the due date of its Form 40-F to regain compliance.

The crypto mining firm generates a daily income of $550,000 from its Bitcoin and Ethereum mining operations, which translates to approximately $200 million in annual revenue.

HIVE reported more than $68 million in revenue and more than $64 million in net profit in the third quarter of last year.

Currently, HIVE has a total Bitcoin operating hash rate of 925 PH/s. HIVE expects its hash rate to reach one exahash per second (EH/s) by August with the additional acquisition of mining machines.

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Tagged : 40F / Compliance / Hive / Mining / Nasdaq / Regulation

Spot Crypto ETF in High Demand by Financial Advisers: Nasdaq Report

by Blockchain NewsApril 12, 2022

A new survey from Nasdaq has shed more light on the growth in an embrace of spot crypto Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) in the United States.

The survey features 500 financial advisors, including Registered Independent Advisors (RIA) and independent brokers alike.

Per the survey, it was discovered that 86% of advisors who are currently invested in digital currencies plan to increase their holdings in the next year. The survey also revealed that 72% of those surveyed would be more open to investing their client’s funds in crypto if a spot Bitcoin ETF were to be approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Of those surveyed, 50% acknowledged that they already use Bitcoin futures ETFs and 28% plan to start using them in the next 12 months. Currently, as many as three Bitcoin futures ETF have started trading in the U.S., the latest being from Teucrium, as reported by Blockchain.News last week.

“Over the last decade, financial advisors have been focused on shifting assets into index funds. As they incorporate digital assets into their investment strategies, they are expressing strong interest in a similar vehicle that can offer broad asset class exposure for their clients,” said Jake Rapaport, Head of Digital Asset Index Research, Nasdaq. “The vast majority of advisors we surveyed either plan to begin allocating to crypto or increase their existing allocation to crypto. As demand continues to surge, advisors will be looking for an institutional solution to the crypto question that now dominates client conversations.”

Other highlights of the survey dwelt on the level of risk adoption by these financial asset managers with most agreeing that just about 6% of the client’s portfolio is enough to invest in any crypto product. With the growing consideration of changing the narrative about crypto’s impact on Climate, the Nasdaq survey shows that 7% of investors agree that “ESG is a very important consideration when determining a client’s strategy toward digital assets.”

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Tagged : Bitcoin / CRYPTO ETF / Esg / Nasdaq / Research