The $1 billion acquisition of rent-to-own startup Divvy Homes, which was announced Wednesday, is expected to leave some shareholders without a payout, according to sources familiar with the deal. 

The terms — and Divvy’s journey from buzzy startup to acquisition target — reflects the rollercoaster ride the proptech industry has endured over the past decade.

The San Francisco-based startup, founded in 2016, had raised more than $700 million in debt and equity from well-known investors such as Tiger Global Management, GGV Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), among others. By 2021, the company was valued at $2.3 billion.

And while the Brookfield Properties purchase of Divvy for $1 billion was at half of its peak valuation, the acquisition could still be considered a win in an industry that has had a string of shutdowns and bankruptcies. 

However, it’s a loss for some shareholders, according to a letter from Divvy CEO and co-founder Adena Hefets, which was viewed by TechCrunch. 

“If the transaction closes, Divvy will sell substantially all of its assets, namely its home portfolio and brand, to Brookfield for approximately $1 billion. However, after repaying its outstanding indebtedness, transaction costs, and liquidation preference to preferred shareholders, we unfortunately estimate that neither common shareholders nor holders of the Series FF preferred stock will receive any consideration,” according to the letter, which was sent to shareholders, former employees, and “Divvy supporters.”

FF preferred stock, also known as Founders Preferred Stock, is a type of stock that is issued to founders of a company. The law firm Cooley defines the shares as being issued to founders “at the time of incorporation in order to facilitate sales of stock by founders in connection with future equity financings.”  

TechCrunch has reached out to Hefets and Divvy Homes for comment and will update the article with any response.

Another source told TechCrunch that equity holders “got zero’d” so “founders, employees and VCs” will get “nothing” from the sale. The identity of the source, who asked to remain anonymous, has been verified by TechCrunch.

Divvy operated a rent-to-own model in which it worked with renters who wanted to become homeowners by buying the home they wanted and renting it back to them for three years while they built “the savings needed to own it themselves,” it said.

The company ran into some hiccups when mortgage interest rates began to surge in 2022, leading it to conduct three known rounds of layoffs in a year’s time. Divvy’s last known funding occurred in August 2021 — a $200 million Series D funding led by Tiger Global Management and Caffeinated Capital. The Series D round was announced just six months after a $110 million Series C. 

Hefets also shared in the letter the “decision to sell wasn’t easy” and “came after a thorough review of Divvy’s strategic alternatives … and with significant deliberation around our options.” 

She said the move followed “years of fighting difficult market conditions, including rising interest rates, and making as many cost cuts as possible.”

As the company looked into what lay ahead in 2025, it decided the best way forward was to sell its “portfolio of homes now and return as much capital as possible to shareholders.”

“With almost a decade of pouring myself into this company, and believing in this mission, this was not the ending I had hoped for…While I am not proud of the financial outcome, I am proud of the impact we had on our customers’ lives,” Hefets added.

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Cardano (ADA) and XRP investors are buzzing about 1Fuel’s wallet technology, looking to get in early.

Cardano (ADA) and Ripple (XRP) are widely known for their blockchain solutions, and achieved more fame when they announced plans to collaborate. But lately, their investors have been more interested in 1Fuel (OFT), especially since its new wallet technology might transform the DeFi landscape.

This DeFi wallet is important to 1Fuel’s ecosystem, offering cross-chain transaction capability and privacy tools. With the 1Fuel presale quickly progressing, there has been a lot of excitement surrounding the public listing.

Cardano and Ripple plan collaborative projects 

Recently, the founder of Cardano, Charles Hoskinson, and the CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse, announced that they have been discussing collaborations. Once this news broke out, the value of the two altcoins increased in a week. Cardano‘s price increased by 1.14% while XRP rose by 20.68%, further attracting investor interest. 

This potential collaboration has caused investors to rank ADA and XRP among the best altcoins. With their rising in value, these tokens can be easily managed on wallets like MetaMask and Trust Wallet.

