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BVNK co-founders (L to R) Donald Jackson, Jesse Hemson-Struthers and Chris Harmes, at the company’s San Francisco Office.

BVNK

Citi has invested in stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK, the startup told CNBC on Thursday, as big U.S. banks ramp up their presence in the cryptocurrency and digital asset space.

Stablecoins are a type of digital asset pegged to a fiat currency and backed by real-world assets like bonds. The two biggest are USDC and Tether, which issues USDT.

BVNK’s core technology is effectively a payments rail to facilitate transactions in stablecoins globally, allowing customers to move money from fiat into the cryptocurrency and back.

The company declined to disclose the sum that Citi invested or its current valuation. But Chris Harmse, co-founder of BVNK, told CNBC in an interview that its valuation is higher than the $750 million that was publicly disclosed at its last funding round.

The investment was made by Citi Ventures, the venture capital arm of Citigroup.

Stablecoins, once just a tool for people to trade quickly in and out of other cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, are now being seen as a potential key tool for cross-border transactions due to the speed to send and receive them, the low cost and 24/7 settlement.

There were nearly $9 trillion worth of stablecoin transactions over the last 12 months, according to Visa, while the current valuation of all stablecoins in existence stands at over $300 billion, Coinmarketcap data shows.

U.S. growth

BVNK’s Harmse said the company is seeing momentum, especially in the U.S., which has been its fastest-growing market over the last 12-18 months thanks to what is seen by the crypto industry as a more favorable regulatory environment.

Earlier this year, the U.S. passed the GENIUS Act, a bill designed to regulate and bring more clarity to the stablecoin market.

“You are seeing with the GENIUS Act coming through, and regulatory clarity, an explosion of demand for building on top of stablecoin infrastructure,” Harmse told CNBC.

BVNK’s technology can be used by customers to pay suppliers, contractors or merchants in other countries. The company is looking to expand its customer base, including to digital-only banks or neobanks that may use stabelcoins for their core checking account, Harmse said.

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The co-founder declined to get into the specifics of the company’s work with Citi as it’s “too early to announce” but noted the Wall Street bank has been bolstering its cross-border payment services.

“U.S. banks at the scale of Citi, because of the GENIUS Act, are putting their weight behind … investing in leading businesses in the space to make sure they are at forefront of this technological shift in payments,” Harmse said. 

Citi signaled its step up into crypto this year. CEO Jane Fraser said in June that the company is considering issuing its own stablecoin and is interested in offering custodian services for crypto assets.

BVNK has “dipped in and out of profitability” as the company has invested in growth, Harmse said, adding that the company is on track to be profitable next year. BVNK is also backed by Coinbase and Tiger Global.

The startup is playing in a highly-competitive space with other newcomers like Alchemy Pay and TripleA and established players like Ripple trying to get a slice of the cross-border digital money pie.

Wall Street welcomes crypto

Citi isn’t alone in embracing digital assets when it comes to major U.S. banks and financial institutions.

JPMorgan Chase launched its own stablecoin-like token called JPMD this year. The bank also made the decision this year to allow clients to buy bitcoin.

Banks have been looking at how to use blockchain, a technology originally developed to underpin bitcoin, to lower the cost and speed up transactions of many kinds. Part of this involves “tokenization” which broadly means the idea of issuing a digital token that represents something such as a deposit.

Bank of New York Mellon, for example, is exploring tokenized deposits. HSBC has already launched a tokenized deposit service.

Visa’s stablecoin pilot could turn a narrative headwind into a tailwind, says Mizuho’s Dan Dolev

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CoreWeave CEO responds to data center delays as stock plunges. Core Scientific shares fall

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CoreWeave CEO responds to data center delays as stock plunges. Core Scientific shares fall

CoreWeave CEO responds to data center delay as stock falls

CoreWeave shares sank 13% on Tuesday after CEO Mike Intrator addressed delays at a third-party data center developer that hit full-year guidance in its latest earnings report.

“Quite frankly, every single part of this quarter went exactly as we planned, except for one delay at a singular data center,” Intrator told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on Tuesday.

He then clarified that a “singular data center provider” is more accurate.

“Some people might think it’s one complex, but when I go over the numbers, we’re talking about multiple places,” CNBC’s Jim Cramer said. “And it just so happens that the places are all connected to an outfit called Core Scientific that you tried to buy.”

Cramer noted delays at complexes in Texas, Oklahoma and North Carolina.

Intrator said the companies have been working together on infrastructure for a long time a would continue work to bring it online. He did not directly confirm that Core Scientific is the third-party provider.

