Weekly Recap

May 17th, 2021 - May 24th, 2021

Welcome to our 4th weekly recap for May.

Overview 

Crypto News

• [1] Microstrategy Buys $10M Worth of Bitcoin, MSTR Shares Down Over 60% Since February

On Tuesday, the publicly-listed business intelligence company, Microstrategy, announced the purchase of 229 bitcoins adding to the firm’s current stash of crypto. The company’s CEO Michael Saylor told his Twitter followers that Microstrategy now holds 92,079 bitcoins.

• [2] Wells Fargo Gets Into Crypto With Upcoming ‘Professionally Managed’ Cryptocurrency Investment

Wells Fargo will soon offer “a professionally managed solution” for cryptocurrency to clients. “We think the cryptocurrency space has just kind of hit an evolution and maturation of its development that allows it now to be a viable investable asset,” said the president of Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

• [3] Indian Government to Set up Panel of Experts to Take a Fresh Look at Regulating Cryptocurrencies: Report

The Indian government is reportedly looking to form a new “panel of experts” to focus on ways to regulate the cryptocurrency industry in the country. “There is a view within the government that the recommendations made by Subhash Garg are dated and a fresh look is needed at use of cryptos rather than a total ban,” local media reported.

• [4] Nvidia Aims to Get Its GPUs Back ‘Into the Hands of Gamers’ by Reducing Mining Capabilities on 3 Graphic Cards

A major chipmaker keeps making efforts to calm down the gaming community’s anger toward cryptocurrency miners who are taking the lead in buying graphic cards massively, boosting its prices. Nvidia has announced that it will deliberately limit the capabilities for some of its newly graphic cards to keep a balanced inventory for gamers.

• [5] Bank of Russia to Launch Digital Ruble Prototype by End of Year

The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) is preparing to release a digital prototype of the national fiat towards the end of 2021, a high-ranking official has confirmed. Transfers between private individuals will be free of charge with the digital ruble, which is going to have legal tender status on par with Russia’s traditional currency.

• [6] Promising Integrations Join the Polkadot Ecosystem

As Polkadot’s vision of a decentralized web advances, the integrations of KILT Protocol and the fintech platform Current are adding new utility layers across the blockchain’s ecosystem, helping tear down the existing barriers between Web 2.0 and 3.0.

• [7] Dutch Central Bank Revokes Strict Verification Rules for Crypto Exchanges

The cryptocurrency industry in the Netherlands has won a small but significant battle. The country’s central bank has canceled some excessive verification procedures that it imposed on crypto service providers last fall. The move comes after a local exchange took the matter to court.

• [8] BTC Mining Devices ‘Out of Stock’ Worldwide- 6 Chinese Mining Rig Makers Dominate the ASIC Industry in 2021

While bitcoin prices have slid in value and the high network difficulty, the leading crypto asset is still quite profitable to mine according to current data. Despite the profitability, these days there are only a few manufacturers producing application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) machines.

• [9] Russian Lawmakers Move to Allow Crypto Payments Under Contracts

Members of the State Duma are now working on amendments that will permit the use of cryptocurrency as a contractual means of payment. Digital financial assets are regarded as property under Russian law and the changes will legalize crypto payments between parties to a contract.

Weekly Recap

May 24th, 2021 - May 31th, 2021

Welcome to our 5th weekly recap for May.

Overview 

Crypto News

• [1] Traditional Hedge Funds Look To Deploy More Capital Into Crypto: PricewaterhouseCoopers

Global accounting and business consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is revealing that legacy hedge funds are contemplating increasing their investments in crypto assets before the end of the year.

• [2] PayPal to Allow Its Customers to Withdraw Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies

Payments giant PayPal is set to add support for cryptocurrency withdrawals to third-party wallets.

• [3] Ripple to Go Public After the SEC Lawsuit, Confirms CEO

Ripple Labs intends to become a publicly-traded company after it settles the lawsuit against the SEC, confirmed the payment processor’s CEO.

