Cryptocurrency News Now!: US Investors Can Now Invest in Bitcoin Through Their Traditional Brokerage Account

Thursday, August 16, 2018

US Investors Can Now Invest in Bitcoin Through Their Traditional Brokerage Account

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"We live by the Golden Rule. Those who have the gold make the rules."

- Buzzie Bavasi

Happy Thursday! Wen ETF? Wen Moon? Wen Lambo? No idea, but at least US investors got an ETN yesterday. That's big news for the normies looking to get exposure to Bitcoin.

Cheers,
Blockchain Brew Team

MARKET

COIN	PRICE	24H

BTC	$6,344.975661	-0.61%

ETH	$289.882988	+1.59%

XRP	$0.287697	+0.02%

BCH	$520.646329	+0.73%

EOS	$4.663054	+0.68%

*Information as of 9:30 AM EST

TRADING

US Investors Can Now Invest in Bitcoin Through Their Traditional Brokerage Account

THE NEW PRODUCT

Announced yesterday, Swedish company CoinShares has created a new bitcoin exchange-traded note (ETN) that U.S. investors can buy in their retirement accounts
The Bitcoin Tracker One ETN has been listed on Nasdaq Stockholm since 2015, however, CoinShares only recently launched their "F share" (CXBTF) which is quoted in U.S. dollars
Previously the ETN was only quoted in euros or the Swedish krona making it hard for US investors to purchase

DID YOU SAY ETF?

While this is a close cousin of an exchange-traded fund (ETF), it has slight differences
The most important difference is that an ETN is a debt-backed instrument whereas an ETF is backed by an investment fund holding Bitcoin
Another important difference is that an ETN has credit risk which means that if CoinShares goes bankrupt, investors will have to get in line to get their money back

A 'BIG WIN' NONETHELESS

This new offering can be seen as a soft launch for Bitcoin ETFs that are seeking approval
Prior to this, investors seeking for Bitcoin exposure in traditional brokerages would have to purchase the Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC)
However, according to Seeking Alpha, GBTC trades with low liquidity and is about 50% more expensive than the underlying asset Bitcoin
In contrast, Bitcoin Tracker One has historically traded with liquidity and has been priced accordingly, making it a competitive product

Speaking on the launch of the new offering, CoinShares CEO Ryan Radloff commented:

"Everyone that’s investing in dollars can now get exposure to these products, whereas before, they were only available in euros or Swedish krona. Given the current climate on the regulatory front in the U.S., this is a big win for Bitcoin."

GOVERNMENT

South Korea Vows Five Trillion Won Investment into Tech Including Blockchain

TECH INVESTMENT

The South Korean government has budgeted five trillion won ($4.4 billion) towards technology investments in eight different sectors for 2019
Korea is putting a particular focus on blockchain and artificial intelligence, rationing one trillion won of the budget to these sectors
The five trillion won investment represents a staggering 65% increase over the 2018 budget for tech innovation and the blockchain portion of the investment is set to increase 80%

South Korea’s finance ministry explained:

“The measures will help facilitate the platform economy, which in turn will help speed up innovative growth. The government will focus on promoting big data and AI, developing blockchain technology to ensure data management security and boosting the sharing economy.”

KOREA & CRYPTO

Korea has had strict regulations towards cryptocurrencies but is seemingly contemplating loosening some of its regulations
Just last month, the Korean Financial Services Commission publicized that it has no oppositions to cryptocurrencies
It seems likely that Korea will follow the G20’s guidance in creating a worldwide treatment for cryptocurrencies for all nations to follow
Also last month, Korea revealed a draft of industry classification standards that recognizes cryptocurrency exchanges as financial institutions

RESEARCH

$2.3 Million in Crypto Stolen by Scammers in Q2

SCAMMERS CASHING IN

Kaspersky Labs has released their Spam and Phishing Q2 2018 and shared that $2.3 million dollars worth of crypto has been snatched out of the hands of investors by scammers in the 2nd quarter of this year (April-June)
The most common tactic used by scammers was to trick clueless investors into sending their crypto to a fake ICO controlled by the scammers
Another ploy used by scammers is mimicking legitimate crypto sites and using them to steal log in information, this is known as phishing
Kaspersky boasts that they have prevented 60,000 users from accessing these sort of phishing websites

Nadezhda Demidova, lead web content analyst for Kaspersky, wrote in the report:

"Still, not all of them are sufficiently aware of the possible risks, so intruders are actively trying to steal sensitive information through phishing."

GEOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN

Kaspersky shared that most phishing attacks are occurring in South America and Asia
Phishing scams are most prevalent in these countries:
1. Brazil (15.51%)
2. China (14.44%)
3. Georgia (14.44%)
4. Kirghizstan (13.6%)
5. Russia (13.27%)

INSTITUTION

Pantera Capital Raises $71 Million for Third Crypto Venture Fund Despite Market Conditions

VENTURE FUND III

On Wednesday, new SEC filing showed that Pantera Capital has already raised $71.44 million from 90 different investors for its third venture fund
So far it is unclear if Venture Fund III is looking to raise more, however, TechCrunch said Pantera Capital is looking to gather up to $175 million in total
Prior SEC filings show that Pantera Capital previously raised at least $13 million for Venture Fund II in 2016 and at least $25 million for ICO Fund in 2017

MAKING ITS FIRST BET

Announced Wednesday, Pantera Capital made its first bet for Venture Fund III on Bakkt, the newly launched cryptocurrency platform founded by NYSE owner ICE
Previously, Pantera Capital has invested in wallets, exchanges, cryptocurrencies already trading on exchanges, ICOs, and more
And it seems to be working for them too as it was reported that investors have had a 5 year return of over 10,000%

BREW BITS

Airbnb co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk backed an institutional crypto dealer called SFOX in their $22 million series A funding round.
Coinbase acquired Distributed Solutions Inc. to help the exchange validate and verify identities in a decentralized manner.
AT&T is being sued for $224 million after hackers used a phone to rob over $24 million from a cryptocurrency investor.

LEARN LINGO

51% Attack

noun

An attack on a blockchain by a group of miners controlling more than 50% of the network's mining hashrate, or computing power. The attackers would be able to prevent new transactions from gaining confirmations and double-spend coins by reversing transactions.

TODAY IN CRYPTO

Cardano (ADA)

Cardano Meetup Krakow

"Join us at the inaugural Cardano community meetup in Krakow to learn more about Cardano with guest speaker Duncan Coutts from IOHK."

PROOF | SOURCE

TRON (TRX)

Developer Meetup

Developer meetup in San Francisco.

PROOF | SOURCE

Basic Attention Token (BAT)

AMA with CEO

AMA from 9:30-11 AM PT on Reddit's r/BATProject subreddit with the CEO of BAT/Brave, Brendan Eich.

PROOF | SOURCE

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