Altsbit to close due to hack / BitGo expands in Europe / Ukraine: Crypto mining needs no governmental oversight

Inside Bitcoin.

Presented by Subscribe | View in browser Market Watch: After hitting the $10,000 milestone over the weekend, Bitcoin is back down to $9,800, dropping 2.56 percent in 24 hours. Bitcoin: $9,824 (⬇️ 2.56%) // $178.8 billion market cap. Ethereum: $218 (⬇️ 4.34%) // $24 billion market cap. XRP: $0.271 (⬇️ 4.11%) // $11.8 billion market cap. Bitcoin Cash: $440 (⬇️ 2.30%) // $8.05 billion market cap. Top 100 Winner: KickToken: $0.0007 (⬆️ 36.70%) // $555 million market cap.  Top 100 Loser: Decentraland: $0.0567 (⬇️ 14.40%) // $59 million market cap. Prices are as of 12:10 p.m. ET. 1. Altsbit, a crypto exchange which launched in October, has said that it will be closing its doors following a hack it can't afford to cover. Coins stolen in the hack include Bitcoin, Ether, Pirate Coin, Verus Coin, and Komodo. According to a report, the Bitcoin and Ether stolen amounted to around $63,000. The exchange has said that refunds will begin on Feb. 10, 2020, and end May 8, 2020. Altsbit has said that "after this date it will no longer be possible to request a refund as the Altsbit platform will be terminated." -COIN DESK 2. Digital asset financial services company BitGo is increasing its global reach by setting up two regulated custodial entities in Europe. The U.S.-based firm has created the two subsidiaries in Germany and Switzerland, according to an announcement from the company. BitGo's Swiss entity, BitGo GmbH, which is a member of the Financial Services Standards Association, is supervised by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). BitGo's German entity, BitGo Deutschland GmbH, is providing custody services in Germany and will apply for regulatory approval when the application window opens in November 2020, the announcement said. Mike Belshe, CEO of BitGo, said: "We saw a lot of demand in Europe last year and it was clear that clients there needed to be able to work with European based firms that were regulated within specific jurisdictions." -FINANCE MAGNATES A MESSAGE FROM ATHLETIC GREENS Health experts, top performers and pro athletes all agree that the perfect diet doesn’t exist...so then what? They use Athletic Greens. It’s the all-in-one daily nutritional beverage that gives you 75 vitamins, minerals, and whole-food sourced ingredients–plus the antioxidant equivalent of 12 servings of fruits and veg, gut health benefits, and adaptogens for hormonal support. You’d struggle to find a better go-to source for comprehensive nutrition. We’re giving inside readers 20 Free Travel Packs with their first order! Order Now 3. The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine has said that crypto mining does not require governmental oversight as it is regulated by the protocol itself and its network members. In a manifesto on digital assets, the regulator noted that it would continue to see to the development and introduction of decentralized technologies, in addition to assessing potential risks to the market. The notice comes at a time when Ukraine has been actively looking into the crypto and blockchain space. At the end of January, for instance, the country's Finance Minister said that the State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine (SFMS) would be responsible for determining where funds come from on its citizens' crypto wallets. -COINTELEGRAPH 4. The Litecoin community has accepted a proposal by founder Charlie Lee that will see miners having the option to donate one percent of what they mine to the Litecoin Foundation. On Jan. 24, Lee put forward the option to miners giving them the chance of donating some of their rewards, which could potentially sustain the growth of the cryptocurrency. In a recent tweet from Lee, he said that the Litecoin Pool now has a setting that enables miners to decide whether they want to donate to the foundation. As Lee calculated, this would bring in $1.5 million each year. -THE COIN REPUBLIC A MESSAGE FROM SALESFORCE The Best of Dreamforce: get how-to resources to help you drive digital transformation with the Customer 360 Platform. Whether you’re trying to connect every customer, empower every employee, or create a company culture of innovation, Dreamforce-in-a-box will show you how the Customer 360 Platform can help you reach your biggest goals. Learn More Here 5. Anthony Pompliano, co-founder & partner at Morgan Creek Digital, is of the opinion that Bitcoin will reach a much higher level after it surpassed $10,000 over the weekend. Taking to Twitter, he believes that it will hit $100,000 by the end of December 2021, due to a fixed supply and increasing demand. Finishing his tweet, he said: "Time will tell." -@APOMPLIANO 6. Weiss Ratings has upgraded Bitcoin to "excellent," giving it an A- grade. In a tweet from Friday, the company noted that this was due "to improving fundamentals and positive price action ahead of Bitcoin's next halving." In a summary of its findings, it gave Bitcoin a B- for market performance and an A for technology and adoption. -@WEISS CRYPTO 7. Following the launch of TRUMP futures trading last week, crypto derivatives exchange FTX is planning to add five more 2020 presidential election-based futures. The platform plans to release a Bernie Sanders (BERNIE) futures trading product, in addition to a Joe Biden (BIDEN), Elizabeth Warren (WARREN), Pete Buttigieg (PETE), and Mike Bloomberg (BLOOMBERG). In an interview, an FTX representative said a release date had not been finalized but that they could be released within the next several days. -COINTELEGRAPH 8. According to crypto exchange Coinbase, "Bitcoin is a store of value to rival gold in the digital age." In a series of tweets, the platform compared Bitcoin to gold, noting that "gold has been a store of value primarily because of its scarcity." The company went on to say: "Bitcoin, like gold, is scarce," adding that producing new coins "requires a great deal of 'proof of work' by a process called mining." -@COINBASE 9. The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) wants to introduce stricter anti-money laundering (AML) rules for crypto transactions. In an announcement from Friday, the regulator said that transactions around $1,025 will require client identification. This is compared to the current limit of $5,120. FINMA noted that the new limit was in answer to the "heightened money-laundering risks in the crypto space." -THE BLOCK 10. A report from crypto index provider Bitwise suggests that financial advisors are moving into the crypto space. According to its 2020 Benchmark Survey of Financial Advisor Attitudes Toward Cryptoassets, financial advisors are showing an increasing interest in putting their clients' assets in digital currencies. The report also found that the number of crypto-focused advisors is expected to double to 13 percent in 2020. -CRYPTO BRIEFING 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.   Ad The daily habit that sets you up for a healthy future. Order Now Ad Empower everyone to build apps fast with low code on the Lightning Platform.

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