• [4] Cardano to Let Users Create and Execute P2P Financial Agreements

In a blog post that begins by relating flawed experiences with traditional financial services, IOHK announced they are developing Marlowe. In creating this decentralized finance (DeFi) project, they seek to democratize finance through facilitating peer-to-peer agreements on a blockchain.

• [5] Cardano Gets The Ball Rolling On Smart Contracts With Alonzo Testnet

Cardano remains one of the few altcoins showing strength amid May’s massive cryptocurrency dip and its developers’ latest announcement is sure to have prompted excitement among investors and holders.

• [6] Grayscale Loses Whopping $2.1 Billion In Bitcoin and Other Crypto in 24 Hours

Large investment fund Grayscale, subsidiary of Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group, has tweeted that as of May 28, the size of its crypto holdings has shrunk to $34.1 billion from $36.2 billion a day before.

• [7] Global crypto exchanges pour money into India despite regulatory uncertainty

India may have a contentious relationship with the crypto space, but investments continue to pour into the country’s digital coin sector.

• [8] Another Win for Ripple as the SEC Denied From Accessing Internal XRP Sales Documents

In yet another win for Ripple in its lawsuit against the SEC, the Judge has denied the Commission’s motion to compel the payment processor to produce internal information discussing XRP sales with its legal team. As a result, the price of the XPR token surged by double-digits in 24 hours.

• [9] India’s central bank confirms banks can’t restrict processing crypto transactions

India’s central bank has clarified that banks cannot use its 2018 order banning them from dealing with cryptocurrency transactions.

Weekly Recap

May 10th, 2021 - May 17th, 2021

Welcome to our 2nd weekly recap for May.

Overview 

Crypto News

• [1] Binance Under Investigation by DOJ and IRS

Binance, the largest exchange by trading volume, is facing money laundering and tax evasion investigations from the U.S. Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service, according to Bloomberg.

• [2] Elon crashes Bitcoin – The Bitcoin mining energy debate begins

Elon Musk tweeted today that Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin. He said that Tesla is concerned about the rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining.

• Binance Suspends ETH and ERC-20 Withdrawals for Customers

Just now, major crypto trader Binance has tweeted that withdrawals of Ethereum and all tokens based on its ERC-20 standard will be suspended during temporary wallet maintenance.

• [4] Bitcoin-Mining Power Plant Mentioned by Elon Musk to Go Carbon-Neutral

New York’s Greenidge power plant—which has been repurposed for Bitcoin mining in 2017—is going to be entirely carbon-neutral starting from June, Reuters reports.

• [5] Core Scientific CEO: Musk is misinformed, blockchain drives push into renewable energy

Crypto mining firm Core Scientific CEO Kevin Turner has dismissed the debate on bitcoin’s environmental impact, terming the asset as 100% carbon neutral days after Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) suspended the digital currency payments over its carbon footprint.

• [6] Increasing Popularity of Crypto Pressures Samsung to Add Hardware Wallet Support to Its Galaxy Smartphones

South Korean tech giant Samsung has added support for third-party cryptocurrency hardware wallets to its Galaxy smartphones. These wallets including the Ledger Nano S and Nano X.

• [7] Tesla Falls as Bitcoin Plunges

Tesla’s price has fallen another 4% today as the stock continues its downtrend from the high of $900 in January to $564 at the time of writing as pictured above.

• [8] Bitcoin (BTC) Mentioned in Sony Patent Filing

According to the Patentscope database that indexes the documents of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Japanese digital conglomerate Sony has considered Bitcoin (BTC) integration since 2019.

• [9] Almost all major Bitcoin mining pools now signaling for Taproot activation

The top-10 Bitcoin (BTC) mining pools by hash rate distribution are now signaling for Taproot activation with BTC.Top being the latest among them as of the time of writing.

BONUS:

• ‘Elon Musk has nothing to do with DOGE’: said one cryptocurrency developers
• China Bans Bitcoin Again

Weekly Recap

May 3rd, 2021 - May 10th, 2021

Welcome to our 2nd weekly recap for May.

