A new paradigm

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Sponsored by   October 16, 2018 FAILURE TO LAUNCH: The ethereum blockchain's much-anticipated upgrade Constantinople may be pushed into 2019, developers say. The news follows a failed test of the code upgrade on the blockchain's testnet that resulted in a split of the test network. Though the upgrade was not successful, developers took solace in the fact that this was just a test, thus reaffirming the point of tests. Independent ethereum developer Lane Rettig told CoinDesk: “We broke Ropsten, but it's a testnet, and it will be fixed, and this is precisely the point of releasing to a testnet first. It's really fun, exciting, and reassuring to see this process play out as designed." Full Story ALIVE AGAIN: Early Tuesday morning, crypto exchange Bitfinex revealed a "new, improved and increasingly resilient" deposit system, for verified users. Under the new process, accounts will be subject to a 48 hour account verification period. The actual deposit process will take another six to 10 days. This comes after repeated complaints on Monday by users who were unable to either withdraw or deposit fiat currency in the exchange. However, Bitfinex representatives have denied any such problems. Full Story A NEW ORDER: The Paradigm Foundation, having raised $1 million, is set to build a decentralized order book uniting decentralized exchanges together. Paradigm aims to solve the speed problem that exchanges face currently. Utilizing 0x to build out their platform, Paradigm CEO Liam Kovatch says that, "It is completely independent of ethereum." This new protocol has garnered the attention of Polychain Capital and Dragonfly Capital Partners. Full Story Tether (USDT) saw some wild times over the past couple of days. The decoupling of its peg to the dollar caused a massive flight to other cryptocurrencies. A particularly interesting data point had to do with the risk premium for Tether compared to the dollar. Those selling bitcoins demanded about 4.46 percent more Tethers than dollars. The market was judging Tether to be riskier than the dollar and thus demanded more reward. The risk premium was calculated using the weighted average across various exchanges sourced by untether.space. For more research insights check out the CoinDesk Research section here. You can also follow CoinDesk's research analyst Peter Ryan on Twitter for the latest insights. SPONSOR SECTION   The $500 Retirement Blueprint The Wall Street Journal reports that this innovation "blows open the doors to investing..." Forbes says that "this changes everything..." And if you click here now, we'll share the details behind this investing breakthrough »   REVERSAL OF FORTUNE? Yesterday's surge in the value of bitcoin has prevented the legacy cryptocurrency from crossing the 21-day exponential moving average (EMA) into bear territory. Though analysts cannot guarantee a bull market, they predict that as long as bitcoin trades above the EMA, which was $6,160 as of this morning, it could be anyone's game. Full Story BEST OF THE BEST BUSINESS INSIDER: Business Insider reports that Europe is leading the world in total funding for token sales, with $4.1 billion in tokens sales this year. The figures were far above the $2.6 billion in the US and $2.3 billion raised in Asia. Of the reasons outlined, the report focuses on the fact that the region hosts more developers and has lax regulations regarding cryptocurrencies. THE REST  INDIAN EXPRESS: After a year long investigation into a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme in India, the case has hit a dead end. The Indian Express reports that the investors are unwilling to come forward due the the lack of proper regulations on cryptocurrency in the country, and do not wish to be subjected to federal scrutiny. WIRED: At the Wired25 summit, Neha Narula, director of the Media Lab's Digital Currency Initiative, cautioned against assuming that cryptocurrency will evolve in the same the internet did. In the report by WIRED, Narula explained that the world was not as aware when the internet was developing but now everybody wants to see value in cryptocurrency and blockchain.   We've launched our first-ever podcast, "Late Confirmation," a digest of top stories in the blockchain world, delivered daily from the team at CoinDesk. Listen to Latest Episode and Subscribe   WHO WON #CRYPTOTWITTER   ConsenSys Jobs Blockchain Jobs Circle Jobs BitGo Jobs Copyright © 2018 CoinDesk. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 250 Park Avenue South New York, NY, 10003, US Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

