The State of the Market:Today was an uncharacteristically stable and flat day for the cryptocurrency markets, with only minor 1–4% losses among the top 10 coins. Bitcoin (BTC) held stable at just above $6,300 for a decrease of 1.2% on the day and Ethereum (ETH) loss just 0.4% of its value to settle in at just under $290.
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Crypto hedge fund Pantera Capital is reportedly looking to raise $175 million for its third venture fund, according to a report today from TechCrunch. Pantera’s debut funding round in 2013 raised $13 million, and its second brought in $25 million, so the current target figure marks 6x increase from their previous funding goal. Pantera partner Paul Veradittakit remarked that the new target is a “function of how fast the space is moving, the talent coming in, the opportunities, and the sizing of rounds” and that “with more interesting later-stage investments [on our radar], too, we want to be flexible and able to move with the market.” A recent SEC filing shows that Pantera has already raised $71 million from about 90 investors (read more).
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Huobi, the third largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume, recently partnered with five firms to help them launch their own trading platforms by providing their recently launched Huobi Cloud platform. The five firms — Yatai International Holding Group, Vnesheconombank, Chi Fu Group, Asia International Finance Holdings, and Dbank Group — will use the Huobi Cloud service to create new exchanges in the Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Canada (read more).
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U.S. delivery giant United Parcel Service (UPS) is exploring ways in which blockchain technology could help streamline package delivery logistics across a global supply chain. A recent document published by the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) on Thursday, outlines a patent application filed by the Georgia-based UPS has applied for a system based on distributed ledger technology (DLT) that would be used to route packages throughout an international supply chain. The patent explains that, although shipping logistics companies are good at optimizing package routing to increase efficiency and minimize costs, they still struggle to coordinate logistics for shipments that involve more than one logistics service provider transportation network. It’s this issue that the UPS hopes to ameliorate with blockchain (read more).