genesis - Pwim.Net

Genesis Capital Breaks Previous Quarter Record With 870M in New Loan Originations in Q3

Digital asset lending firm, Genesis Capital has reported significant and sustained growth in its Q3 report which highlights a growing demand for cash and an stablecoin lending. Genesis Capital released its quarterly report on Oct.30, reporting that the institution had added $870 million in new loan originations which marks a sixth consecutive quarter of sustained growth for the firm. Demand Rises For Cash and Stablecoins

The firm reported that its loan portfolio had largely sustained its value through increased cash (USD and stablecoin) loan issuance offset by a decrease in the notional value of outstanding cryptocurrency loans. Q3 cash loans represented 31.2% of the firm’s active loan portfolio, an increase from Q2 where cash loans represented 23.5%.

Genesis has continued to experience strong demand from the international community to borrow USD, as mentioned in their Q2 report. A large portion of the cash demand translated into stablecoins like USDC(USD Coin) and PAX (Paxos Standard Token).

Demand For BTC Loans FallThe report indicated that the new USD issuance in Q3 mostly took share away from active BTC loans, marking a slight demand increase for altcoins—which grew in popularity in Q3. Bitcoin loans fell from 68.1% in Q1 to 50.2% in Q3, with Ether having increased to 7.5% from less than 4% in the previous quarter.

Image via Shutterstock

Ethereum Launches Final Testnet Before Officially Releasing ETH 2.0 Mainnet

The software developing team for Ethereum 2.0 has finally announced that they will be launching ETH 2.0’s testnet on August 4.

Final Testnet Before Official Mainnet Launch

The multi-client testnet is an alternative blockchain designated for the purposes of testing out the validity of the network. Ethereum (ETH) has dubbed it “Medalla,” which is Spanish for “medal.” This is named in honor and reverence to Ethereum 1.0 testnet, which was considered an “Olympic gold medal” for its success in the ETH community. The Ethereum 2.0 testnet is reported to be the final one of its kind that will launch before mainnet officially comes into play.

The launch of the Ethereum testnet date, though confirmed to be August 4 at 1 pm UTC by Ethereum Foundation’s ETH 2.0 coordinator – Danny Ryan, is nevertheless not set in stone. In fact, there are two necessary criteria that need to be fulfilled in order for the new testnet to launch.

Criteria to “Unlock” the Medalla

The first one is “minimum genesis time.” This is a manually imposed parameter that details when the earliest launch of ETH 2.0 testnet can be held. On Ethereum’s official blog, the foundation writes:

“MIN_GENESIS_TIME is the earliest the chain can start, but the chain won’t start until the minimum validator count has also been reached.”

That brings us to the second criterion. which postulates that for the testnet to be activated, there needs to be a minimum number of validators that are signed up for Medalla testnet. The number of validators required is set at 16, 385 blockchain users, which should translate to 524, 288 ETH in total. This means that each of the validators would have to make a deposit of 32 ETH coins each for the testnet to be unlocked. EF coordinator Danny Ryan states:

“In the event that minimum deposits are not met by 1pm UTC on August 2nd, the chain will start later than MIN_GENESIS_TIME. This is okay.”

In other words, if the minimum coin deposits – 16, 384 crypto transactions – are not fulfilled, the ETH 2.0 testnet will be delayed for 48 hours. In sum, “genesis” will start 48 hours after both conditions are met.

Is Medalla An Upgrade From Altona?

ETH 2.0 coordinator says that ETH 2.0 testnet is “a major step up from Altona in the sense that Medalla is a testnet built for and maintained by the community.” Altona, Medalla’s precedent, is actually a “devnet,” entailing that it was mainly run by client teams and members of the Ethereum Foundation (EF). The software developing team for Ethereum 2.0 hopes that with Medalla, the fact that blockchain maintenance is entirely in the hands of the community will translate to more stability and health for the digital network.

COVID 2020 Not The Best, But ETH Is Having a Heck Of a Year

The ongoing pandemic has caused much distress worldwide, affecting global economies and setting the fintech industry in a frenzy. However, regardless of the worldwide shift, Ethereum seems to be having quite a bull run. Data from digital-asset data firm Messari showed that Ethereum has now surpassed Bitcoin as the network that settles the most value per day. This is a huge win for the crypto platform, as it has always been competing and trailing behind its counterpart, Bitcoin.

