Latest news with #DeFi
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
BlackRock Mulling 10% Stake in Circle's IPO, Joining ARK as Potential Buyer: Bloomberg
BlackRock Inc. is considering acquiring roughly 10% of the shares offered in Circle's upcoming initial public offering (IPO), Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The IPO filing, made public on Tuesday, lays out plans to offer 24 million Class A shares — 9.6 million from Circle and 14.4 million from existing stakeholders. According to the filing, Cathie Wood's ARK Investment Management has expressed interest in buying up to $150 million worth of the IPO shares. The shares are expected to be priced between $24 and $26, and will be trading under the ticker 'CRCL'. BlackRock's potential involvement, though significant, is still up in the air. Bloomberg reported that it remains unclear whether BlackRock would invest directly or via an affiliated vehicle, and that it could ultimately walk away from the deal. BlackRock didn't immediately respond to CoinDesk's request for comment. The asset management giant already maintains a close relationship with Circle. It manages the Circle Reserve Fund, a government money market fund that holds 90% of the reserves backing Circle's USDC stablecoin. USDC is one of the largest dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies, used widely across crypto trading and DeFi protocols. If BlackRock follows through, the move would mark another major entry point for traditional finance into the digital asset space, further entrenching stablecoins like USDC in the broader financial system. The IPO would make Circle one of the few large crypto-native firms to go public in the U.S. after a long lull in public market debuts from the sector. Circle previously attempted to go public via a SPAC merger in 202, which was subsequently scrapped. Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Connamara Technologies EP3® Powers Innovative DeFi Market for Figure Markets
AUSTIN, Texas, May 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Connamara Technologies, the leader in fully-integrated end-to-end exchange technology, is pleased to announce that its EP3® exchange infrastructure solution is the technology choice of Figure Markets, a leader in decentralized finance. Figure Markets successfully launched its innovative DeFi marketplace on March 20, 2024. Figure Markets is Building the Exchange for Everything Figure Markets is democratizing finance through the blockchain by building an exchange for everything - a decentralized custody marketplace for crypto, stocks, bonds, credit and more. The exchange combines leverage, margining, and liquidity with extensive borrowing options and unique investment opportunities. Decentralized custody ensures that exchange members have control of their own assets and data. In February 2025, Figure Markets launched the first interest-bearing transferable stablecoin (YLDS) native to a public blockchain, registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. EP3 is Powering a New Breed of Exchanges EPS is a cloud-first, end-to-end exchange and clearing solution seamlessly integrating all key functions into a single, robust platform, including market access, market-data distribution, order matching and execution, exchange operations and administration, risk management, market surveillance, regulatory reporting, clearing, and settlement. It is purpose-built for the next generation of exchanges and marketplaces, with technology that is quick-to-market, cost-accessible, and easily adaptable to traditional asset classes as well as new asset classes. These include equities, futures, crypto, tokenized assets, events, sports, and more. EP3 is powering exchanges around the globe, including predictions exchange ForecastEx (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Interactive Brokers), Brazilian tokenized equities exchange BEE4, and digital assets infrastructure platform ZeroHash. Figure Markets Head of Product - Exchange Randy Myers: "We're impressed by Connamara's ability to meet our exacting requirements with EP3 and deliver customized exchange technology tailored to our self-custody model. As Figure Markets expands its product offerings and customer base, we expect to lean on EP3 to help accelerate our growth." Connamara Technologies CEO Jim Downs: "It's a privilege to work with the team at Figure Markets. They are a team of professionals that are bridging the gap between DeFI and TradFi. We are grateful for their trust. We've enjoyed the challenge of working together to build this exciting new marketplace and look forward to witnessing their continued success." About Connamara Technologies and EP3 Connamara Technologies is the only provider of end-to-end, cloud-first fully-integrated exchange infrastructure technology, empowering new and existing exchanges to operate with exceptional efficiency and reliability via its EP3 exchange and clearing platform. Engineered for the evolving needs of the next generation of exchanges and marketplaces, EP3 is shaping the future of financial markets. About Figure Markets Figure Markets is democratizing finance through blockchain. The company is building the exchange for everything - a decentralized custody marketplace for crypto, stocks, bonds, credit, and more. By offering best-in-class leverage, margin trading, and liquidity, Figure Markets provides members with extensive borrowing options and unique investment opportunities. With its decentralized custody exchange, it puts members in control of their own assets and data, disintermediating legacy brokers, exchanges and lenders. Figure Markets is backed by leading venture capital firms and strategic partners, including Jump Crypto, Pantera, Distributed Global, Faction Lightspeed, NewForm Capital and CMT Digital. Figure Markets was founded by a seasoned team of entrepreneurs and operators from TradFi, fintech, and DeFi, including Mike Cagney and June Ou. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the foregoing securities. Registration with the SEC means that the SEC has made the offering effective. The SEC has not approved or disapproved these securities, nor have they passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this offering. For more information about Figure Markets, visit For more information about Connamara, visit View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Connamara Technologies
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Ether Favored Over Bitcoin by Big Money, Here Are 3 Clues That Point to ETH Bias in Crypto Market
