PANews reported on February 23 that Copenhagen-based crypto financial infrastructure provider Januar ApS completed a €1.5 million seed round expansion funding round to launch a business-oriented Crypto Assets service platform. The round attracted international investors including CMT Digital, Third Prime and Skyfall Ventures, as well as investment from Michael Grønager, co-founder and CEO of Chainalysis, which, together with follow-on investments from existing investors, brought the total seed round to €7.5 million. Januar also announced the launch of Januar Crypto, an institutional Wallet and Crypto Assets trading solution that integrates with its existing Fiat Currency accounts and payment solutions, designed to simplify business operations and reduce the time-consuming and costly transaction processes that currently plague businesses and user experiences.

Crypto Assets financial infrastructure provider Januar ApS announced the completion of a €1.5 million seed round with participation from CMT Digital, Third Prime and Skyfall Ventures, as well as Chainalysis co-founder and CEO Michael Grønager and existing investors, with a total funding of €7.5 million to date, with new funds to be used for its launch B2B crypto service platform and institutional Wallet and Crypto Assets trading solution "Januar Crypto". （eu-startups）

Crypto asset manager Grayscale Investments is in talks with the likes of JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs to play a key role in its proposed Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private talks, said both companies are considered authorized participants, that is, companies that have the right to create and redeem shares in the fund. BlackRock previously appointed JPMorgan Securities and Jane Street Capital as APs for its proposed Bitcoin ETF. CoinDesk earlier reported that Goldman Sachs was in talks with Grayscale and BlackRock.

PANews reported on January 4 that, according to Coindesk, Goldman Sachs is in talks to become an authorized participant (AP) of BlackRock and Grayscale's proposed BitcoinSpot ETF, according to two people familiar with the matter. This role involves the creation and redemption of ETF shares to ensure that the product is traded in sync with its underlying asset. Last week, Fidelity, Invesco, Valkyrie, WisdomTree and BlackRock have designated APs for their proposed BitcoinSpot ETFs, including JPMorgan Chase, Jane Street and Cantor Fitzgerald, among others. Last year, Grayscale designated market makers Jane Street and Virtu Financial as APs for its BitcoinSpot ETFs. A source at a large trading firm said they expect each Bitcoin ETF to end up with 5 to 10 APs.

According to Coindesk, two people familiar with the matter revealed that Goldman Sachs may play a key role in BlackRock and Grayscale's plan to launch SpotBitcoin ETFs in the United States. According to people familiar with the matter, the bank is in talks to become an authorised participant (AP) for BlackRock and Grayscale's proposed SpotBitcoin ETFs. This is one of the most important jobs in the trillion-dollar ETF industry, and the role involves creating and redeeming ETF shares to ensure that the product trades in tandem with its underlying asset. Last week, BlackRock and Valkyrie have assigned APs to their ETFs, JPMorgan Chase and Jane Street, respectively. A source at a large trading firm said more APs could emerge, and they expect each Bitcoin ETF to eventually have 5 to 10 APs.

Golden Finance reported that the CEO of Grayscale posted on social media that Grayscale had already confirmed in the documents submitted in May this year that Jane Street Capital and Virtu Americas were Authorized Participants of its ETF after GBTC was converted into a Spot ETF.

BlackRock filed a revised Form S-1 for SpotBitcoin ETF with the SEC, designating Jane Street Capital and J.P. Morgan Securities as authorized participants (APs) of its ETFs, Golden Finance reported.

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas replied on social media about "the difference between BTC spot ETFs created by physical or cash" that when there is excess demand for BTC ETFs, intermediaries (APs) will need to create new ETF shares, and they can provide cash to the ETF issuer in exchange for new shares (the issuer receives it to buy BTC), or they can provide BTC to the issuer in exchange for shares. Either way, a new ETF share equals a new BTC buy order.

BlackRock's proposed changes to the structure of the spot BTC ETF will enable authorized participants (APs) to create new shares in the fund with cash (not just crypto), effectively opening the door for banks that cannot hold cryptocurrencies directly, according to Golden Finance. According to a related memorandum document from a meeting between the SEC, BlackRock and Nasdaq on Nov. 28, the cash used by AP in the process can be converted into BTC through intermediaries and held by the ETF's custodian provider. Growing optimism that spot BTC ETFs will soon be approved by the SEC could be a game-changer for the digital asset industry if they can attract large amounts of retail investor capital. Prior to this, it was widely believed that AP should be a large market maker with experience in the crypto space, such as Jane Street, Jump Trading, and Virtu, rather than a bank. But the change means banks can get a piece of the pie and expand their pool of liquidity providers.

According to Jinshi's report on May 18, the artificial intelligence hype triggered by ChatGPT has attracted many IC manufacturers. According to industry insiders, some start-up companies said that they are now feeling the pressure from IC design companies such as MediaTek, Novatek and Realtek, and these companies are stepping up the development of AI chips. Sources said that AI processors have different grades for different applications, and the performance requirements of edge AI chips are already comparable to mid-to-high-end smartphone APs.