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June Weekly Recap 2 June 1st – June 8th, 2020 Welcome to our 2nd weekly recap for June. Overview          Crypto News Swiss Banks Launch Cryptocurrency Trading and Custody After Gaining Regulatory Approval The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) recently approved two banks — Maerki Baumann and Incore Bank — to offer several cryptocurrency services on Friday. India to Significantly Increase Crypto Market Share The Indian cryptocurrency market is poised to gain considerable global market share starting this year, according to a report published last week by Coinpaprika, a cryptocurrency research platform, and Okex, a global cryptocurrency exchange. US Regulators Target Bitcoin ATMs Bitcoin automated teller machines (BATMs) will become the next target for regulators, as world governments tighten screws on money laundering. According to Ciphertrace CTO John Jeffries, crypto-cash machines will attract “greater…regulatory focus” in a bid to rein-in alleged cross-border illicit financial transfers. Japanese Finance Minister Shoots Down Plan to Cut Bitcoin Tax to 20% Japan’s finance minister Taro Aso says he is opposedContinue reading »

June Weekly Recap 1 May 26th – June 1st, 2020 Welcome to our 1st weekly recap for June. Overview        Crypto News South Korea Is Exploring New Crypto Tax Laws South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance is preparing an amendment to apply to the nation’s Income Tax Law. This could include rules for profitable sales of cryptocurrencies as well as profits from national crypto mining projects. Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Buys Over 1.5 Times Total BTC Mined Since Halving Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) has been racking up the number of BTC it has purchased since the third Bitcoin halving. During the two-week period, Grayscale Investments bought a total of 18,910.47949263 bitcoins. China Passes Law Protecting Cryptocurrency Inheritance The third session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature, voted on and passed the “Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China” on Thursday. In addition to general and supplementary provisions, the civil code ”includes six parts on real rights, contracts, personality rights, marriage and family, inheritance,Continue reading »

May Weekly Recap 4 May 19th – May 25th, 2020 Welcome to our 4th weekly recap for May. Overview      Crypto News Litecoin Fdn. Partners With Videogame Maker Atari The Litecoin Foundation has announced a partnership with the legendary videogame company of Atari. LTC will now be accepted as a means of investing in the Atari token, to be issued in September 2020, and as a payment option for purchasing the new Atari VCS gaming console. Albania Approves Europe’s Most Comprehensive Crypto Law Yet Albania’s Parliament signed a bill into law on May 21 plenary session a legal framework for cryptocurrencies. The legislation looks to regulate the conditions for licensing all crypto activities in the country. Beyond digital tokens, the law looks to monitor all infrastructure where DLT technology operates. Chinese Government Advisers Propose Regional Stablecoin for 4 Asian Countries: The proposal unveiled Thursday describes the currencies as a “stablecoin”. The basket of underlying collateral would follow the special drawing rights (SDR) model of the International Monetary Fund (IMF),Continue reading »

May Weekly Recap 3 May 12th – May 18th, 2020 Welcome to our 3rd weekly recap for May. Overview      Crypto News STABLECOIN SUPPLY BREAKS $10B The value of assets for all stablecoins surpassed $10b on Tuesday, having surged by over 70% in just two months, according to Coin Metrics. Most of the stable coin growth comes from tether, which represents almost 90% of the total stable coin supply. The largest tether markets measured by traded volume are supported by two Asia-based exchanges, Binance and Huobi. $2B CRYPTO HEDGE FUND INDUSTRY SET TO GROW SIGNIFICANTLY Cryptocurrency hedge funds’ assets under management more than doubled in 2019, according to a new survey by PWC and Elwood Asset Management Services Ltd. The data comes from “the largest global crypto hedge funds by assets under management (AUM). CANADIAN FIRM REPORTS BTC MINED IN Q1 DECLINED 54% For the three months to March 31, 2020, the Canadian bitcoin firm, Hut 8 Mining, said it mined 1,116 BTC, down 54% from the 2,405 BTC a yearContinue reading »

May Weekly Recap 2 May 5th – May 11th, 2020 Welcome to our 2nd weekly recap for May. Overview      Crypto News IRAN LICENSES CRYPTO MINING ENTERPRISE Iran has issued a bitcoin mining license to Iminer, a Turkish-based company. Iminer will operate up to 6,000 rigs, with a computing power of 96,000 terahash per second (TH/s) in total. According to reports, the miner has spent $7.3 million setting up the mining facility, located in Iran’s central city of Semnan. BITCOIN ATM NUMBER SURGES The number of bitcoin ATM locations has been growing rapidly amid nationwide lockdowns and the coronavirus crisis. With hundreds of new machines added each month, there are now more than 7,700 bitcoin ATMs spread all over the world. NEW CRYPTOCURRENCY EXCHANGE LAUNCHES IN INDIA The Indian cryptocurrency industry has been growing rapidly despite the nationwide lockdown and the coronavirus crisis. Two new cryptocurrency trading platforms are launching in India while existing crypto businesses seek clarification from the central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). CHINESEContinue reading »

