Cypherpunk Holdings Inc. Takes 4.5% Stake in Wasabi Wallet

Press Release

Newsfile
Thursday, November 21, 2019

https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/49929/Cypherpunk-Holdings-Inc.-Takes-4.5-Stake-in-Wasabi-Wallet

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - November 21, 2019) - Cypherpunk Holdings Inc. (CSE: HODL) ("Cypherpunk" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has completed an equity investment in zkSnacks Limited ("zkSnacks"), whose products include Wasabi Wallet. Wasabi Wallet is an open-source, non-custodial, privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet for desktop use, that implements trustless coin shuffling with mathematically provable anonymity.

Under the terms of the transaction, Cypherpunk Holdings acquired ordinary shares of zkSnacks from its founding shareholders, representing 4.5% of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares of zkSnacks, for an aggregate purchase price of $337,500. In addition, the Cypherpunk Holdings' Chief Investment Officer, Moe Adham, has joined zkSnacks' board of directors.

Commentating on the investment, Cypherpunk Holdings, President and CEO, Dominic Frisby, said: "It's taken a lot of work and several months to get this deal over the line, so I would like to both thank and congratulate everyone involved. We have been most impressed with the Wasabi product and with the growth zkSnacks has displayed. We also believe its role in restoring fungibility to bitcoin will be vital. We are very excited to be coming on board as shareholders and participating in the continuing growth of zkSnacks."

ZkSnacks CEO, Bálint Harmat, added, "In Cypherpunk Holdings, we believe we have found not only an investor, but a strategic partner with whom we share common interests and goals regarding privacy. We are looking forward to participating together as we continue to grow the business of zkSnacks."

Cypherpunk Holdings Inc. invests in companies, technologies and protocols, which enhance or protect privacy. Its strategy is to make targeted investments in businesses and assets with strong privacy, often within the blockchain ecosystem, including select cryptocurrencies. Cypherpunk's common shares trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol "HODL".

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Generally, any statements that are not historical facts may contain forward-looking information, and forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or indicates that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be" taken, "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to the Company's goal of making investments in businesses and assets with strong privacy, within the blockchain ecosystem, including select cryptocurrencies, or otherwise and enhancing value. There is no assurance that the Company's plans or objectives will be implemented as set out herein, or at all. Forward-looking information is based on certain factors and assumptions the Company believes to be reasonable at the time such statements are made and is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as required by law. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.

Investor Relations Contact:
Dominic Frisby
President and CEO

Cypherpunk Holdings Inc.
130 King Street West
The Exchange Tower, Suite 3680
Toronto, ON M5X 1B1
Telephone: 416.599.8547
Website: cypherpunkholdings.com

Maker of Wasabi Bitcoin Wallet Valued at $7.5M in First Equity Round

By Leigh Cuen
CoinDesk

Thursday, November 21, 2019

https://www.coindesk.com/maker-of-wasabi-bitcoin-wallet-valued-at-7-5m-in-first-equity-round

The privacy-centric bitcoin wallet Wasabi, launched by zkSNACKs Ltd. in 2018, just raised its first equity investment from Cypherpunk Holdings, a publicly-traded Canadian firm. 

Cypherpunk Holdings CEO Dominic Frisby said the firm invested $337,500 in exchange for a 4.5 percent stake, valuing the wallet startup at $7.5 million. 

“It’s extraordinary for a tech company, this early in its evolution, to have the revenues that Wasabi already has,” Frisby said. “It’s one of the only forms of a crypto wallet that have a revenue model.”

Although the zkSNACKs team didn’t respond to requests for comment, co-founder Adam Fiscor previously told CoinDesk the company’s mixer transaction fees earned 14 bitcoin in July 2019 alone (roughly $112,000 by current prices). It appears Wasabi Wallet processed at least 5,373 mixed CoinJoins in July, August and early September. If that trend continued for 12 months, it would put revenues at over $1 million. 

This newest addition rounds out Cypherpunk’s holdings, which include roughly 2,000 monero and 180 bitcoin, Frisby said, in addition to equity in the rival privacy project Samourai Wallet (valued at $6.6 million, based on Cypherpunk’s $100,000 investment for 1.5 percent equity) and the blockchain startup Chia, founded by cypherpunk legend Bram Cohen. 

