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Solana Remains Favorite of Institutional Investors as Inflows Continue

Solana has recently gained favor with institutional investors, who have seen a sharp increase in the number of inflows the altcoin has recorded. This trend has continued with last week’s numbers showing a significant number of inflows for Solana compared to the likes of Ethereum.

Solana revenues reach $15.5 million

According to data from the latest CoinShares report, flows to Solana last week totaled $15.5 million. This occurred as some altcoins like Ethereum saw outflows during the week. For context, Ethereum outflows reached $7.4 million in the same period.

As a result of the latest round of inflows, Solana’s total assets under management (AuM) reached $74 million. This means that Solana’s AuM is up 47% year-to-date compared to Ethereum, which has fallen steadily this year, rising to $119 million in outflows so far this year.

Cardano is another altcoin that registered inflows during the week, but to a lesser extent. Its inflows were $0.1 million, bringing total assets under management to $24 million, an increase of $6 million so far this year. Other investment products registered $0.9 million, bringing its assets under management to $76 million.

In the same week, Bitcoin once again came out ahead in terms of inflows, with numbers surpassing those of Solana. The leading cryptocurrency recorded inflows of US$55.3 million, bringing its assets under management to US$24.205 billion. The asset’s inflows so far this month currently stand at a staggering $111.9 million.

In the same vein, Bitcoin inflows so far this year have also remained high, with inflows of $315 million so far. This further consolidated its position as the top asset with the most interest from institutional investors so far.

Short positions in Bitcoin were also not left out of the entry trend. Its weekly revenues total $1.6 million, while monthly revenues to date have totaled $4.5 million. Its inflows so far this year amount to $46 million, bringing its assets under management to $99 million. In total, the accumulated wealth from crypto investment products is nearly $33 billion.

“Following recent price appreciation, total assets under management (AuM) has increased 15% from its lows in early September, now totaling almost US$33 billion, the highest point since mid-August,” says the CoinShares report.

CoinShares also notes that the inflows may be related to excitement and anticipation of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approving a Bitcoin spot ETF. However, the numbers are much lower compared to when asset manager BlackRock first announced it had filed for a Spot Bitcoin ETF.

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Estate of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX abruptly bets more than $144 million on Solana (SOL)

Property belonging to now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX was just seen betting more than $144 million on Ethereum (ETH) rival Solana (SOL) as the company’s bankruptcy proceedings unfold.

According to blockchain explorer SolanaFM, the address associated with FTX and its trading arm Alameda Research created a new stake of 5,546,217.04 SOL tokens.

Analysis by pseudonymous on-chain researcher Ashpool suggests that FTX subsequently staked all the tokens through Figment, a digital asset staking service built for institutions. According to Figment, Robinhood, Binance.US and Anchorage Digital are also betting on the platform.

On Solana, bettors currently earn around 7% APY (annual percentage yield), depending on the betting platform, and rewards are distributed every two to three days.

FTX ownership already owns roughly $1 billion in Solana, but much of it is locked up until 2028 as part of its vesting schedule agreement.

Solana co-creator Anatoly Yakovenko said last month that if he had the power, he would prefer FTX’s SOL tokens to be given directly to customers of the failed exchange as part of a compensation plan.

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Securitization of companies beyond the US, extends tokenized coins to the UK

Securitize, a US-based blockchain company known for its expertise in tokenizing real-world assets, has expanded its operations to Europe.

The company entered the specialized sandbox of the General Secretariat of the Treasury and International Finance of Spain for digital asset values. Consequently, Securitize began issuing tokens representing shares in Mancipi Partners, a Spanish real estate investment fund.

Tokenization involves converting conventional financial assets, such as stocks and bonds, into digital tokens and issuing them on a blockchain platform.

This marks its first European trial, allowing Securitize to demonstrate its capabilities in the European market. Carlos Domingo, co-founder of Securitize, stated:

   Securitize is now the first company to be able to issue and trade tokenized securities in the US and Europe, and is the first company to do so under the new EU pilot regime for digital assets.

Securitize considers Spain’s sandbox environment key

Under supervised conditions, the Spanish General Secretariat of the Treasury and International Finance has approved the company to implement digital asset securities for a select group of companies and investors. According to the press release, this approval represents a recent achievement for Securitize in the European market.

