Musk Compliment / ETF Clock / JPMorgan / $300,000 Reward

Subscribe | View in browser $BTC (1:35 p.m. EST): $3,983.86 (-0.26%) // 90-day high: $6,286.41 // 90-day low: $3,286.14 / / More… $BCH ABC (1:35 p.m. EST): $146.38 (0.21%) // 90-day high: $432.88// 90-day low: $80.95 // More… $ETH (1:35 p.m. EST): $146.95 (-0.31%) // 90-day high: $201.35 // 90-day low: $86.08 // More… $LTC (1:36 p.m. EST): $50.88 (5.12%) // 90-day high: $49.19 // 90-day low: $22.09 // More… $XRP (1:36 p.m. EST): $0.32 (-1.96%) // 90-day high: $0.52 // 90-day low: $0.28 // More… Here are the 10 most important stories about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies today       1. Tesla founder Elon Musk called bitcoin "quite brilliant" in an interview with Cathie Wood of the ARK Invest podcast, but added that it is not something Tesla would become involved with at this time. Musk, also one of the founders of PayPal, said digital currencies could offer a more efficient solution to shift value. "Paper money is going away," he said. Musk has a slightly odd history with cryptocurrency. His Twitter account has routinely been mimicked by scammers in an attempt to solicit cryptocurrency from unwitting users. There has also been speculation in the past that Musk is Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of bitcoin, a claim Musk has denied. –MARKET WATCH       2. Two bitcoin ETF proposals are expected to be published in the Federal Register today, starting the initial 45-day clock for the US Securities and Exchange Commission to either approve or reject. One of the proposals is a resubmittal of the VanEck/SolidX ETF, which the companies pulled last month admit the lingering government shutdown. The second proposal comes from Bitwise Investment Management and NYSE Arca. If published today, the SEC would be required to make a decision no later than April 5, although the agency could file for an extension. –CRYPTOGLOBE       Ad Intelligence is creating stronger connections. Today's world generates 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day. Sifting through that much available information is hard. Micron is helping analyze that data to create stronger connections between AI, organizations, and most importantly, people.​​ Learn More. 3. JPMorgan's decision to create its own cryptocurrency has garnered lots of attention, in part, because of the timing of the news. In an in-depth look at JPMorgan's new coin, Arieh Levi, an analyst at CB Insights, argued that if JPMorgan made this announcement during the crypto craze of 2017, it might have fallen on deaf ears. By moving during a down market, JPMorgan has shown a stronger commitment to the product. There is also belief that other large banks will soon follow suit. There is speculation that Citi may revive its Citi Coin and Wells Fargo will release a product similar to JPMorgan's as a response. –CNN       4. Ethereum mining pool Sparkpool received more than $300,000 for mining a single block on Tuesday, a total about 600 times the network's standard reward. Miners who secure blocks typically receive about 3 ETH but Sparkpool receive a payout of more than 2,000 ETH. The reason for the large amount is unknown. It could be a random fluke where users accidentally attached abnormally high transaction fees to their payments, or it could be seen as a sign of goodwill from an anonymous support of the ethereum mining community. –COINDESK       Ad Build Proficiency with IoT while Exploring Azure IoT Tools and Technologies Developing applications for the Internet of Things is a balancing act. From avoiding business interruptions to factoring in security, there's a lot to consider. Find the resources you need to work through technical challenges in one, convenient place.   5. Multicoin Capital explains why it believes Binance is currently the leading virtual currency exchange in the market in a new analysis. –BITCOIN EXCHANGE GUIDE 6. Only two people so far have paid their Ohio taxes with cryptocurrency, an option the state government first made available this year. –CLEVELAND.COM 7. The total amount of money placed on short bets against bitcoin has reached a 6-month low. –COINDESK 8. Google has added the bitcoin "B" symbol to its iOS keyboard, although has yet to add it for Android. –DECRYPT MEDIA 9. BitGo will offer customers insurance on up to $100 million in bitcoin through a partnership with Lloyd's of London. –BLOOMBERG 10. The Chamber of Digital Commerce, a blockchain advocacy group, released recommendations to the federal government on Wednesday that called for, among other things, a national strategy to implement blockchain technology. –BTC WIRES       Written and curated by David Stegon. He has been a reporter for 15 years, the past 10 focused on technology. Follow him @davidstegon. Editing team: Lon Harris (editor-in-chief at Inside.com, game-master at Screen Junkies) and Susmita Baral (editor at Inside, recent bylines in NatGeo, Teen Vogue, and Quartz. Runs the biggest mac and cheese account on Instagram).       Ad Owl Labs is the creator of the Meeting Owl, the first 360-degree smart conference camera. Learn more.

We're Hiring! Learn more. | Sponsorship opportunities Copyright © 2019 Inside.com, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Inside.com 767 Bryant St. #203 San Francisco, CA 94107 Did someone forward this email to you? Head over to inside.com to get your very own free subscription! You received this email because you subscribed to Inside Bitcoin. Click here to unsubscribe from Inside Bitcoin list or manage your subscriptions.

Musk talks crypto

To view this email as a web page, go here.