Currently, the Ethereum blockchain daily settlement value is estimated to sit at approximately $2.5 billion, which makes it the first time since early 2019 that the blockchain has outranked its rival, Bitcoin.

Ethereum Releases Validator Launchpad for ETH 2.0 Testnet

Ethereum software developers finally released the validator launchpad for ETH 2.0, which enabled users to participate in the testnet’s Proof-of-Stake.

Leveling up And Unlocking “Medalla”

The testnet, dubbed “Medalla,” is said to be released on August 4, if all goes well. Ethereum developers behind Medalla have also set up certain criteria that need to be fulfilled for the alternative blockchain to be unlocked.

The test run of the network will be in the hands of the community, and a minimum of 16,385 validators are required for the launch. Each of these users is required to deposit 32 Ether (ETH) coins to access the multi-client testnet. Also, “minimum genesis time” needs to be accomplished, which basically outlines when the earliest launch of ETH 2.0 testnet can be held.

If requirements are not fulfilled, Medalla’s launch will be delayed for 48 hours. The multi-client testnet will only launch if the two criteria are met.

Progress On Unlocking Medalla

So far, it was reported that roughly more than 150,000 ETH tokens have been deposited, meaning that Medalla testnet has achieved 30.5% of the total number of validators it needs for a successful launch next week. Ethereum collaborated with blockchain tech company Consensys and DeepWork Studio to release the ETH 2.0 validator launchpad.

Ethereum Announces Its Testnet Strategy

The blockchain network told its Ethereum crypto community that the multi-client testnet Medalla, they will continue “fine-tuning the interface” in anticipation of the release of the mainnet. In addition to this, Ethereum also explained that as it was transitioning from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake, Ethereum 2.0 will be launched in at least 3 phases to make sure that all aspects are covered methodically before release.

By breaking up the phases, a different aspect of Ethereum 2.0 can be focused on at each phase and the mainnet can consequently be perfected.

Phases of ETH 2.0

Phases 0, 1, and 2 each outlines a different concept. Phases 0 focuses on all the machinery behind ETH 2.0’s consensus, and it tracks the validators and their transaction balances.

Phase 1’s main objective is to handle the addition and storage of new and old data associated with ETH 2.0.

Finally, Phase 2 adds execution to ETH 2.0, and this simply allows programs to be run on top of it.

Co-Founder Vitalik Pushed for Phase 1

Co-founder of Ethereum Vitalik Buterin has been actively pushing for phase 1 to begin. The Ethereum mastermind wants to get a better grasp of how phase 1 will work in practice. On Reddit, he said that the “clients team” working on Medalla was behind on phase 0, and though that may be the case, they should still start working on phase 1. Buterin justified his strategy, saying:

“There’s no unfinished research required for phase 1; it’s all spec optimization and development.”

Ethereum And Bitcoin “Bull Races”

This year has been a really good year for Ethereum. With their plans of launching ETH 2.0 mainnet, the blockchain platform has also managed to outrank Bitcoin earlier this month, sitting at approximately $2.5 billion and making it the first time since early 2019 that it has outdone its rival BTC.

The latter has however been picking up its pace on the crypto market after months of staying stagnant. Yesterday, it was reported that BTC surged past the $10, 000 mark. BTC as a hedge has also recently been even more of a hot topic, with the depreciation of USD due to economic stimulus packages released by the US government.

Ready, Set, Launch

With Medalla testnet set to launch on August 4, the year 2020 has been good for Ethereum. Medalla is to be the last testnet produced by the dominant cryptocurrency platform before ETH 2.0 mainnet is officially in service and open for public use.

Ethereum to Launch Another Testnet for ETH 2.0 After Spadina Fails to Achieve Finality

Ethereum developers announced that they will be launching another testnet next week, dubbed Zinken, following the low participation rate on Spadina.

Spadina, launched on September 29, was reported to have had less validator participation levels than desired. It was initially launched by Ethereum developers in parallel with Medalla testnet, as a short-term “dress rehearsal” in preparation for Ethereum 2.0 mainnet’s rollout.

However, the testnet suffered from low participation levels, recording only about 30% participation rate, as opposed to an expected 80%. Consequently, finality was not achieved on Spadina. As deposits and genesis were considered “a risky and difficult part of the process,” developers behind Ethereum hoped that this could be practiced before Ethereum 2.0 mainnet was released.

