Crypto Biz: FTX, Tether Mines BTC, and Nvidia’s AI Superchips After Six Months

Just six months after the dramatic collapse of FTX, the crypto industry can finally begin to analyze the effects of the debacle. The quick ripple effect to other crypto businesses drained liquidity from the industry and prolonged the crypto winter, with Silvergate Bank, BlockFi and Genesis Global Capital all affected by the exchange collapse.

The bankruptcy of FTX has also rattled the crypto regulatory landscape, with authorities cracking down on firms – in some cases employing controversial methods – to avoid an in-depth mixing of traditional finance with cryptocurrencies.

Companies that shuttered their United States operations in the past months, citing regulatory pressure, include Bittrex, Nexo and Unbanked. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said this week that China benefits the most from restrictive crypto policies in the US, but whether this is true or not only time will tell.

Companies are also reviewing their business operations due to increased regulatory scrutiny. Its CEO Chanpeng Zhao said that in response to crypto firms being debanked, Binance has also considered buying a bank in the past months. Now, the crypto exchange is gearing up for a layoff that will boost its compliance and regulatory capabilities.

While the industry digests recent events, FTX’s new management claims that FTX 2.0 could be launched as early as next year, hopefully joining the club of crypto companies attempting to stay in business after November 2022. will join.

This week’s crypto biz also looks at Tether’s bitcoin (BTC) mining operations in Latin America, Tabi’s funding round, and Nvidia’s efforts to power next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) machines.

Buying Banks Won’t Solve Crypto’s Debanking Problem – Binance CEO

Binance is unlikely to buy any banking institutions, but it plans to make minority investments in financial institutions that “hopefully will influence them to be more crypto-friendly,” Zhao told dBank of crypto companies. commented on the growing concern of being The collapse of several US banks in 2023 has raised concerns that the pool of crypto-friendly banks is shrinking. Former major banking partners, Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, have all surrendered this year. The exchange is also reportedly exploring a solution to reduce counterparty risk by allowing institutional clients to hold their trading collateral in a bank rather than on a crypto platform.

Tether moves to bitcoin mining in Uruguay

Stablecoin issuer Tether has announced that it will launch bitcoin mining operations in Uruguay in collaboration with a local licensed company. According to Tether, the venture will use renewable energy sources with the aim of “sustainable” bitcoin mining and plans to hire additional team members. The mining announcement followed Tether’s plan to “regularly allocate up to 15%” of its profits into BTC purchases. Tether cited Uruguay’s ability to generate 94% of its electricity from renewable sources such as wind, solar and hydropower, and its reliable grid. Job listings on its website also suggested expansion into South Africa and Brazil.

Nvidia introduces AI supercomputer to build ChatGPT successor

Nvidia continues to lead the race to develop AI tools and applications as the company revealed plans to release more products. Its CEO Jensen Huang recently unveiled a new AI supercomputer platform called the DGX GH200 that will help tech companies develop a successor to the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT. Big tech firms such as Microsoft, Meta and Alphabet are estimated to be some of the leading users of supercomputer equipment. Also developing its own AI chip is Microsoft, which it claims it intends to tackle with rising development costs both in-house and for OpenAI projects.

BNB NFT marketplace Tabi raises $10M in angel funding

Nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace Tabi, formerly known as Treasureland, has completed a $10 million angel funding round seeded by venture capital firms Animoca Brands, Draper Dragon, HashKey Capital, Infinity Crypto Ventures and UB Capital. With NFT trading and Launchpad features, Tabi converts users’ on-chain activities into “experience points” that can be exchanged for future airdrop rewards and earnings. The protocol also includes a gaming platform that aggregates blockchain game transactions and entertainment. The funds will primarily be used to develop Tabi’s gaming ecosystem and build an on-chain identity protocol.

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