CryptoWeekly #76

The best cryptocurrency news, guides and resources.

CRYPTO WEEKLY October 19, 2018 | #76 THE MARKETS BTC: $6,385.00 | +$172.58 (+2.78%) since last week ETH: $200.98 | +$5.36 (+2.74%) since last week LTC: $52.26 | -$0.68 (-1.28%) since last week WeTrust Spring - The platform to raise funds WeTrust Spring is the world's first, crypto to crypto donation platform offering rewards for participating and immediate tax savings. Come and join our beta! Sponsor GOOD READS The SEC is setting up a new division to talk to ICO startups The SEC is launching FinHub, a new division dedicated to helping crypto startups navigate the regulations around ICOs, as well as their legal ramifications. The new division will be staffed with fintech experts from other lines of government and will be working with institutional investors on other market issues as well. Here's how regulation helped make Japan the world's leading digital asset market It's no secret that Japan is one of the most prominent hubs for crypto innovation globally - but what's less apparent is how it got there. The country become a major player in crypto primarily by drafting regulation that actually encourages innovation and legitimacy in the industry. Korea's largest bitcoin exchange has just been sold in a massive $350M deal In one of the largest such deals so far this year, Bithumb announced that it had sold a significant stake in ownership and equity to a Singapore-based blockchain consortium for more than $350M in cash. Wall Street giant Fidelity is launching an institutional brokerage and custody business for crypto Fidelity has long been a major player on Wall Street, but now it's getting into crypto in a big way. The company announced this week that it would be launching a new custodial business for crypto funds early next year - and a few clients have already signed on. Venezuela's new cryptocurrency, the Petro, doesn't seem to actually exist The crypto community was abuzz this year on reports that Venezuela would be launching a state-sanctioned cryptocurrency - but months after its official launch, it seems there's little evidence to indicate the cryptocurrency is even functioning yet. At least one researcher thinks Bitcoin is on the brink of an implosion A growing number of researchers are cautioning about a coming downturn in the crypto markets, driven primarily by inflated token valuations and an overall decline in daily transaction volume across a number of exchanges. China's domination of Bitcoin is pushing the US government towards Ripple China-based Bitmain now controls a massive portion of the world's Bitcoin hashrate, and it has the US government concerned. The White House is reportedly looking into ways to leverage Ripple as a challenger to China's Bitcoin dominance. The inside story of Augur, the blockchain-powered prediction market For the very first time, Augur made it possible for thousands of users to place bets on the prediction of anything. The development of the platform wouldn't have been possible without blockchain, and yet, solving the central pain point of the platform proved elusive.  Here's why the robot economy will run on blockchain As robots begin to run more and more of our businesses, it seems inevitable that they'll need to conduct transactions between one another as well. Many are pointing to blockchain as the technology best-suited to facilitate this future economy, which could operate autonomously and without human intervention. Why isn't Bitcoin banned everywhere already? Logic says that government should've banned crypto long ago. So why hasn't it been outlawed yet? It's likely due to a combination of eagerness for innovation and a lack of foresight that ignores crypto's decentralized qualities. COMMUNITY NEWS Mike Novogratz's crypto fund has become Fidelity's first custodian client. Link Coinbase now lets you buy and sell ZRX. Link The Ethereum Foundation has just unveiled its latest round of startup grants. Link Crypto exchange OKEx has listed 4 new stablecoins this week. Link Meet TravelByBit, the tool that lets you find where to pay with crypto around the world. Link A great reader Q&A podcast episode with crypto expert Laura Shin. Link Arcade City is becoming the blockchain-powered "Uber for everything". Link Crypto-related M&A deals have surged by more than 200% over the past year. Link Goldman Sachs is placing a $15M bet on BitGo. Link Blockchain has just rolled out a new program for airdrops. Link Gates Foundation partners with former Ripple CTO's Blockchain project. Link Introducing App Mining, a program that helps developers build apps on Blockstack. Link JPMorgan is hiring a Blockchain Engineer in New Jersey. Link Join The ICO Summit in Zurich on February 14, 2019. Link We just added 74 new crypto companies, 2 crypto exchanges, 27 new ICOs and more to CryptoList. Link Check out our other projects: CryptoList | CryptoFirst | Crypto100 | LamboIndex Edited by Chris Osborne in Barcelona (in town? reach out to get a coffee). Reply to this email with feedback and/or suggestions. Nothing shared or published by CryptoWeekly constitutes an investment recommendation, nor should any data or content published by CryptoWeekly be relied upon for any investment activities. CryptoWeekly strongly recommends that you perform your own independent research and/or speak with a qualified investment professional before making any financial decisions. Copyright © 2018 CryptoWeekly. All rights reserved. No longer want to receive CryptoWeekly? Unsubscribe.