“Both wallets, and privacy-enabling services, have very impressive network effects in that the more participants there are, the more private each participant is,” Cypherpunk’s CIO Moe Adham said. “Wasabi is well-positioned to capture much of that market … not only for personal use but also for enterprises.”

Read the rest of the article.

Featured Articles and Writings of J. Orlin Grabbe

James Orlin Grabbe (/ˈɡreɪbiː/; October 8, 1947 – March 15, 2008) more commonly referred to as J. Orlin Grabbe, or just JOG, was an American economist and prolific writer with contributions in the theory and practice of finance. He was known by his book International Financial Markets, and for mathematical models for options and derivatives used in international finance and foreign exchange.

Grabbe wrote articles and essays about personal freedom and governmental abuse, and was an editor of Internet magazines such as the Laissez Faire City Times. Born and educated in the U.S., he pursued his business interests around the world. He died from heart failure around March 15, 2008 in San José, Costa Rica. [reprinted from the Wikipedia page of James Orlin Grabbe]

 

Featured articles and writings of J. Orlin Grabbe (archived):
https://web.archive.org/web/20110724003357/http://orlingrabbe.com:80/?page_id=1462637635

Read this first for background:
https://web.archive.org/web/20110709112450/http://www.orlingrabbe.com/dcguide.htm

Wikipedia Page of Digital Monetary Trust
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Monetary_Trust

Ambassador College and Harvard graduate, economist, physicist Orlin Grabbe dies:

http://www.thejournal.org/issues/issue127/orlin-grabbe-dies.html

Quantum Tantra obituary:

http://quantumtantra.blogspot.com/2009/02/j-orlin-grabbe-1947-2008.html

J. Orlin Grabbe Memorial Archive:

https://memresearch.janus-book.com/grabbe/index.html

AgoristRadio.com:
https://web.archive.org/web/20130729094232/http://agoristradio.com/

Cypherpunkd Episode 042: “Bitcoin Mania 4″ – The Social, Economic and Political Disruptive Technology of Bitcoin with Austrian School Economist Jon Matonis (I had the privilege of being interviewed by Hiro White of AgoristRadio.com):
https://web.archive.org/web/20110819123324/http://agoristradio.com/?p=446

Listen to the SoundCloud version:
https://soundcloud.com/jon-matonis/cypherpunkd-ep042

Samourai Wallet Raises First Funding Round in Fight Against Bitcoin Surveillance

By Brady Dale
CoinDesk
Monday, June 3, 2019

https://www.coindesk.com/samourai-wallet-raises-first-funding-round-in-fight-against-bitcoin-surveillance

The team behind the privacy-obsessed bitcoin app, Samourai Wallet, has gotten its first round of venture funding.

Founded by two former developers at Blockchain.info, Keonne Rodriguez and William Hill, the wallet’s maintainer, Katana Cryptographic, has received a $100,000 investment from Cypherpunk Holdings.

Samourai Wallet has been built for Android users, specifically designed to enhance privacy while using bitcoin.

“There is no other cryptocurrency that is as battle-tested and hardened as bitcoin,” Rodriguez, Katana’s director, told CoinDesk in an email. “The founding team of Samourai has zero interest in working on other coins, or even other layers of bitcoin at this time.”

The wallet has a number of features that provide greater privacy for users, such as a service that puts intermediary hops in a transaction in order to create uncertainty about which wallet pays for what. Another feature makes it difficult to trace the provenance of someone’s bitcoin. The company earns a small fee, in bitcoin, from users that make use of these services.

Samourai also provides a privacy-enhancing service called “stonewall” for free. Stonewall creates doubt about the ownership of bitcoin in a given transaction. The company is also offering a forthcoming hardware product, called Dojo, which is a user-friendly bitcoin node built to work with the wallet.
High marks

Still an alpha release in the works since 2015, Samourai has 27,000 users, according to the company. Its first full version should come out in June. Rodriguez said it will use the funding to expand its development, customer service and quality assurance program, all of which have been put under significant pressure by the wallet’s growth.

