Lloyd's of London to offer crypto insurance / BIS: CBDC is not focusing on cross-border payments / KPMG: Crypto needs to secure assets to grow

Inside Bitcoin.

Presented by Subscribe | View in browser Dear subscribers, As of this week, Inside Bitcoin will be transitioning to a premium model where - for the next two weeks - our Tuesday and Thursday issues will be sent only to paid subscribers. So if you want to keep up-to-date on the latest news in the Bitcoin/crypto space, you know what to do : ) Click here to upgrade to premium! As we move forward, only the Friday issue will be free to our non-paying subscribers. But for less than $2 a week ($100 a year), you can get all the news you want without having to dig through the copious amount of information that this space generates, and there is plenty. Not only that, but it means I can feed my one remaining chicken (and two ducks!) Thank you to my readers who have responded and thank you for all the support you have shown me! It's a delight to write these bite-size news pieces for you as you get your daily fix in your busy lives! Rebecca Market Watch: The start of the working week is showing positive results for crypto prices with most coins across the board in the green. Bitcoin: $8,807 (⬆️ 2.02%) // $160.7 billion market cap. Ethereum: $227 (⬆️ 1.88%) // $24.9 billion market cap. XRP: $0.235 (⬆️ 0.69%) // $10.3 billion market cap. Bitcoin Cash: $324 (⬆️ 2.88%) // $5.9 billion market cap. Top 100 Winner: Swipe: $1.23 (⬆️ 16.52%) // $74 million market cap.  Top 100 Loser: DxChain Token: $0.001 (⬇️ 9.91%) // $74 million market cap.  Prices are as of 3:10 p.m. ET. 1. Insurance giant Lloyd's of London has announced that it is offering a new insurance policy to protect cryptocurrency held in online hot wallets against hacks. In an announcement released today, the company stated that the liability policy was created by Lloyd's syndicate Atrium along with crypto firm Coincover, with limits from as little as $1,275. The policy is backed by a number of other Lloyd's insurers, including TMK and Markel, all of whom are members of Lloyd's Product Innovation Facility (PIF). Matthew Greaves, underwriter at Atrium, said that there is a "growing demand" for insurance that can protect crypto assets, adding: "It is a testament to Lloyd's that the market has put together an innovative solution to mitigate these new risks and protect against theft – from physical as well as online vaults – thereby providing customers with peace of mind that their assets are safe." -LLOYD'S OF LONDON 2. A report from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has found that no central bank digital currency (CBDC) projects are focusing on cross-border payments. The quarterly review, "International banking and financial market developments," looked at CBDC plans, in addition to significant global issues within the market such as the recent coronavirus. According to the BIS, there are 17 governments researching CBDCs, including Brazil, Iceland, Israel, and Norway. Yet, in the BIS's opinion, none of these projects are looking into cross-border payments despite many highlighting that CBDCs provide faster and less risky cross-border payments. The report went on to say that: "Regarding the focus on cross-border interlinkages, no CBDC project has an explicit focus on payments beyond the central bank's jurisdiction." -BIS A MESSAGE FROM VIRTWAY Virtual 3D Business Events: Cutting costs and sky-rocketing results with Virtway Events’ Technology Traditional events are expensive, time-consuming and their environmental cost is high. Virtway Events' 3D technology is invigorating corporate events of all sizes allowing people to connect with a personal device, network in real-time and engage in a life-like way. Meetings, conferences or fairs, the possibilities are endless. Ask For a Free Demo Now! 3. Crypto exchange Bitfinex has announced that it will delist 46 crypto trading pairs due to low liquidity on its platform. In a blog post today, the exchange said that from March 6, 2020, at 10 a.m. UTC, 27 coins traded with Ether will cease trading. These include the likes of AidCoin (AID/ETH), Credits (CSX/ETH), Seer (SEE/ETH), and Statis Euro (EUS/ETH). A further 16 altcoins traded with Bitcoin will also be delisted. These include CommerceBlock (CBT/BTC), BLOCKv (VEE/BTC), Hydro Protocol (HOT/BTC), and Medicalchain (MTN/BTC). Bitfinex stated that "the removal of these trading pairs is a common measure that serves to consolidate and improve liquidity on Bitfinex." -BITFINEX 4. Accounting organization KPMG has said that the crypto market needs