The goal of the testnets launched by the Ethereum developers is to practice block mining before ETH 2.0 came into play. For Zinken to be successful, lead coordinator for Ethereum 2.0 Danny Ryan had said that testnet validators needed to take the launch rehearsal seriously. He said:

“As this is a dress rehearsal, we ask you to take genesis seriously. Only make deposits for vals (validators) you intend to run, and if at all possible, be attentive in the 24 hours leading to genesis – upgrading your node if necessary.”

The Zinken testnet, as opposed to Spadina, will run for a week and a half, according to Ryan.

With Ethereum 2.0 mainnet, co-founder Vitalik Buterin is striving to achieve a pure Proof-of-Stake blockchain, as opposed to the current Proof-of-Work protocol. Through ETH 2.0, the aspiration is that higher “decentralization, resilience, security, simplicity and longevity” will be achieved, according to co-founder of Ethereum Joseph Lubin.

Ethereum Price Set to See Higher Gains as ETH 2.0 Beacon Chain Genesis Expected Soon

Ethereum’s price has been boosted in 2020 due to the decentralized finance (DeFi) craze. As the ETH 2.0 beacon chain genesis is coming to fruition soon, it could be a catalyst for Ethereum’s price surge.

Ethereum’s (ETH) price has gained around 170 percent this year, from under $140 to the $380 levels, which ETH is currently trading at. With the decentralized finance sector locking up over $11 billion in cryptocurrencies, Ethereum’s price has benefited from this surge.

9 million ETH has been locked up across different DeFi protocols, which is around 8 percent of its entire supply.

ConsenSys developer Ben Edgington recently published an update predicting that the ETH 2.0 beacon chain genesis will be expected in the next six to eight weeks. Edgington revealed in a post that the protocol’s deposit contract address feature will be announced this week. This contract enables ETH to be sent between Ethereum and ETH 2.0, one of the remaining steps of the ETH 2.0 phase 0 roll-out.

With the phase 0 launch, 500,000 Ether would need to be locked for staking after the beacon chain goes live, and there would also be a week-long genesis delay for the network to prepare. The release will strengthen the Ethereum network against denial-of-service attacks.

Although the participation on the Medalla testnet was not as popular as expected, ConsenSys developer Ben Edgington said that the case for the Beacon chain would not likely to be the same as it delivers real staking rewards. He explained:

“To be fair, I don’t expect this situation to arise on a network with real value at stake. People will be working hard to keep the network finalising. It’s exactly why we need to move on from the testnets now.”

The crypto community have been speculating that this event is an accumulation phase for Ethereum, with on-chain metrics showing that a large amount of ETH has not been moved for over a year, possibly in anticipation of the Phase 0 launch. Sharing a graph of Ethereum’s accumulation phase on Twitter, a crypto community member posted:

“I would not bet against #ETH over the long-term. Sure, #Bitcoin will outperform #Ethereum at certain times, but I anticipate the ROI being higher for Ethereum.”

Although an exact date for the ETH 2.0 genesis date has not been set yet, the announcement for its launch could take Ethereum higher towards the $400 level.

Ethereum Price Surges as ETH 2.0 Launch Date Announced, $2 Million Ether Locked Up Within 2 Hours

After having suffered a strong dip in the past week, Ethereum managed to gain some bullish momentum and rallied to over the $400 mark. Ethereum (ETH) is currently trading at $405, slightly above its resistance level at $400. ETH managed to gain over 5 percent in the past 24 hours, while Bitcoin has managed to surge over $14,000, gaining over 2 percent.

Although Ethereum’s price has not been able to follow Bitcoin’s continuous momentum in the past few weeks, ETH has been able to flip $400 into a support level. With ETH 2.0’s deposit contract released recently, analysts have been confident about Ethereum. One analyst recently said:

“I don’t short Ethereum because i’m not a moron, that said currently PA needs to get above and flip $390 into support for us to start heading higher, seems to be that price as gotten comfortable below $400 recently… Thinking that tomorrow we could see $400+. Send it.”