Why you should come to Consensus: Invest

Consensus is the 2019 Outlook Event

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Consensus is the 2019 Outlook Event We're 42 days away from Consensus: Invest, our event dedicated to institutional investors that need to learn more about the crypto asset space. We have attendees joining us from a variety of asset managers, advisory firms and investment banks.  If you do want to come... Register Now But maybe you're asking yourself, "why should I come?" Depending on where you work, the answer might be different: I Work at a Financial Advisory: You likely have clients who have already started asking you for your opinion on the crypto asset class. And if they haven't started, they will. What assets are available for them to buy? Where do they store the asset? How does crypto fit into their portfolio? If you can answer these questions, that's a great first start. But as the asset class continues to evolve, it'll be important to know the fine details.  I Work at a Hedge Fund: Not a week goes by without a story talking about another hedge fund that has failed to beat its benchmark after fees.  The problem? There isn't enough alpha in the market. The solution? Hedge fund traders and portfolio managers have actively wondered if the volatile nature of crypto can provide the much-needed returns.  At Consensus: Invest, hedge funds can learn about what leading analysts are thinking about the asset class heading into 2019.  I Work at a Family Office: You're responsible for handling generational wealth. And the last thing you want to do is make a bad investment. Yet, many family offices have passively invested in the crypto asset space by trusting experts to lead the charge.  Come to Consensus: Invest to meet with leading crypto hedge fund managers so you can gain exposure to the asset class without having to know how to buy and hold.  I Work at a Law Firm: Are these commodities? Securities? Property? The regulatory landscape is incredibly murky, likely creating uncertainty for many of your clients.  We have invited leading regulators to discuss the asset class. And at Consensus: Invest, you'll gain insight into where there are risks and opportunities for your clients.  These are just a few reasons why you should attend irrespective of where you work. So act fast and join us at Consensus: Invest.  Register Now Last Call for Deal Room We've received plenty of interest in our Deal Room, where leading analysts will do a live teardown of the most interesting new token projects on the market.  Analysts will question, provoke, and probe token issuers in the Deal Room. Get the sharpest analysis in real-time from token issuers and the best analysts. At the same time, accredited investors will have an opportunity to be introduced to new projects before anyone else.  For token projects interested in participating, please fill out this application.  Hotel Room Block On a final note: there are still room nights available at the Marriott Marquis, but they are quickly selling out, and the block expires on November 5th.  Register for the event and then get your hotel, so you can focus all your efforts on talking with these leaders in the space and identify new opportunities to invest in.  Register Now OUR SPONSORS This email was sent by: CoinDesk 250 Park Avenue South New York, NY, 10003, US Want to change how you receive these emails? update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

#95: Fidelity, Tether, and the crypto scene’s bipolar nature

Two sides of the same coin

Chain Letter Blockchains, cryptocurrencies, and why they matter 10.16: Two sides of the same coin Welcome to Chain Letter! Great to have you. Here’s what’s new in the world of blockchains and cryptocurrencies.  The scene’s bipolar nature was highlighted again this week. On one end there is growing optimism that billions of dollars held in investment firms like hedge funds, family offices, and sovereign wealth funds—so called institutional investors—are about to enter the market. The idea is that this would create massive growth and help inspire mainstream adoption of crypto-assets. On the other end is the suspicion that digital coin prices are being propped up, and fear that if and when this comes to light there will be a massive crash. Fidelity’s big splash: First, score one for the bright side of the coin. Yesterday, Fidelity Investments, one of the largest asset management firms in the world, announced that it’s launching a new standalone company that will offer storage and brokerage services for crypto funds to institutional investors. It’s perhaps the biggest endorsement of crypto-asset technology by an established financial firm since the owner of the New York Stock Exchange announced in August that it plans to launch its own digital asset exchange.   It’s widely believed that what’s keeping interested firms on the sidelines of the cryptocurrency market has been the lack of “custody” services for storing their clients’ assets and providing extra protection against theft or misappropriation. In fact, the US Securities and Exchange Commission requires that these big investors use “qualified custodians” that meet certain regulatory standards. Maintaining secure custody of crypto-assets is a technical challenge, though, because it entails safeguarding private cryptographic keys. A widely trusted financial firm like Fidelity offering a custody service could entice a lot more mainstream investment. Tether, untethered: But don’t forget about the dark side. For the past several days, Tether, the popular “stablecoin” that is supposed to always be worth a dollar, seems to have lost its peg. On Monday, the price of a Tether coin fell to under 93 cents, an 18-month low. The price has recovered to around 98 cents as of the writing of this email, but the episode has nonetheless led to speculation that investors may be giving up on the coin. Why would they do that? The main reason would probably be that although the company claims that every Tether coin is backed by a real dollar in a bank account, it hasn’t provided verifiable proof. Then there are the subpoenas that US financial regulators sent last December to Tether and its sister company, the popular exchange Bitfinex. Finally, there’s the academic research suggesting that certain big traders may have used Tether to prop up the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and the criminal investigation the US Justice Department has opened into whether something like that is actually happening. The bottom line: Like so many things in crypto, both developments boil down to matters of trust. On one hand, we have a boost in optimism for the future of the cryptocurrency industry thanks the entrance of a company that many institutional investors trust. On the other, trust in the second-most traded cryptocurrency may be running out, and that’s contributing to a growing concern that the market may not be all it is cracked up to be.   Ignorance and implicit bias can skew AI’s usefulness. Will you step in? Learn from leading experts on how to harness AI the right way. Loose Change Fill your pockets with these newsy tidbits. • In case you haven’t heard, NYU economics professor Nouriel Roubini is not a fan of cryptocurrencies, and says Bitcoin is the “mother of all bubbles.” (The Guardian) • Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has disavowed rumors that the exchange plans to delist Tether. (CoinDesk) • Gemini, the Winklevosses’ exchange, has added support for Litecoin. (Finance Magnates) • Gary Cohn, former economic advisor for President Trump and president of Goldman Sachs, has joined a blockchain startup as an advisor. (Bloomberg) • Bitbox, the cryptocurrency exchange run by Japanese messaging app LINE, has made its own crypto-token, LINK, available for trading against Bitcoin, Ether, and Tether. (CoinDesk) The Money Quote “You want some form of regulation. You want traffic lights and speed limits because then the public is confident to drive on the roads—in this case the crypto roads.” —Gary Gensler, former chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission under President Obama and current senior advisor to the director of the MIT Media Lab. Gensler recently spoke with Bloomberg about why he thinks cryptocurrency needs more regulations if mainstream adoption is the goal. We hope you enjoyed today's tour of what's new in the world of blockchains and cryptocurrencies. Send us some feedback, or follow me @mike_orcutt. Know someone who might enjoy reading Chain Letter? Was this forwarded to you, and you'd like to see more? Artificial intelligence is here. Own what happens next. Attend EmTech Digital 2019 March 25-26, 2019, St. Regis Hotel San Francisco, CA View this in a browser You received this newsletter because you subscribed with the email address: contacto1745.send-mail@blogger.com edit preferences   |   unsubscribe   |   follow us      MIT Technology Review One Main Street Cambridge, MA 02142

