Cryptocurrencies To Watch

Tag: Funding

  • Human Rights Foundation Boosts Bitcoin Development with 7 BTC Donation

    Human Rights Foundation Boosts Bitcoin Development with 7 BTC Donation

    The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) has donated 700,000,000 sats, equivalent to about seven bitcoins (BTC) worth $707,000, to support projects worldwide that focus on technical education for individuals under authoritarian rule, supporting independent media outlets, decentralizing mining operations, and providing human rights groups with private financial solutions.

    As a non-governmental organization (NGO), the HRF uses crypto donations to empower communities and promote financial freedom.

    20 Companies Globally

    According to a recent report, the HRF plans to distribute its donation among 20 projects worldwide to ensure that the funds reach the areas where they are needed most. While the organization does not reveal how the donated BTC will be distributed, it notes that the major regions of attention are Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

    Some projects that’ll benefit from the BTC donation include Stratum V2 Reference Implementation (SRI), an open-source software that enables nodes to create block templates, and Brink, an NGO aimed at advancing the Bitcoin protocol through research development and education. Unify, a Payjoin-enabled wallet that boosts Bitcoin transaction privacy, and 17 others are on the list.

    Remarkably, this is just one of the many times the HRF has donated BTC to support projects. Earlier in Q2 2024, it donated 10 BTC (1 billion sats) to support 13 projects globally.

    To facilitate its BTC donations, the NGO has established the HRF Bitcoin Development Fund as an initiative to support the development of the Bitcoin network and ecosystem.

    Corporate Bitcoin Adoption Soars

    Notably, the HRF holds more BTC on its bag, accepts donations from interested donors, and accepts applications for grant support from different firms worldwide.

    Other institutions across various continents also hold BTC in their bags, adopting it as their primary reserve asset as a wedge against fiat inflation.

    Firms like American, MicroStrategy, which holds 439 000 BTC, and Japanese Metaplanet are on the list, as they foresee a better future for the crypto ecosystem in coming years.

    Meanwhile, a few Bitcoin miners, such as MARA Holdings, Riot, and Hut 8, have also made Bitcoin their primary reserve asset.

  • USDX MONEY Announces $45M Funding Round to Boost Its Stablecoin

    USDX MONEY Announces $45M Funding Round to Boost Its Stablecoin

    In a recent tweet, USDX MONEY, a decentralized synthetic USD stablecoin issuer, announced that it secured $45 million in funding from significant backers to boost its stablecoin. The $45 million fund brought the company’s value to $275 million.

    Investors who provided the funding included venture capital firms NGC, BAI Capital, Generative Ventures, and UOB Venture Management, among others.

    Some of these investors also gave USDX MONEY special tickets, called warrants, that allow them to buy more company shares in the future. Existing investors in the stablecoin issuer, Dragonfly Capital and Jeneration Capital, also participated in this funding round.

    According to the tweet, the new funding will help USDX MONEY accelerate its goal of building a new and improved system for digital currency, called stablecoin infrastructure. This system will help connect different types of financial systems, including decentralized finance (DeFi), centralized finance (CeFi), and traditional finance (TradFi), making it easier for people to use digital currency.

    Stablecoin Adoption Continues

    Despite regulatory uncertainty, stablecoins have gained significant traction. The market cap of stablecoins has grown substantially, with Tether and Circle’s USDC being the most prominent players.

    In June, Tether, the platform behind USDT, the world’s largest stablecoin, partnered with a blockchain-focused financial institution, XREX, investing $18 million to drive stablecoin adoption and crypto innovation.

    Circle, the issuer of another popular USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin, revealed its plans to launch on the layer-1 blockchain Sui network. According to the platform’s CEO, Jeremy Allaire, its partnership with the Sui network will expand USDC’s availability to over 15 blockchain platforms and networks.

    Such partnerships and funding help to foster the growth of the stablecoin market. A notable example is the statistics of Bitcoin-backed overcollateralized stablecoin, USDa.

    Two weeks after its launch, USDa surpassed a staggering $400 million supply, demonstrating an impressive adoption rate. Furthermore, the stablecoin reached a notable milestone, exceeding $700 million in total value locked (TVL) within two weeks following its launch.

    Stablecoin Market Maturity in Asia Gains Momentum

    Asia’s influence in the stablecoin market continues to grow, with Japan’s top banks launching a joint stablecoin platform for international settlements to streamline cross-border transactions.

    The banks included Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), and Mizuho Financial Group.

    The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) recently announced its intention to create a regulatory framework to regulate stablecoins.