Cryptocurrency News Now!

Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Wall Street's Interest in Crypto Isn't Moving Prices, What Will?

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Shoot for the moon and if you miss you will still be among the stars."

- Les Brown

Happy Tuesday! We already have members who have gained access to join the Brew Crew. Just share your referral code with anyone interested in cryptocurrencies and you can be part of the private community that includes Blockchain Brew's team, investors, developers, and traders.

Cheers,
Blockchain Brew Team

MARKET

COIN	PRICE	24H

BTC	$7,146.676852	+2.5%

ETH	$411.05982	+0.97%

XRP	$0.413322	-2.63%

BCH	$710.0942	+2.59%

EOS	$7.167534	+2.52%

*Information as of 9:30 AM EST

ANALYSIS

Wall Street's Interest in Crypto Isn't Moving Prices, What Will?

WHERE'S THE PUMP?

In 2018, significant strides have been made to introduce institutional investors into the realm of digital assets including custodial solutions, new trading platforms, and more
However, though much progress has been made, there hasn't been the boost to prices investors had expected as Bitcoin is down more than 50% since December 2017 when CBOE launched Bitcoin futures trading
It is clear Bitcoin is in a much better position than a six months ago from an institutional interest standpoint, but if Wall Street's pure interest hasn't moved the price of Bitcoin, what will?

Reported by Quartz, Wall Street's interest in crypto has not boosted the price of Bitcoin:

WHERE'S THE ADOPTION?

Most notably, an ETF approval would bring positive news to the crypto market that could boost prices in the short term
Ultimately, though, for prices to continue to rise for the long term, mainstream adoption of the ETF must take place
Similarly, a lack of adoption could explain the lack of price movement even though Wall Street has been interested in launching new services and creating Bitcoin trading desks
For example, Kenneth Griffin, the founder of the hedge fund group Citadel commented that he doesn't "have a single portfolio manager who has told me we should buy crypto"

LOOKING AHEAD

It's unclear where the price of Bitcoin is headed but we do know that if more services continue to be created to generate significant adoption and mainstream investors join, Bitcoin holders will be rewarded

NEWS

Barclays Sets Up Team to Explore Trading Cryptocurrencies

CHANGE OF HEART

A few months ago, Barclays CEO Jes Staley ruled out the idea of launching a cryptocurrency trading desk at the UK investment bank and financial services institution
At that time, Staley commented to shareholders that cryptocurrency trading presented "a real challenge" for them
Now, however, Barclays seems to have had a change of heart as it has set up a team to explore how Barclays can begin trading digital assets

MORE THAN TRADING

Though the statement released only specifies that Barclays is exploring how it can start trading cryptocurrencies, one member of the new team, Lee Braine, has stated the benefits blockchain could bring to banking's processes

In a recent interview, Braine expressed his thoughts on blockchain technology's benefits to banking:

"There are clearly tremendous opportunities for startups in the blockchain space. For investment banking, blockchain-inspired solutions such as shared ledgers and smart contracts should aim to meet the enterprise-scale architectural non-functional requirements […] Different banks implement executable business logic, often operating in a similar way, within their bank. The opportunity here is for executable business logic common across banks, and shared ledgers may provide one potential way of achieving that"

INSTITUTION

Goldman Sachs May Be Launching a Bitcoin Custodial Service

GOLDMAN SACHS

Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is an investment bank and financial services institution headquartered in New York City
Goldman Sachs is one of the largest investment banks in the world with nearly $1 trillion in assets under management
The firm was one of the first large investment firms to get its feet wet in the cryptocurrency market by clearing Bitcoin futures trading

CRYPTO CUSTODIAN

Bloomberg is reporting that the investment firms is having internal discussions about starting a cryptocurrency custodial service
Crypto custody is a major hurdle for investment firms hoping to get exposure to crypto
Custodial services do already exist, but none outside of the crypto industry
Financial institutions are much more likely to trust another financial services company who is well established rather than a new crypto company

Goldman has not confirmed this rumor, but did say:

“In response to client interest in various digital products we are exploring how best to serve them in this space. At this point we have not reached a conclusion on the scope of our digital asset offering.”

