Bitcoin’s Post-Miami Hangover | Inside BlackRock’s Crypto Play

‘CRYPTO COACHELLA’ FAILS TO IMPRESS INVESTORS

Last week’s Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami, where 25,000 people gathered to glorify Satoshi Nakamoto’s invention, may have left attendees feeling extra bullish about the future of the original cryptocurrency. However, absent any major announcements, on Monday bitcoin slipped below $41,000 for the first time in about three weeks. The asset continued to decline, shedding more than 7% over the week, as the March consumer-price index revealed a record high inflation of 8.5%—the highest in four decades. Analysts think the market will remain range-bound in the near future as cryptocurrencies continue to maintain high correlation with the macroeconomic landscape. [Join Forbes CryptoAsset & Blockchain Advisor to read this article]

BLACKROCK EMBRACES STABLECOINS

Gone are the days when BlackRock’s chairman Larry Fink saw bitcoin as an “index of money laundering.” In late March, he wrote that the havoc caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could accelerate the adoption of digital currencies. This week, the world’s largest asset manager, tending some $10 trillion in client funds, has been named the primary cash reserves manager of USD Coin (USDC), a $50 billion digital asset available on blockchains such as Ethereum and Solana and pegged to the value of the U.S. dollar. The news was announced on Wednesday alongside BlackRock’s investment in USDC issuer Circle and a broader strategic partnership between the two. Notably, the investment came from the balance sheet of BlackRock, Inc. itself—the first known such occasion involving digital assets for the firm. The deal signals the seriousness of BlackRock’s crypto ambitions and could boost the role of stablecoins in traditional finance. Additionally, according to BlackRock’s latest earnings call, it is looking at more than just cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, towards asset tokenization and permissioned blockchains.

NORTH KOREAN HACKERS LINKED TO $600 MILLION CRYPTO HEIST

The U.S. Treasury Department has tied the North Korean hacking group Lazarus to the March theft of more than $600 million in cryptocurrency from a software bridge connected to the popular play-to-earn game Axie Infinity. The FBI has labeled Lazarus as a “state-sponsored hacking organization.” Its earliest attacks date back to 2009 and involve high-profile cases like 2014’s breach of Sony Pictures, and a series of attacks on pharmaceutical companies in 2020.

Officials added an Ethereum address tied to the group to its sanctions list on Thursday. As of Friday afternoon, it holds 148,000 ETH or $441 million. The sanctions prohibit U.S. residents and entities from transacting with this address to limit the group’s ability to cash out the funds. Blockchain intelligence firm Elliptic estimated that the attacker had managed to launder 18% of the stolen funds as of April 14.

Source: Forbes Digital Assets, powered by Nomics.  Prices as of 10:00 a.m. on April 15, 2022.

BLOCKCHAIN 50 SPOTLIGHT

Baidu: China’s fourth-largest tech firm has 20,000 developers building (mostly) financial applications on its open-source blockchain. Last year they generated $47 million in revenue, a drop in the bucket for the $15.5 billion (sales) firm, but the future looks bright. In September Baidu won its largest contract to date, a $25 million deal with the government of Tongxiang, a city southwest of Shanghai, to build software to track the supply chain for the roughly $5 billion worth of synthetic fibers used to make clothes in the textile center. Efficiencies from moving its workflow to a shared ledger have already cut lending costs by 50 basis points. Baidu estimates that the blockchain has helped reduce the supply chain’s energy consumption by 17% and could remove 15,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the environment each year.

ELSEWHERE

Crypto Startup Ava Labs Seeks Funds At $5 Billion Valuation [Bloomberg]

Ethereum Merge No Longer Expected In June [CoinDesk]

Yellen: No Evidence Russia Is Bypassing Sanctions With Crypto [The Defiant] 

Steven Ehrlich
Editor 
Forbes CryptoAsset & Blockchain Advisor

Nina Bambysheva
Reporter
Forbes Money & Markets

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