Market Watch Bitcoin | $11,368 | 7 day: +6.7% | Ethereum | $377 | 7 day: +10.1% | All crypto | $359b | 7 day: +7.1% | Bitcoin dominance | 58.7% | 7 day: -0.2% | Prices as of 5 p.m. EDT | |
It is our honor to cover the news every day here at Inside Cryptocurrency. Thank you so much for reading our newsletter! | Aaron | | | |
Libra Association members G7 leaders say they will oppose Libra's stablecoins until they are "adequately" regulated. Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) is the leading proponent of Libra. - Leaders of the world's seven largest economies ⏤ the U.S., Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Britain, and Canada ⏤ expressed their opposition to Libra's stablecoins without better regulatory compliance.
- (Originally intended to be one multi-currency stablecoin, Libra now intends to launch multiple, single-currency stablecoins.)
- The G7 officials prepared a draft statement for their meeting scheduled for today, according to a Reuters report.
- The draft mentions that digital payments can improve access to financial services and increase efficiency at low costs. However, such payments must be supervised and regulated, not jeopardize consumer protection, and ensure financial stability.
- The G7 claims that Libra's stablecoin(s) could undermine legal certainty and facilitate illegal financial activities.
- The statement affirms that several G7 authorities are currently testing central bank digital currencies (CBDC).
The Block Crypto | |
Kristalina Georgieva, CEO of the World Bank The IMF, World Bank, and G20 will formalize central bank digital currency (CBDC) rules. - G20 (the twenty largest economies of the world) leaders are working alongside the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and Bank of International Settlements (BIS) on global stablecoin and CBDC standards.
- The Financial Stability Board, responsible for global financial stability, published a report on Oct. 13 with high-level recommendations.
- The report forecasts that G20 members ⏤ as well as the IMF, World Bank, and BIS ⏤ will finalize their standards for stablecoins by 2022.
- The group also intends to research and approve specific CBDC designs and technologies.
Coindesk | |
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Yi Gang, Deputy Governor, People's Bank of China The People's Bank of China (PBoC) was conspicuously absent from the Bank of International Settlements' report last week. The PBoC is a member central bank of the Bank of International Settlements (BIS). - The notable absence of the PBoC in BIS' recently published report raises questions about its participation, which assessed different cases for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
- China's Alibaba-owned South China Morning Post was quick to point out the omission.
- China's central bank is working on its own CBDC, and will likely be the first major world power to launch virtual fiat.
- China's CBDC is dubbed Digital Currency Electronic Payment or "DC/EP."
- PBoC claims to have processed $162m worth of enterprise pilot transactions with DC/EP in preparation for their Beijing 2022 Olympics.
- The exclusion indicates the possibility that China's CBDC project is not as advanced as Chinese media is portraying but rather an attempt to attract attention from the international crypto industry.
The Block Crypto | |
DeFi protocols encourage front-running. The SEC's definition of front-running in traditional securities markets appears here. Front-running occurs in Ethereum markets when miners manipulate order books at decentralized exchanges, collude to combine trades from different decentralized finance (DeFi) pools, preferentially converting various tokens to extract value unfairly. In today's edition of Inside Cryptocurrency Premium, we dig into the disturbing behavior of miners who have unique powers to manipulate orders and books ("Time & Sales") at decentralized exchanges ("DEXs"). Start your free 14-day trial today! FREE TRIAL | | | |
Diginex Chairman Chi-Won Yoon Coindesk reviews the volatile launch of Diginex (NASDAQ: EQOS). We first reported on Diginex's first day of trading here at Inside Cryptocurrency. - The launch of cryptocurrency exchange by Diginex, a Hong Kong-based company offering financial and advisory services, was made possible through a merger with 8i, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). SPACs help to avoid cumbersome initial public offering (IPO) legalities.
- There have been 139 SPAC deals this year, according to the year-to-date summary by SPAC Insider. Aggregate gross proceeds exceed $53b.
- Cryptocurrency exchange EQUOS.io is an important asset of Diginex.
- Diginex is live on NASDAQ with a market capitalization of $223m as of the time of publication. It has few listed cryptocurrencies: BTC, ETH, and USDC.
Coindesk | |
Coindesk publishes its Q3 2020 review. - Coindesk's latest quarterly review sheds light on bitcoin's erratic performance in Q3, including the risks, issues, opportunities, and buzz circulating in the market. It associates the increasing growth in stablecoins with statements by U.S. and European regulators.
