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AIRDROPS BEGIN: Tron began its monthly airdrop today, giving TRX holders BitTorrent (BTT) tokens once the Tron blockchain hit a block height of 6.6 million. Overall, some 990 million tokens will be distributed for each of the first 12 airdrops, with TRX holders receiving 0.11 BTT for each TRX token they have.
Tron intends to continue these monthly airdrops until February 2025.
Tron founder Justin Sun, who is also BitTorrent’s CEO, told CoinDesk that the two companies were working together to “create a new internet economy.”
Notably, users do not need to hold TRX tokens on exchanges to receive airdropped BTT. A number of wallet service providers confirmed that users who maintain their own private keys will also receive the tokens. Full Story
ETF AHEAD: Reality Shares ETF Trust, a branch of Blockforce Capital, has filed for a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) which would invest in both sovereign debt instruments and bitcoin futures.
According to a filing made with NYSE Arca and submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Monday's filing would (if approved) let investors participate in a trust which invests in "high-quality, short-term" debt instruments which include U.S. dollars, euros, pounds, Japanese yen and Swiss francs.
The fund would not invest directly in bitcoin, but rather cash-settled bitcoin futures products offered by Cboe and CME, though it may look to other bitcoin futures products in the future. Full Story
CLARITY COMING: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans to clarify when securities laws might apply to crypto token sales, an official confirmed Friday.
In a speech at the University of Missouri School of Law, Hester Peirce, one of the SEC’s commissioners, said that the agency’s staff are working on “supplemental guidance” to help projects determine “whether their crypto-fundraising efforts fall under the securities laws.”
While the Howey test – the U.S. standard for determining whether something is a security – generally provides clarity, she said, there is a “need to tread carefully” as token offerings do not always resemble traditional securities offering.
For instance, capital raised from decentralized token offerings could mean it is not truly owned or controlled by a company or person, unlike with traditional securities which are controlled by issuers or promoters, Peirce explained, citing a report from Coin Center.
The application of Howey test can also be “overly broad,” the commissioner added. She did not clarify when the guidance might be issued. Full Story
$20 MILLION: The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, believes it will spend more than $20 million this year on Bakkt, its pending bitcoin futures trading and custody service, according to CFO Scott Hill.
Speaking during a 2018 Q4 earnings call, Hill explained that ICE will spend between $20 and $25 million in Bakkt for this fiscal year.
ICE CEO Jeffrey Sprecher added that he expects Bakkt to conduct financing rounds in the future, on top of $182 million already raised. And while the company currently operates as an independent entity with ICE as a majority investor, it may be full spun off sometime in the future.
Bakkt’s launch has already been delayed twice, and currently has no official launch date due to regulatory delays. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has yet to approve Bakkt’s proposal, and while Sprecher did not commit to a new date, he did say he expects the platform to go live “later this year.” Full Story |
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 Every quarter, CoinDesk Research takes stock of the key data, trends and events with its State of Blockchains reports. As our research efforts evolve and expand, we hope to provide amplification to a variety of perspectives within the crypto community. We reached out to analysts, builders, and lawyers to understand the industry from their unique vantage point. Check out the full article but here's a sample insight: "Q4 closed out the year on a dour note, with prices around the lows of the year. However, the continued censorship and deplatformings on social media platforms and payment processors have created an incredible opportunity. Blockchain and free speech focused platforms such as BitBacker.io will lead a wave of crypto adoption. While we won’t see a return of the speculative frenzy of 2017, there will be a large increase in usage accompanied by a modest price recovery." — Jonathan Hales (@ jayjayHales), BitBacker.io (Creator) We want to hear your perspective too! To add to the conversation, please fill out our survey. We will be releasing the results in the coming weeks. For more research insights, check out the CoinDesk Crypto-Economic Explorer here. |
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| BULL RETURN? Bitcoin jumped to highs above $3,700 on Friday, confirming a falling wedge breakout. Backed by strong trading volumes, the bearish-to-bullish trend change has likely opened the doors to resistance levels lined up at $3,800 and $4,000. Full Story |
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BEST OF THE BEST THE NEW YORK TIMES: A generation of young South Koreans from poor backgrounds seeking to improve their prospects helped turn the country into a hotspot of crypto activity. But with the collapse in crypto prices over the last year, many of these so-called “dirt spoons” have been left overloaded with debt, according to a piece in the New York Times. The article cites Kim Ki-won, a 27-year-old who had seen success with his trading, being able to splash around $1,000 a month from his profits and even quitting his day job. However, he borrowed to increase his gains and has now been left owing many thousands of dollars. It’s not “fair” that people liken crypto trading to gambling he told the NYT, “But there are elements of truth here and there.” THE REST
FORBES: Ripple has claimed that XRP could free up $5 trillion that is "sitting dormant" in the nostro/vostro accounts of the globe's banks. Using a digital asset like XRP as a bridging currency for international payments could, Ripple said in a blog post, "free up the assets that would normally be committed to funding nostro accounts around the world." However, according to Forbes senior contributor Frances Coppola, that's just “ not true.” While banks used to earn good money from the interest returned by nostro accounts, low interest rates have largely ruined that side earner and banks are less inclined to leave large amounts just sitting around. In fact, says Coppola, much of the payments they would need to fund through such accounts can be planned ahead and paid on the day or even later, via an overdraft facility. While indeed these funds are “encumbered,” they are money committed to making payments and thus not the banks’ to spend anyway. “Like the money in my checking account, it is briefly present and soon gone. Nostro account balances are moving balances,” the piece says. Using XRP to make a payment would also encumber the funds, but in the bank's own currency, not a foreign one. It would also bring a forex risk by removing the bank's ability to choose the best moment to make an exchange, Coppola says. FORBES: A crypto startup called Libra is joining a select group of firms to publish a Service Organization Control report which explains to enterprises and major crypto holders what they can expect from the firm's tax software. The report, which complies with standards published by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, is written by Friedman LLP, a third-party auditor, and examines how Libra's software worked between April 1, 2018 and Sept. 30, 2018. Libra founder and CEO Jake Benson told Forbes that "We think that the auditability of this asset class is a really big hurdle to broader adoption ... And to have this certification is a milestone for the industry at large." |
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