Another crypto trader highlighted that Ethereum has been looking more bullish than Bitcoin, while other large-cap altcoins have also been seeing gains:

“When $ETH looks more bullish than $BTC. It’ll be time to go altcoin shopping.”

Ethereum 2.0 launch date confirmed, deposit contract released

Ethereum’s price climbed as the Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract was released, and the launch date of Ethereum 2.0 Phase 0 has been confirmed for around Dec. 1. In an update by the Ethereum Foundation released recently, the entity explains the process of the genesis.

Stakers on the network are now able to deposit their 32 Ether deposits to the contract in anticipation for the launch. To proceed with the launch, the contract must collect a total of 524,288 ETH, which is around $200 million for the launch. According to a crypto analyst, within the first two hours, nearly $2,000,000 of ETH were locked up:

“ETH 2.0 Staking Official Launch. Some great news today, finally the deposit contract address for $ETH 2.0 has been officially announced. Nearly $2,000,000 ETH has been locked up in the first 2 hours…”

The required amount of ETH must be collected seven days before the expected launch date, Dec. 1; if this is not achieved, then the launch will be delayed to seven days after the threshold is reached. Ethereum could continue to rally higher as the election results are coming to a close, and as the amount of ETH locked up nears its needed threshold.

Image source: Clifford Photography via Unsplash

Genesis Digital Assets Raises $125M to Expand Bitcoin Mining Business

Digital asset lending firm, Genesis Capital has raised $125 million in equity financing to expand its Bitcoin mining business, mainly in North America and Northern Europe.

Reportedly, the lead investor in this round of equity financing is the well-known British private equity fund Kingsway Capital with assets under management (AUM) exceeding $2 billion.

At the same time, as part of the terms of the transaction, Manuel Stowe, CEO of Kingsway Capital Manuel Stotz will also join the board of Genesis Capital.

Genesis Capital stated that the funds raised this time will be used to upgrade mining equipment in the United States and the Nordic region while building new data centres.

Manuel Stotz, CEO of Kingsway Capital, stated that Genesis’s GDA team has been having extensive experience in the Bitcoin mining industry, commenting on the investment:

“Bitcoin is going to be the most important technology for financial inclusion of the global poor and unbanked and mining provides security to make this possible.”

Abdumalik Mirakhmedov, Executive Chairman and Co-founder of Genesis Digital Assets, replied:

“Our mission is to provide the infrastructure that will power the open-source monetary system revolution and we’re excited to have Kingsway Capital and Manuel onboard as we continue to scale our mining operations.”

Genesis is currently one of the world’s top Bitcoin mining companies, with a data centre capacity of more than 150 MW and a total computing power of more than 2.6 Exahashes (EH/s), exceeding 2.6% of the global Bitcoin mining power.

Genesis is not the only company seeking to raise funds to expand its business during the Chinese mining crackdown.

As reported by Blockchain.News on July 14, the cryptocurrency miner BIT Mining Limited, a Shenzhen-based company, announced that it will raise $50 million through private placement to expand its crypto mining business to overseas markets.

Canadian Fintech Firm Stablecorp Secures $1.5m from Crypto Leaders

Canadian fintech firm Stablecorp announced that it has secured $1.5 million in participation from crypto market leaders, including Circle Ventures, the issuer of USD Coin (USDC) in the Pre-Series A Funding Round.

Stablecorp is committed to providing blockchain technology for banks and was co-founded by 3iQ, Canada’s largest crypto asset management company, and Mavennet, a leader in blockchain development.

The company is also a strategic partner of Canada’s first Canadian Dollar Digital Deposit Receipt (DDR) called VCAD.

The funds raised will be used to promote VCAD, a multi-chain DDR issued by digital bank VersaBank and pegged 1:1 to Canadian dollar deposits.

VCAD can facilitate more secure and transparent payments, and transfers settled in CAD-equivalent tokens for traders worldwide.

“We are thrilled to welcome Circle Ventures, Genesis, and the Stellar Development Foundation to our network of partners and investors. These forward-thinking companies are some of the most sophisticated and knowledgeable organisations in the cryptocurrency ecosystem,” said Stablecorp President and COO Alex McDougall, adding that “we are gratified that they share our vision for the central importance of DDRs as a bridge between fiat currencies and the digital financial framework of the future. With their involvement. “

Stablecorp mentioned that it will cooperate with VersaBank in the future to expand DDR around the world and specify corresponding development strategies in decentralised finance and digital asset transactions, as well as foreign exchange, settlement, and payment businesses.

