Here's what's been happening in crypto this week:
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Chris Dixon from a16z announces free crypto startup school. The company doesn't intend to charge any money, nor will it take any equity in the companies that participate. In Dixon's words, they are doing this to push the category forward and help crypto startups get going. He hopes that based on the goodwill of offering this education for free, startups who participate may end up having a conversation with a16z about possibly getting an investment. Link
Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issues rules for fund managers investing in "virtual assets". The 37-page regulation, which is effective immediately, defines virtual assets as "digital representations of value which may be in the form of digital tokens," such as digital currencies, utility tokens or security or asset-backed tokens. Link
Exchange plans to offer Libra futures settled in Libra tokens. CoinFLEX, a crypto-futures exchange that launched earlier this year, is offering derivatives that pay out based on the likelihood Libra will be operational by the end of 2020. The exchange plans to hold what it calls an initial futures opening, or IFO, on Oct. 24. The initial price of Libra futures will be set at 30 cents, which equates to a roughly 30% chance that Libra will be operational by December next year. Link Related: It was announced PayPal will not participate in Facebook's Libra network this week. Link
Algo Capital loses millions in crypto funds after CTO's phone is hacked. Algo Capital reported to its limited partners Friday that Pablo Yabo, its CTO, had his mobile phone compromised, which allowed attackers to seize control of an Algo hot wallet he administered. As a result of the breach, roughly $1 million to $2 million in the cryptocurrencies were taken, according to an email from CEO David Garcia. Link
State-owned French bank joins bitcoin startup's $8 Million Series A. The partially state-owned French investment bank Bpifrance just made its first crypto investment in ACINQ, a lightning-focused startup that raised an $8 million Series A led by Idinvest Partners, with the participation of Serena. This Series A brings ACINQ's total funding up to $10 million and will be used to grow the six-man team up to a dozen employees over the next year. Link
Germany's finance minister, Olaf Scholz, wants to introduce digital euro. "Such a payment system would be good for financial center Europe and its integration into the world financial system," Scholz said last week. Just last month, Germany passed a blockchain strategy that prevents any parallel currencies to be issued in the country. At the time, Scholz said: "A core element of state sovereignty is the issuing of a currency, we will not leave this task to private companies." Link
Telegram's TON Blockchain is on track for late-October launch. Telegram Open Network (TON) is on track for its planned launch, according to an email from the company sent to TON investors on Wednesday. The project is scheduled to launch no later than Oct. 31, according to existing agreements with TON investors. The blockchain, which raised $1.7 billion in early 2018, has been built in near-total secrecy. Link | | A great profile of Katie Haun, the first female general partner at a16z, who is now co-heading its $350M cryptocurrency fund. Link
A 2019 check-in with the 20 most funded ICOs ever. Link
A great read from Jamie Burke of Outlier Ventures on 'Tomorrow's Crypto Unicorns'. Link
Crypto micropayment service TipJar is shutting down, citing low usage. Link
Crypto donations in Japan are legal, says a minister. Link
Binance now supports WeChat and Alipay for buying bitcoin in China. Link
Block.one releases version 2.0 of the EOSIO smart contract protocol. Link
BitTorrent's decentralized file-sharing protocol BTFS launches its mainnet. Link
Libra releases its first developer roadmap update. Link
Vega, a startup building decentralized trading technology, has raised a $5 million seed round led by Pantera Capital. Link
Six major Japanese brokerages form security token offering association. Link | | UPCOMING EVENTS
Crypto Expo Singapore • Oct 26 • Singapore (use promo code CRW to access $15 off VIP tickets) | | | |
