Wednesday, August 21, 2019

📌 Project Venus, Bakkt Gets Clearance, and When Alt Season?

MUST READS

Binance Announces Open Blockchain Project 'Venus'

Binance, the worlds largest crypto exchange, just announced plans to launch an "independent regional" stablecoin called Venus... or the "One Belt One Road" version of Facebook's Libra.

The innovation engine certainly keeps chugging along at Binance. The Venus initiative is to develop localized stablecoins and digital assets pegged to fiat currencies across the globe. And it could be used in countries like China or India where Libra won't be permitted to operate.

🛫 Bakkt Gets Clearance

Bakkt has been "cleared to launch."

The project announced Friday that it had acquired a New York state trust charter through the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). This approval clears the way for the company to begin offering its highly-anticipated physically-settled bitcoin futures contracts. The reported launch date is September 23.

No more testing, no more awaiting approvals – this is the real deal. Again, let's not forget the significance of this...

Coinbase Buys Xapo Custody for $55M, Eyes Lending Business

Coinbase has acquired the custody business of Xapo, a service best known for storing Bitcoins in a vault under a Swiss mountain. The acquisition comes as part of an aggressive push by Coinbase to expand its custody services, and could result in the company storing over 5% of all Bitcoin in circulation.

Coinbase paid $55 million for Xapo and, as a result of the deal, now has over $7 billion in crypto AUM.

Interestingly, Xapo's CEO, Wences Casares, stated that other firms placed higher bids for Xapo's custody business than Coinbase, but those bidders lacked the security or regulatory credentials to be acceptable to Xapo's clients.
The company doesn't expect to offer it's services to retail investor until next year. Currently, only institutions, businesses or high net worth individuals will have access to the mining hosting services.

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DEEP DIVE

Terrorists Turn to Bitcoin for Funding, and They're Learning Fast

Terrorists have been slow to use Bitcoin to fundraise and move money. But a number of recent, increasingly sophisticated campaigns suggest that may be changing. Terrorism financing experts are taking notice.

🤔 When Alt Season?

As some folks clamor for the next "alt season," thought-leader Nathaniel Whittmore asked some valid questions:

Why would people assume there's another "alt season" coming?
Is there even such a thing?
Would the same old alts pump again?

Eric Elliot responded with a pretty interesting and historical perspective... while giving away some of his favorite "alts" that have much lower risk than the majority.

Ether May Have a Weak Hands Problem

Ethereum (ETH) enthusiasts have been wrestling with the following question all year: With all the development and activity around Ethereum, why does the price keep sliding, especially when compared with Bitcoin?

Part of the answer may lie in the make up of ether holders. Almost 70% of Ethereum addresses have lost money since they bought ether. That compares with just 8% of Bitcoin addresses losing money since they bought Bitcoin.

Overall, Ethereum will have to shake off those weak hands before it can have a sustained rally.

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REGULATORY FRONT

💌 IRS Sends New Letters to Crypto Holders, Stating Amounts They Owe

The IRS is sending out a new round of letters to cryptocurrency holders, this time listing the specific amounts of money that they owe the tax collector.

For those that remember, in July, the IRS started sending out 10,000 educational letters to cryptocurrency holders, urging them to report and pay their crypto-related taxes properly.

The new IRS notice though, CP2000, contains a proposed amount that the IRS believes the taxpayers owe, although taxpayers can dispute the amounts within 30 days of receiving the notice. The agency warns that failing to respond to the letter may incur further interest owed and penalties.

Will Crypto Rogues Threaten The Geopolitical Order?

What might China's or Russia's efforts in digital currency mean for the US dollar?

And more importantly, what impact could it have on the current geopolitical order?

TWEET OF THE WEEK

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Report: Crypto lenders have earned just 2% on $4.7B in loans
Ether bears aren't pouncing at price drop, devs working to get bitcoin on ethereum
Fake Satoshi Nakamoto appears to promote dodgy crypto project
Crypto transaction tracking service Whale Alert announces v2.0

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'Kingpins' blacklisted

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FROZEN ASSETS: The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has blacklisted a dozen bitcoin and litecoin addresses belonging to three Chinese nationals, alleging the individuals sold opioids to U.S. residents. OFAC made the designation under the Kingpin Act, meaning U.S. entities and individuals are required to freeze any property or interests in property that belong to the three. Wednesday's action is the second time OFAC has blacklisted crypto addresses, after first listing two Iranian nationals last November. Full story

GREEN LIGHT: Securitize, a provider of technology for issuing blockchain tokens, has registered as a transfer agent with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a move it says will boost adoption. Announced Wednesday, the registration means Securitize can now act as the official keeper of records about changes of ownership in securities. “We can increase the amount of securities issued on the blockchain and give comfort to people that this is a regulated space,” said Carlos Domingo, co-founder and CEO of Securitize. Full story

‘ALMOST FULL’: The increased cost of transacting on the ethereum blockchain is hurting the software’s adoption, says project creator Vitalik Buterin. Speaking with the Toronto Star this week, Butertin suggested projects that are considering whether to build on the technology will likely be put off, as the blockchain is overloaded with transactions, or in his words “almost full.” He said: “There is pressure keeping people from joining, but improvements in scalability can do a lot in improving that.” Full story

WEATHER CALAMITY: A prolonged rainstorm in China’s Sichuan province has caused land- and mudslides, forcing some local hydropower plants and bitcoin miners to halt operations. Wenchuan county appears to have suffered the most, with some mining facilities destroyed and bitcoin mining machines now covered by mud. High levels of water in reservoirs has also forced many local hydropower plants to stop generating electricity, creating a power shortage that may affect mining farms in the short term. Full story

BITCOIN SCRIPTS: Smart contracts could soon get a boost in bitcoin, as prominent programmer Pieter Wuille has unveiled a new coding language designed specifically for their use. Posted to the bitcoin developer mailing list Monday, the Miniscript language aims to make it easier for programmers to write up smart contracts, or conditions for spending bitcoins. Programmers Wuille, Andrew Poelstra and Sanket Sanjalkar have been working on the code for roughly a year. Wuille said he is now posting it to the email list because it’s reached “a stage where I’d like to get it some more attention.” Full story

SUDDEN DROP: Bitcoin has fallen below $10,000 at time of writing and could extend losses to recent lows below $9,500 in the next 24 hours, as signaled by the rising wedge breakdown confirmed earlier today and the bearish daily and intraday chart indicators. A bull revival needs a weekly close above $12,000, but looks a remote possibility right now. Full story

BELGIUM FRAUDS: Belgium’s Financial Services Authority (FSMA) published an alert on Wednesday regarding websites that may defrauding crypto investors, writes The Brussels Times. According to the news source, the list now tops more than 121 known fraudulent sites. This is down from 2018, when the agency reported 334 complaints from Belgian consumers who were scammed.

WHO WON #CRYPTOTWITTER

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