Quiet consolidation in Canada crypto-finance
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Quiet consolidation in Canada crypto-finance
There appears to be some sort of consolidation in the world of mainstream financial investments based on cryptocurrency — in Canada, at least.
The two most prominent players, Toronto’s 3iQ Corp. and Vancouver’s First Block Capital, indicated the past week they want to merge some operations. The latter will also buy part of the former.
The firm 3iQ, if you remember, had a public hearing scheduled the past week for its rejected Bitcoin investment fund. (There has been no news out that yet, so maybe it had been postponed.)
First Block Capital is billed as Canada’s first registered cryptocurrency investment firm. Its founder was the interim chief executive of Vancouver’s Hut 8 Mining Corp, which says it is the world’s largest publicly traded company for generating cryptocurrency (yes, this is a small industry).
That’s not necessarily a negative sign, as was the case of the mergers and acquisition in the oil industry during the downturn (although Hut 8 is laying off people; see below). Co-operation happens during the boom times as well.
What we know for sure is that is a sign of change. It’s like playing Monopoly, and participants start making alliances and doing side deals — you know the game is truly afoot.
Price action: good, but what the hell?
Bitcoin is likely to go up in the short term, with Google searches, indicative of mainstream interest, surging along with price, analysis shows. The world’s largest cryptocurrency is at $5,188 (C$6,948) as of 10 a.m. Sunday, Mountain Time, up by more than a quarter for the week. While it is unclear what caused the surge, small-time holders were increasingly active right before the spike.
Canada: Hut 8 layoffs; new stablecoin
Remember Hut 8 Mining Corp? It has announced a second round of layoffs this year. About two dozen people are laid off from its facility in Drumheller, Alta., about an hour from Calgary. A former employee estimates a quarter of the European giant Bitfury, which owns a controlling stake in Hut 8, was laid off in total.
Toronto’s Coinsquare, this country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is launching a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the Canadian dollar. The launch comes amid something of a flood of similar projects the last year.
World: Kraken gets sued by former worker
A former employee of the United States’ Kraken — one of the oldest Bitcoin exchanges, which also serves Canada — is suing the crypto platform for allegedly failing to pay him for work he did.
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