UK's FCA seeks crypto expert / Central banks to discuss CBDCs / Coronavirus cancels conferences

Inside Bitcoin.

Presented by Subscribe | View in browser Market Watch: Coin prices across the board are back in the green today. Bitcoin is creeping closer to the $10,000 mark again. Will it be able to reach that milestone by the end of this week? Bitcoin: $9,795 (⬆️ 3.83%) // $178.3 billion market cap. Ethereum: $214 (⬆️ 8.73%) // $23.4 billion market cap. XRP: $0.281 (⬆️ 2.95%) // $12.3 billion market cap. Bitcoin Cash: $440 (⬆️ 3.95%) // $8.03 billion market cap. Top 100 Winner: KickToken: $0.0001 (⬆️ 21.62%) // $107 million market cap. Top 100 Loser: Centrality: $0.069 (⬇️ 20.12%) // $57 million market cap.  Prices are as of 1:15 p.m. ET 1. The U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is seeking a specialist that has a crypto background to address EU regulations. According to a job posting on LinkedIn, the FCA wants an intelligence associate with crypto expertise to tackle digital assets under the European Union's fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD). The key responsibilities of the position include intelligence support for supervision and enforcement, in addition to processing applications for companies in the U.K.'s financial services industry. -COINTELEGRAPH 2. Six central banks are to meet in April to discuss the development of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The banks, from Canada, the European Union, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.K., will be attending the International Monetary Fund conference in Washington, D.C., at the time. The governors of the central banks are to meet to discuss conducting joint research into the possible future introduction of digital currencies, in addition to the possible challenges such as cross-currency settlement and protection against cyberattacks. Last month, the six banks announced plans to research CBDCs with the Bank for International Settlements. -THE JAPAN TIMES A MESSAGE FROM WINC The wine of your dreams is 6 questions away... Winc makes it easy to discover wines you’ll love with their palate profile quiz. Simply answer 6 questions and they’ll pair you with 4 wines tailored to your personal taste preferences so that you’ll never get lost in the wine aisle again! The best part? We're giving Inside readers 40% off their first order! Take the quiz now to see your curated wines. 3. Throwback Thursday: China completes ban on Bitcoin trading In September 2017, China took steps to prohibit the trading of Bitcoin in the country. A complete ban of this started on Feb. 1, 2018. Prior to the ban, Renminbi-to-Bitcoin trades accounted for around 90 percent. However, unnerved by the high volume, the government decided to ban fiat from being used in crypto trades. As a result, the price of Bitcoin fell from over $9,000 to just under $7,000. Following the outlaw, the People's Bank of China (PBoC) declared that its crackdown had been a complete success. 4. The spread of the coronavirus is seeing the cancellation of many gatherings, conventions, and conferences, which includes several crypto events due to take place in Asia. These include the Hong Kong Blockchain Week 2020, Token2049, and Binance Blockchain Week Vietnam. According to the Chinese government, the death toll of the virus has topped 563, with confirmed cases totaling over 28,000. -CRYPTO SLATE A MESSAGE FROM RAGING BULL Options Trading Made Simple Interested in trading? Millionaire options trader Jeff Bishop is offering free training on how to do what he does. Learn his best kept secrets and instantly apply one of the simplist and most consistent trading strategies to your portfolio. Get his weekly plan with Bullseye Trades. Learn More Now! 5. Andy Cheung, former COO at crypto exchange OKEx, is planning to launch a crypto derivatives exchange called ACDX by the end of Q1 2020. According to reports, the platform will be open to retail investors and will offer several products, including futures, options, and fixed coupon notes. Cheung is hoping to raise $40 million in the next few months and have the exchange up and running by Q2 2020. -INVEZZ 6. John Michael Caruso and Zachary Salter have been arrested after allegedly luring investors, including professional basketball players, to a crypto Ponzi scheme. The Arizona-based founders of Zima Digital Assets were arrested at the end of January by the U.S. Secret Service. The pair used social media to boast of their luxurious lifestyles that lured in new investors to their scheme. One victim was a 76-year-old man who lost $200,000 and an 86-year-old who lost $60,000. -COINTELEGRAPH 7. Syren Johnstone, an academic at the University of Hong Kong, has written a blog claiming that the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain-driven strategies could help to tackle responses to the coronavirus. Published on the Oxford University Faculty of Law Department blog, Johnstone writes that the outbreak should be seen as a "call to arms for the tech industry." -UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD 8. Crypto ATM startup CoinFlip has added Stellar Lumens (XLM) to its 450 ATMs enabling customers to purchase the coin from its network of machines. XLM joins the likes of Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, Dash, Komodo, Chainlink, and Tron, which are already available on the machines. CoinFlip CEO Daniel Polotsky said that they plan to continue adding coins as it expands its ATM network across the U.S. -COIN DESK 9. Germany's Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) has released new guidelines that aim to clarify how the country's new crypto law will apply to firms that operate outside of Germany but which serve the German market. According to BaFin, companies that offer crypto custody services won't be penalized for not having a license. Rather, they will be placed under the same protection that crypto custody firms already have in Germany under the new law. However, they will have until March 31 to announce their intent to apply for a license and until November 31 to apply for one. -TOKEN POST 10. Clear, an Israel-based blockchain settlement startup, has raised $13 million in a Series A funding round. The funding was led by Eight Roads, Fidelity International's venture capital arm, with participation from telecom majors Telefónica Innovation Ventures and Telekom Innovation Pool of Deutsche Telekom, among others. According to Clear, the funding round follows "several successful" trials with these organizations "moving tens of millions of dollars." -THE BLOCK 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. Edited by Beth Duckett, staff writer at Inside. Ad We're giving Inside readers 40% off their first order! Click here to see your curated wines.

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