Digital Currency Group Inc. ( DCG ) is a venture capital company focusing on the digital currency market. It is located in Stamford, Connecticut . The company has the subsidiaries Foundry, Genesis , Grayscale Investments , and Luno. It also formerly owned CoinDesk .
69-443: Digital Currency Group was launched in 2015 by Barry Silbert, the former CEO of SecondMarket, Inc. He began investing in blockchain technology companies in 2013. Shortly after SecondMarket’s sale, Silbert formed Digital Currency Group, with Genesis and Grayscale becoming the first of the company’s subsidiaries. In November 2021, the firm relocated its Manhattan headquarters to Stamford, Connecticut . The governor of Connecticut at
138-552: A bitcoin price index and publishes a quarterly State of Bitcoin report. CoinDesk also hosts a conference on digital currencies and blockchain technologies named Consensus . Foundry, established in 2019, sets up and manages bitcoin mining operations in the United States and Canada. In addition to setting up and operating its own cryptocurrency mining equipment, Foundry also provides financing, specialized digital mining equipment, and expertise to other digital currency startups. In
207-1066: A cryptocurrency exchange based in London , with operations in Cape Town and Singapore . At the time of the acquisition, Luno had more than 5 million customers. SecondMarket, Inc. Nasdaq Private Market ( NPM ) provides a secondary market trading venue for issuers, brokers, shareholders, and prospective investors of private company stock. Since inception, NPM has facilitated more than $ 40 billion in transactional volume and has worked with 400+ private companies and 100,000+ employees, stakeholders, and investors. NPM offers private company and investors different solutions including tender offers, auctions, block trades, and custom company marketplaces. In 2021, NPM spun-off of Nasdaq to become its own, independent company receiving strategic investments from Silicon Valley Bank, Citi, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Allen and Co. SecondMarket Solutions changed its name to NASDAQ Private Market after being acquired by NASDAQ in
276-428: A digital coin called USD Coin , pegged to the U.S. dollar. In January 2019, Coinbase stopped all trading on Ethereum Classic due to a suspicion of an attack on the network. In February, Coinbase announced that it had acquired "blockchain intelligence platform" Neutrino, an Italy-based startup, for an undisclosed price. The acquisition raised concern among some Coinbase users based on Neutrino founders' connection to
345-619: A joint venture with SharesPost. In October 2015 NASDAQ took full ownership of NASDAQ Private Market. Prior to using the name SecondMarket the company was known as Restricted Stock Partners, Inc. SecondMarket was founded in 2004 by Barry Silbert to provide liquidity for restricted securities in public companies. Beginning in early 2008, SecondMarket expanded into other asset classes—first auction‐rate securities , then bankruptcy claims , limited partnership interests, structured products ( MBS , CDO , ABS ), whole loans , private company stock , government IOUs and bitcoins . In 2007,
414-522: A landing page at the University of Cambridge ) and two Firefox browser zero-day vulnerabilities. One of the Firefox vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to escalate privileges from JavaScript on a browser page ( CVE - 2019–11707 ) and the other, could allow the attacker to escape the browser sandbox and execute code on the host computer ( CVE - 2019–11708 ). Coinbase's security team detected and blocked
483-451: A lawsuit against DCG, Gemini Trust, and Genesis Capital for allegedly defrauding more than 230,000 investors of more than $ 1.1 billion. The companies allegedly lied to investors about the expected returns on their investments and in regard to their safety, while also concealing losses from them and the public. DCG replied that they would fight the claims, and that they were “shocked by the baseless allegations.” Launched in 2013 by DCG, Genesis
552-783: A loss in 2019. Out of the US$ 782 billion worth of assets on the crypto market, some $ 90 billion worth is held on the Coinbase platform. In a May 2022 Form 10-Q filing, Coinbase stated that "because custodially held crypto assets may be considered to be the property of a bankruptcy estate, in the event of a bankruptcy, the crypto assets we hold in custody on behalf of our customers could be subject to bankruptcy proceedings and such customers could be treated as our general unsecured creditors ". On February 16, 2018, Coinbase admitted that some customers were overcharged in error for credit and debit purchases of cryptocurrencies. The problem