Securitize views the Spain sandbox as a crucial milestone, allowing the company to conduct real-world testing before acquiring the necessary licenses.

After a period of six months, the company obtains the approval of the European Union Pilot Regime, which allows Securitize to proceed with the issuance, management and trading of tokenized securities in Spain and the EU in general.

The shares have been tokenized on the Avalanche blockchain, and secondary trading of these tokenized shares is expected to begin in September.

In May, the firm partnered with asset management firm Hamilton Lane to increase investor exposure by offering tokenized securities.

Amparo García Flores, CEO of Securitize Europe Brokerage And Markets, mentioned:

   This is not just theoretical work; we are showing that what we have in the US is viable in Europe. This means we can open up our market on both sides of the Atlantic, effectively doubling the size of our business and the opportunities for issuers in Europe that previously did not have the same opportunities as their US peers.

In the US, the company offers a range of services that cover the entire lifecycle of a security token. These services include issuance, capital increase, dividend distribution, shareholder meetings, redemptions and facilitation of securities trading in the secondary market.

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Slovak Parliament Approves Cryptocurrency Tax Cut

The Slovak parliament voted on June 28 to approve a change that will reduce personal income tax on profits made from the sale of cryptocurrencies that the user has owned for at least one year. Click here for more information on cryptocurrency trading.

Taxes will be cut from the current sliding scale of 19% or 25% to 7%, a significant reduction. Cryptocurrency payments of up to 2,400 euros, or about $2,622.20, will not be taxed.

More tax breaks for cryptocurrency users in Slovakia

Additionally, the bill that was voted on exempts cryptocurrency income from a 14% contribution to health insurance.

A local Slovak media reported that the Ministry of Finance believes that the amendment will have a financial impact of around 30 million euros per year. A few weeks ago, the parliament approved another constitutional amendment that codified the right of citizens to use cash as a form of payment in light of the discussion on a digital euro.

Slovakia is one of the 27 nations that make up the European Union, which has been actively working on regulating the cryptocurrency market. On May 31, the EU passed its landmark Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulations, as previously reported here. The rules were developed with the intention of making Europe a hub for trading digital assets.

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Payments Giant PayPal Invests in New Crypto Wallet Software to Boost Web3 Adoption

Payments giant PayPal is investing millions in Magic, the San Francisco-based crypto wallet company, in its latest venture into the digital asset space.

According to Magic’s press release, the wallet-as-a-service (WaaS) provider has raised $52 million in a strategic funding round led by PayPal Ventures.

According to Alan Du, partner at PayPal Ventures,

“Mass adoption of Web3 is a hot topic, and Magic is facilitating it with a simple and secure solution. discover Web3. We are proud to invest in Magic and are confident that the company will help increase the number of use cases for Web3 among global brands.”

The funding round also included investments from Cherubic, Synchrony, KX, Northzone and Volt Capital, bringing the total amount raised by Magic to $80 million, according to the release.

Magic, a 2018 tech startup, provides a non-custodial crypto wallet infrastructure for companies that want to give their customers a simple and secure Web3 experience.

The company uses a unique Software Development Kit (SDK) which is implemented to allow customers to instantly create wallets using their existing email, social media accounts or SMS. To date, Magic has created more than 20 million unique wallets, according to the release.

Current Magic customers include several branded companies, including Mattel, Macy’s, Xsolla, and Immutable.

Magic co-founder Sean Li said the funding will allow the company to expand its presence in the European Union (EU) and Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

says Li,

“With this new funding, we are focused on expanding functionality and growing use cases to continue to deliver more value to our customers. We also look forward to achieving deeper integration in the EU and APAC.”

Paypal’s recent filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows that the company held approximately $604 million in digital assets, including $291 million in Bitcoin (BTC) and $250 million in Ethereum (ETH), in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Last December, they also announced a partnership with cryptocurrency firm ConsenSys to integrate PayPal with MetaMask, one of the most popular cryptocurrency wallets in the world.

In April, PayPal-owned Venmo announced plans to allow its more than 70 million users to transfer cryptocurrency to other Venmo users, as well as move digital assets to wallets and external exchanges.