Welcome Wall Street 🏦

October 16, 2018

ARCHIVE

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"It would be impossible for every Fidelity brokerage customer to own even one Bitcoin. This is why Bitcoins are worth thousands of dollars, while a dollar is only worth one dollar (and only until next year when it's worth 97 cents). Save wisely."
- Erik Voorhees

Never miss a beat!

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MARKET

COIN	PRICE	24H
BTC	$6,613.89	-0.67%
ETH	$210.32	0.00%
XRP	$0.455859	+2.17%
BCH	$459.33	-0.02%
EOS	$5.43	-0.72%

*Information as of 10:00 AM EST

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INSTITUTION

Fidelity Announces Plans for Crypto Trading and Custody Platform

Here is the rundown on Fidelity

Fidelity Investments is a financial services company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The company was founded in 1942 and now employs 45,000 in offices across the globe.

As the fourth largest asset manager with $2.4 trillion in assets under management (as of end of 2017), the company operates a brokerage firm, manages mutual funds, and also provides advice on investments, wealth management, and retirement.

The company has had a little bit of a history with cryptocurrencies. In 2013, it launched a blockchain incubator and rumors once circulated that Fidelity would eventually implement cryptocurrency trading when it enabled its users to view their Coinbase balances on its platform.

Spinning off a cryptocurrency subsidiary

On Monday, Fidelity made a major announcement that pleased cryptocurrency investors. It announced that it is forming a subsidiary called Fidelity Digital Asset Services. This subsidiary will provide crypto related services to institutional investors.

Fidelity Digital Assets will perform three services for institutions: a trading execution platform, enterprise-grade custody solutions, and institutional advising solutions.

The company will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Since the cryptocurrency markets never close, Fidelity Digital Assets will never close.

Tom Jessop, who is heading the new subsidiary, said during the announcement:

"In our conversations with institutions, they tell us that in order to engage with digital assets in a meaningful way, they need a trusted platform provider to enter this space. These institutions require a sophisticated level of service and security, equal to the experience they're used to when trading stocks or bonds."

Coming very soon

Fidelity Digital Assets is already on-boarding companies and will begin normal operation early next year. The subsidiary will consist of 100 employees at launch, making it perhaps the largest launch of a cryptocurrency asset manager.

At inception Fidelity Digital Assets will offer Bitcoin, Ethereum, and "other digital assets".

