Galaxy

Stay ahead in crypto and digital assets. Subscribe to our asset management newsletter for the latest trends, market analysis, and investment opportunities. Receive expert insights and exclusive content designed to help you make informed decisions and unlock the potential of your investments. Subscribe now to get the next edition delivered straight to your inbox: https://hubs.li/Q02MWPjq0

Announcing the Node Operator Risk Standard (NORS) certification for Ethereum: The gold standard for professional ETH node operators 🌐 Developed by a working group of 13+ industry-leading companies, NORS is the world's first attested certification for staking infrastructure risk management. Why does NORS matter? ➡️ NORS certification makes institutional-grade trust for ETH staking operations achievable.  For the first time, institutions can rely on a trusted, 3rd-party-verified standard for resilient ETH staking infrastructure. ➡️ NORS aligns with AICPA audit standards followed by SOC1 and other widely adopted diligence standards, with Big-4 auditors as NORS Qualified Assessors.   This unlocks the ability for large-scale institutions to use NORS certification when conducting due diligence on ETH staking operations. ➡️ NORS covers key aspects of node operations, including slashing prevention, validator diversity, and responsible key management. The open risk control matrix sets a new benchmark for professional operational security and risk management, specific to validator infrastructure. Developed by a diverse cross-industry working group, including: Alluvial Aon Blockdaemon Chainproof Coinbase DV Labs Eigen Labs Figment Galaxy Nexus Mutual Staked + others These expert collaborators ensured NORS provides robust risk criteria. In 2023, Liquid Collective started developing open validator performance & risk standards to help define enterprise-grade active sets. Alongside the LsETH Performance SLAs, NORS Certification will be used as an input for future Liquid Collective active set participation. For more information about the Node Operator Risk Standard (NORS) certification and how to get involved, visit nors.global https://lnkd.in/e3_gKeSR 

On the latest episode of Galaxy Brains, Alex Thorn welcomes Luca Prosperi, CEO and Co-Founder of M^0 Labs. Luca dives deep into the evolving landscape of stablecoins and shares his journey from traditional finance to the forefront of cryptocurrency innovation. With stablecoins becoming increasingly pivotal in policy and innovation, Luca explains M^0’s unique approach and its role in shaping future financial systems. As the presidential election looms, understanding the implications of digital currency policy has never been more crucial. Tune in to explore how cutting-edge financial technologies are intersecting with regulatory frameworks and transforming the way we think about money and governance. Listen to the episode on your favorite platform🎧 YouTube: https://hubs.li/Q02Mx6zt0 Spotify: https://hubs.li/Q02MxfWb0 Apple Podcasts: https://hubs.li/Q02Mx3c00

Are you or someone you know interested in joining the Galaxy team? Explore these exciting opportunities: ▶ Legal/Compliance: Head of UK Compliance ▶ Advisory: Experience Analyst/Associate, Investment Banking ▶ Finance: Vice President, Treasury Apply now: https://hubs.ly/Q02Mx0Dv0

Need to catch up on the latest? Here's what we're covering this week: ⛰ Mt. Gox Distributions Are Probably Finally Over Mt. Gox transfers 1,265 BTC to Bitstamp, winding down distributions. 🚦 Harris Advisor Signals Tepid Support for Crypto Responding to a Bloomberg question about crypto, Harris advisor Brian Nelson said Harris is “going to support policies that ensure that emerging technologies and that sort of industry can continue to grow.” 🔴 Optimism Disables Fraud Proofs 2 Months After Launch On August 16, 2024, OP Labs submitted a proposal to Optimism’s governance forum that, if passed, will upgrade a series of vulnerable smart contracts powering its permissionless fraud-proof system. Check out this week's top stories for our take, and don't forget to subscribe ⤵

Galaxy Mining's Simrit Dhinsa dives into the shifting landscape of the Bitcoin mining industry, the converging forces driving tremendous demand for power capacity, and miners' strategic move towards AI and HPC integration in his latest report, "2024 Bitcoin Mining Mid-Year Report: The Rise of the Gigawatt." Don't miss this insightful perspective brought to you directly, From the Source ⬇️ Read the report: https://hubs.li/Q02MfhgB0.

🚀 We’re thrilled to share that we have secured $75M in funding to revolutionize the crypto-backed lending space! This significant raise includes a $5M equity seed round, co-led by Morgan Creek Capital Management, LLC (Mark Yusko) and Castle Island Ventures (Sean Judge), with participation from Galaxy, BitGo, and more, as well as a scalable $70M loan financing facility. This facility, funded by Galaxy, will help us meet the growing demand for crypto-backed loans on our platform — backed by #Bitcoin, #Ethereum, and #Solana, with the highest standards of security and trust. At Arch, we’re committed to providing a secure, client-focused experience that’s designed for both individuals and institutions. Thank you to our investors and the entire Arch community for believing in our vision. We’re excited for what’s ahead and can’t wait to share more updates with you soon! Thank you also to all the round participants! Nathan McCauley Aditya Nagarsheth Humla Ventures Kenetic John Fiorelli Untamed Ventures Alumni Ventures Abdulla Janahi Block0 Read the announcement by Leo Schwartz in Fortune https://lnkd.in/d8sw-Pqf

Galaxy Ventures is proud to back Arch, supporting their mission to become the leading crypto lending platform for individuals and institutions. We are also excited to have led a $70m scalable loan financing facility for Arch Lending, to enable them to scale their loan book rapidly. Arch Lending is founded on principles of asset security, concierge client service, and product excellence. Their product experience operates at the cutting edge of consumer tech UX, with a proven lending product. We’re excited to be part of Arch Lending’s journey to build the new age of crypto lending. Congratulations to Dhruv Patel, Himanshu Sahay, and the team! Learn more: https://hubs.li/Q02M9TTY0

Commit-Boost is an out-of-protocol solution for standardizing and modularizing block proposer commitments. The vast majority of Ethereum validators, who are responsible for proposing blocks, already commit to a protocol known as MEV-Boost for extracting additional block rewards. Commit-Boost is intended to enhance the ability of validators to set constraints on their blocks beyond what is supported by MEV-Boost. For example, through Commit-Boost, validator could enforce the inclusion of transactions in a block to prevent censoring behavior from a third-party block builder. I spoke with two leading contributors to Commit-Boost, Drew Van der Werff. and Alex Stokes. Drew is an independent Ethereum researcher, who was formerly part of the investing team at Brevan Howard Digital and an early member of the Goldman Sachs Digital Assets team. Alex is an Ethereum Foundation researcher who also occasionally moderates the All Core Developers meetings. Listen to my full conversation with Drew and Alex about Commit-Boost and its importance to the Ethereum protocol on today's episode of the Infinite Jungle podcast. Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gYvDgXAQ Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/gNsB9vUw YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gmEVtRJ2

On the latest Ethereum developer call, ACDE #194, developers discussed a proposal to connect validators directly to builders in-protocol instead of through a relay. Since the Merge upgrade when Ethereum transitioned to a proof-of-stake consensus protocol, validators have relied on intermediaries called relays to earn additional block rewards in the form of MEV from builders. The reliance on relays is a source of contention and concern for Ethereum protocol developers because they can represent a centralized point of failure for certain validator operations. To learn more about the motivation for removing relays from validator operations, listen to today's episode of Infinite Jungle. Spotify: https://lnkd.in/g6JCer_c Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/gnff4jBD YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g54z72M9