621-573: A net loss of US$ 1.1 billion in the second quarter of 2022, a record for the company. In October 2022, Coinbase entered into a partnership with Google Cloud Platform that would allow the latter's customers to pay for cloud services with cryptocurrencies supported by Coinbase Commerce. Coinbase also agreed to transfer its data-related applications from Amazon Web Services to Google Cloud. On January 10, 2023, Coinbase announced it would be laying off around 950 employees, incurring restructuring expenses of up to US$ 163 million. Citing
690-521: A net profit of €6.6 million. Coinbase U.K. CEO Zeeshan Feroz said the company's non-U.S. operations accounted for nearly one-third of the company's overall revenue and Reuters estimated that the company's global revenue totalled "around $ 520 million" in 2018. In August, Coinbase announced that it was targeted by a hacking attack attempt in mid-June. This reported attack used spear-phishing and social engineering tactics (including sending fake e-mails from compromised email accounts and creating
759-551: A one-way ticket to India upon being summoned by Coinbase to the company's Seattle office for a meeting. Wahi was subsequently intercepted by law enforcement from boarding a May 16 flight to India. Coinbase's chief security officer, Philip Martin, noted that the company provided prosecutors with information from an internal investigation. On January 10, 2023, Nikhil Wahi was sentenced to ten months in prison after he admitted to making trades based on confidential information from Coinbase. U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska said Wahi's crime
SECTION 10
#1732924789642828-559: A possible agreement with its creditors and DCG, wherein DCG would give its equity interest in Genesis Global Trading (GGT) to Genesis Global Holdco. DCG would also refinance its loans from Genesis and exchange its existing $ 1.1 billion promissory note for convertible preferred stock issued by DCG. However in April, some creditors walked away from the restructuring agreement. In mid-May 2023, it
897-430: A remote-first company and has no physical headquarters. As part of its SEC filing to go public, the company reported 43 million verified users, 7,000 institutions, and 115,000 ecosystem partners in over 100 countries. It also reported net revenue of US$ 1.14 billion in 2020, up from US$ 483 million the previous year. The company also reported a net income of US$ 322 million after posting
966-485: A start-up building Ethereum smart contracts similar to money markets . On May 23, GDAX was rebranded as Coinbase Pro. Also in May, Coinbase launched Prime, a platform dedicated to institutional customers. In August, Amazon cloud executive Tim Wagner joined Coinbase as vice president of engineering. In September, Coinbase, along with Circle and bitcoin miner company Bitmain , was part of a consortium called Centre that launched
1035-561: A statement about Black Lives Matter , citing the company's apolitical culture, but Armstrong later reversed his course on Twitter . In September, Armstrong published a blog post emphasizing that Coinbase would not engage in social activism , citing that such activism had hurt other technology firms such as Google and Facebook , and offered a severance package for those who disagreed with this direction. The company also faced complaints by employees saying they were treated unfairly due to their race or gender. In October, Coinbase announced
1104-549: A statement released by the National Payments Corporation of India indicating it was "not aware of any crypto exchange using UPI". This statement forced Coinbase to suspend most of its business in India. Users in India cannot convert rupees into cryptocurrency but can trade between different cryptocurrencies. In May 2022, Coinbase-backed Mara raised $ 23 Million to build an African crypto Exchange. On June 14, 2022,
1173-629: A streaming Foo Fighters concert after the game). Meta quipped "Hopefully this doesn't break." The Super Bowl which has been nicknamed the "Crypto Bowl" also featured commercials by Crypto.com , eToro , and FTX on the American telecast. In response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine , Coinbase blocked 25,000 cryptocurrency wallet addresses related to Russia. Coinbase began operations in India in April 2022. The company initially relied on Unified Payments Interface to allow users to convert rupees to cryptocurrencies, but ceased using UPI after
1242-583: A valuation of about US$ 150 million set in the previous round in February 2010. The World Economic Forum listed the company as a Technology Pioneer for 2011. The firm's private-company transactions totaled $ 100 million in 2009, and $ 400 million in 2010. SecondMarket takes fees from 3 to 5 percent on each trade (split evenly between buyer and seller). In March 2011, it had 53,000 registered participants, up from 35,000 in 2010, 6,500 in 2009 and 2,500 in 2008. In 2015, NASDAQ acquired Second Market Solutions, which
