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New Cryptocurrency Startup About To Raise $4 Billion, Nobody Knows What Will Happen Next
Swarajya Staff
May 30, 2018, 12:19 PM | Updated 12:19 PM IST
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Block.one, a Cayman islands based start-up, is on course to raise about $4 billion - one of the largest fundraises for a cryptocurrency start-up. According to this Wall Street Journal report, this offering of block.one is almost twice as large as its next competitor Telegram Group Inc. Telegram had raised only $1.7 billion.
Astonishing enough, very few buyers are fully informed of how the money being raised by block.one will be put to use by the company.
More than $6 billion had been raised for cryptocurrency companies in 2017, and in 2018 that number is at $7 billion plus, according to this report.
While some fundraises have turned out to be scams, others are struggling to develop a mass market product or service.
As for bit.one, the company claims that it would develop 'platforms' similar to Google's Android or Apple's iOS App stores. The belief is that a new platform could help greatly improve the future of online payments using the open-ledges blockchain technologies. According to the WSJ report, the company will build a 'platform for hosting web applications' and the first version will be out in June.
But beyond the platform, the company would rather see others develop apps for the platform instead of a direct effort. It says it wants to invest $1 billion in start ups that will develop apps for its new platform.
Block.one has been able to sell 90 crore EOS (the bit.one currency unit) over the last 12 month period through daily auctions. The company has even blocked investors based in the United States and China - this is to stay away from regulatory issues. Curiously enough, the founder of bit.one, Mr Brendan Blume, is based out of Hong Kong, a Chinese controlled territory.
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