Overview 

Crypto News

• [1] Galaxy Digital to Buy BitGo for About $1.2B in Stock, Cash

Galaxy Digital, the cryptocurrency-focused financial services firm run by Michael Novogratz, said it has agreed to buy BitGo, the U.S.-regulated crypto custody specialist, for $1.2 billion in stock and cash.

• [2] Grayscale Becomes First Crypto Sponsor of NFL Team with Giants’ Team-Up

Grayscale has become the first cryptocurrency company to sponsor an NFL team, the New York Giants. The Giants organization is hoping their partnership with Grayscale will help guide them in navigating the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

• [3] Goldman Sachs Leads Investment in Crypto Firm Coin Metrics

Coin Metrics, a cryptocurrency and blockchain data provider to institutional clients, raised $15 million through investors led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

• [4] NYDIG Partners with FIS to Bring Bitcoin to 300M US Bank Accounts

In one of the latest and largest institutional moves towards the cryptocurrency market, NYDIG has announced a strategic partnership with Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) Inc (NYSE: FIS) to bring Bitcoin (BTC) to over 300 million United States banks in the coming months.

• [5] E-Commerce Giant MercadoLibre Discloses $7.8M Bitcoin Buy

Latin American e-commerce giant MercadoLibre disclosed a $7.8 million bitcoin (BTC, +4.49%) purchase on Wednesday, making it the latest publicly traded company to park bitcoin on its balance sheet.

• [6] Binance Suspends All Withdrawals for Customers

Leading crypto exchange Binance has announced in a tweet the suspension of withdrawals for all assets.

• [7] NPCI Refuses to Ban Cryptocurrencies in India: Leaves the Decision to Banks

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) does not intend to block cryptocurrency trading. Instead, it plans to leave the decision to individual banks and thus they can determine their own risk level.

• [8] Dogecoin Plummets 30% From Highs Following Elon Musk’s SNL Appearance

Following weeks of speculation and extreme volatility, many traders were expecting Dogecoin to surge to new highs from Elon Musk’s Saturday Night Live appearance. In anticipation of the Tesla CEO’s debut on SNL, Dogecoin’s price surged nearly 100% in the past week alone.

• [9] S&P Launches First-Ever Crypto Indices for Bitcoin and Ethereum: Why It Matters

S&P Dow Jones Indices, one of the world’s largest index providers, launched a new series of digital asset benchmarks.

Weekly Recap

April 26th, 2021 - May 3rd, 2021

Welcome to our 1st weekly recap for May.

Overview 

Crypto News

• [1] All 200 Cryptocurrency Exchanges Could Be Shut Down Under New Regulation in South Korea, Regulator Warns

The chairman of South Korea’s top financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), Eun Sung-soo, has warned that all of the cryptocurrency exchanges in the country could be shut down. South Korea currently has about 200 cryptocurrency exchanges, he said.

• [2] Mastercard Launching Crypto Rewards Credit Card With Real-Time Bitcoin Rewards

Mastercard is launching a new cryptocurrency rewards credit card featuring real-time rewards in partnership with crypto exchange Gemini. Cardholders will earn up to 3% back in real-time in bitcoin or a number of supported cryptocurrencies.

• [3] Intel Partners With Microsoft to Combat Cryptojacking Attacks by Deploying a Threat Detection Tool

Although recent studies have been showing a slowdown in cryptojacking activities, especially the ones related to mining privacy coins, Intel remains on the hunt to crackdown on such activities. The tech giant has partnered with Microsoft to deploy a campaign that strengthens cryptojacking detection with new technologies.

• [4] Coinbase Now Allows Millions of Customers to Buy Cryptocurrencies With Paypal

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase now allows its U.S. customers to buy cryptocurrencies with Paypal. Millions of customers can now purchase up to $25,000 a day of cryptocurrencies with their Paypal accounts.

• [5] Coinbase Buys Data Firm Skew, Company’s First Acquisition Since the Nasdaq Direct Listing

On April 30, the crypto-focused data analytics company Skew announced the firm has been acquired by the San Francisco company Coinbase. The exchange will leverage Skew’s data with the firm’s institutional subsidiary Coinbase Prime. The goal is to make “cryptocurrency markets more transparent and accessible for institutional investors.”