1311-783: A wave of several major tech companies closing headquarters in San Francisco in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic . Although cryptocurrencies can assure anonymous trade in principle , Coinbase trades are not anonymous: registered users are required to provide their taxpayer identification, and the transactions are reported to the IRS . Also, although Coinbase offers more than 250 different cryptocurrencies to U.S. customers in 2023, it does not trade Monero and other cryptocurrencies with enhanced anonymity protection due to KYC requirements in accordance with anti-money laundering regulations. Coinbase
1380-684: Is a cryptocurrency trading, lending, and asset custody platform, targeting institutional clients and high net worth individuals. They claim to have been the first Bitcoin cryptocurrency desk. Genesis acquired the London-based cryptocurrency custodial company Volt in early 2020. Genesis' sister company Grayscale Investments had been holding its cryptocurrency assets with the company Xapo, which had been acquired by Genesis' rival Bitcoin trading company Coinbase in 2019. News media speculated that Genesis' cryptocurrency custody would be transferred away from Coinbase and made internal to Greyscale after completion of
1449-474: Is an American publicly traded company that operates a cryptocurrency exchange platform. Coinbase is a distributed company ; all employees operate via remote work . It is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States in terms of trading volume. The company was founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam . In May 2020, Coinbase announced it would shut its San Francisco , California, headquarters and change operations to remote-first , part of
SECTION 20
#17329247896421518-678: Is managed through a subsidiary of SecondMarket, which is the Digital Currency Group and Grayscale. Grayscale also manages the Ethereum Classic Investment Trust SecondMarket (now known as the NASDAQ Private Market) announced in February 2014 that it planned to open a regulated, US-based bitcoin exchange . It was planning to spin off a separate company for all its Bitcoin activities. Coinbase Coinbase Global, Inc. , branded Coinbase ,
1587-726: The Financial Times on February 16 that it had "not made any systems changes that would result in the duplicate transactions cardholders are reporting." However, the latest statement from Visa and Worldpay on the Coinbase blog clarifies: "This issue was not caused by Coinbase." In March 2018, the Quartz news website reported that the number of monthly customer complaints against Coinbase jumped more than 100 percent in January of that year, to 889, citing official Consumer Financial Protection Bureau data, with more than 400 of those categorized as "money
1656-480: The Financial Times reported that DCG was considering selling parts of its venture capital holdings to raise funds. On January 19, 2023, Genesis Global Capital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing over 100,000 creditors and liabilities of between $ 1 billion and $ 10 billion. In February 2023, DCG struck a deal with creditors to either sell its Genesis unit or turn its equity over to creditors. Specifically, on February 6, 2023, Genesis Global Holdco announced
1725-589: The Hacking Team , which has been accused of providing internet surveillance technology to governments with poor human rights records. On March 4, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said his company "did not properly evaluate" the deal from a due diligence perspective and thus any Neutrino staff who previously worked at Hacking Team "will transition out of Coinbase." In April, a U.K. corporate filing stated that Coinbase's non-U.S. revenue grew 20 percent to €153 million ( US$ 173 million) in 2018 resulting in
1794-654: The IRS within 21 days. In March, Coinbase appointed Emilie Choi, a former LinkedIn executive, as Vice President of Corporate and Business Development. She was promoted to the role of president and chief operating officer in May 2019. On March 26, 2018, Coinbase announced their intention to add support for ERC-20 tokens. On April 5, 2018, Coinbase announced that it had formed an early-stage venture fund, Coinbase Ventures, focusing on investment into blockchain- and cryptocurrency-related companies. On May 16, Coinbase Ventures announced its first investment in Compound Labs,
1863-525: The New York Attorney General , who was seeking information related to the financial dealings of DCG's subsidiary Genesis. A new Chapter 11 deal was agreed on with DCG and lender Genesis Global as well as a major creditor group in late August 2023. The agreement involved paying out up to 90% of the amount owed to Genesis customers using new loans. In October 2023, the New York attorney general filed
1932-603: The Office of Foreign Assets Control , with concerns that the company may have provided their blockchain service to blacklisted individuals or companies, noting that the nature of blockchain technology makes it "technically infeasible" to prevent specific users from making transactions. Later, In March 2021, the company agreed to pay US$ 6.5 million to settle regulatory claims that it had reported misleading information about its trading volumes. Also in March, Coinbase announced that it
