Ben Strack

This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">subscribe</a>.



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Industry insiders have predicted <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-ipos-bringing-back-retail">more crypto IPOs</a> in 2025. In a possible preview, today we saw a segment player uplisted to a major exchange.



Shares of crypto wallet provider Exodus became available on the NYSE American stock exchange Wednesday. It was a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/exodus-wallet-post-election-check-in">“finally” moment</a> for the company, which had prepared for this in May before an unexpected <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/05/09/2878404/0/en/Listing-of-Exodus-Class-A-Common-Stock-Delayed-by-NYSE-American.html">delay</a>.



Exodus considers itself “a pure-play crypto company” at a time when more investors seek exposure.



CFO James Gertneztke said access to capital markets could be helpful for product and marketing initiatives, or for buying other companies.&nbsp;



The focus in 2025 is to launch and (extend the reach of) products that bridge the TradFi-crypto gap (i.e. passkeys and XO Swap), he noted.



“We have a large warchest already so this is not necessarily an immediate impact,” Gertneztke said of the capital markets access. Part of that warchest he’s referring to is a treasury comprising 1900 BTC and 2,660 ETH.&nbsp;



Exodus has held bitcoin since its 2015 founding. The company receives most of its revenue in BTC and USDC; revenues linked to its exchange aggregator processing record volume in Q4 helped Exodus recently add <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/company-treasuries-btc-reserve-asset">100 BTC to its treasury</a>.



“We have no debt, so our holdings are not ‘levered,’” the CFO added. 



The company’s BTC holdings might seem small relative to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/microstrategy-bitcoin-bet">MicroStrategy’s</a> (439,000 BTC). But 1,900 BTC (currently worth ~$200 million) is nothing to sneeze at, and corporate <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/marathon-buying-btc-momentum">BTC buying sprees</a> seem poised to continue.



Gertneztke, indeed, made it clear to me: “We don’t plan on stopping in the new year.”



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A long-awaited NYSE American listing

<div id="highlights-block_62b0c1e09a8ea" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>ProShares launched the first bitcoin futures ETF in the US in October</li>
 <li>Horizons ETFs Management’s BetaPro Inverse Bitcoin ETF on the Toronto Stock Exchange is up roughly 80% year to date</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Looking to profit from an extended downturn in cryptocurrency markets, an ETF that bets against bitcoin is set to start trading Tuesday in the US.



Run by fund issuer ProShares, the Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITI) is designed to deliver the inverse of the performance of the S&amp;P CME Bitcoin Futures Index via bearish bitcoin futures. The company is dubbing it the first short-bitcoin ETF in the US.



The company is also set to launch a mutual fund, the Short Bitcoin Strategy ProFund (BITIX). Neither fund will invest in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies directly.



The launches come as bitcoin traded just below the key resistance level of $20,000 on Monday at 2:30 pm ET, reflecting a drop of nearly 60% so far this year — and about 30% in the last month.



“As recent times have shown, bitcoin can drop in value,” ProShares CEO Michael Sapir said in a statement. “BITI affords investors who believe that the price of bitcoin will drop with an opportunity to potentially profit or to hedge their cryptocurrency holdings.”



Canada-based Horizons ETFs Management launched the <a href="https://www.horizonsetfs.com/ETF/BITI" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BetaPro Inverse Bitcoin ETF</a> on the Toronto Stock Exchange in April 2021. The fund, which has $45 million in assets, was up roughly 80% year to date.



“This ETF isn’t exactly launching at the best time, given that bitcoin has already experienced significant carnage,” said Nate Geraci, president of The ETF Store, of the ProShares offering. “That said, I expect this product to find an audience among traders looking to play the high-volatility nature of bitcoin.”



Sapir said the company now allows investors to express their view on the direction of bitcoin in more ways than one.



The ETF issuer, which manages about $56 billion, was the first in the US to bring to market an ETF focused on bitcoin futures. The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), which launched last October, gathered roughly $1 billion in assets within <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/first-bitcoin-futures-etf-nears-1b-on-first-day-of-trading/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">its first day of trading</a>. The fund is down about 30% in the last 30 days and 56% since the beginning of 2022. 



Amplify Investments’ Transformational Data Sharing ETF (BLOK), the largest blockchain ETF in the US with about $540 million in assets, is down 54% so far this year and about 15% in the past month.