• [6] 2021’s Largest Epoch Drop: Bitcoin Network’s Mining Difficulty Dips Over 12%, Hashrate Nears 200 Exahash

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty has seen a massive drop this week, as the metric slid 12.6% and was the largest difficulty drop in 2021. The mining difficulty decline follows the recent electrical outages in China which had affected the network’s hashrate to some degree. Following the difficulty drop, Bitcoin’s hashrate is climbing northbound again nearing the 200 exahash per second zone.

Weekly Recap

April 19th, 2021 - April 26th, 2021

Welcome to our 4th weekly recap for April.

Overview 

Crypto News

• [1] PayPal’s Venmo now allows users to buy and sell crypto

PayPal’s social payment arm Venmo has officially launched the service to let its users buy, hold and sell crypto assets within its mobile app.

• [2] WeWork Moves to Accept Crypto Payments

WeWork, the global office-sharing startup backed by SoftBank will begin accepting payments in cryptocurrency. The company, which has locations in 118 cities, will also use it to pay some landlords and vendors, according to a company press release Tuesday.

• [3] Court May Prohibit SEC to Contact Foreign Regulators Regarding Ripple: Lawyer James Filan

One of the lawyers who represents Ripple fintech giant and two of its highest-profile executives in court, James K. Filan, has shared on Twitter that a new discovery conference is going to take place.

• [4] Congress Inches Closer to Making Crypto Regulations Clearer

The US House of Representatives has passed legislation that, if approved by the Senate and signed by President Biden, would make clearer the rules surrounding cryptocurrencies classified as securities or commodities.

• [5] Chainlink Network Effect on the Horizon as Integrations Increase

Chainlink has attained 500 integrations, 500,000 non-zero balance wallets, and a new white paper. As a result, if the project development continues this rapidly, it achieves a network effect. Moreover, this could lead to an exponential increase in its utility.

• [6] SEC Files Motion to Strike Ripple’s Key Defense

In its recently filed motion to strike, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission says that Ripple, including CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen, actually had notice that its offers of XRP could violate federal securities laws.

• [7] Synthetix Now Allows Users To Trade Top Tech Stocks

DeFi trading platform Synthetix has added support for new synthetic assets that follow the price of popular U.S.-based tech stocks.

• [8] World’s First Cardano and Stellar ETPs To Launch on Swiss Stock Exchange

Switzerland-based 21Shares AG (formerly known as “Amun AG”), which is considered one of the pioneers in issuing crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs), has announced that it will soon be launching the world’s first $ADA and $XLM ETPs on the Swiss stock exchange (aka SIX Swiss Exchange).

• [9] Binance to Add the Stocks of Apple, Microsoft, and MicroStrategy as Tradable Tokens

A few weeks after launching its latest product – tradable stock tokens – Binance has decided to expand the portfolio with the shares of MicroStrategy, Apple, and Microsoft. The three new additions will be live by the end of April.

Weekly Recap

April 12th, 2021 - April 18th, 2021

Welcome to our 3rd weekly recap for April.

Overview 

Crypto News

• [1] Lockheed Martin adopts blockchain for supply chain management in Switzerland

United States aerospace and defense contractor Lockheed Martin has signed an agreement with SyncFab, a Silicon Valley distributed manufacturing platform, to streamline supplier capabilities across Switzerland, offering yet another tangible use case for blockchain technology.

• [2] Coinbase Shares Start Trading on Nasdaq

Coinbase has finally made its debut on the Nasdaq exchange, kicking off its new journey as a publicly traded company that many bulls believe could be the next Amazon.

• [3] Dogecoin Pumps 12 Percent After New Elon Musk Tweet

After awing the world with a video macaque playing a video game with its brain earlier this month, billionaire Elon Musk is once again tweeting about Dogecoin after almost a month-long break.

• [4] Ethereum (ETH) Nodes Stuck After Berlin Hardfork Activation. Here’s What Happened

At around 3 p.m. today, Ethereum (ETH) developers and analysts across the globe started reporting unexpected issues with Ethereum (ETH) nodes managed by the OpenEthereum (OE) client, formerly known as Parity.