Crypto Broker Genesis Says Lending Business Declined in Q2

Genesis, a global institutional digital asset trading, lending, derivatives, custody and prime brokerage services company, on Wednesday, published its Q2 earning report with some interesting insight into crypto markets.

The report shows that crypto lending output at the company declined while OTC trading rocketed higher.

Genesis said it issued new loans worth $40 billion in the second quarter, a decrease of 9% from the first quarter, as cryptocurrency lending suffered a strong contraction in recent months. The firm stated that most of such loans occurred in April and May, as the entire crypto market capitalization shed more than 40%, from $2.2 trillion to less than $1.3 trillion.

Genesis further said the difficult crypto market conditions contributed to a 66% decline in active loans outstanding to $4.9 billion in the second quarter from $14.6 billion in the first quarter.

The company said its spot desk traded more than $17.2 billion OTC (over-the-counter trading) in the second quarter, an increase of over 51% quarter-over-quarter.

Genesis further mentioned that its derivatives desk traded $26.6 billion in notional value in the same period, a decrease of 4% from the first quarter.

The firm disclosed that Bitcoin contributed 56% of the traded volume, higher than the 48% witnessed in the first quarter. The firm said while its BTC loan weight increased from 28.7% to 30.4% quarter over quarter, its Ether’s weight declined from 16% in the first quarter to 11.4% at the end of June.

Lending Businesses Getting Squeezed

The recent volatility and extreme fall in valuations have tested crypto markets. Genesis had significant exposure to Three Arrows Capital (3AC), a crypto hedge fund firm, which became bankrupt because of excessive leverage. Genesis was fortunate as its parent company, Digital Currency Group, assumed the losses by migrating the assets over to their balance sheet, thus leaving Genesis free and clear of the disaster.

In June, Genesis said its balance sheet was strong. Its lending business continued to meet customer demands, a few days after rival lending firm Celsius Network suspended client withdrawals, citing difficult market conditions.

During that month, many other crypto lending firms such as Voyager Digital, Vauld, Hodlnaut, Zipmex, and Babel Finance froze withdrawals and transfers, citing “extreme” market conditions. Such tragic actions by these firms triggered the recent meltdown in markets and prompted warnings from U.S. regulators over crypto lending platforms.

Crypto Broker Genesis Cuts 20% Workforce, CEO Michael Moro Stepping Down

Genesis, a major institutional digital asset market and a full-service digital currency prime brokerage based in New York, on Wednesday announced several leadership changes amid the company’s efforts to boost the next phase of its growth.

Genesis disclosed that its CEO Michael Moro is stepping down, and the firm is slashing 20% of its 260-person workforce. The cut of 20% equates to the loss of around 52 jobs.

The downsizing exercise comes a few months after Genesis reported huge losses tied to the collapse of Three Arrows Capital (3AC) in June.

Derar Islim, the Chief Operating Officer at Genesis, will take over as interim CEO while the firm searches for a permanent replacement.

The company said that Moro, who joined Genesis in 2015 and took over as CEO the following year, will stay on during the leadership transition.

Besides that, Genesis said it recently hired new executives as chief risk officer, chief compliance officer, and chief technology officer to strengthen its governance further and position the company for the future.

Genesis is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, a global enterprise that builds, purchases, and invests in blockchain firms worldwide.

Genesis started its crypto trading desk and lending business in 2013, when Bitcoin was trading just around $80. The New York-based firm is among the largest trading platforms in the crypto market.

Genesis facilitated significantly superior transactions last year when crypto markets were booming. The company’s loan originations soared more than sevenfold to $131 billion, and the firm increased its workforce by 22% to 170 employees. By mid this year, the company’s headcount rose to 260.

The rapid crash in the crypto market this year wiped out companies whose businesses were tied directly to the values of crypto assets. Firms, including Hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), Voyager Digital, and Celsius Networks, among others, filed for bankruptcy after facing financial challenges triggered by volatile market conditions.

Although Genesis weathered the storm better than other participants in the market, the company suffered massive losses due to its exposure to 3AC.

In July, Genesis filed a $1.2 billion claim against the now insolvent Three Arrows Capital because of breached loans.