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EXCHANGE

Two of the World's Largest Crypto Exchanges Expand Past Tether

Tether turmoil

Yesterday wasn't a pretty day for Tether (USDT). The stablecoin dropped from its 1:1 US Dollar peg to lower than $0.95 and has yet to recover fully.

Now, while panicking USDT investors are offloading the stablecoin in mass and causing a "run on the bank", crypto exchanges are taking the opportunity to expand their stablecoin offerings.

Third and fourth place change gameplans

Yesterday, the world's third largest crypto exchange OKEx announced it will be listing four new stablecoins and today Huobi, the world's fourth largest crypto exchange, is following suit.

Both exchanges will list the same four stablecoins, including two that are regulator-approved:

1. True USD (TUSD)
2. USD//Coin (USDC)
3. Paxos Standard Token (PAX)*
4. Gemini Dollar (GUSD)*

* Regulator-Approved

The four new stablecoins are meant to give customers a new suite of stablecoin options rather than a permanent replacement for USDT since neither exchange has made the decision to restrict trading, deposits, or withdrawals of USDT.

The competition is catching up

USDT's first-mover advantage has suited the stablecoin well. However, as exchanges begin to expand past USDT with new offerings, the stablecoin king will need to recover its reputation if it wants to remain on top.

As a start, Tether's representatives attempted to ease investor worries by issuing a statement last night that claims "all USDT in circulation are sufficiently backed by U.S. dollars."

But this statement alone won't keep regulator-approved stablecoins like PAX and GUSD from creeping into USDT's market share.

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INTERNATIONAL

Coinbase Packs the Bags for Ireland

Hedging for Brexit

Announced yesterday, San Francisco-based Coinbase has opened a new office in Dublin, Ireland.

The move is notable for two reasons:

1. It will help Coinbase expand European operations.
2. It will prepare Coinbase for the day the U.K. leaves the E.U.

Speaking on the second reason, Coinbase CEO Zeeshan Feroz told the Guardian:

"As we plan for all eventualities, it's important that we continue servicing our customers across Europe, and Ireland would be our preferred choice there if it comes to it."

Encouraging innovation

While Brexit would allow Ireland to operate with the E.U. should the U.K. leave, it also has a reputation for encouraging innovation.

In addition to low corporate taxes, IDA Ireland, a government agency responsible for attracting foreign investment, recently began an initiative to bring blockchain innovation to the country.

Fight or flight

It's clear crypto companies are moving to countries that welcome the new technology. Malta and Singapore have been notorious for attracting new blockchain-based businesses including Binance, the world's largest exchange.

And thus the decision is clear: welcome blockchain innovation with progressive regulations or risk losing top talent to other countries.

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STARTUP

Crypto Startup Bringing Cryptography to Central Banks Raises $15 Million

Funding secured

Adhara, a blockchain startup based in South Africa, has recently raised $15 million in funding. The company was founded by former banking innovators and hopes to bring crypto to that same sector.

ConsenSys was the investor behind the $15 million. If you are not familiar with ConsenSys, it is a sort of incubator that consists of software companies building infrastructure, applications, and practices for the Ethereum network. It is also the largest blockchain software company in the world with roughly 900 employees. The organization is operated by Joseph Lubin, one of the co-founders of Ethereum.

To learn more, read our exclusive interview with Joseph Lubin.

Teaming up with banks

Adhara aims at bringing cryptography and blockchain to banks, especially central banks for the use case of international payments. The company is developing zero knowledge proofs and other cryptographic technology to privacy to fund transfers. Adhara will be enabling private payments all while keeping the industrial grade payments mechanism required by banks.

While most in crypto are looking to get away from banks, Adhara is taking a different approach. The company thinks that targeting banks can make the biggest impact. There is a challenge to bring blockchain to the real world and Adhara is trying to move the technology forward.

Julio Faura, one of Adhara's co-founders described the company's love for crypto:

"If you are religious – like we are – about tokenization, you can see it unlocking possibilities to mix this with other assets; trading with a digital representation of value means you can focus on other aspects of the financial industry."

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BITS

But wait, there's more...

• Paxos claims it has so far issued a total of $50 million-worth of its Paxos Standard crypto stablecoin since its official launch last month.
• Encrypted messenger service Telegram will release a test version of its blockchain-based TON platform "this autumn."
• Former chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Gary Gensler said that most tokens sold through Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) should be classified as securities.

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COIN OF THE DAY

Vertcoin (VTC)

Vertcoin is a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin and Litecoin with an added focus on keeping the ecosystem as decentralized as possible. Vertcoin is a zero frills development coin that solves real cryptocurrecy problems rather than fluff that crowds the space.

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