The products have personally impressed John Carvalho, a longtime bitcoin user who currently works at Bitrefill. Carvalho told CoinDesk:

“I have respect for any company that adds utility for Bitcoiners and Samourai is clearly willing to go against the grain to add privacy options for users. If Bitcoin is freedom money, Samourai are freedom fighters.”

A similar sentiment spurred the investment itself. Cypherpunk, a venture fund listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the ticker symbol HODL, was set up as an investment vehicle to support privacy-enhancing technology.

Read the rest of the article.

Cypherpunk Holdings Inc. Becomes Lead Investor in Samourai Wallet

Press Release
Newsfile
Monday, June 3, 2019

https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/45183/Cypherpunk-Holdings-Inc.-Becomes-Lead-Investor-in-Samourai-Wallet

Deal Emphasizes Cypherpunk's Commitment to Funding Outstanding Privacy Technology

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 3, 2019) - Cypherpunk Holdings Inc. (CSE: HODL) ("Cypherpunk" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it has become the lead investor in Katana Cryptographic Ltd., whose main product is Samourai Wallet

Katana Cryptographic is an early-stage, London-based computer software company, focused on developing privacy technologies. Katana has developed numerous algorithms and actively maintains open source software designed to mitigate against common surveillance tactics and enhance transactional privacy.

Its main product, Samourai Wallet, is described by the coinsutra.com as "the most secure and privacy-centric Bitcoin wallet currently available in the market." Samourai is still in alpha-mode, but it already has a user-base of 27,000. Full-release 1.0 is expected before the end of June.

Katana's founders, Keonne Rodriguez and William Hill, were, respectively, Product Lead and Lead Mobile Developer at blockchain.info between 2013 and 2016, overseeing the growth of the user-base from from 1m to 6m.

Other Katana privacy technologies include Open Exploration Tool, Ricochet, Stonewall, Whirlpool and Dojo.

Commentating on the investment, Cypherpunk Director Dominic Frisby said: "We met with Katana, and were most impressed with the technologies they are developing and with Katana's commitment to privacy. We share similar values, so are delighted to be able to aid the future development of Katana's products from such an early stage. This deal shows the edge that we at Cypherpunk have."

Cypherpunk Chief Economist Jon Matonis added: "As transactional privacy by default becomes the norm in digital wallets, Samourai may be leading the way in fungibility innovation and maintaining proper coin hygiene."

Katana's CEO Keonne Rodriguez commented, "Katana is excited to have found a partner in Cypherpunk Holdings. We look forward to their partnership and support as we continue executing on our mission to deploy easy to use, privacy enhancing software on the Bitcoin blockchain. Financial sovereignty is more important now than ever before, with the freedom to transact being tantamount to freedom of speech. Cypherpunk Holdings have demonstrated their commitment to these core values and we look forward to working on delivering this vision with their support."

Cypherpunk Holdings Inc. is a vehicle set up to invest in companies, technologies and protocols, which enhance or protect privacy. Its strategy is to make targeted investments in businesses and assets with strong privacy, often within the blockchain ecosystem, including select cryptocurrencies. The stated mission of Cypherpunk Holdings is "to become the world's leading privacy-focused investment vehicle." This is a seed capital investment of US $100,000.

Cypherpunk's common shares trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol "HODL".

More details, and the latest company presentation, can be found at the company website: https://cypherpunkholdings.com/

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Generally, any statements that are not historical facts may contain forward-looking information, and forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or indicates that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be" taken, "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to the Company's goal of making investments in the blockchain and other sectors and enhancing value. There is no assurance that the Company's plans or objectives will be implemented as set out herein, or at all. Forward-looking information is based on certain factors and assumptions the Company believes to be reasonable at the time such statements are made and is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as required by law. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.

Investor Relations Contact:
Marc Henderson,
Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Cypherpunk Holdings Inc.,
Office: 416.599.8547

Cypherpunk Holdings Inc Announces Appointment of Jon Matonis as Chief Economist

Press Release
Newsfile
Wednesday, February 13, 2019

https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42804/Cypherpunk-Holdings-Inc-Announces-Appointment-of-Jon-Matonis-as-Chief-Economist

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 13, 2019) - Cypherpunk Holdings Inc (CSE: HODL) ("Cypherpunk" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Jon Matonis has joined the company as Chief Economist.