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ProShares To Launch First US ETF That’s Bearish on Bitcoin

Jack Kubinec

<div id="highlights-block_62acd57cc3cf4" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Executives remain mostly shielded from crypto&#8217;s job squeeze</li>
 <li>Deep-pocketed traditional and decentralized finance firms announce job openings as struggling crypto firms make cuts</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Decentralized trading platform Uniswap Labs brought on Stacy Cunningham, former president of the New York Stock Exchange, as an adviser this week. The company hopes Cunningham’s experience in the top echelons of traditional finance will bring insight to the protocol.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Excited to bring my years (decades?!) of exchange experience to <a href="https://twitter.com/haydenzadams?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@haydenzadams</a> and the <a href="https://twitter.com/Uniswap?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Uniswap</a> team to advance their mission of democratizing new markets. <a href="https://t.co/eS4X10sH9E">https://t.co/eS4X10sH9E</a>&mdash; Stacey Cunningham (@stacey_cunning) <a href="https://twitter.com/stacey_cunning/status/1537129387585331200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 15, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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CoinFund appointed Margaret Gabriel as the firm’s head of talent. Gabriel will lead CoinFund’s talent acquisition program and will advise the firm’s portfolio companies on new hires. Gabriel previously worked in recruitment roles at Gemini and Google.&nbsp;



Crypto payment service BitPay made Allison Raley its chief compliance officer. The hire comes as Congress <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/congress-mulling-stablecoin-regulation-after-terra-crash/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">weighs</a> crypto regulation amid widespread decentralized finance (DeFi) liquidity issues. After receiving her law degree from Baylor University, Raley previously worked in digital asset compliance for an Arkansas law firm.



Kraken Product Manager Pierre Rochard has informed the company of his retirement. Rochard, who was with the exchange for almost three years, <a href="https://twitter.com/pierre_rochard/status/1537084282778357762?s=20&amp;t=-CMwToXnLDuP4dkmhV6fFQ" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">insisted</a> on Twitter that his departure will allow him “to spend more time with family” and is not related to dysfunctional company culture recently <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/15/technology/kraken-crypto-culture.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a> by The New York Times.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">No 😂. Huge fan of Jesse, Kraken, and the culture there, an excellent team of builders I enjoyed working with. I’ll miss them a lot. I’m stepping aside to spend more time with family and enable a new product leader to take bitcoin and Lightning at Kraken to the next level.&mdash; Pierre Rochard (@pierre_rochard) <a href="https://twitter.com/pierre_rochard/status/1537084282778357762?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 15, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/job-security-a-growing-concern-as-crypto-companies-continue-layoffs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Layoffs</a> abounded in the crypto industry last week — with <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-com-cutting-5-of-workforce-amid-digital-asset-downturn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Crypto.com</a>, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/cryptocurrency-lender-blockfi-set-to-cut-staff-by-a-fifth/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BlockFi</a>, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/coinbase-cut-workforce-ceo-wary-of-potential-recession/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Coinbase</a> and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/gemini-joins-growing-list-of-crypto-exchanges-cutting-staff-amid-downturn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gemini</a>, among others, announcing staff cuts — but several of the space’s largest funds have so far avoided downsizing and are publicizing new job openings. 



Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao tweeted that the trading platform is looking to hire 2,000 new employees, and Kraken <a href="https://blog.kraken.com/post/14372/kraken-announces-global-hiring-push-and-commitment-to-crypto-first-culture/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wrote</a> in a blog post that the company is hoping to fill 500 positions by the end of 2022. FTX, OpenSea, Everstake, Polygon and Ripple all also indicated they are looking to bring on new employees.



Traditional finance firms are opening their doors to some of crypto’s recently fired. Deloitte has listed 144 crypto-adjacent job openings, while CashApp and Jack Dorsey’s Block are also looking to fill dozens of crypto positions, according to research from CryptoJobsList.com.&nbsp;



Layoffs are expected to continue as the market slides, but firms with the resources to weather the crypto winter will benefit from an expanding pool of available labor.



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Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.



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Latest in Crypto Hiring: Firms Fill High-profile Roles as Layoffs Continue

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_62054187f5ffd" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>“Web2 had a profound impact on the media sector and…we believe that Web3 may have an equally important role to play in the future of journalism and publishing,” a Binance spokesperson told Blockworks</li>
 <li>This deal is another example of crypto companies’ growing presence in the mainstream market</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Binance, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, has committed a $200 million strategic investment into global media company Forbes.



“First and foremost, this is a financial investment in the media industry,” a Binance spokesperson told Blockworks. “Web2 had a profound impact on the media sector and, at Binance, we believe that Web3 may have an equally important role to play in the future of journalism and publishing.”



As a part of the investment, Patrick Hillmann, chief communications officer at Binance, and Bill Chin, head of Binance Labs’ venture capital arm, are expected to join Forbes’ board of directors this quarter after the transaction is closed.



Forbes was founded in September 1917 and is almost 105 years old. It’s well known for its Forbes 30 Under 30 list as well as its billionaires list, which tracks the wealthiest people in the world.