New wallet technology piques widespread interest 

1Fuel has emerged with a new wallet technology which is attracting a lot of attention, especially from ADA and XRP whales. This technology is expected to transform the DeFi space, driving 1Fuel’s value as one of the best altcoins. 

One of the best parts of this wallet is cross-chain transactions and one-click technology. This is a major advantage over platforms like MetaMask and Trust Wallet, which require multiple wallets and tokens for cross-chain swaps. With only the 1Fuel token, investors can freely send altcoins from one blockchain to another.

1Fuel is also fitted with highly advanced financial tools that make it easy to manage digital assets. These include crypto debit and credit cards, peer-to-peer (P2P) exchange, disposable wallets, and AI-driven features. With all of these, 1Fuel could be a top DEX wallet, especially as it features an inbuilt privacy mixer and cold storage. These are privacy features that are usually lacking in well-known platforms like MetaMask and Trust Wallet. 

1Fuel presale sees fast progress 

The 1Fuel presale has been moving at an impressive pace, which is a sign of the widespread investor interest and confidence. In just a week, stage 1 achieved 100% completion while stage 2 had a similar progress. Now it is in stage 3 and over 30% complete, selling over 146 million tokens and raising $1.4 million.

Investors can buy the token at $0.017 in stage 3. Analysts predict that 1Fuel could rise by 100x in 2025, and investors are highly anticipating long-term growth.

1Fuel’s launch 

Investors are looking forward to 1Fuel’s public listing in Q2 2025. Supported by a robust DeFi ecosystem, 1Fuel could change how digital assets are managed. The exchange technology is offering an edge over widely known blockchain systems like Cardano and Ripple.

To find out more about 1Fuel, visit their website, Telegram, or X.

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An industry-wide debate over crypto institutional adoption and centralized custody risk will trigger a surge of interest in self-custody, OKX’s President Hong Fang said in a recent interview with CoinDesk.

While institutional adoption and the increasing popularity of crypto ETFs are a net positive for the industry, there may be a shift in industry narrative to caution against custody concentration risk, Fang argued. She predicts that most native crypto users will adopt self-custody this year.

On OKX, assets held in its self-custody wallets (almost $50 billion) exceed assets on its centralized exchange ($30.8 billion).

This series is brought to you by Consensus Hong Kong. Come and experience the most influential event in Web3 and Digital Assets, Feb.18-20. Register today and save 15% with the code CoinDesk15.

“The tension between adoption and concentration risk will come under a spotlight,” said Fang, who will be a speaker at Consensus Hong Kong in February. “Against this backdrop, I anticipate more industry campaigns to educate why self-custody is important and how to use it, and more products to make it easier for the masses to use self-custody and alleviate the risks accordingly.”

According to Fang, OKX DEX volume has increased 20 times. But she argues that DEXs and centralized exchanges are complementary.

“The crypto-native audience will want to be able to use CEX for reliability and DEX for catching innovations,” she said. “Such supply-demand dynamics will drive further adoption of DEX to enable innovation while supporting the gradual maturity of the crypto regulatory framework.”

A bitcoin strategic reserve?

A national bitcoin strategic reserve, a policy touted by the new Trump administration, would serve to centralize the leading cryptocurrency. But many in crypto doubt it will actually happen, if bettors on Polymarket are any guide (as of Jan. 22, they were putting the chances of Trump creating such a reserve in the first 100 days of his administration at just 30 percent.)

Fang agrees with this sentiment.

“I personally find it hard to believe that major sovereign countries like the U.S. will officially adopt bitcoin strategic reserve at the federal level at this stage, but it is very possible that smaller sovereign countries or states could,” she said.

But, this being crypto, anything is possible.

Very unexpected events — like a lack of follow through by the Trump administration on its crypto promises — could dampen the bull run quickly, she said. But the biggest risk according to Fang remains over-centralization.

For that risk there’s a vaccine: self-custody. Which, according to OKX, the market is quickly adopting.

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,000 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc’s Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.