Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s former Chief Executive Officer, led a $6 million fundraising round for Azteco, a bitcoin (BTC) voucher supplier demonstrating his continuous commitment to driving developments in the cryptocurrency sector.
Azteco, founded in 2014, claims to have discovered a significant imbalance in worldwide banking access, with over 2 billion smartphone users unable to access standard financial services.
According to a Bloomberg story on Friday, digital asset financial services business HashKey Group intends to raise financing at a $1 billion valuation. According to people familiar with the situation, HashKey is in preliminary talks to raise between $100 million and $200 million.
Let’s catch up with this and other updates across the cryptocurrency space in this roundup.
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Bitpay Ceases Prepaid Mastercard Program
Bitpay, an Atlanta-based cryptocurrency payments startup, has discontinued its prepaid Mastercard program, rendering the card inoperable for Bitpay Mastercard customers after the deadline.
Bitpay announced the news in a series of explanatory tweets on May 18, 2023, and emailed cardholders. The business has chosen June 1, 2023, as the final day for card loading, urging consumers to cancel any recurring payments associated with the prepaid card.
Bitpay has declared that the card’s final day of operation will be June 15, 2023, after which it will no longer work.
MicroStrategy Looking at Bitcoin Ordinals for App Development
MicroStrategy co-founder and executive chairman Michael Saylor stated that the company is not only aware of Ordinals but is also interested in how the protocol that has enraged the Bitcoin community might lead to software innovation.
Saylor told Decrypt exclusively at Bitcoin 2023 in Miami that the software firm is looking at Ordinals and evaluating its possibilities for application development.
Ordinals, frequently used to create NFT-like assets on top of Bitcoin, debuted in January, and the protocol, while not universally accepted by the Bitcoin community, has sparked a fresh wave of experimentation with crypto’s oldest coin.
One recent invention that leverages Ordinals is an experimental framework for generating tokens on top of Bitcoin. Domo, a pseudonymous on-chain data aficionado, pioneered it in early March. Thousands of other so-called BRC-20 tokens have been generated since then.
The discussion surrounding Ordinals is critical, Saylor said, because “Bitcoin miners have to be successful over the long term.” He added that developing applications building on Bitcoin’s functionality could also bolster the coin’s overall adoption among individuals, firms, and governments.
Saylor didn’t specifically say what use cases MicroStrategy could be looking into that tap Ordinals. Still, he noted the ability to commit data to Bitcoin’s blockchain that isn’t solely related to transactions has many potential applications.
“The whole idea of burning a piece of data on the blockchain opens the door to the possibility that I might burn a digital signature, or I might burn a registration, or I might burn a hash of a document,” Saylor said.
Twitter Co-founder Dorsey Leads $6M Investment in Azteco
Jack Dorsey has led a $6 million funding round for Azteco, a provider of bitcoin (BTC) vouchers, highlighting the Twitter co-founder and Block CEO’s continued commitment to driving advancements in the cryptocurrency landscape.
Azteco, established in 2014, uncovered a significant disparity in global banking access, with over 2 billion smartphone users lacking regular financial services.
To address this, Azteco says it devised a practical solution by harnessing the potential of Bitcoin as a cost-effective and secure alternative. The company says its technology enables the unbanked population to store value, engage in transactions, and access credit without requiring a traditional bank account.
HashKey Group Looks to Raise $200M at $1B Valuation
According to a Bloomberg report on Friday, digital asset financial services firm HashKey Group is planning to raise funds at a $1 billion valuation.
According to the report, the Asia-based HashKey is in preliminary talks to raise between $100 million and $200 million, citing people familiar with the matter.
The startup hopes to profit from Hong Kong’s recent re-emergence as a potential crypto hub as the city works to provide a clear regulatory framework for digital assets.
Following a few years of COVID-related limitations taking their toll on the economy, Hong Kong is aiming to entice crypto companies to its shores to generate more investment and cash.
HashKey was one of the first firms to be certified by Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) to operate a virtual asset trading platform, and it recently announced plans to launch a regulated exchange in the second quarter of this year.
That is all from us this week. See you same time next week!
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