to improve how it secures its assets if it wants the market to grow. According to the company, $9.8 billion has been stolen by hackers since 2017 due to poor security measures or poorly written code. Yet, due to an increase in institutional investors adopting Bitcoin and Ether, there is an increasing need for crypto assets to be safeguarded more than ever, KPMG noted. Sal Ternullo, co-leader of KPMG's crypto-asset services and co-author of the report, said: "Institutional investors especially will not risk owning crypto assets if their value cannot be safeguarded in the same way their cash, stocks and bonds are." -BLOOMBERG What do you think of this report? Do you believe that's what the crypto market needs to achieve for it to increase its value from its current $253 billion? Hit reply and let me know! We may feature your answer in an upcoming issue (with your permission, of course). -Rebecca A MESSAGE FROM SALESFORCE Tune in to the IT Visionaries podcast for actionable insights from innovative leaders  Get career advice, stories and trends on everything from AI to blockchain to edge strategy. 5. Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, has said in an interview that Ripple wouldn't be profitable without selling XRP. That's according to a statement to the Financial Times, which was in response to a question where he was asked where the company's cash flow comes from. In it, he said: "Well XRP is one source. I don't know how to answer that because if you took away our software revenues, that would make us less profitable. If you took away all our XRP, that makes us less profitable." -FINANCIAL TIMES 6. The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) has selected blockchain firm Algorand for its national digital currency, the Marshallese sovereign (SOV). It was first announced back in February 2018. In an announcement today, SFB Technologies, the company that develops SOV's blockchain infrastructure, will see the digital currency circulated alongside the U.S. dollar, which will "help the Marshall Islands efficiently operate in the global economy." According to Jim Wagner, co-founder and CTO of SFB Technologies, Algorand was chosen "after extensive market research" and that due to its "unique features the platform has the functionality required to issue, manage and distribute the SOV on a global level." -ALGORAND 7. Tom Lee, co-founder of Fundstrat Research, has said on Twitter that the stock market is "starting to look like crypto charts." Lee was responding to a tweet from a researcher, who noted that the S&P 500 had wiped out 140 days of growth in a matter of days. The drop in market prices comes amid fears over the novel coronavirus, which has seen investors dump shares as anxiety over it grows. -@FUNDSTRAT/TWITTER 8. Jon Cuncliffe, the deputy governor for financial stability at the Bank of England (BoE), has said in a speech that a crypto-economy could see bank credit "weaken or indeed disappear." Delivering a speech at the London School of Economics at the end of February, the deputy governor indicated that the inclusion of stablecoins on social media could see people putting their money they would hold in banks into stablecoin wallets, adding that this "would be a change with profound economic consequences." -CROWDFUND INSIDER 9. Charles Hoskinson, CEO of IOHK, has said on Twitter that "crypto is the best hedge in the world against a global pandemic." At the end of February, Hoskinson, a crypto enthusiast, mathematician, and entrepreneur, said that "should SARS-CoV-2 get big, the stock market is done and governments will collapse." He added that things that live in the "digital world are resistant to this and will benefit from the social change." His comments come at a time when the Dow Jones dropped 1,200 points last week amid fears over the coronavirus. -IOHK_CHARLES/TWITTER 10. Japanese technology company LINE announced that it has launched its BITFRONT crypto exchange in the U.S., which will provide a fiat-to-crypto and crypto-to-crypto market for the U.S. dollar. BITFRONT will be run by the U.S. subsidiary of LVC Corporation. The platform supports five cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Etherum, Bitcoin Cash, Tether, and LINE's digital currency, LINK. According to Youngsu Ko, CEO of LVC Corporation, "this is a major leap toward achieving the mass adoption of blockchain." -LINE 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 Your 3D Space for Conferences. Ad Empower everyone to build apps fast with low code on the Lightning Platform.

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