WALL STREET & CRYPTO

Financial institutions and crypto have a polarizing relationship
Many notable investors and companies have spoken out about the emerging technology, but there does seem like there are as many bears as there are bulls on Wall Street
Regulation is the biggest impediment as of now, once that has cleared, it will be obvious who is a believer and who isn't

MINING

Bitmain Confirms Plans to Open Mining Facility in Texas

EVERYTHING’S BIGGER IN TEXAS

The cryptocurrency mining giant, Bitmain, has confirmed the rumors that it will be opening a crypto mining facility in Texas
Bitmain will be investing $500 million over the next 7 years to open a data center in Rockdale, Texas
The firm will hire 400 Texans to operate the facility and will also have education programs for potential employees

EXPANDING OPERATIONS

Bitmain, who is valued at roughly $12 billion, has made many moves over the past year to grow its business
Headquartered in China, Bitmain has been becoming more of a global enterprise and has had a focus on the United States
In addition to this newly confirmed Texas mining facility, Bitmain is also opening an office in Silicon Valley and another mining facility in Washington state

Steem (STEEM)
Steem is a blockchain-based rewards platform for publishers to monetize content and grow community.
WEBSITE \| TWITTER \| REDDIT

EARN REWARDS

Get 5 referrals and we will send you a rockin' Blockchain Brew sticker set
Get 10 referrals and you get exclusive access to become a Brew Crew member

Don't worry, we will be introducing much BIGGER rewards for the overachievers soon.

SUBSCRIBE | FEEDBACK | ADVERTISE

The above is not intended to be investment advice.

1317 8th Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414.

If you don't absolutely love us, drop us, click here.

Key Announcements from ICON

Greetings from the ICON Team,

Thank you for your continued support for the ICON project. We have some exciting news to share with our contributor community.

I. theloop rebrands to ICONLOOP

theloop, ICON Foundation's main technology partner, has agreed to rebrand itself to ICONLOOP. The change will take place immediately, but will be fully reflected on the website and other marketing materials in near future.

This change demonstrates a strong and long-term commitment to the ICON project by our technology partner. In addition, the new brand is expected to unify and improve ICON's brand positioning in Korea and the global market.

"The rebranding makes a lot of sense as we are now finally ready to push the ICON project here in Korea," said JH Kim, CEO of ICONLOOP. "Our team is fully committed to contributing to the ICON project and servicing the ICON Foundation."

II. $5 Million ICX Repurchase Program

The ICON Foundation council members have unanimously approved its first ICX repurchase program. The new ICX repurchase program authorizes the foundation to repurchase up to $5 million of currently circulating ICX.

ICON is a leading public blockchain project in a rapidly growing blockchain industry. Although the project is still in its infancy, we want to stay committed to creating token holder value over the long term. Moving forward, we see even greater potential for ICON as we continue to unlock new markets, partnerships, and products.

"ICX repurchase program is a great way to give back to our community as well as reinforce confidence in our own project," said Min Kim, a ICON Foundation Council Member. "In these times of uncertainty, we want to make it clear that our interests are fully aligned with our community for the long term."

Repurchases under the foundation's program will be made in open market or privately negotiated transactions subject to market conditions, applicable legal requirements, and other relevant factors.

III. Open Source Release Schedule

Beginning this week, and for the next two months, we are sequentially releasing source codes and documents to our GitHub.

There will be several releases. The most important updates will provide DAPP projects the ability to run a full-scale token sale with ICX and develop basic smart contracts. In addition, we will provide smart contract versioning capabilities, a special feature that differentiates our service from others.