2001-498: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reportedly threatened to sue Coinbase if the company decided to launch a cryptocurrency lending product called Lend. The company initially responded in a blog post that it was confused for being singled out by the SEC, but later announced it had cancelled the planned launch. Technology publication TechCrunch covered the story and noted the existence of similar cryptocurrency lending products already on
2070-494: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission signalling that the SEC intended to begin an enforcement action over Coinbase's staking products. Coinbase responded by calling the investigation "cursory", and stated that it would continue to operate as usual. The next month, Coinbase sued the SEC asking a federal court to force the regulator to respond to a rulemaking petition the company submitted last year asking it to make clear regulations pertaining cryptocurrencies. In June 2023,
2139-477: The retro look of the old DVD screensaver logo bouncing around the screen. The advertisement had no narration and only music. The influx of users caused Coinbase's website to crash. Coinbase's landing page received 20 million hits in one minute. Its iOS app jumped from No. 186 to No. 2 in overall downloads after the advertisement. The ad was parodied later in the night by Meta (which posted its own, similar ad on social media to advertise
Digital Currency Group - Misplaced Pages Continue
2208-466: The Coinbase founding team but parted ways with Armstrong just before the Y Combinator funding event, due to their different stands on how the Coinbase wallet should operate. The company is named after coinbase transactions, which are special transactions that introduce cryptocurrency into circulation in proof of work cryptocurrencies. In October 2012, the company launched the services to buy and sell bitcoins through bank transfers. In May 2013,
2277-740: The Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust ( OTCQX : GBTC ), which was the first publicly quoted security solely invested in the price of bitcoin upon its launch in 2013. As of April 2021, six of Grayscale’s funds were traded publicly on the OTCQX market: Bitcoin Cash, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, Grayscale Ethereum Trust, Grayscale Ethereum Classic Trust, Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund, and the Grayscale Litecoin Trust. Grayscale Bitcoin Trust
2346-541: The SEC said it was suing Coinbase, alleging that the company had been acting as an unregistered broker, exchange and clearing agency since 2019, requesting that the company be "permanently restrained and enjoined" from doing so. The SEC also alleged that Coinbase never registered its staking service as required by US securities laws. In April 2023, the company announced that its Coinbase Bermuda division had been licensed to operate cryptocurrencies in Bermuda. The next month,
2415-681: The Volt acquisition. In late June and early July 2022, Genesis publicly disclosed that it was exposed to hundreds of millions of dollars in losses from loans to both the Hong Kong based cryptocurrency lender Babel Finance and the bankrupt cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), and that its parent company DCG had taken on some of Genesis' debts in order to keep the company afloat. On August 17, 2022, Genesis CEO Michael Moro resigned to serve in an advisory position, while Chief Operating Officer (COO) Derar Islim became interim CEO. On November 1, 2022, it
2484-505: The attack, the network was not compromised, and no cryptocurrency was stolen. In May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic , the company announced it was shifting completely to remote work and would no longer recognize a formal headquarters. Also in May, the company announced the acquisition of New York-based digital asset trading firm Tagomi for a price between US$ 75 and $ 100 million. In June, Coinbase received internal backlash after CEO Brian Armstrong initially refused to make
2553-836: The collateralized debt obligation (CDO) and mortgage-backed security (MBS) markets. Launched in April 2009, SecondMarket's whole loans market facilitates transactions in residential, commercial and specialty loan types. SecondMarket transacts in both performing and non-performing individual loans as well as entire loan portfolios. SecondMarket's market for stock in private companies opened in April 2009 and facilitates transactions in both debt and equity securities in private companies. Through SecondMarket, private companies can opt into an organized, controlled private environment that offers early investors and employee shareholders exit opportunity prior to an IPO or M&A event. SecondMarket's government warrant market facilitates transactions in registered warrants (IOUs) issued by state governments. When
