Blockchangers Blog

Weekly Wrap Up #14

Quote of the week:

It is not possible to, I think, destroy crypto but it is possible for governments to slow down its advancement.” – Elon Musk. Source: https://news.bitcoin.com/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-opposes-governments-regulating-crypto-says-they-should-do-nothing/

Alpha Sigma Capital News:

Alan J. Ginsberg Joins Alpha Sigma Capital’s Board of Advisors:

Mr. Alan J. Ginsberg has more than 35 years of experience in supporting financial institutions with financial advisory services. He has advised many public and private companies on strategic initiatives. Mr. Ginsberg has advised on more than 75 strategic transactions and advisory assignments, totaling upwards of $100 billion. Alpha Sigma Capital says that he is the perfect fit for the team. Enzo Villani, CEO of Alpha Sigma Capital stated in an interview, “As blockchain companies begin to look to the public equity markets for capital, scale, and access to institutional investors, we engaged Alan to assist us in developing our public equities and markets strategy. Alan’s knowledge and experience of capital markets combined with recent engagements into the blockchain and cryptocurrency markets made it a perfect fit for the Alpha Sigma Capital team.” Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/alan-j-ginsberg-joins-alpha-130500539.html

Mass Adoption: Facebook: On Monday, September 27, an announcement was made that spoke of Facebook’s roadmap for building its metaverse. Facebook has slated $50 million to be spent over the next couple of years through its XR Programs and Research Fund to develop its virtual metaverse. The metaverse will allow people to interact with each other, digital objects, and the physical world through their avatar in a virtual environment. Source:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/facebook-announces-50m-investment-fund-tasked-with-developing-its-virtual-metaverse

Bitcoin Update: Bitcoin has staged its first rally in four days, ending the third quarter on a higher note when it gained 4.5% to trade at approximately $43,400 on September 30. There is a bullish movement post speculation that the U.S. could soon approve exchange-traded funds on futures linked to top cryptocurrencies.

Sources:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-rises-technicians-probe-whether-160523129.html

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-30/bitcoin-rises-as-technicians-probe-whether-rally-is-sustainable

https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/09/30/bitcoin-jumps-as-secs-gensler-reiterates-support-for-futures-etf-dollar-rally-may-cap-gains/

Bullish on Bitcoin? Featuring Morgan Stanley: Morgan Stanley has been gaining increased exposure to cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin in 2021. According to the United States SEC report filed on September 27, the Morgan Stanley Europe Opportunity Fund owned 58,116 shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust as of July 31. Morgan Stanley’s exposure to Bitcoin was approximately $2 million at that time. Since April, the bank has increased its shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust by more than 105%. Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/morgan-stanley-doubles-exposure-to-bitcoin-through-grayscale-shares

Crypto Slip Up Featuring Compound: On September 29, in a possible exploit, Compound erroneously paid out millions of dollars in COMP tokens that were meant to be liquidity mining rewards, following an update to one of its smart contracts. Compound is a decentralized money market. Compound acknowledged the problem on Twitter and said no user funds were at risk. Source: https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2021/09/30/defi-money-market-compound-overpays-15m-in-comp-rewards-in-possible-exploit/

And, that’s a wrap!

Jordana Cohen,

Associate

Alpha Sigma Capital

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Daniel Siciliano

F. Daniel Siciliano is an Independent Director of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco and Chair of the American Immigration Council. He is the former faculty director of the Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University and former Professor of the Practice and Associate Dean at Stanford Law School. His work has included expert testimony in front of both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives and for 2009, 2010, and 2011, alongside leading academics and business leaders such as Ben Bernanke, Paul Krugman, and Carl Icahn, Professor Siciliano was named to the “Directorship 100” – a list of the most influential people in corporate governance.

Siciliano was also co-founder, CEO and ultimately Executive Chairman of LawLogix Group, Inc. – a global software technology company named 9 consecutive times to the Inc. 500/5000, several times ranked as one of the Top 100 fastest-growing private software companies in the US and named to the US Hispanic Business 500 (largest) and Hispanic Business 100 (fastest growing) lists for 2010 and 2011. In 2012 he sold a majority stake of the company to PNC Riverarch Capital, continued as Executive Chairman, and led the sale of the company to Hyland Software/Thoma Bravo in 2015.

Siciliano is a co-founder and board member of the Silicon Valley Directors’ Exchange (SVDX), Chairman of the national non-partisan American Immigration Council, past-President of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Council #1057, and an active member of the Latino Corporate Directors’ Association.


Siciliano’s related areas of expertise include executive compensation, corporate compliance, the legal and social impact of autonomous (AI/robotic) systems, and corporate technology strategy and security. He has served as a governance consultant and trainer to the Board of Directors of dozens of Fortune 1000 companies (including Google, Microsoft, Fedex, Disney, Entergy and Applied Materials), is an angel investor and consultant to several firms and companies in Silicon Valley, Hong Kong, India, and Latin America, and currently serves as an independent director on the board of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco. He lives in Los Altos, California.