FTX Snubs Celsius and Closes BlockFi Deal, Fundraising Rounds with MoHash and Kyve

Recent reports indicate that FTX walked away from a deal to save Celsius after looking deeply into the state of the latter’s financial record. However, FTX is already finalizing a deal to buy BlockFi for $25 Million. Fundraising rounds continue with MoHash and Kyve, while EU representative reach interim consensus on crypto AML regulations.

FTX Will not Save Celsius

A few days ago, FTX looked to salvage Celsius, a crypto lending firm. According to The Block, FTX chose to walk away from the deal after looking into the lender’s financial records. According to sources who talked to the Block, Celsius had around $2 billion missing from its balance sheet. 

Since freezing the clients’ funds, Celsius has been struggling to survive. Other reports also indicate that the lender refused to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as recommended by its lawyers. The network also appointed advisors like Citigroup and consultants Alvarez and Marsal.

FTX To Buy BlockFi for $25 Million

While FTX chose not to save Celsius, some reports indicate the exchange service provider is keen on working with BlockFi, another top crypto lending giant. CNBC reported that FTX just sealed a deal to purchase BlockFi for $25 million. 

FTX recently lent $250 million to BlockFi amid the lender’s problems. According to PitchBook, BlockFi’s last valuation was $4.8 billion. If FTX has indeed purchased BlockFi at $25 million, that’s 99% below their last valuation. 

MoHash Raises $6 Million in Seed Round

MoHash Protocol completed successful funding round, raising $6 million. According to their press release, @SequoiaIndiaSEA and @QuonaCapital were the Co-leaders of this funding round. However, reports also indicate that @jump, @coinbase, @ledger_prime, @hashed official, and CoinSwitch also invested in this funding round. 

When commenting about this funding round Shailesh Lakhani, the MD for Sequoia India, commented:

“MoHash is bringing real-world assets to DeFi users globally and providing sustainable, uncorrelated, and hard-to-access yields on-chain for the first time… We’ve loved working with them over the past few months, and Sequoia Capital India is thrilled to co-lead this financing.”

The CEO and founder of MoHash also said: 

“MoHash is bringing global liquidity to non-bank lending in high-growth economies. We believe it’s the right rocket fuel that’ll help them double their economies in the coming years.”

Kyve Raises $9 Million in Funding Round

Earlier today, Kyve, a decentralized data storage solution, announced a successful funding round that raised around $9 million. According to the press statement, this funding round was led by @DistributedG. But, according to the reports, other companies like Wicklow Capital, Anagram,  @IOSGVC, Cerulean Ventures, @BCoinvestors, @huobi_incubator, and @MEXC_Global also invested in this funding round which valued the company at $100 million. 

The network’s co-founder Fabian Riewe:

“Decentralized and validated data archiving is the cornerstone of a successful Web3 product because it allows it to scale. The framework KYVE is building across chains allows developers to collect and categorize data from a truly decentralized environment. Instead of relying on centralized snapshots, KYVE Network is powered by decentralized uploaders and validators, therefore respecting the original Web3 ethos.”

A partner at Distributed Global, Herve Bizira said: 

“We are very excited to lead the KYVE round. We believe KYVE will be an essential building block of the crypto industry by providing an ever-growing library of decentralized, cross-chain, and trusted data feeds that any dApp can leverage.”

EU Lawmakers Reach Consensus on Crypto-focused AML Measures

According to recent reports, European Institutions and representatives just reached an interim consensus on AML regulations focused on the crypto space. The reports indicate that crypto companies will be obliged to collect and verify customer identities while reporting any suspicious transactions. 

While the representatives are currently at a consensus, these regulations will still await the approval of the relevant European institutions. However, based on recent developments, crypto transactions will be covered under the European Transfer of Funds Regulation(ToRF) in the future. 

Some European authorities and participants believe that the new rule will link some transfers with criminal activities and find the identity of people participating in such activities.