Binance’s Founder and CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao ranked <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/changpeng-zhao/?sh=6ccd10df6277" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">22nd</a> on Forbes’ “Singapore’s 50 Richest” list in August 2021, with a $1.9 billion net worth at the time. However, estimates differ; as of last month, Zhao’s net worth was estimated at $96 billion, according to the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-01-09/binance-ceo-cz-s-net-worth-billionaire-holds-world-s-biggest-crypto-fortune" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bloomberg Billionaires Index</a>.



“As Web3 and blockchain technologies move forward, and the crypto market comes of age, we know that media is an essential element to build widespread consumer understanding and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/binance-us-new-risk-officer-crypto-industry-must-educate-regulators/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">education</a>,” Zhao said in a press release. “We look forward to bolstering Forbes’ Digital initiatives, as they evolve into a next level investment insights platform.”



Binance began in 2017 and quickly scaled to become the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world by volume, <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/rankings/exchanges/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data</a> from CoinMarketCap shows. On Thursday, Binance had $19.51 billion in 24-hour volume, over five times the volume of the second-largest exchange, Coinbase, which had $3.46 billion.



Forbes has sought out $400 million of capital through private placement as part of its <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbespr/2021/08/26/forbes-to-become-public-company-through-business-combination-with-special-purpose-acquisition-company-magnum-opus/?sh=a5b8437320eb" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">plans</a> from August 2021 to go public with Magnum Opus, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Binance will account for half of that commitment.



The media conglomerate is expected to go public this quarter on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker FRBS. The shift to the public sector will help Forbes capitalize on its digital transformation, use technology and data-driven insights to further engage audiences and have high recurring revenue streams, it said.



This deal is another example of crypto companies becoming more mainstream. In recent months, a wave of partnerships between crypto firms and sports teams or celebrities inundated the market. Binance itself <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/binance-hires-nba-star-to-warn-against-celebrity-ads/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hired</a> NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler to warn crypto users not to listen to celebrities.



On Wednesday, the Washington Nationals Major League Baseball team partnered with Terra, while Crypto.com shared its plans to sponsor what will be known as the Formula One Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix in May, Blockworks <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/washington-nationals-latest-pro-sports-team-to-strike-crypto-deal/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.



The Binance stake in Forbes, however, is the first major crypto investment into a US media firm.



Binance is no stranger to ambitious investment sums. In 2020, it put up <a href="https://www.binance.org/en/accelerator" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$100 million</a> to support projects on its Binance Smart Chain with an accelerator fund, and in October 2021, it created a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/binance-creates-1b-fund-to-accelerate-crypto-adoption/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$1 billion fund</a> to accelerate crypto adoption more broadly.



“With Binance’s investment in Forbes, we now have the experience, network and resources of the world’s leading crypto exchange and one of the world’s most successful blockchain innovators,” Mike Federle, CEO of Forbes, said in a statement.&nbsp;



Federle added that Forbes can become a “true leader” in the emerging world of digital assets with Binance’s help.



Forbes was not available for immediate comment on Thursday.



This story was updated on Feb. 10, 2022, at 12:29 pm ET.



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Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.



Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter</a>.



Get alpha directly in your inbox with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">0xResearch newsletter</a> — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.



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Binance Invests $200M in Forbes to Bring Web3 to Journalism

<div id="highlights-block_61a6ac6d3f593" class="highlights">
 
</div>


<div id="highlights-block_61a6ad343f594" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Ohio-based self-mining company plans to have 734 megawatts of operational power by 2023</li>
 <li>Merged businesses expected to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker GRDI</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Adit EdTech Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), is set to acquire bitcoin self-miner Griid Holdco, the companies revealed Tuesday.



The planned transaction values the combined company, including debt. The mining company will receive $246 million in cash from Adit EdTech’s trust account after the deal is finalized and anticipates its fiscal year 2023 revenue to hit $1.6 billion, it said.&nbsp;



Griid Holdco is the parent company of Cincinnati, Ohio-based Griid Infrastructure (GRIID), a bitcoin-focused self-mining company. Adit EdTech is a publicly listed SPAC focused on mergers, asset acquisition and reorganization. It is sponsored by its affiliate Adit Ventures, an investment adviser firm.&nbsp;



GRIID and Adit EdTech did not immediately return Blockworks’ request for comment.



GRIID <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/blockchain-com-gives-bitcoin-mining-infrastructure-company-griid-525m-credit/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">secured a $525 million credit facility</a> from Blockchain.com last week to help it scale its capabilities, bring on additional mining capacities and build upon its available power. 



“GRIID’s focus on utilizing next-generation computing power for more efficient clean power utilization and grid management demonstrates the broader economic potential of green infrastructure,” Eric Munson, Adit’s founder and managing partner, said in a statement.&nbsp;



GRIID owns and operates carbon-free energy infrastructure and bitcoin mining facilities across the US. It has about 1,300 megawatts (MW) of power, the company reported, and plans to have 734 MW of that power operational by 2023.