2622-492: The company announced it would be laying off approximately 18 percent of its workforce, about 1,100 full-time jobs, amid the global downturn in cryptocurrencies and services . In August 2022, Coinbase announced a partnership with BlackRock , a venture which allows BlackRock clients to use their Aladdin investment management system to oversee their exposure to bitcoin along with other portfolio assets, and to facilitate trading on Coinbase's exchange. Coinbase reported
2691-1045: The company launched the Bermuda-based crypto derivatives exchange, named Coinbase International Exchange, allowing non-U.S. customers to trade bitcoin and Ethereum futures. In July 2023, CEO Brian Armstrong stated that the SEC demand Coinbase stop trading all assets excluding bitcoin and the firm refused, stating “It kind of made it an easy choice . . . let’s go to court and find out what the court says.” Coinbase offers products for both retail and institutional cryptocurrency investors, as well as other related cryptocurrency products. The company's products for retail traders include: Products for institutional traders include Coinbase Prime (a trading platform for institutional customers) and Coinbase Custody (a custody solution). Other cryptocurrency-related products include: The company develops an application programming interface (API) for developers and merchants to build applications and accept payments in digital currencies. Coinbase operates as
2760-476: The company raised an undisclosed amount of Series A financing from venture capital firm Pequot Ventures . In February 2010, the company raised US$ 15 million in Series B funding to aid its expansion into Asia. In November 2011, the company announced that they had closed a US$ 15 million Series C round, led by The Social+Capital Partnership . The last round of investment valued SecondMarket at US$ 200 million, up from
2829-407: The company received a US$ 5 million Series A investment led by Fred Wilson from the venture capital firm Union Square Ventures . In December, the company received a US$ 25 million investment from the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz , Union Square Ventures (USV), and Ribbit Capital. Olaf Carlson-Wee , a graduate from Vassar College , was hired as the first employee in
Digital Currency Group - Misplaced Pages Continue
2898-588: The company received a US$ 75 million investment, led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson , the New York Stock Exchange , USAA , and several banks. Later in January, the company launched a U.S.-based bitcoin exchange for professional traders called Coinbase Exchange. In September, Coinbase began to offer services in Canada and Singapore. In May 2016, the company rebranded the Coinbase Exchange, changing
2967-431: The company's chief people officer published a blog post announcing that Coinbase was eliminating salary and equity negotiations during recruiting, citing salary disparities with women and minorities. The announcement said that "all employees in the same position, in the same location, receive the same salary and equity offer." In June, Coinbase added Dogecoin to its tradable assets for Coinbase Pro users. In September,
3036-523: The crypto exchange Luno, and the firm Foundry for crypto mining. It was also an investor in Coinbase and Kraken , the firm Circle behind the stablecoin USDC , and the analytics companies Chainalysis , Dune Analytics , Elliptic , and Etherscan . In early January 2023, DCG laid off 30% of its staff. In response to growing dispute with shareholders, Barry Silbert in early 2023 argued against debtor Cameron Winklevoss ' push to replace him as CEO. In January 2023,
3105-419: The launch of a Visa debit card program. In December, The New York Times reported that based upon data up to 2018 (already two years old as of the date of publication) women at Coinbase were paid an average of eight percent less than men at comparable jobs and ranks within the company, and Black employees were paid seven percent less than those in similar roles. In March 2021, the company fell under review by
3174-476: The market. In November, Coinbase made its first acquisition in India by purchasing AI-powered support platform Agara for an estimated US$ 40–50 million. The company stated that it would utilize Agara's technology to automate its customer experience tools. On December 15 a display glitch vastly inflated balances such that numerous users were, albeit briefly, trillionaires . Coinbase's 60-second commercial during Super Bowl LVI achieved viral status and
3243-656: The name to Global Digital Asset Exchange (GDAX). In July, they added retail support for Ether . Also, in July, they announced they would halt services in August after the closure of Canadian online payments service provider Vogogo. In January and then March 2017, Coinbase obtained BitLicense and was licensed to trade in Ethereum and Litecoin from the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS). In November, Coinbase