May Weekly Recap 1 April 28th – May 4th, 2020 Welcome to our 1st weekly recap for May. Overview      Crypto News GOLD PRICE SURPASSES $1,700 AS CENTRAL BANKS EXPAND STIMULUS The spot price of gold surpassed the $1,700 mark after dipping more than 1% on Tuesday. The rise comes as central banks announced plans to expand monetary stimulus and jobless rates soar. BITCOIN OUTPERFORMS S&P500 Bitcoin is now outperforming the S&P 500 for the first time since the market crash in March and the equities sell-off that started in February. In a big 24-hour move, BTC crossed $8,000 and is currently trading at $8,592, up 10.5% at the time of writing. The S&P 500 is up 2.9% at 2,946. FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR SAYS “WE WILL NOT RUN OUT OF MONEY” On Thursday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell explained what the central bank of the U.S. is currently doing and what it is prepared to do in the future to help the U.S. economy fight the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.Continue reading »

April Weekly Recap 4 April 21th – April 27th, 2020 Welcome to our 4th weekly recap for April. Overview      Crypto News TETHER MINTS $600M THIS MONTH Tether mints an additional $120,000,000 in USDT tokens Tuesday morning. This comes after Tether minted $480,000,000 last week, bringing the months total to $600,000,000. Tether has minted more tokens this month than the entire market cap of Ethereum Classic. Tether CTO, Paolo Ardoino claims that these new tokens are for “inventory replenishment” and will be used for future demand. BINANCE LAUNCHES CRYPTO PAYMENT APP IN AFRICA Binance said its social payments app Bundle would provide users across Africa with a fee-free means to store and transact in both cash and cryptocurrencies, through a new digital wallet that can be downloaded on their phones. BITTREX EXTENDS GLOBAL VISA/CREDIT Bittrex Exchange announced its significant global extension of Visa support accross 125 countries on April 20. In addition to making fiat deposits and trading directly using their Visa cards, users can now access further features suchContinue reading »

April Weekly Recap 3 April 14th – April 20th, 2020 Welcome to our 3rd weekly recap for April. Overview      Crypto News CENTRAL BANKS RECOMMENDED BANNING STABLECOINS Central banks have been pushing for heavy-duty regulation of centralized, privately-issued global stable coins. Fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies are coming under scrutiny, based on recommendations from the Financial Stability Board. INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS POUR $498,900,000 INTO CRYPTO FUNDS New numbers from the digital asset management giant Grayscale show investors are collectively throwing big money into Ethereum for the first time, on top of record investment numbers for Bitcoin. According to Grayscale’s Q1 2020 report, institutions have been taking a serious interest in ETH. Spencer Noon, the head of crypto investments at DTC Capital, says the numbers show Ethereum has reached a turning point with high-net-worth investors. 5G COULD UNLOCK BLOCKCHAIN POTENTIAL Darren Sadana, CEO of Choice IoT (Choice Business Connections Inc.), an IoT management platform, told Decrypt that blockchain could prevent hacking, and predicts that most computer programming will transition to blockchain. “ As 5GContinue reading »

April Weekly Recap 2 April 7th – April 13th, 2020 Welcome to our 2nd weekly recap for April. Overview      Crypto News CRYPTO TRADING VOLUME RISES IN INDIA On March 4, India’s highest court quashed a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) order dated April 6, 2018, which prohibited banks from providing services to entities dealing with cryptocurrencies. Activity on exchanges immediately picked up. The activity on exchanges further improved after Yes Bank, India’s fourth-largest lender, collapsed on March 6, damaging confidence in the country’s banking system. The nationwide panic triggered by the Yes Bank crisis worked in favor of bitcoin, boosting Cashaa’s sales at a daily rate of 250 percent to 450 percent, according to data provided by the platform. RIPPLE INTEGRATION BRINGS INSTANT PAYMENT TO THAILAND Digital money transfer service, Azimo, has partnered with Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), the oldest bank in Thailand, to launch an instant cross-border payments service from Europe to Thailand through Ripple’s global payments network, RippleNet. FIDELITY EXPANDING INTO CRYPTOCURRENCIES Institutional investors at Fidelity Digital Assets canContinue reading »