TSX: VOYG
OTCQX: VYGVF
Borse Frankfurt: UCD2

Strategic partnership will focus on execution, asset management, and broader crypto initiatives

NEW YORK, Oct. 28, 2021 /CNW/ – Voyager Digital Ltd. (“Voyager” or the “Company”) (TSX: VOYG) (OTCQX: VYGVF) (FRA: UCD2), one of the fastest-growing, publicly traded cryptocurrency platforms in the United States, today announced a $75 million investment from Alameda Research (“Alameda”).

“We are excited to enter into a strategic alliance with Alameda, a clear pioneer in the crypto industry,” said Steve Ehrlich, CEO and Co-founder of Voyager. “Alameda is one of the largest crypto market makers in the world, and we believe there are significant opportunities in working together. While the immediate opportunity is on the order flow and asset management front, we are tremendously excited about potential future synergistic opportunities in the continuously evolving crypto industry. These opportunities include NFTs and crypto derivatives through Alameda, as well as the creation of thought leadership as we work with lawmakers on shaping regulation.”

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Voyager as they have emerged as a key player in the retail crypto market,” commented Caroline Ellison, Co-CEO of Alameda. “As a public company, we have admired Voyager’s transparency in the industry and believe the management team has laid the groundwork to succeed at scale as evidenced by their explosive growth this past year. Through our strategic partnership, we believe there are endless mutually beneficial opportunities to grow both our businesses.”

Alameda Research trades over $5 billion per day across thousands of products including all major coins and altcoins, as well as their derivatives. Alameda has a full-scale global operation with the ability to trade on all major exchanges and markets. Alameda’s market making abilities and sophisticated market neutral algorithms are a perfect fit to be a core lending partner of Voyager and will allow Voyager to further expand the breadth of its rewards program.

About Voyager Digital Ltd.
Voyager Digital Ltd. (TSX: VOYG; OTCQX: VYGVF; FRA: UCD2) is a fast-growing, publicly traded cryptocurrency platform in the United States founded in 2018 to bring choice, transparency, and cost efficiency to the marketplace. Voyager offers a secure way to trade over 60 different crypto assets using its easy-to-use mobile application and earn rewards up to 12 percent annually on more than 30…

• First production vehicle (Unit #0001) to be auctioned along with a one-of-a-kind Non-Fungible Token (NFT) art collage commemorating creation of “SPIRITUS” from concept to final assembly
• NFT will bring to life a collage of hundreds of pictures of the development of the Spiritus electric vehicle and be available through OpenSea for 30 days

TORONTO, Oct. 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Daymak Inc., a pioneer in personal Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs), today announced the creation of several Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) that commemorate the production timeline of the world’s first-ever crypto mining electric vehicle (EV), the Daymak Spiritus. These one-of-a-kind NFTs, one of which also entitles the winning bidder to ownership of the Company’s first Spiritus production unit (Unit #0001), will be featured on the OpenSea NFT marketplace for 30 days where bids can be placed in Ethereum. This will mark the first ever instance where a car is sold on the blockchain.

As the name suggests, “Beyond the Black Diamond” is a piece of digital art documenting the struggles and the victories on the long uphill road to a green, electrified future. This NFT is one pillar of the innovative strategy Daymak is utilizing to make its mark and achieve something few have.

“It has not been a smooth journey getting here,” said Aldo Baiocchi, President of Daymak. “The completion of the Spiritus prototype is a massive milestone for us, and this NFT marks that achievement. By purchasing this NFT, someone will become part of our team, helping us use green tech to change the world, and owning a very cool piece of EV history in the process.”

With hundreds of pictures and animations spanning three years of challenges, Daymak has embodied the entire build progression of the first Spiritus prototype in this one-of-a-kind work of art. A photo-mosaic in the shape of the Spiritus EV, “Beyond the Black Diamond” documents the struggles the Company overcame to reach the final target and make its mark on the planet. The piece chronicles the creativity, passion, commitment, and out-of-the- box mentality it took to bring the first Spiritus to life.

This NFT commemorating the historic build of the world’s first crypto mining EV will also come with a document of authenticity in addition to the right to receive the first Spiritus production vehicle delivered anywhere in the world. Additionally, ownership includes the right to a lifetime of vehicle storage at Daymak…

A successful demonstration of instantaneous clearing and settlement of securities using distributed ledger technology (DLT) by a Canadian consortium of Payments Canada, the Bank of Canada, TMX Group and R3, a couple of years back indicated that “Atomic transactions”
in bilateral mode could save upto 30% of processing cost and cut T+3 / T+2 settlement cycle significantly. Accenture and others estimate that the industry could save upto $ 10 Bill per year (A reduction of 7 – 25 basis points). Swiss National Bank used BoFA-ML
backed R3 platform for multi-party settlement pilot named “Project Helvetia” and called it out a success in 2020. Project Helvetia settled large transactions between financial institutions using digital currencies. SNB plans to expand the trial to cross-border
payments in 2021, it has not yet decided whether to issue its own central bank digital currency. Paxos, which recently raised Series D funding, has onboarded Bank of America, ABN Amro, Credit Suisse amongst others to use a permissioned version of the Ethereum
blockchain for bilateral settlement. Currently, the solution is operating as a pilot under a No-Action relief letter from the SEC. As SEC, SNB and the likes firm up the governance framework in coming quarters, a new tech spend space is in the making.

