Crypto winter keeps sparking consolidation among crypto firms. The latest deal in the industry is the acquisition of payments and accounting platform Gilded by one of its competitors, Bitwave.
According to a statement shared with Cointelegraph, the acquisition is expected to enhance Bitwave’s enterprise solutions, including crypto payments and invoicing features, as well as tools for tax tracking and bookkeeping. The integration will also see Ken Gaulter, chief technology officer of Gilded, join Bitwave’s engineering team. This deal comes just a few months after Bitwaveacquired Multisig Media.
“We see digital asset payments as faster and cheaper than traditional payment rails — and in this hyper-connected economy, we expect that to be a game changer for businesses,” Pat White, Bitwave co-founder and CEO, told Cointelegraph. The companies did not disclose the acquisition price.
Gilded was founded in 2018 by a group of developers and accountants. It was founded on the premise of helping companies integrate crypto solutions into their financial reporting and accounting processes.
According to Gilded Crunchbase’s profile, it has over 130 enterprise customers across crypto startups, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) marketplaces, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), miners and accounting firms. Gilded’s client base will continue to use its existing products while also being introduced to Bitwave’s platform.
Bitwave, also founded in 2018, similarly offers crypto accounting and compliance services. The company closed a $15 million Series A in December 2022 to expand its crypto solutions to meet complex accounting requirements for enterprises. Hack VC and Blockchain Capital led the round. In addition, Bitwave recently announced a partnership with big four accounting firm Deloitte to offer enterprise tools, such as connecting blockchain data to ERP systems.
“We believe that crypto payments are the future. With instant settlement and incredibly low fees, financial institutions are starting to recognize the massive opportunity afforded by this technology,” added White.
The deal came shortly after U.S. regulators unveiled new rules for digital assets accounting. On Sept. 6, the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) approved guidelines on how companies can report the fair value of their cryptocurrencies on balance sheets.
“We’ve actually received a surprising amount of clarity on both the tax and accounting side of digital assets,” White said about the recent developments. He said that from a tax perspective, “the IRS recently provided a better picture of how staking rewards will be taxed, as well as who meets the definition of a “broker,” and thus, who will be required to send the new 1099-DA forms to customers.” With more transparent rules, regulators are expected to monitor digital asset dealings more closely.
The return on Donald Trump to the G7 was always going to be unpredictable. That it is happening against the backdrop of an escalating conflict in the Middle East makes it even more so.
Expectations had already been low, with the Canadian hosts cautioning against the normal joint communique at the end of the summit, mindful that this group of leaders would struggle to find consensus.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney carefully laid down an agenda that was uncontroversial in a bid to avoid any blow-ups between President Trump and allies, who of late have been divided like never before – be it over tariffs and trade, Russia and Ukraine, or, more recently Israel’s conduct in Gaza.
But discussions around critical minerals and global supply chains will undoubtedly drop down the agenda as leaders convene at a precarious moment. Keir Starmer, on his way over to Canada for a bi-lateral meeting in Ottawa with PM Carney before travelling onto the G7 summit in Kananaskis, underscored the gravity of the situation as he again spoke of de-escalation, while also confirmed that the UK was deploying more British fighter jets to the region amid threats from Tehran that it will attack UK bases if London helps defend Israel against airstrikes.
Image: Canadian PM Mark Carney is greeted by President Donald Trump at the White House in May. Pic: AP
Really this is a G7 agenda scrambled as world leaders scramble to de-escalate the worst fighting between Tel Aviv and Tehran in decades. President Trump has for months been urging Israel not to strike Iran as he worked towards a diplomatic deal to halt uranium enrichment. Further talks had been due on Sunday – but are now not expected to go ahead.
All eyes will be on Trump in the coming days, to see if the US – Israel’s closest ally – will call on Israel to rein in its assault. The US has so far not participated in any joint attacks with Tel Aviv, but is moving warships and other military assets to the Middle East.
Sir Keir, who has managed to strike the first trade deal with Trump, will want to leverage his “good relationship” with the US leader at the G7 to press for de-escalation in the Middle East, while he also hopes to use the summit to further discuss the further the interests of Ukraine with Trump and raise again the prospects of Russian sanctions.
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“We’ve got President Zelenskyy coming so that provides a good opportunity for us to discuss again as a group,” the PM told me on the flight over to Canada. “My long-standing view is, we need to get Russia to the table for an unconditional ceasefire. That’s not been really straightforward. But we do need to be clear about what we need to get to the table and that if that doesn’t happen, sanctions will undoubtedly be part of the discussion at the G7.”
Image: Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (R) is greeted by Mark Carney as he arrives in Ottawa ahead of the G7
But that the leaders are not planning for a joint communique – a document outlining what the leaders have agreed – tells you a lot. When they last gathered with Trump in Canada for the G7 back in 2018, the US president rather spectacularly fell out with Justin Trudeau when the former Canadian president threatened to retaliate against US tariffs and refused to sign the G7 agreement.
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Since then, Trump has spoken of his desire to turn Canada into the 51st state of the US, a suggestion that helped catapult the Liberal Party beyond their Conservative rivals and back into power in the recent Canadian elections, as Mark Carney stood on a ticket of confronting Trump’s aggression.
With so much disagreement between the US and allies, it is hard to see where progress might be made over the next couple of days. But what these leaders will agree on is the need to take down the temperature in the Middle East and for all the unpredictability around these relationships, what is certain is a sense of urgency around Iran and Israel that could find these increasingly disparate allies on common ground.