The top daily news from the cryptocurrency and blockchain space:
- Block.one continues push into Washington, D.C. with lobbying involvement.
- Helium attracts big-name cryptoasset investors as it launches peer-to-peer IoT device.
- Angel investor, former Google director marks first hire for Square Crypto.
At the time of writing, bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) are trading at $8,130.8 (+2.0%) and $260.3 (+4.9%), respectively. As for the MVIS CryptoCompare Digital Assets 10 Index, it is currently tracking at 4,043.3 (+0.5%).
Block.one Continues Washington, D.C. Push as Lobbying Details Shared
Block.one – the publisher of the EOSIO blockchain protocol tied to the popular EOS (EOS) cryptocurrency – appears to be looking to influence blockchain policy conversation in the U.S. As initially reported on by The Block, the blockchain technology startup is cited as the client of lobbying firm Holland & Knight, LLP in a disclosure document filed in May.
The news follows efforts by the Hong Kong-headquartered Block.one over recent months to set up a new office in northern Virginia; a region that is adjacent to Washington, D.C. and home to various government institutions including The Pentagon (i.e., the United States Department of Defense headquarters) and the George Bush Center for Intelligence (i.e., the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)).
Helium Launches Blockchain-Enabled IoT Device, Raises $15 Million
Helium, a San Francisco-headquartered startup using blockchain technology to facilitate wireless connections, announced the launch of its Helium Hotspot product along with the closure of a $15 million Series C fundraising round.
Some big-name venture capital firms partook in the $15 million raise. This included Kyle Samani and Tushar Jain’s Multicoin Capital and Union Square Ventures (USV), who each co-led the Series C round. In a blog post appearing on Multicoin’s website, Jain noted the fact Helium marked “the largest private investment [Multicoin has] made.”
Although initially launching in the U.S., Helium intends to expand network coverage internationally, chief operating officer Frank Mong mentioned in a Medium blog post published Wednesday evening (CET).
Ex-Google Director Marks Square Crypto’s First Hire
Square Crypto, the crypto-focussed entity of the Jack Dorsey-led payments company, Square, announced angel investor and former Google director, Steve Lee, as its first hire.
Most recently, Lee served as a product manager for Bitcoin Operations Technology Group (Bitcoin Optech), a group dedicated to bringing open-source technologies and techniques to Bitcoin-using businesses. Notably, Square hosted Bitcoin Optech’s inaugural workshop in San Francisco in July 2018.
While at Google, Lee led product management for mobile applications, Google Maps, as well as Google’s location platform. He was also a co-founder of Google Glass.