From technical architecture standpoint, Smart bilateral contracts, collectively, are the cell-level components of Settlement Bus. Functional and Control algorithms ensure the seamless and instantaneous processing and multi-way reporting. Application user
interfaces work in synch with digital Vault, settlement bus and the accounting log to support the transacting parties.

While Blockchain based settlements, we enter in an era which is cloud-based, data-driven and largely disintermediated. Financial Market Infrastructure cost stack is up for an overhaul unleashing efficiency. The disruption creates large opportunities for
the banks to reimagine their tech stack, and for the tech firms to support their clients with innovative co-create model. 

Since the Great Recession ended in 2009, growth stocks have been virtually unstoppable. The combination of historically low lending rates and an accommodative central bank has rolled out the red carpet for fast-paced businesses to borrow at attractive rates.

But for some companies, their hypergrowth period is just getting started. Based on Wall Street’s consensus sales estimates, the following supercharged growth stocks are expected to see their sales rise 21,551% to as much as 948,737% by 2023.

Marathon Digital Holdings: 21,551% implied sales growth by 2023

Easily one of the fastest-growing stocks on the planet over the next three years is cryptocurrency mining company Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ:MARA). Marathon reported $4.36 million in sales last year, but is projected by Wall Street to generate $944 million in full-year sales in 2023. That’s your run-of-the-mill 21,551% increase in sales in just three years, if Wall Street’s estimates prove accurate.

Cryptocurrency miners are people or businesses using high-powered computers to solve complex mathematical equations that validate groups of transactions (known as a block) on a blockchain as true. Being the first to validate a block on a proof-of-work blockchain network results in the miner receiving a reward. In Marathon’s case, it’s specifically targeting the largest cryptocurrency in the world, Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC), which pays out 6.25 bitcoin per block reward. This means each block reward is worth close to $380,000.

Marathon Digital’s hypergrowth is the result of the company quickly growing its miner farm. In this instance, the more miners at work, the greater the likelihood of Marathon beating other miners to the punch and earning Bitcoin block rewards. When October began, the company had 25,272 active miners.  But based on the company’s existing orders, it has more than 107,000 additional miners on the way. When fully deployed, Marathon will have 133,120 miners up and running by mid-2022.

While this might sound like a no-brainer way to play the cryptocurrency/Bitcoin buzz, crypto mining stocks might be the absolute worst choice for your investment dollars.

To begin with, Bitcoin’s block rewards halve every four years, and the barrier to entry for cryptocurrency mining is pretty much nonexistent. This means Marathon’s competition will continue to increase as the long-term block reward profile for Bitcoin declines.

What’s…

Tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Poppy of Remembrance

OTTAWA, Oct. 27, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Royal Canadian Legion unveils “The Immortal Poppy” in 2021, to help mark the 100^th anniversary of the poppy as the symbol of Remembrance in Canada. This digital art is another way to preserve the memory of 118,000 fallen Canadian soldiers dating back to 1812, by encrypting their names on an enduring digital symbol.

One hundred limited-edition pieces of digital artwork in the form of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are up for sale on the online marketplace, OpenSea and are symbolically priced at 0.1111 ETH (Ethereum; a cryptocurrency amount currently equivalent to $550.00) to represent the day of Remembrance. Each piece features a 60-second looping image (NFT). The art was created using a genuine poppy gathered from Flanders Fields in Belgium and 3D scanned to preserve it for eternity.

“We are thrilled to add such a special feature to this year’s National Poppy Campaign,” says Bruce Julian, Dominion President. “It’s a touching tribute to our fallen, an innovative way to remember them forever, and a means of supporting our Veterans.”

The Poppy’s petals are graced with the names of fallen soldiers as a poignant reminder of the fragility of life and the honour of sacrifice. The art features a large memorial wall with the names of 118,000 fallen soldiers. There are 10 unique versions of the NFT based on ten highlighted Veterans’ stories. One of them is Nichola Goddard — the first female soldier killed in battle.

“We’re honoured to have Nichola commemorated in this year’s National Poppy Campaign, which continues to play a critical role in supporting Canadian veterans and their families,” says Katherine Rusk, the sister of Captain Nichola Goddard. “Approximately 2500 Canadian military personnel are medically released every year, which also impacts 700 spouses and 900 children. We’re thankful that Nichola’s legacy can help support these families in need.”