“There are a couple other SPACs that have announced deals with bitcoin miners and the deals haven’t closed yet, so this will be like a third one, which may be more than people really want,” Blockworks’ Market Strategist Byron Gilliam said. “But I think it’s good to have as many listed options as possible because lots of asset managers can’t buy crypto directly, so the more listed options you have the better.”



Crypto mining platform <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/crypto-mining-platform-bitdeer-go-public-through-4-bln-spac-merger-2021-11-18/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bitdeer</a> went public earlier this month through a $4 billion SPAC merger with blank-check firm Blue Safari Group Acquisition Corp. That deal came after crypto mining company Core Scientific announced its merger with a SPAC backed by <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/blackrock-ceo-sees-huge-opportunities-in-digital-currency/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BlackRock</a> in July.



Upon closing the proposed acquisition, GRIID and Adit EdTech are expected to operate as Griid Infrastructure Inc. and be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker GRDI. 



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



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Griid Infrastructure Plans NYSE Listing Through Adit EdTech Acquisition

<div id="highlights-block_60e89182c6c76" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Bullish preparing release of crypto exchange that will provide portfolio balancing tools, deep predictable liquidity</li>
 <li>CEO of Block.one, which gave Bullish initial capital injection in May, to serve as company’s chairman</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Digital assets firm Bullish announced plans on Friday to become a public company through a merger with Far Peak Acquisition Corporation, a SPAC led by former New York Stock Exchange president Thomas Farley.



Farley, who led NYSE as president from 2013 to 2018, will become the CEO of Bullish upon completion of the deal. Block.one CEO Brendan Blumer, will be appointed the company’s chairman.



The transaction, approved by the director boards of Bullish and Far Peak, is expected to close by the end of the year, and the combination’s equity value at signing is roughly $9 billion at $10 per share. Proceeds include $300 million in private investment in public equity, or PIPE, commitments from EFM Asset Management, as well as funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Cryptology Asset Group and Galaxy Digital.



Donald Putnam, a managing partner at principal investing firm Grail Partners, told Blockworks that this is a situation tailor-made for a SPAC merger, adding that the PIPE participants provide important validation as well as funding.



“It’s a story stock, and the story is about the future, not the past,” Putnam explained. “At the moment, SPACs have a decided advantage when it comes to growth company funding – they compete brilliantly with private equity investors, at much lower cost and vastly better transparency.”



Bullish is preparing to launch a crypto exchange with portfolio balancing tools and deep predictable liquidity that will serve both retail and institutional investors, the firm said in a news release. Farley said in a statement that the increased interest from institutional players and sophisticated traders in crypto makes it critical to iterating on the existing exchange infrastructures.



In a survey by Arcane Research published last month, institutional market participants labeled reliability of technology, depth of liquidity and low latency, and certainty of execution as the three most important factors when selecting a cryptocurrency trading venue.



&#8220;We view the cryptocurrency market as a high growth market that is large, profitable, and filled with opportunities,” Farley told Blockworks. “In terms of the merits of the investment overall, the cryptocurrency market is just in the first or second inning.”



The company will run a private pilot program before its public launch during which participants will test the platform in a simulated market environment. Tools users will try include the Bullish Hybrid Order Book and the firm’s liquidity pools.



Block.one, developer of the EOSIO protocol, injected $100 million, 164,000 of bitcoin, and 20 million of EOS to launch Bullish in May. Other investors in the capital raise were Peter Thiel’s Thiel Capital and Founders Fund, Alan Howard, Louis Bacon, Richard Li, Christian Angermayer, Galaxy Digital, and global investment bank Nomura.



“Bullish&#8217;s entry into the public markets allows our customers to take part in the growth of Bullish by holding a piece of our company without any of the regulatory uncertainties or jurisdictional limitations of a profit-sharing token issuance,” Blumer said in an email.



Meltem DeMirors, chief strategy officer at Coinshares, said in June that excluding Bullish, there had been more than $7 billion in venture deals announced in 2021, noting that there is now more capital than ever looking to be allocated to various parts of the crypto ecosystem.



Bullish’s plans come a few months after crypto exchange <a href="https://www.coinbase.com">Coinbase</a> became a public company <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/coinbase-direct-listing-shares-are-limited-demand-is-high/">through a direct listing</a>. Competing exchange <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/kraken-could-ipo-by-end-of-2022/">Kraken is prepping to potentially go public</a> by the end of 2022, the company’s CEO, Jesse Powell, told Bloomberg TV last month.  



Powell has said that Kraken is likely too big to go public through a SPAC, and was considering an IPO, <a href="https://fortune.com/2021/06/10/crypto-exchange-kraken-rethinks-ipo-plans-after-coinbase-stock-listing/">Fortune reported</a> last month.