3312-504: The possibility of "further contagion" following the collapse of the FTX exchange, Brian Armstrong said Coinbase would be "shutting down several projects where we have a lower probability of success." In February 2023, Coinbase launched its own layer 2 blockchain on Ethereum , based on MIT-licensed OP Stack of layer-2 blockchain Optimism. On 22 March 2023, Coinbase received a Wells notice from
3381-493: The previous year. The jump was attributed to the increase in the price of bitcoin over that period. On April 14, 2021, Coinbase became a public company on the Nasdaq exchange via a direct stock listing . Before the listing, Nasdaq set a reference price of US$ 250 a share, giving the company an estimated value of US$ 47 billion. At the end of its first day of trading, Coinbase closed at US$ 328.28 per share. In May,
3450-474: The same year, the company also added bitcoin payment processing capabilities to the traditional payment companies Stripe , Braintree , and PayPal . In January 2014, Coinbase Global, Inc. was incorporated in Delaware as a holding company for Coinbase and its subsidiaries. The corporate reorganization that saw Coinbase become a subsidiary of Coinbase Global was completed in April of that year. In January 2015,
3519-456: The same year. In 2014, the company grew to one million users, acquired the blockchain explorer service Blockr and the web bookmarking company Kippt, secured insurance covering the value of bitcoin stored on their servers and launched the vault system for secure bitcoin storage. Throughout 2014, the company also partnered with Overstock , Dell , Expedia , Dish Network , and Time Inc. allowing those firms to accept bitcoin payments. In
SECTION 50
#17329247896423588-490: The state of California issued warrants to its creditors in mid-2009, SecondMarket opened up a market place to facilitate the trading of government IOUs. The Bitcoin Investment Trust (BIT) is a private, open-ended trust that derives its value solely from the price of bitcoin. The NASDAQ Private Market (formerly known as "SecondMarket") acts as the custodian and the trust is audited by Ernst & Young . The trust
3657-522: The summer of 2021, Foundry helped to relocate over $ 300 million worth of equipment from China to North America following the Chinese government shutdown of many cryptocurrency mining operations. Bloomberg reported in April 2023 that Foundry would stop offering free Bitcoin mining services, and between April 19 and April 22, would instead levy a pool fee on members. The services had been free since 2019. In September 2020, Digital Currency Group acquired Luno,
3726-472: The time the largest online auction platform serving the bankruptcy trade claims market. In February 2009, SecondMarket opened its marketplace to limited partnership (LP) interests , which are ownership rights in investment entities such as private equity funds, real estate funds, hedge funds, and fund of funds . Through this market, current limited partners are able to transfer future capital commitments to other investors. In April 2009, Secondmarket opened
3795-421: The time, Ned Lamont , had provided financial incentives for the company to move to Stamford, including a $ 5 million grant if Digital Currency Group created at least 300 full-time jobs in the state. As of November 2021, Digital Currency Group made over 200 investments in other cryptocurrency companies. By early 2023, DCG had over 160 companies in its portfolio, of which it had acquired 28. Subsidiaries included
3864-408: The unit continuing to undergo proceedings through 2023. Established in 2013, Grayscale Investments is a digital currency asset manager. It offers funds privately for institutional and accredited investors and publicly-traded products. Grayscale was the world’s largest asset manager for digital currency, as of December 2021, with more than $ 50 billion in assets under management. Grayscale also manages
3933-492: Was a competitor to NASDAQ's Private Market initiative. NASDAQ rebranded Second Market Solutions as NASDAQ Private Market. Restricted securities, SecondMarket's initial market, utilizes privately negotiated transactions to provide access to liquidity in the trillion dollar restricted securities market. SecondMarket entered into the bankruptcy claims market in June 2008 by acquiring Trade Receivable Exchange, Inc. (T-REX) of Denver, at
4002-496: Was approved for public trading by the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in 2015. On January 21, 2020, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust became the first digital currency financial product to become a Securities and Exchange Commission reporting company. In 2018, Grayscale launched the Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund which allows a customer to invest in a group of prominent digital currencies. The fund