Scheduled releases for the next two months:

[Wallet]

ICONex Desktop :Desktop wallet for Chrome browser plugin

Feature

- ICON Wallet creation, import/export, deletion
- ICX transfer
- ETH Wallet creation, import/export, deletion
- ETH transfer
- ETH ICX Token exchange with ICON ICX
- ICX transfer linked with third party Web Applications
- Support for Ledger Nano S

Notes

- Allows third parties to develop various ICON wallets for desktops
- Smart contract call function added
- Supports smart contract features for Web Applications

ICONex Android: Wallet app for Android

Feature

- ICON Wallet creation, Import/Export, Deletion
- ICX transfer
- ETH Wallet creation, Import/Export, Deletion
- ETH transfer
- ETH ICX Token exchange with ICON ICX

Notes

- Allows third parties to develop various ICON wallets for Android
- Smart contract call function added
- Supports smart contract features for Android apps

ICONex iOS: Wallet app for iOS

Feature

- ICON Wallet creation, Import/Export, Deletion
- ICX transfer
- ETH Wallet creation, Import/Export, Deletion
- ETH transfer
- ETH ICX Token exchange with ICON ICX

Notes

- Allows third parties to develop various ICON wallets for iOS
- Smart contract call function added
- Supports smart contract features for iOS apps

Nano S Integration: ICONex Desktop and Ledger Nano S HW wallet support module

Feature

- BOLOS Application
- JS Library for the application

Notes

- Tokens will be supported in the near future

[SDK]

Java SDK V3: Java-based SDK that works with ICON network

Feature

- ICON block/tx browsing
- ICX transfer
- SCORE execution

Notes

- Available to create applications that connect to ICON in a Java-based environment
- Supports SCORE execution as well as ICX transfer
- Connects with ICON network by only using SDK, instead of implementing JSON-RPC specification directly

Python CLI: Python-based CLI tool that works with ICON network

Feature

- Wallet creation and management
- ICON block/tx browsing
- ICX transfer

Notes

- Supports CLI-based wallet creation and ICX transfer processing
- Supports CLI-based wallet balance browsing
- Available to add various CLI-based utility functions

Python SDK V2: Python-based SDK that works with ICON network

Feature

- ICON block/tx browsing
- ICX transfer

Notes

- Available to create applications that connect to ICON in a Python-based environment
- Connects with ICON network by only using SDK, instead of implementing JSON-RPC specification directly

Python SDK V3: Python-based SDK that works with ICON network

Feature

- ICON block/tx browsing
- ICX transfer
- SCORE execution

Notes

- Available to create applications that connect to ICON in a Python-based environment
- Supports SCORE execution as well as ICX transfer
- Connects with ICON network by only using SDK, instead of implementing JSON-RPC specification directly

[Service]

T-Bears: Python-based SCORE Development and Emulation Tool

Feature

- SCORE download and execution emulation
- ICX transfer emulation
- Step emulation
- SCORE deployment and execution linked with ICON network
- ICX transfer linked with ICON network
- Compatible network connection with ICON mainnet and private ICON

Notes

- SCORE development/debugging available without actual blockchain network deployment for DApp development
- SCORE deployment available on mainnet and various ICON compatible networks
- Lint and validator features will be added in the near future

[ICON Core]

ICON Service: Module supporting ICON main functions, linked with blockchain core

Feature

- Linked with loopchain
- SCORE download and execution
- ICX transfer processing
- Step processing

Notes

- ICON main functions (including Tx propagation/validation, blockchain consensus) available
- IISS(scoring system for incentives) and governance will be supported in the near future

loopchain: Blockchain engine that supports LFT-based consensus

Feature

- Supports LFT-based consensus algorithm
- Tx prevalidate, validate, voting, commit
- Linked with ICON Service

Notes

- BTP(Blockchain Transfer Protocol) will be supported in the near future

Citizen Node: Full node that does not participate in consensus but supports all functions

Feature

- loopchain + ICON Service w/o consensus

Notes

- Provides separate instructions for Citizen node configuration, deployment, and operation

[Others]