Atlanta-based Bitcoin Depot is launching more than 100 new bitcoin (BTC, -0.22%) ATMs in the U.S. 

• In a press release Wednesday, the company said it is launching 115 kiosks across 24 U.S. states including 14 in Alabama, 13 in Minnesota, 12 in Florida and 12 in California in coming weeks.
• Bitcoin Depot said it has doubled its number of crypto ATMs in the last six months and now has 2,000 ATMs globally.
• Users can buy bitcoin, litecoin (LTC, +0.77%) and ethereum (ETH, -0.67%) via the firm's kiosks.
• "Cryptocurrency offers a lot of opportunities for people [who] don't have access to traditional financial services, like banks," said the fim's president and CEO, Brandon Mintz. 

Read more: Chinese Bank Trials Digital Yuan Services at ATMs: Report

A young defensive back with the Los Angeles Rams is the latest pro athlete launching a non-fungible token (NFT), hoping to use the sale to raise money, and awareness, to combat the wave of anti-Asian hate crimes this year.

Taylor Rapp, the free safety entering his third season in the National Football League, completely lacks the star power of a Rob Gronkowski or a Patrick Mahomes, marquee players who leveraged their splashy brands into multimillion-dollar NFT sales earlier this month. 

But the backfield starter, who said he’s been hustling with his co-creators for three weeks on their slapdash NFTs, told CoinDesk he hopes to make up the difference by focusing his sale on its anti-racist cause. He’s the only Chinese-American active in the NFL at a time when reports of hate crimes against Asians are surging.

“The whole reason behind making the collection was to raise money to donate to the AAPI community and, you know, my Asian community, because we’ve seen all the crazy horrific attacks every single day,” he told CoinDesk Tuesday, hours after New York City police began investigating the latest apparent anti-Asian assault in a year full of them.

Rapp hasn’t yet “locked in” what portion of the NFT sale he will donate to community organizations through GoFundMe’s $5 million #StopAsianHate campaign. But he said it will represent “a substantial amount” of the total.

The NFTs themselves, which do not feature team iconography and are not being released through a deal with the league, might shake the gargantuan NFL machine into addressing the attacks against Asians more forcefully, Rapp said. 

He noted league officials issued a statement condemning the attacks under the hashtag #StopAsianHate in late February, “just like all the other big corporations” that he said are finally waking up to a problem that began with COVID-19 nearly one year earlier after the reports of the disease originating in Wuhan, China.

“I really hope the NFL sees this and the important message that is behind it in why I’m actually doing it,” Rapp said. “Hopefully, the Rams will be able to see that as well.”

NFTs for a cause

The NFTs lean heavily on Rapp’s Chinese identity. He’s calling them the “Year of the Ox” collection (a reference to this year’s Chinese zodiac sign) and said each carries a Chinese proverb his mother picked out as well as the Chinese character for “Ox” that he said his grandfather hand-painted. 

Digital artists Elena Provolovich, Ryan Darwent, and David Bircham collaborated with Rapp on designing his six NFTs, only one of which is 1-of-1. The other images run as high as 24 copies and the total supply is 90. Darwent told CoinDesk his contribution takes after photography, though others in the collection more closely resemble a museum piece.

Many also come paired with real-world memorabilia, Rapp said, a concession for the “boomers” who, like his father, don’t buy into intangible digital collectibles. For his part, Rapp thinks NFTs have staying power.

He said the auction begins Thursday night on NFT marketplace OpenSea.

Rapp is hopeful the NFT buzz can serve as a vehicle for spreading awareness of Asian athletes, especially in the NFL where aspiring players face an uphill battle due to their underrepresentation in the league, he said.

“Going through the ranks of high school and college and NFL, you begin to see fewer and fewer people who look like you,” Rapp said, noting he had no such “role model” in the NFL while growing up.

“For me, it’s all about representation and being able to be that figure for” young players, he said.

Canada-based digital asset merchant bank Galaxy Digital (TSX: GLXY) said it is actively preparing for a U.S. listing after reporting positive Q4 earnings Tuesday.

In a press release, the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) listed-firm founded by Mike Novogratz said it will list in the U.S. in the second half of the year. It also has named Alex Ioffe as the company’s new CFO, effective April 1, replacing Ash Prithipaul. Prithipaul is stepping down to spend more time with his family, the company said. 