Here are the ten Veteran stories being highlighted (in no particular order):

1) Nichola Kathleen Sarah Goddard (the first female Canadian combat soldier killed)

2) Buckam Singh (One of the first Sikh soldiers to serve Canada)

3) Frederick Lee (The first Chinese Canadian to die for our country)

4) Alex Decoteau (A Cree Canadian and Summer Olympian who died in battle)

5) Mark Graham (A black Olympian who fell in Afghanistan)

6) Huron Brant (One of more than 200…

The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has approved the Bitcoin Fund, a closed-end investment fund based in Canada.

Despite only receiving approval from the DFSA, the Bitcoin Fund was listed on Nasdaq Dubai in June, when it became the Middle East’s first digital asset-based fund. As part of the approval, the fund is in a position to list up to $200 million on the exchange.

The fund is a diversified portfolio of digital assets that invests in long-term holdings of Bitcoin, purchased from bitcoin exchanges and Over-The-Counter (OTC) counterparties. It provides exposure to Bitcoin (BTC), tracking daily price movements in United States dollars, and is offered by 3iQ Corp. 

“Since we listed The Bitcoin Fund on the Nasdaq Dubai, we have seen an ever increasing appetite from the large regional institutional investors. With the ability to now execute significantly larger sale offerings we anticipate that this will help to further grow the fund in the region,” said Chairman and CEO of 3iQ Frederick Pye. “At the time of the Middle East launch, the price of Bitcoin was around the $33,000 mark – which from an investor standpoint we felt was a great entry point into the market for our Middle Eastern investors,” Pye added.

DFSA’s approves investment tokens

Earlier this week, the DFSA introduced a regulatory framework for investment tokens. The framework marks the first phase of the DFSA’s Digital Assets regime, and defines investment tokens as either a security token or a derivative token. 

Although cryptographically secured through distributed ledger technology (DLT), the announcement does not define investment tokens as cryptocurrency. What the authority called “exchange tokens” would be covered under new proposals, along with utility tokens and “certain asset-backed tokens (stablecoins).” The DFSA said it would issue its second consultation paper later in Q4.

Dubai has reportedly become one of the more cooperative environments for cryptocurrency investment. “Creating an ecosystem for innovative firms to thrive in the UAE is a key priority for both the UAE and Dubai Governments, and the DFSA,” said DFSA Managing Director, Head of Strategy, Policy and Risk Peter Smith.

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Disclaimer

All the information contained on our website is published in good faith and for general information purposes only. Any action the reader takes upon…

Each quarter, Horizons ETFs surveys Canadian investors and investment advisors for their outlook on expected returns for distinct asset classes. These expectations are expressed in terms of bullish, bearish, or neutral sentiment. The Q4 Surveys cover the period beginning September 30, 2021, and ending December 31, 2021.

Thematic Asset Classes and Sectors: Bitcoin, Psychedelics and Marijuana

Despite another quarter of volatility, including the banning of cryptocurrency transactions in China, Bitcoin has emerged as a collective favorite among both Canadian advisors and investors. Bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, saw a +25.59% increase in its price during Q3 2021. In response, advisors, previously bearish on the asset class, according to the prior Q3 Surveys, bullishly charged forward, adding 19 percentage points of positive sentiment for a 53% bullishness overall. Investors, also previously bearish, reversed their position as well, adding 12 percentage points of positive sentiment for 52% bullishness overall.  

The burgeoning psychedelics sector, as represented by the North American Psychedelics Index, performed poorly throughout Q3 2021, registering a -16.59% return – the second worst record among the Q4 Surveys’ measured asset classes and indices. Previously bullish on the sector, Canadian investors this quarter decided to shift to an overall neutral position after reducing their bullishness by 9 percentage points. Advisors on the other hand were surprisingly optimistic – perhaps sensing a value opportunity – adding 16 percentage points of positive sentiment and moving from a previously bearish position into a bullish one.

The Canadian marijuana industry, as represented by the North American Marijuana Index, was the worst performing in Q3 2021, among the sectors and asset classes measured by the Q4 Surveys, with a -24.72% return. Once again, advisors, perhaps sensing the potential for rebound from relative low valuations, shifted from an overall neutral stance into an optimistic position, after adding 4 percentage points of positive sentiment for 36% bullishness overall. While investors’ positive sentiment fell by 4 percentage points to 42% bullishness, they remained bullish on the sector, overall.

“Bitcoin, one of the most unpredictable asset classes that our surveys measure, seems to have sentiment swings to match, with both advisors and investors shedding their bearish conviction and charging ahead as bulls into the last…

Canada has a range of bitcoin products since the first launched in February, with the two biggest having assets of more than $1 billion

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Canada provides a model for how Australia’s exchange-traded fund sector could expand to offer products investing in bitcoin, according to fund manager BetaShares.