Jon Matonis is a monetary economist with a particular focus on non-political digital currencies and privacy technologies. His career has included senior influential posts at VISA International, VeriSign, Sumitomo Bank and Hushmail. He was a founding director of the Bitcoin Foundation.

Commenting on his appointment, Matonis said, "The financing and support of privacy technologies is more important now than ever before in history. I am honored to join the team effort at Cypherpunk Holdings in funding those critical projects that not only should prevail, but that must prevail."

Cypherpunk interim CEO, Marc Henderson, said, "Jon Matonis is one of the foremost intellects in the blockchain, cryptocurrency and privacy technology sector. This appointment at such an early stage in the evolution of Cypherpunk Holdings shows the scope of what we are looking to achieve with this company. We are delighted that Jon is onboard with that. Things are starting to move forward, and we are very excited. We are hoping to make further announcements in the coming weeks."

Cypherpunk Holdings Inc is a Canadian-based holding vehicle set up to invest in companies, technologies and protocols, which enhance or protect privacy, as well as freedom and trust. Its strategy is to make targeted investments in and acquisitions of businesses and assets with strong privacy, often within the blockchain ecosystem, including select cryptocurrencies. The company believes privacy will be an increasingly strong narrative across the technology sector going forward.

The stated mission of Cypherpunk Holdings is "to become the world's leading privacy-focused investment vehicle." More details, and the latest company presentation, can be found at the company website: https://cypherpunkholdings.com/.

Jon Matonis is an economist and e-Money researcher. He serves as an independent board director to companies in the Bitcoin, the Blockchain, mobile payments, and gaming sectors. He has been a featured guest on CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg, NPR, Al Jazeera, RT, Virgin Radio, and numerous podcasts. As a prominent fintech columnist with Forbes Magazine, American Banker, and CoinDesk, he recently joined the editorial board for the cryptocurrency journal, Ledger. His early work on digital cash systems and financial cryptography has been published by Dow Jones and the London School of Economics.

Matonis advocates worldwide for Bitcoin to a wide variety of audiences, including members of the Federal Reserve Bank, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, SWIFT, the US Department of Justice, retail payment networks, major financial institutions, financial regulatory bodies, mobile money issuers, iGaming operators, information security firms, hedge funds, gold investors, and family offices.

The Company has today granted a total of 900,000 options to purchase shares of the company at a price of $0.07 per share until June 1, 2023.

Following its recent name change to Cypherpunk Holdings, the Company's common shares trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol "HODL". The new name references the important contribution of the Cypherpunks and the Cypherpunk Manifesto to the development and ultimate emergence of cryptocurrencies.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Generally, any statements that are not historical facts may contain forward-looking information, and forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or indicates that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be" taken, "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to the Company's goal of making investments in the blockchain and other sectors and enhancing value. There is no assurance that the Company's plans or objectives will be implemented as set out herein, or at all. Forward-looking information is based on certain factors and assumptions the Company believes to be reasonable at the time such statements are made and is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as required by law. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.

Investor Relations Contacts:

Marc Henderson
Cypherpunk Holdings Inc.
Interim President and Chief Executive Officer
Office: 416.599.8547

Original Email from Satoshi

Nakamoto Studies Institute
March 5, 2010

https://nakamotostudies.org/emails/satoshi-to-john-matonis/

The following email from Satoshi was shared by Jon Matonis. Jon regretfully claims to have lost all other correspondences with Satoshi.

From: Satoshi Nakamoto
Subject: Re: Introduction
To: “Jon Matonis”
Date: Thursday, March 4, 2010, 9:55 PM

Nice blog. That’s the first I’ve seen that focuses on this subject. I wish there was something like that when I originally researched this three years ago, there was scant to nothing back then. I think I’ll be a regular reader.

Bitcoin would be right up your alley. Its advantage is that it’s P2P. There isn’t a central mint or company running it. As long as there are users, it survives.

I’m sure you’ve already found the FAQ and Forum at bitcoin.org.

The logo is here:

http://www.bitcoin.o….php?topic=64.0

Was there anything particular you were interested in?