Crypto Flipsider News – Ankr Gains 50%; BlackRock Bitcoin Trust; Huobi Sells Stake; Ethereum Classic Rally; Zipmex Restores Withdrawal

Read in the Digest:

Ankr (ANKR) rallies 50% after a strategic investment from Binance Labs

BlackRock launches a spot Bitcoin private trust for institutional clients

Huobi Founder to sell $3 billion stake, Bankman-Fried and Justin Sun interested

Ethereum Classic (ETC) cruises to a 4-month high as the merge approaches

Zipmex restores ETH withdrawal, Binance recovers 83% of funds stolen from Curve Finance

Ankr (ANKR) Rallies 50% After a Strategic Investment from Binance Labs

Ankr (ANKR), a Web 3 infrastructure provider, rallied more than 50% in an hour to set a new three-month high after a positive announcement. Although ANKR has been steadily inching upwards since June 18, this is its biggest daily gain.

The 24-hour price chart for Ankr (ANKR). Source: CoinMarketCap

ANKR traded as high as $0.05625 for the first time since May 8. ANKR has gained 80% over the last 30 days, moving the token into the top 100 cryptos ranked by market cap, with $464.5 million.

The rally comes after a strategic investment from Binance’s VC arm – Binance Labs. Ankr is known for building some of the core infrastructures of the BNB Chain and introducing BNB Liquid Staking.

Although the amount of investment remains undisclosed, the proceeds will be used to expand Ankr’s RPC service while building out its Web3 developer suite. This includes Liquid Staking DK, Web3 Gaming SDK, and Application Chains as a Service.

Flipsider:

Ankr’s RPC public domains were recently hijacked by a group of hackers who used them to run phishing attempts on Polygon and Fantom networks.

Why You Should Care

The investment comes just days after Ankr revealed that it had enabled token staking on its infrastructure level and could help expand the service.

BlackRock Launches a Spot Bitcoin Private Trust for Institutional Clients

Asset management titan BlackRock Inc. has launched a spot Bitcoin private trust that will track the performance of Bitcoin, thereby giving its institutional clients in the United States their first direct exposure to BTC.

As per a Thursday blog post, BlackRock explained that the “Blackrock Bitcoin Private Trust” launch comes amidst substantial interest from some institutional clients in how to efficiently and cost-effectively access crypto markets.

The asset manager said the launch was also encouraged by programs aimed at “decarbonizing crypto.” The launch comes just a week after the firm, with over $10 trillion in assets under management, announced a partnership with Coinbase.

In addition to its spot Bitcoin fund, the asset manager said that it is working on how permissioned blockchains, stablecoins, crypto assets, and tokenization can broadly benefit its clients and capital markets.

Flipsider:

Grayscale has yet to have its application for a spot Bitcoin ETF approved, although it first applied in 2017.

Why You Should Care

Even as the crypto sector has been battered by a slump in asset prices, the latest developments underscore how traditional institutions are still interested in the industry.

Huobi Founder to Sell $3 Billion Stake, Bankman-Fried and Justin Sun Interested

Huobi founder, Leon Li, is reportedly planning to sell up to 60% of his stakes in the Seychelles-based crypto exchange in an acquisition deal that could drive the exchange’s valuation above $3 billion.

In a July shareholder meeting, Li reportedly briefed existing investors, including ZhenFund and Sequoia China, of the decision. Depending on the percentage of stakes sold, the deal could be valued at over $1 billion.

The Huobi founder is reportedly in meetings with several international entities concerning the stake sale. Insiders familiar with the deal have stated that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and Tron founder Justin Sun are among the people interested.

Li is said to be looking for “powerful and resourceful” who will place a high value on the Huobi name and put more resources into driving its growth. Although the potential deal has been confirmed by a Huobi representative, they did not provide full details.

Flipsider:

It is unclear whether the stake sale was caused by the crypto market crash and if it will involve Huobi Technology Holdings Ltd, listed in Hong Kong.

Why You Should Care

The possible $3 billion deal, which is said to be completed before the end of this month, could turn out to be one of the largest in the cryptocurrency market.

Ethereum Classic (ETC) Cruises to 4-Month High as the Merge Approaches

Ethereum Classic (ETC), a fork from the original Ethereum blockchain, has rallied to a four-month high, outperforming Ethereum en route to the much anticipated Ethereum mainnet event dubbed the merge.

Ethereum Classic (ETC) has gained 11% in the last 7 days and 202% in the last month to become one of the best-performing cryptos. In the last month, the price of ETC has risen from $13.6 to as high as $44.3.

The 30-day price chart for Ethereum Classic (ETC). Source: CoinMarketCap

Although no longer part of Ethereum, Ethereum Classic’s rally has, in large portions, been sponsored by the much-anticipated merge event that will see Ethereum migrate from a proof-of-work algorithm to a proof-of-stake consensus network.

Ethereum’s transition into PoS would delegate the duties of miners to network validators. As the merge event approaches, Ethereum miners are leaving the network, with many turning back to the Ethereum Classic.

Flipsider:

Ethereum Classic could get competition before the merge, as some Ethereum miners are considering executing another hard fork of the Ethereum blockchain.

Why You Should Care

Ethereum’s (ETH) switch to Proof of Stake is revolutionary not only for the network but for the entire crypto industry.

Zipmex Restores ETH Withdrawal, Binance Recovers 83% of Funds Stolen from Curve Finance

Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Zipmex, which filed for bankruptcy under the weight of the crypto winter, has partially restored user access to balances, allowing users to withdraw 0.08 ETH as of today.

All Ethereum holders on Zipmex will receive 0.08 ETH (about $150) from Zipmex’s Z Wallet to their trade wallets. Zipmex also announced it will restore user access to Bitcoin on August 16, allowing users to withdraw a maximum of 0.0045 BTC (about $110 today).

The world’s biggest crypto exchange, Binance, has announced that it has recovered and frozen around $450,000 (83%) worth of digital assets from the recent Curve Finance front-end hack.

Binance CEO Zhao explained that the exchange tracked and froze the funds after the hacker tried sending them in different ways. According to Zhao, Binance is now working with law enforcement to return the stolen funds to impacted Curve Finance users.