4071-619: Was approved to trade on public markets by the FINRA in October 2019. In May 2022, it was reported that Grayscale would list an exchange-traded fund (ETF) for the first time in Europe. The ETF was said to be made up of companies representing the "Future of Finance", and would begin trading on May 17. CoinDesk is a global media, research, and events platform that was acquired by Digital Currency Group in 2016. It reports on bitcoin blockchain daily news, provides
4140-681: Was charged in the first-ever insider trading case in cryptocurrency by prosecutors for the Southern District of New York and the Securities and Exchange Commission. According to the complaint filed in SEC v. Wahi , Ishan Wahi allegedly shared information that certain tokens were about to be listed by Coinbase with Nikhil Wahi and Ramani, who then allegedly acted upon that information to make trades for an alleged illicit profit over US$ 1.5 million. According to federal prosecutors, Ishan Wahi purchased
4209-462: Was considered to be the most effective of any commercial during the game. The ad, credited to Accenture Interactive , cost US$ 13 million and featured only a black, screensaver-like screen with a bouncing color changing QR code . The code directed users to a web page advertising US$ 15 in free bitcoin for new accounts plus entry into a promotion for a sweepstakes to win three US$ 1 million prizes for bitcoin. The low-tech image evoked
SECTION 60
#17329247896424278-552: Was establishing a business presence in India and hiring employees for IT services, including engineering, software development and customer support operations. The company also announced plans to open a physical office in Hyderabad . In April 2021, with its final earnings release before its April 14 direct listing, the company reported a nine-fold increase in first-quarter revenue, to US$ 1.8 billion, up from US$ 190.6 million
4347-470: Was founded in June 2012 by Brian Armstrong, a former Airbnb engineer. Armstrong enrolled in the Y ;Combinator startup incubator program and received a US$ 150,000 cash infusion. Fred Ehrsam, a former Goldman Sachs trader, later joined as a co-founder after noticing Armstrong's posts on Reddit . British programmer and Blockchain.info co-founder Ben Reeves was originally supposed to be part of
4416-503: Was initiated when banks and card issuers changed the merchant category code (MCC) for cryptocurrency purchases earlier that month. This meant that cryptocurrency payments would now be processed as "cash advances", meaning that banks and credit card issuers could begin charging customers cash advance fees for cryptocurrency purchases. Customers who purchased cryptocurrency on their exchange between January 22 and February 11, 2018, could have been affected. At first, Visa blamed Coinbase, telling
4485-440: Was not available when promised". The article also noted that the company was subsequently increasing its customer service staff to reduce wait times. In December 2021, CNBC reported that Coinbase froze the cryptocurrency GYEN due to a sudden price spike, resulting in many traders losing money. On July 22, 2022, a former Coinbase product manager, Ishan Wahi, along with Nikhil Wahi (Ishan's brother) and Sameer Ramani (a friend),
4554-496: Was ordered by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to report any users who had at least US$ 20,000 in transactions in a year. On December 19, Coinbase listed Bitcoin Cash , and the Coinbase platform experienced price abnormalities that led to an insider trading investigation. On February 23, 2018, Coinbase told approximately 13,000 affected customers that the company would be providing their taxpayer ID, name, birth date, address, and historical transaction records from 2013 to 2015 to
4623-414: Was reported that DCG had missed a $ 630 million payment to Gemini , while owing the company $ 1.65 billion. DCG stated that "due to the state of the broader economy and prolonged crypto winter, along with the challenging regulatory environment for digital assets in the U.S," it shut down TradeBlock, an institutional trading platform, on May 31, 2023. At that time, Luno was still owned by DCG. In July 2023, it
4692-465: Was reported that DCG would sell CoinDesk for $ 125 million. At the time, DCG had closed HQ, its wealth management unit. With Barry Silbert remaining CEO, in July 2023, DCG appointed Mark Shifke as its CFO. In July 2023, DCG's crypto lending arm Genesis Global was still undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. In July 2023, Gemini sued DCG in New York citing fraud, with the intent of reclaiming funds. In August 2023 DCG reportedly faced an unannounced probe by
4761-505: Was reported that Mark Murphy had been promoted from DCG's COO to president and had dismissed 10% of the DCG staff. On November 16, Genesis abruptly halted all Bitcoin withdrawals and loan applications for their customers, following FTX's bankruptcy filing . The next morning, Wall Street Journal reported that it had obtained confidential documents stating that Genesis had an "ongoing run on deposits". On January 19, 2023, Genesis Global Capital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. with
#641358