The futures and options market, a proxy for big money, is increasingly backing ether ETH over bitcoin BTC in a major market shift. Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization, recently reached record highs of over $ 110,000. According to CoinDesk data, the cryptocurrency has gained over 16% this year, drawing strength from the macroeconomic factors and persistent inflows into the spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds. Meanwhile, ether has dropped 20% this year despite its parent blockchain, Ethereum, maintaining its pole position in the decentralized finance (DeFi) and tokenization markets. The performance gap, however, may be closed in the near term as the following indicator shows a growing bullish bias for ether. Options listed on Deribit show a stronger bullish positioning for ether relative to bitcoin. Options are derivative contracts that give the purchaser the right but not the obligation to buy the underlying asset at a predetermined price on or before a specific date. A call option gives the right to buy and represents a bullish bet on the market, while a put option provides protection against price drops. As of writing, both BTC and ETH's 25-delta risk reversals, a measure of sentiment derived by examining the difference in implied volatility (demand) between calls and puts, were positive, reflecting a bias towards call options. However, ETH risk reversals were more expensive than BTC. In other words, traders were relatively more bullish on ether compared to bitcoin. The notional open interest in CME bitcoin futures, which represents the dollar value of the number of active contracts, has risen by roughly 70% to over $17 billion since the early April crash, according to data source Velo. The growth, however, has stalled above $17 billion over the past seven days. The CME is considered a proxy for institutional activity. Meanwhile, ether's open interest has jumped 186% to $3.15 billion since the early April crash. The growth has accelerated over the past two weeks. The diverging trends show institutions are increasingly leaning toward ether. The bias for ETH is also evident from the relative richness of premiums in ether futures. As of the time of writing, one-month Ether futures boasted an annualized premium of 10.5%, the highest since January, according to Velo. Meanwhile, bitcoin futures premium was 8.74%. Elevated premiums indicate optimism and strong buying interest, often signaling a bullish trend. Therefore, the relative richness of ether futures premium suggests traders are more bullish on ETH compared to BTC. After all, ether is still 84% short of record highs reached during the 2021 bull run. There is also a possibility that the BTC's basis may have been held lower by cash and carry arbitrage (non-directional) traders. A similar divergence is observed on offshore exchanges, where annualized funding rates, representing the cost of holding long positions in ETH perpetual futures, has neared the 8% mark. Meanwhile, BTC's funding rates hold below 5%.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
DeFi Platform Cork Protocol Suffers $12M Smart Contract Exploit
Decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Cork Protocol has suffered a smart contract exploit, with hackers reportedly stealing $12 million worth of wrapped staked ether (wstETH). Blockchain security monitor Cyvers noticed the exploit, stating that the malicious contract was deployed by a wallet likely funded by a service provider. It added that $12 million worth of wstETH was quickly swapped for ETH. Cork Protocol received investments from a16z crypto and OrangeDAO in September 2024. "There was a security incident affecting the wstETH:weETH market at 11:23 UTC today," Cork wrote on X. Cork added that it has paused all other markets as a precaution and that it is investigating the root cause. Security auditing company Debaub wrote that the attacker likely manipulated an issue with the smart contact's exchange rate by issuing fake tokens. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Polygon Labs and market maker GSR launch DeFi-focused blockchain
Polygon Labs became a darling of the 2021 and 2022 crypto boom when it partnered with corporate stalwarts like Starbucks and Meta on various blockchain projects. But, as those brand-name companies quietly dropped their experiments amid the ensuing 'Crypto Winter,' Polygon Labs searched for other ways to popularize its network. On Wednesday, the company, along with the crypto market making firm GSR, announced the launch of the newest blockchain it's helped incubate: Katana. Instead of catering towards corporate clients, Katana is aimed at 'degens'—crypto slang for traders with a high appetite for risk who often use DeFi, or decentralized finance, platforms. Those platforms offer decentralized versions of traditional banking services like lending and borrowing. Rather than borrowing money from JPMorgan Chase, for example, DeFi users borrow from a decentralized pool of funds fronted by other crypto traders. Katana is the latest sign from Polygon Labs, founded in 2017 and one of the marquee companies of the last crypto cycle, that the firm is more explicitly focusing on crypto traders rather than brand names. Polygon's tie-ups with Meta, which focused on NFTs, and Starbucks, which built out a blockchain-based loyalty program, attracted widespread acclaim from the crypto industry in 2022. But, in 2023 and 2024, the two Fortune 500 companies abandoned their experiments with the blockchain company, respectively. Since then, Polygon Labs has built out its DeFi team, and Marc Boiron, the CEO of the company, has even branded himself 'the degen CEO' on X. 'The key is: What are people actually doing on chain, rather than what looks good because it's a big name?' Boiron told Fortune. And what users are doing 'on chain,' or on blockchains, are trading, lending, and borrowing. To that end, Katana has brought on Morpho, a decentralized borrowing and lending protocol; Sushi, which lets users swap and buy cryptocurrencies; and Vertex, an application for trading crypto futures, or bets on the upcoming prices of cryptocurrencies. Boiron said that Katana's biggest differentiator is how it prioritizes its core DeFi applications over competitors. On other blockchains, user funds may be split, for example, across several competing lending and borrowing applications. When funds are divided, users face markets where prices rise or fall abruptly in a matter of seconds. Katana, a layer-2 blockchain on Ethereum, aims to combat this through incentivizing only a handful of DeFi applications in its ecosystem. To do this, the blockchain will distribute fees generated from users on the protocol back to the users of its preferred DeFi applications—among other incentives. The blockchain is currently open to select users and will go public in late June. This story was originally featured on