CoreWeave tried to acquire Core Scientific for $9 billion earlier this year. Core Scientific shareholders voted against the proposed deal. Core Scientific shares sank 7% Tuesday.

During CoreWeave’s quarterly earnings call on Monday, JPMorgan Securities analyst Mark Murphy asked if the delay was related to Core Scientific, but Intrator declined to name the company. At another point in the call, the CEO suggested that just one data center, not multiple sites, were affected.

“There was a problem at one data center that’s impacting us, but there are 41 data centers in our portfolio,” Intrator said.

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At a different point in the call, CoreWeave’s CFO Nitin Agrawal said the delays stem from “a single provider, data center provider partner.”

When reached for comment about how many sites were affected, CoreWeave did not provide a number and pointed to Intrator’s statements on the earnings call and during his “Squawk on the Street” interview.

CoreWeave, which provides infrastructure for artificial intelligence companies, reported third-quarter results on Monday that showed $1.36 billion in revenue for the period, up 134% from $583.9 million a year ago. But CoreWeave now sees 2025 revenue coming in between $5.05 billion and $5.15 billion, below the average analyst estimate of $5.29 billion.

Intrator told CNBC on Tuesday that CoreWeave has teams of employees working with contractors and Core Scientific at those sites “every single day” to get things back on track.

“It became apparent to us in Q3 that there were delays at the facility,” Intrator said. “CoreWeave responded by deploying our own boots on the ground to ensure that everything was being done in order to move those facilities along as quickly as possible.”

Intrator told analysts on Monday that the delays would not affect its backlog or get the full value from contracts.

Core Scientific did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CoreWeave has been on a deal-making blitz as big tech companies and AI startups race to build out their computing infrastructure.

The company announced in September that it agreed to provide Meta with $14.2 billion of AI cloud infrastructure, just days after expanding its contract with OpenAI to $22.4 billion.

CoreWeave slides after earnings: Here's what to know

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Analysts call this lagging portfolio stock a buy — plus, what’s behind Nvidia’s decline

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Analysts call this lagging portfolio stock a buy — plus, what's behind Nvidia's decline

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Rocket Lab rises 3% on record third-quarter revenue, launch backlog

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Rocket Lab rises 3% on record third-quarter revenue, launch backlog

Cheng Xin | Getty Images

Rocket Lab‘s stock rose as much as 3% on Tuesday after the space company posted record revenues in the third-quarter as it scoops up more launch deals and builds its backlog.

The company, which makes satellites and rockets and provides launch services to its customers, on Monday reported revenue of $155 million for the period. That surpassed the $152 million forecast from analysts polled by LSEG, and it was up 48% from about $105 million a year ago. Rocket Lab also posted a smaller-than-expected loss of 3 cents per share, versus the 10-cent per share loss anticipated.

Additionally, Rocket Lab issued strong guidance for the current quarter, saying it expects revenues between $170 million and $180 million. Analysts had forecast $172 million in revenues.

Rocket Lab said it’s experiencing a record backlog, with 49 rocket launches on contract. The company said it signed 17 of those deals during the third quarter and plans to close out the year with over 20 launches.

In an earnings release, CEO Peter Beck said the Long Beach, California, company is “just days away” from reaching a new annual launch record. Rocket Lab is also tackling mergers and acquisitions that target key defense initiatives such as President Donald Trump’s missile defense system plan known as the ‘Golden Dome,” Beck added.

Competition is intensifying in the space technology sector as the U.S. government and NASA lean on more independent contractors, including Elon Musk‘s SpaceX, to power missions to return to the moon. Growing excitement has also brought a wave of space companies to the public markets this year, including Texas-based Firefly Aerospace.

Last month, Rocket Lab’s stock jumped more than 31% after announcing a slew of new launch deals. Shares have more than doubled this year and surged nearly 270% over the last twelve months. The stock has pulled back about 13% in November amid a broader market selloff.

During the third quarter, the company closed its acquisition of satellite sensor maker Geost and opened a new launch site for its Neutron rocket.

Rocket Lab reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of $26.3 million, topping the $21 million to $23 million loss range previously forecast. Analysts anticipated a $22.2 million adjusted EBITDA loss, according to FactSet.

The company expects adjusted EBITDA losses to range between $23 million and $29 million in the fourth quarter, surpassing the $13 million loss forecast by FactSet.

WATCH: Rocket Lab CEO talks competing for Space Force contracts

Rocket Lab CEO talks competing for Space Force contracts

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