Katherine Ross

Texas

news editor @Blockworks_ & co-author @theempirepod newsletter. ig & telegram: byKatherineRoss 📨 [email protected]. dm for signal.

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Articles

How Ripple built up 'social value': Arca CIO

1 week ago | blockworks.co | Katherine Ross

In the past few months, we've talked about the rise of fundamentals in crypto. I take a similar stance to Arca CIO Jeff Dorman when looking at projects: I'm not expecting them to start producing revenue tomorrow, but I'm very aware that projects will need some sort of vision about how they plan to make money. VC raises can truly only get them so far. But Dorman, in this week's episode of the Empire podcast, made an interesting point.
Kraken thwarts hacker's ill-intentioned job application

1 week ago | blockworks.co | Katherine Ross

Picture the iconic Spider-Man meme with the various Spider-Men pointing at each other. Got it in your head? Kraken said yesterday that it turned the tables on a North Korean hacker who was trying to get a job at the exchange. I spoke to Kraken's chief security officer, Nick Percoco, who gave me some details that are, honestly, just perfect for a Friday edition. Percoco told me Kraken had received a list of email addresses tied to hackers.
Sygnum has seen a 400% increase in average annual growth since 2020

2 weeks ago | blockworks.co | Katherine Ross

One of the biggest narratives we've discussed a lot is the rise of institutional adoption. Sygnum, the digital asset banking group, is no stranger to the shift and announced yesterday that it's seen a 400% increase in its average annual growth in trading volumes since 2020.
'All sizzle and no steak:' 2 rival crypto firms duke it out in a court case

2 weeks ago | blockworks.co | Katherine Ross

If you haven't heard, there's a huge court battle playing out between two HR and payroll services rivals, Rippling and Deel (they're both suing each other). So, what does this have to do with our industry? Well, there's a separate ongoing court case happening between two crypto companies. It's a little complicated, so bear with me.
BlackRock's Cohen

2 weeks ago | blockworks.co | Katherine Ross

This morning's Empire podcast was all things BlackRock. Empire co-host Jason Yanowitz chatted with BlackRock's Samara Cohen. There's a lot of insight to be gleaned from Cohen, who's a powerhouse in her own right, and she certainly delivered. It's no secret at this point that bitcoin's not really acting the way some folks think it should - that is, being a safe haven like gold during market downturns. "This is an important moment to play out in terms of how Bitcoin's price performance does show up.
What Nexo's move back to the US means for crypto lending

2 weeks ago | blockworks.co | Katherine Ross

Crypto lender Nexo - one of the few survivors from the collapse of the lending sector - is returning to the US. The announcement took place at an "exclusive" event with Donald Trump Jr. and represents yet another sign the Trump administration wants to open the US back up to crypto. "The key to everything crypto is going to be the regulatory framework," Trump said in a press release.
How Pantera's Paul Veradittakit spots crypto unicorns

2 weeks ago | blockworks.co | Katherine Ross

"I'm always trying to figure out where the puck is going," Pantera's Paul Veradittakit told me. It's a key part of how Veradittakit determines whether or not he's interested in investing time and, of course, money into a project. Veradittakit's been around the industry for over a decade. If he hadn't joined Pantera, he might have been one of the first employees at Coinbase.
How Arch Labs plans to deploy $13M raise

3 weeks ago | blockworks.co | Katherine Ross

ICYMI: Arch Labs announced a $13 million raise with the goal of launching a bitcoin virtual machine. The Series A round was led by Pantera Capital. "We're at a pivotal moment-both for Arch and for Bitcoin. Bitcoin has seen massive growth and institutional acceptance, but the mempool tells a different story: Not enough on-chain activity is driving sustained fees for miners," CEO Matt Mudano told me. "This raise allows us to scale engineering, grow our community and support a new wave of builders.
What Jesse Pollak would've done differently in launching 'Base is for everyone'

3 weeks ago | blockworks.co | Katherine Ross

This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, . Since last week, Base's Jesse Pollak has been very busy posting about content coins and prompting folks in his replies to coin everything, though that's come with some mixed results. Before we get into Pollak's bullish thought process, I asked him about the now-deleted post promoting an image of a girl from Hinge being coined.
Kado Software acquired by Swapped.com

3 weeks ago | blockworks.co | Katherine Ross

This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, . M&A szn is still going strong. Kado Software, the Web3 payments infrastructure company, was acquired by Swapped.com. The team declined to disclose the terms of the deal, but it plans to grow the US operations for Swapped.com, which is a Denmark-based firm. Emery Andrew, Kado's founder, told me that the team's been weighing its options for a while - from debating a fundraise to looking for the right fit to acquire it.