Is a Ripple IPO on the Horizon?
Plus bitcoin privacy moves and cricket tickets on the blockchain
Happy Friday, Blockfolians
The Lede
Ever masters of the news cycle, Ripple reported that XRP sales were down more than 80% in Q4 of last year, and then instantly no one cared at all because the company hinted they might IPO. In a talk hosted by the WSJ at Davos, CEO Brad Garlinghouse said that over the next 12 months, we’re “definitely going to see IPOs in the crypto, blockchain space…I expect we’ll be on the leading side of that.”
The savage takes weren’t long to follow:
What we’re paying attention to
🕵️♂️Bitcoin privacy gets a (potential) upgrade - Blockchain snoops be gone! The proposal for Taproot (including Schnorr signatures) is now officially ready for more developers to review, the latest step on its journey to becoming an official part of the Bitcoin Core codebase.
🏦10% of central banks anticipate digital currency within 3 years - Libra has competition. Central banks continue to warm to the idea of digital versions of their currency, according to a new study from the Bank of International Settlements.
🏏UK cricket club looks to blockchain for ticketing - Play ball! Cricket is one of the world’s most popular games, and one UK-based club is turning to blockchain ticketing technology to avoid counterfeiting and open up new secondary market opportunities.
Photo by samarth shirke on Unsplash
A really big number you should care about:
~$2,000,000,000
That’s the amount of “unannounced capital” that is being deployed into US-based crypto funds at the moment, according to one investor’s viral tweet. Apparently, this honeypot will be allocated across 3 mega funds of $300m+, 4 large funds of $100m-$300m, and 4 sub-$100m funds. Wouldn’t that be grand?