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The Canadian experience suggests a Bitcoin ETF with assets of about A$500 million (US$376 million) is possible in Australia, Alistair Mills, director of institutional business and capital markets at BetaShares, said in a webinar in Sydney Wednesday.

The first North American fund investing directly in the volatile cryptocurrency debuted in Canada in February. There are now a range of bitcoin products there, with the two biggest having assets of more than $1 billion. The U.S. this month allowed a futures-based ETF, a development that helped propel bitcoin to a record high.

“I don’t think there’s anything to say that if you listed one here it couldn’t grow to at least half that in a similar time frame,” Mills said.

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 27, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — via InvestorWire — IBN (InvestorBrandNetwork), a multifaceted communications organization engaged in connecting public companies to the investment community, is pleased to announce the release of the latest CryptoCurrencyWire Audio Production as part of its sustained effort to provide specialized content via widespread syndication channels.

The audio production features Shone Anstey, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of LQwD FinTech Corp. (TSX.V: LQWD) (OTCQB: LQWDF), a financial technology company focused on creating enterprise-grade infrastructure to drive bitcoin adoption.

To begin the interview, Anstey discussed his extensive background in tech and crypto leading up to his time with LQwD FinTech.

“I’ve been in tech for 25 years. … I heard about crypto in 2011 and got involved in 2012, so I’ve been in the bitcoin area for quite some time,” he said. “In 2015, I co-founded a company called Blockchain Intelligence Group. … We actually acquired a company called Netcoins.ca. … It is now Canada’s first publicly traded crypto exchange that actually has a license from regulators as of a few weeks ago. … I’m still there as a director and a large shareholder, but I’ve been involved in LQwD and the Lightning Network for the last two years. We’re working where I like to be – on stuff that’s cutting edge and about to become mainstream over the next few years. That’s the Lightning Network itself.”

Anstey then provided an overview of the Lightning Network and detailed how it could revolutionize bitcoin transactions and the entirety of the crypto space.

“The Lightning Network is a solution to scaling bitcoin,” he continued. “Bitcoin, which is the anchor cryptocurrency for the entire crypto market … is backed by millions of computers doing bitcoin mining, which helps secure the network and make it really safe with an immutable ledger. But it can only handle so many transactions with its current technology – about seven transactions a second. The Lightning Network steps in there and scales it to the next level.”

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“The Lightning Network is a mesh-style network, very similar to how the internet functions. It’s made up of a series of nodes – computers and servers – and on those nodes you run open-source Lightning Network software,” he added. “That Lightning Network software creates payment channels to other companies running Lightning Network software. … This…

Aquarius AI (CSE:AQUA) is a small, very small Canadian-listed micro cap that is no stranger to sudden fluctuations in its stock price at the moment. It comes as no surprise to us to see the share price moving again this week as investors in North America and Europe are gripped by Bitcoin mining.

Shares in Aquarius AI are moving this week on yesterday’s news that the company is entering into a managed services agreement with Luxor Technology Corp. This is a US-based Bitcoin mining and tech services firm that is responsible for one of the biggest Bitcoin and proof of work software packages, and which also runs the Luxor mining pool.

Under the terms of the deal, Luxor will be managing Aquarius AI’s application specific integrated circuit – aka ASIC – mining hardware procurement, carbon neutral power procurement and data centre support services. Luxor will also interestingly be providing “financing advisory services.”

Institutional grade crypto mining pool service

Aquarius AI will be getting an institutional grade mining pool service for mainstream cryptocurrencies like BTC and ETH as well as other proof of work assets. Luxor will also provide ASIC brokerage and delivery services and manage all of Aquarius AI’s Bitcoin mining operations, which are in an advanced stage of development.

The agreement is for 36 months and will involve an exchange of both money and securities. There is also going to be a revenue sharing component to this deal.

“Luxor gives the company the ability to procure tens of Megawatts of carbon neutral power in short order, with the backup to support the ASIC mining hardware and pool management at our anticipated scale,” said Owen Sagness, Director of Operations at Aquarius AI.

The Luxor team have built a range of solutions for scaling blockchain infrastructure, including a globally distributed mining pool, a hashrate network-switching engine, and a wide variety of blockchain software ranging from blockchain explorers to an ASIC management platform.

Timing for the deal does look good

Timing for the deal looks good for Aqua as the rising Bitcoin price has many minds focused on Bitcoin-related plays in the mining space. Companies which are getting into this area look like good exposure plays for many investors, hence the sudden spike in the Aqua stock price yesterday during Canadian trading hours.

Aquarius AI stock had been slipping after it hit a short term peak of 0.175 in late June. Despite the rise in Bitcoin it was starting to…