The company reported its Q4 net comprehensive income, excluding non-controlling interests, rose 1,175% to $335.7 million, from a loss on the same basis of $31.2 million in the year-earlier period. Galaxy attributed the improvement mostly to realized and unrealized gains on digital assets and on investments.

Income from the company’s trading business increased 842% to $238.7 million in the Q4 from a loss of $32.2 million in the year-earlier period.

In the firm’s Digital Asset Management business, assets under management increased over 98% to $807.3 million from $407.4 million in the year-earlier quarter. Galaxy Digital said. The unit expects to report preliminary assets under management of $1.24 billion as of March 22.

The company said its Galaxy Digital Trading operations expect to generate record gains in counterparty trading volumes, the size of its counterparty loan book and gross counterparty loan book originations in the Q1 2021.

“We believe our industry is at an inflection point as we participate in a once in a lifetime secular shift into cryptocurrencies as an institutionalized asset class. Galaxy Digital is committed to leading our clients and the industry through this transformation,” said CEO Novogratz.

In March the firm launched the CI Galaxy Bitcoin ETF which is trading on the TSX under the ticker “BTCX.” 

Read more: Galaxy Digital Taps Blockstream for Hosted Mining Operations

Also during March, Galaxy Digital announced its new bitcoin mining business, Galaxy Digital Mining, is using Blockstream facilities for an initial deployment of machines in the U.S. and Canada. 

At the time of publication, Galaxy Digital shares listed on the TSX were trading up 3.53% at C$24.66. 

Bakkt is launching its digital wallet app with companies such as Starbucks among its roster of merchant partners.

• The app drew 500,000 users in its invitation-only trial run prior to its public launch Tuesday, Bakkt said in a press release.
• The app was announced in October 2019, with plans to launch in the first half of 2020.
• The COVID-19 pandemic appears to have scuttled Bakkt’s original timeline, given the app’s focus on the hospitality and travel sectors.
• Bakkt is aiming to aggregate cryptocurrency holdings with other digital assets such as airline miles, gift cards and loyalty points.
• “Customers can now use Bakkt to reload their Starbucks Card through the Starbucks app for iOS,” Bakkt said.
• Other partners include Best Buy, Choice Hotels, Fiserv and GolfNow.

Dapper Labs announced a $305 million funding round Tuesday from another batch of National Basketball Association stars and a venture capital firm backing its runaway hit, NBA Top Shot.

Kevin Durant, Michael Jordan, the investment firm Coatue and a deep bench of 30 athletes plus the rapper 2 Chainz have piled into the non-fungible token (NFT) firm, the startup said. Citing a person with knowledge of the situation, USA Today reported the funding round places Dapper’s current valuation at $2.6 billion.

The mega-round comes as Dapper’s NBA Top Shot platform continues to monetize fans’ growing demand for digital collectibles. Sitting atop Dapper’s Flow blockchain, the card-like crypto platform has raked in nearly $500 million in sales and seen its secondary trading market eclipse $2 million in volume almost daily.

While the hype remains centered on NBA Top Shot, Dapper Labs signaled in a press release it intends to bring yet more digital collectibles to Flow through “experiences” by Warner Media Group and UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), among others. More experiences are coming this year, the startup said. The company has raised $357 million to date.

Here’s the full list of investors, per the Dapper Labs press release:

The company received support from NBA legend Michael Jordan as well as current players and funds including Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala, Kyle Lowry, Spencer Dinwiddie, Andre Drummond, Alex Caruso, Michael Carter-Williams, Josh Hart, Udonis Haslem, JaVale McGee, Khris Middleton, Domantas Sabonis, Klay Thompson, Nikola Vucevic, Thad Young, and Richard Seymour’s 93 Ventures, as well as entertainment and music heavyweights including Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary's Sound Ventures, Will Smith and Keisuke Honda's Dreamers VC, Shawn Mendes and Andrew Gertler's AG Ventures, Shay Mitchell, and 2 Chainz. Other strategics participating include a16z, The Chernin Group, USV, Version One, and Venrock.

Additional investors in the round include: [Major League Baseball] players Tim Beckham and Nolan Arenado; [National Football League] players Ken Crawley, Thomas Davis, Stefon Diggs, Dee Ford, Malcom Jenkins, Rodney McLeod, Jordan Matthew, Devin McCourty, Jason McCourty, DK Metcalf, Tyrod Taylor and Trent Williams; team ownership including Vivek Ranadive (Kings), and notable sports investors Bolt Ventures.