- It mentioned that the bitcoin's correlation with gold and stock remained high due to a rally in price observed in July's final week. The correlation BTC-gold for 60-days rose from 0.3 to 0.5 (approx) during the third quarter.
- Though nothing out of the ordinary occurred in August and September, bitcoin returns outperformed other macro-assets despite being highly volatile, according to Coindesk.
- The report mentions that two Ethereum-based crypto-assets, namely Chainlink (LINK) and Orchid (OXT) from the "Coindesk 20" list, performed better in Q3. Coindesk 20 is a list endorsed by Coindesk itself, where cryptocurrencies are adjusted based on their quarterly performance.
- The report praises stablecoins performance of both programmatic (such as DAI) and fiat-based (such as USDT) during Q3 while also mentioning that the latter dominates the stablecoin total market capitalization.
- It correlated the increase in the Ethereum network's transaction activity with decentralized finance hype. The report called "DeFi's sustained popularity," a significant contributor to the Ethereum network's high fee and gas limit increase.
Coindesk | |
Filecoin creator Juan Benet Kraken will list Filecoin (FIL) on Oct. 15. The oft-delayed, long-awaited mainnet launch of the $205m ICO from 2017 is expected by tomorrow. - U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has announced new trading pairs: FIL/USD, FIL/EUR, FIL/XBT, and FIL/ETH.
- Protocol Labs, the parent company of Filecoin, raised approximately $205m during 2017's ICO boom from investors like Barry Silbert's Digital Currency Group, Fred Wilson's Union Square Ventures, BlueYard Capital, and Winklevoss Capital.
- Even after three years, Filecoin has yet to release a functional product with more than a few thousand users.
- Investors in Filecoin's ICO have accused its project leaders, including creator Juan Benet, of selling their digital tokens, according to Axios.
- That dispute is currently being mediated as the Filecoin team concludes its so-called SpaceRace testnet and prepares to launch its mainnet momentarily.
Kraken | |
Fidelity Digital Assets report Fidelity Digital Assets' Ria Bhutoria recommends that institutional clients "consider" a staggering 5% allocation to bitcoin. - Fidelity Digital Assets was a startup two years ago, incubated within the Blockchain Incubator at the Fidelity Center for Applied Technology.
- Fidelity Investments, a separate company from Fidelity Digital Assets, has $7.2t in assets under management (AUM).
- It is doubtful that Bhutoria's recommendation was reviewed by Fidelity's executives.
- Fidelity Investments' arm Fidelity Digital Assets shared the "Bitcoin Investment Thesis," written by the Director of Research Ria Bhutoria at Fidelity Digital Assets, on Oct. 12.
- Bhutoria references Social Capital's Chamath Palihapitiya, who included crypto in his list of alternative assets for new-age investing.
- Bhutoria called bitcoin useful and uncorrelated.
Coindesk | |
Quick Hits: - 100 Italian banks join Spunta, a blockchain application built atop Corda Enterprise, under the governance of the Italian Banking Association. The application claims to make interbank funding reconciliations faster.
- Fintech venture studio Draper Goren Holm, co-founded by Tim Draper, raises $25m to support blockchain projects.
- Head of Payments Policy at the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), Tony Richards, stated that the RBA finds no strong public policy case for introducing a general use version of the Australian Dollar. Richards commented during the UWA Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, and Fintech Conference on Oct. 12.
- The World Economic Forum and Global Blockchain Business Council shared a report after a jointly conducted study on Oct. 14, indicating that the blockchain industry requires well-defined global standards. The report is the first component of its so-called Global Standards Mapping Initiative.
- As Apple device adoption grows in the enterprise, organizations are looking for ways to seamlessly manage and secure devices while extending the world-class Apple experience users expect.*
*This is a sponsored post. | |
| | Written and curated by wide-eyed bitcoin watcher since $1, Aaron Wise. Streaming headline junkie, Associated Press fanboy, eye-strained news terminal watcher, 2017 founder of Cryptocurrency Newsfeed. Temporarily based in Florida while awaiting the construction of cryptopia. | | Editor | Edited by Eduardo Garcia in New York. Eduardo is writing an illustrated book about climate change that will be published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
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