Bitwise "close" to Bitcoin ETF / Crypto donations legal in Japan / QuadrigaCX users to be repaid

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Presented by Subscribe | View in browser Happy Tuesday everyone! It has been a short while, but I thought today would be a good day to update the Bitcoin 100 Twitter list, which you can find here. Here are a few names that have been added recently: HODL_Report, a veteran trader who has switched a life on Wall Street to crypto, Hive.One, an algorithm that automatically generates a list of the top Twitter accounts related to Bitcoin, and Sunny LU, CEO of VeChain, a blockchain platform. Can you suggest any people to add to the list? As always, reach out to me at Rebecca@inside.com with your suggestions.       Market Watch: Market prices have seen a rebound during Tuesday trading, but are still below what they were a few weeks ago. Bitcoin Cash, however, has reclaimed fourth place, pushing Tether back into fifth. Bitcoin: $8,215 (⬆️ 1.99%) // $147.7 billion market cap. Ethereum: $181 (⬆️ 2.92%) // $19.5 billion market cap. XRP: $0.275 (⬆️ 0.76%) // $11.9 billion market cap. Bitcoin Cash: $233 (⬆️ 2.12%) // $4.2 billion market cap. Tether: $1 (⬆️ 0.06%) // $4.1 billion market cap. Top 100 Winner: ABBC Coin: $0.218 (⬆️ 14.62%) // $121 million market cap. Top 100 Loser: Karatgold Coin: $0.020 (⬇️ 7.49%) // $78 million market cap. Prices are as of 12:42 p.m. EDT.       1. Matt Hougan, managing director and global head of research at Bitwise Investments, has said that they are "closer" than ever to getting a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) approved. On October 13, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is to give Bitwise a decision as to whether it has been approved or not to trade as the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Trust. Hougan said that the SEC has no more ways to postpone its decision and that between now and Monday should make for an interesting week. Hougan is optimistic about the company's chances stating that the evolution of the crypto market has greatly improved over the last two years. –CNBC Why It Matters: The road to approving the first Bitcoin ETF has been long with a few bumps along the way. Other contenders include Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss who filed for the first Bitcoin ETF in 2013. However, after a long battle with the SEC, they rejected the twins' plan for a second time last year. At the beginning of 2019, the Cboe Global Markets pulled its application for an ETF following a government shutdown. This would have allowed Van Eck and SolidX partners to list a fund on Cboe's BZX exchange. If Bitwise gets the green light from the SEC, it would mark a significant milestone in bitcoin's ten-year history.       2. Crypto donations are legal in Japan, says Sanae Takaichi, the internal affairs and communications minister of Japan. Takaichi made her comments at a press conference yesterday. She went on to say that crypto donations made to individual politicians are not subject to Japan's Political Control Funds Act. However, donations given in cash or securities are required to be disclosed under the Act. Japan, which has been a crypto-friendly nation, approved a law in 2017, which recognized Bitcoin as a legal form of payment.  –REUTERS JAPAN       A MESSAGE FROM KEEPS Get 50% off hair loss treatments that actually work. Bad news: 2 out of 3 guys start losing hair by 35. Good news: Keeps makes it easy and affordable to keep (and even regrow) your hair. Get hair loss treatments that work delivered to your door for less than $1/day. The sooner you take action, the more hair you'll keep. Get 50% off your first 3 months 3. The widow of Gerald Cotten, the founder of the Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX, plans to transfer nearly $9 million in assets to repay users of the now-defunct platform. In a statement, Jennifer Robertson said that following the death of her husband last year, she made "every effort to assist in the recovery of QuadrigaCX assets" to aid affected users. She further stated that she had previously thought that her assets had been purchased via her husband's profits, salary, and dividends. As a result, she has entered into a voluntary settlement agreement where the vast majority of her assets and all of the estate's assets will be returned to users. QuadrigaCX folded earlier this year when it became apparent that Robertson and others linked to the platform couldn't gain access to the company's cold wallets. Some had even speculated as to the true fate of Cotten. –COIN DESK       4. Valdis Dombrovskis, vice president for the euro, social dialogue and financial services at the European Commission, is planning to introduce regulations for the crypto sector, including Facebook's Libra. Speaking to EU lawmakers yesterday, Dombrovskis said that "Europe needs a common approach on crypto assets such as Libra." As a result, he is proposing that there should be new legislation on it. His comments come at a time when there has been an increase in the level of scrutiny against Facebook's proposed Libra stablecoin. First announced in June, global regulators have spoken out about the social media's plans whereas, PayPal, one of the founding members of the Libra Association, has stepped away from the project. –REUTERS       A MESSAGE FROM DATASTAX Scale Out, Don't Stress Out. Ensure your Database is Holiday-Ready. The holiday rush is about to begin—and in 2019, it's expected to be the biggest spending season ever. Learn more about why holiday sales success starts with your underlying database.  Read the holiday database report.   5. Destinia, one of Spain's largest virtual travel agencies, has announced that it will allow customers to pay for their trips with five new altcoins. It already accepts Bitcoin, but is now adding Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Dash, and EOS. Destinia started accepting Bitcoin in 2014 and in 2018, 7.23 percent of people used Bitcoin as a payment option for their vacations. –DECRYPT       6. Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, has said that he doesn't think Facebook will launch its Libra coin by the end of 2022. Speaking in an interview, Garlinghouse said that regulatory pressure would continue to impact the project. Asked whether he thinks Facebook could follow through on its original plan for Libra, he said no. In his opinion, the "regulatory headwinds" the company faces are "substantial." The coin is supposed to launch next year. –FORTUNE Why This Matters: Since being announced in June, Facebook's stablecoin has faced increased global regulatory scrutiny. So much so, that PayPal, a founding member of the Libra Association, is the first company to step away from the project. With 27 founding members remaining, it will be interesting to see who else follows suit. MasterCard and Visa are just a few that are reportedly wavering on their support for Libra. If Facebook loses more support, could this impact whether it launches in 2020, let alone 2022?       7. Blockchain platform NuCypher has raised $10.675 million in a professional staking round led by capital market firm Polychain Capital. Mining company Bitmain, startup accelerator Y Combinator, and blockchain development firm BitFury were among those who contributed to the round. Announced via a blog post, those who participated also purchased eight percent of the initial supply of NU tokens in total. –NUCYPHER       8. The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) has created a new token reward system that is backed by Microsoft and Intel. The EEA has over 450 companies such as Accenture, Cisco, and Santander. It's hoped that the creation of the reward token will incentivize those in the EEA to continue actively participating in it. –COINTELEGRAPH       9. South Korean telco KT is to develop a blockchain platform that will help to authenticate halal food worldwide. KT will work with the Korea Muslim Federation and B-square Lab, a blockchain company, to create the Halal Authentication Trust Platform. Once the halal food has been authenticated, the platform will issue certificates for the food through the blockchain. Customers will then be able to verify the food via QR codes. –ZDNET       10. Blockchain is "sliding into the trough of disillusionment," according to research company Gartner. According to the firm, this "trough of disillusionment," means that interest in experiments is waning and implementations are failing to deliver. Gartner doesn't expect the blockchain to move past this point until 2021, which is when the technology will start to be applied in useful ways, it adds. –VERDICT       This newsletter was written and curated by Rebecca Campbell. She has been writing and reporting on various industries for the past 10 years, more specifically tech in the last three. Connect with her on Twitter. Editor: David Stegon (senior editor at Inside, whose reporting experience includes cryptocurrency and technology).       Ad Stop your hair loss before it's too late. Get 50% off your first 3 months of Keeps today.

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