• [5] World’s First Ethereum ETF Approved by Canadian Regulators

Toronto-based asset management company Purpose Investments has obtained approval from Canadian securities regulators to launch the world’s first Ethereum exchange-traded product, according to its Apr. 16 press release.

• [6] Binance Burns 1M+ BNB, CEO CZ Reveals What’s Driving The Price Of The Token

Binance exchange has given its native token holders another reason to celebrate holding BNB. In its latest quarterly BNB burn, the exchange has set a record with a total of 1,099,888 BNB wiped out from the total supply.

• [7] Litecoin Breaks $335 for First Time Since Dec 2017, Analyst Says ‘$1000 Is Imminent’

On Saturday (April 17), Litecoin ($LTC) broke through the $335 level for the first time since December 2017. Although HODLers are delighted with the 143% gain (vs USD) so far in 2021, one crypto analyst believes the LTC price is headed much higher.

• [8] China’s Central Bank Working on New Regulatory Policies for Cryptocurrencies

According to Chinese blogger Colin Wu, he said that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin were supposed to be used as alternative investment tools instead of currencies. Until the PBOC figures out what regulatory framework will be appropriate for such assets, the current policies will remain in place.

• [9] Chainlink 2.0 – The next generation of hybrid smart contracts

Chainlink has released a new whitepaper called Chainlink 2.0: Next Steps in the Evolution of Decentralized Oracle Networks. The new whitepaper outlines an ambitious vision for the future of smart contracts. We talk with Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov who explains the implications for the next generation of blockchain ecosystems.

Weekly Recap

April 5th, 2021 - April 12th, 2021

Welcome to our 2nd weekly recap for April.

Overview 

Crypto News

• [1] After Bitcoin and Ethereum, CoinShares Launched a Physically-Backed Litecoin ETP

After releasing physically-backed exchange-traded products tracking the performance of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) earlier this year, CoinShares has expanded its portfolio with the addition of a Litecoin ETP.

• [2] Ripple wins access to SEC discussions on defining crypto assets as securities

Ripple Labs has been granted access to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s documents “expressing the agency’s interpretation or views” on the subject of crypto assets.

• [3] Hedge Fund Behemoth Millennium Management Dips Its Toes into Bitcoin

According to an April 7 report by financial news outlet TheStreet, New York-based Millennium Management has traded the shares of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust.

• [4] Grayscale Acquires Huge Amounts of Recently Added Alts: BAT, MANA, LPT, FIL, LINK

According to analytics website Bybt, over the past 30 days, the largest buyer of Bitcoin and other crypto assets, Grayscale, has acquired millions of altcoins that it has recently added as the basis for new trusts.

• [5] Coinbase Rival Kraken Considers Going Public in 2022

Another major US-based cryptocurrency exchange is reportedly considering going public. Kraken revealed record-breaking Q1 numbers and is also planning an IPO – following in the footsteps of Coinbase.

• [6] SEC Disagreement Emerges on Whether Ethereum Is a Security

Regulators in the U.S. have yet to offer clarity around the legality of Bitcoin and Ethereum. Although the former has been unofficially deemed a commodity, the latter could fall in line with Ripple’s security status.

• [7] HSBC reportedly blacklists MicroStrategy’s stock for investing in Bitcoin

Buying MicroStrategy stock is reportedly no longer possible for HSBC customers on the bank’s online trading platform — HSBC InvestDirect, or HIDC.

• [8] Ripple Wins Motion Against SEC Related To Revealing Personal Finance Records

Ripple Labs Inc. has come out victorious against The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) related to the revealing of employees personal finance records.

• [9] Binance launches tokenized stock trading, starts with Tesla

Crypto exchange Binance has ventured into the space of tokenized stock trading, following the likes of FTX and Bittrex Global.

Weekly Recap

March 29th, 2021 - April 5th, 2021

Welcome to our 1st weekly recap for April.

Overview 

Crypto News

• [1] George Soros Buying Up Bitcoin Infrastructure

“It’s everything from exchanges, asset managers, custodians, to the mundane like tax reporting on your crypto gains and everything in between.”

So says Dawn Fitzpatrick (pictured), the chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, in an interview with Bloomberg.

• [2] Grayscale Adds Over 5.5 Million XLM, As Well As MANA, FIL, LINK, BAT

The largest Bitcoin buying fund, which also offers exposure to altcoins—including Ethereum and Stellar—has added 5,566,271 XLM and other altcoins, whose trusts have been launched recently.

• [3] IRS gets access to crypto exchange Circle’s user data, targets Kraken next

Shortly after getting a court authorization to obtain records of cryptocurrency exchange Circle’s customers, the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is now seeking to get access to similar data from trading platform Kraken.

• [4] Banking Behemoth Goldman Sachs Preparing for Giant Leap Into Crypto Space

Goldman Sachs is reportedly preparing to issue its first investment channels for Bitcoin (BTC) and other crypto assets by the second quarter of 2021.

• [5] Bank of Japan Begins Experiments on Issuing a Central Bank Digital Currency

The Bank of Japan has officially kicked off experiments on a proof of concept for its central bank digital currency. The first testing phase is already live and should be completed by March 2022.

• [6] Grayscale says it’s “100% committed” to morphing its Bitcoin Trust into ETF

As the race for the title of America’s first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) rages on, digital assets investment giant Grayscale today revealed that launching such a product was its goal from the very start.

• [7] Polkadot (DOT), Kusama (KSM) to Be Next Platforms for Tether (USDT). Why Is This Important?

U.S. Dollar Tether (USDT), a stablecoin with a $43 billion market capitalization, expands its operations to the most promising platforms of Web 3.0.

• [8] Fidelity and Square Form New Council to Lobby for Favorable Bitcoin Regulations

Mutual fund giant Fidelity and financial services provider Square have joined forces with several other companies to create a trade group, the Crypto Council for Innovation, that will lobby for favorable cryptocurrency regulations, according to an April 6 report by the Wall Street Journal.

Weekly Recap

March 22nd, 2021 - March 28th, 2021

Welcome to our 4th weekly recap for March.

Overview 

Crypto News

• [1] Brazil Approves First Bitcoin ETF in Latin America

Digital asset manager QR Capital reveals that it received the green light to launch the first-ever Latin American Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).

• [2] Experts say new South Korean crypto rules will create a monopolized market

Blockchain industry members claim that smaller-scale startups have struggled to forge partnerships with local banks in South Korea and are therefore unable to register under regulators’ new requirements.

• [3] Institutions Grab $800 Million in Bitcoin, While Miners Stop Dumping BTC and Start Accumulating

According to a chart from analytics company CryptoQuant, on March 23, financial institutions bought and withdrew from Coinbase a staggering amount of crypto: 14,600 BTC.

• [4] Tesla Starts Accepting Bitcoin

Tesla is now running bitcoin nodes and “internal and open source software” to accept bitcoin for payments according to Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO.

• [5] Filecoin integrates with Chainlink to offer advanced decentralized storage solutions

Filecoin, a decentralized network allowing users to store, request, and transfer data via a verifiable marketplace, today announced integration with Chainlink, the popular decentralized oracle solution.

• [6] Indian companies will now have to disclose their crypto holdings in financial statements

Indian companies have been mandated to disclose their crypto holdings in financial statements, according to new rules that are coming into force on April 1.

• [7] Public Mainnet Launch For Ethereum Scaling Solution Delayed Until July

It has been announced that Optimism, the Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution, will be delaying the launch of its mainnet till at least July 2021. According to the official announcement, the new launch date is not certain as it still depends on the speed of preparations and “ecosystem readiness”.

• [8] Fidelity Investments Asks U.S. SEC for Permission To Launch a Bitcoin ETF

Fidelity Investments, a financial giant with over $4.9 trillion in assets under management, has filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list a new bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).

• [9] Indonesia: Minister reveals plans to launch state-backed crypto-exchange

Lately, Indonesia has been following in the footsteps of its close neighbor and business partner, Singapore, in exploring the use of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.