February 20, 2019 ‘BRILLIANT’ BITCOIN: Elon Musk, founder and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has gone public with his belief that cryptocurrency offers an improved alternative to conventional money.   In a podcast interview with investment firm ARK Invest on Feb. 19, Musk said he believes bitcoin's structure "is quite brilliant," adding: "It [cryptocurrency] bypasses currency controls. … Paper money is going away. And crypto is a far better way to transfer value than a piece of paper, that's for sure."   Speaking on the downsides of cryptocurrency, in the case of bitcoin for instance, Musk said he believes its use of a large computing network to secure its ledger is "computationally energy intensive."  So, for a firm that aims to boost the adoption of sustainable energy, it may not be “a good use of Tesla’s resources to get involved in crypto,” he added. Full story AREN'T YOU GLAD? The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission settled unregistered securities charges against Gladius Network, which raised $12.7 million through an ICO in 2017. No penalty was assessed, since Gladius reported itself to the SEC in 2018, agreed to refund investors who ask for their money back, and will register the tokens as securities, the regulator said.  "Today’s case shows the benefit of self-reporting and taking proactive steps to remediate unregistered offerings," an SEC official said. Full story TWIN ETFs: Speaking of the SEC, there are now two bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) proposals awaiting approval before the commission. The latest, from VanEck/SolidX and filed with Cboe BZX Exchange, appeared in the latest edition of the Federal Register this morning. The second, from Bitwise Asset Management and NYSE Arca, appeared on Feb. 15. Both proposals must wait 45 days for an initial decision.  Gabor Gurbacs, director of digital asset strategy at VanEck, told CoinDesk he believes a bitcoin ETF will serve the public interest if approved. The company has been actively working with regulators, as well as other major market participants, “to bring simplicity, transparency and professional market standards to digital assets,” he said. Full story MYSTERY PAYOUT: Ethereum mining pool Sparkpool received an unusual payout of over 2,100 ether (worth around $300,000) just for mining one block on the ethereum blockchain Tuesday – a figure that’s about 600 times the network’s standard block reward. Miners who secure blocks are programmed to be awarded 3 ETH (about $500) for every new transaction block added to the ethereum blockchain. On top of this, there is also a small payout attached to transactions incentivizing miners to validate and include new transactions in a mined block. Yet, with only 210 validated transactions, Sparkpool received 2,103.1485 ETH at block number 7,238,290, according to data from ethereum block explorer Blockscout. Market observers said it could be a random fluke, with one ethereum user (or perhaps more) accidentally attaching abnormally high transaction fees to their payments. In an update Wednesday, Sparkpool said it is is temporarily freezing the 2,100 ETH and waiting for the sender to reach out for a solution. Full story DEX MILESTONE: Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, has rolled out public testing for a decentralized trading platform built on its own blockchain network. The company announced on Wednesday that the new platform – called Binance DEX – is open for users to create their own wallets and interact with the trading platform's interface. In addition, Binance revealed a blockchain explorer for the testnet of its proprietary public network called Binance Chain. This supports the DEX so that traders can participate as individual nodes and hold their own private keys to their crypto assets. While the launch of the testnet is a major step towards a final roll-out of the decentralized exchange, Binance said it now needs to gather feedback from the community before it can reveal a timeline for the final launch. “With Binance DEX, we provide a different balance of security, freedom, and ease-of-use, where you take more responsibility and are in more control of personal assets,” said Binance co-founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao. Full story CoinDesk’s Crypto-Economics Explorer aggregates data points across the industry to measure the size and opportunity of crypto markets. In addition to price and market cap, CoinDesk’s explorer provides users with a comprehensive way to view the crypto-economic forces that shape an asset’s market maturity, growth, and potential. Network interest is important in determining the activity occurring within a blockchain’s internal ecosystem. Today, we observed one metric within network interest: on-chain transaction counts among two prominent privacy oriented cryptocurrencies: ZEC and XMR. Over the past two years, ZEC has consistently had more transactions than XMR. This past summer presented a flipping of this trend resulting in XMR having more transactions than ZEC. XMR has a mean of about 4k and ZEC has one of 5k. ZEC has higher highs with a max of about 12k and lower lows with a min of 1.6k than XMR’s max of 8k and min of 2.2k. XMR has a standard deviation of 1,194 compared to ZEC’s 2,522. The start of 2019 saw XMR counts diminish while it briefly looked like ZEC might break ahead. XMR counts came back to keep the lead but there’s a possibility of seeing ZEC reassert itself as the higher transaction count privacy coin in the future. Until then, XMR holds the title. Check out the CoinDesk Crypto-Economic Explorer here to see this table and more. BUYERS ARE BACK: Bitcoin's 20 percent rise in the last two weeks is backed by a sharp rise in trading volumes to levels last seen in May 2018. As a result, the inverse head-and-shoulders breakdown witnessed on Monday and the subsequent rise to $4,000 Tuesday look to have substance, and BTC could soon extend gains toward December highs above $4,300. Full story BEST OF THE BEST   ETORO: Almost half of millennial online traders polled have more trust in crypto exchanges than the U.S. stock market, according to a survey from investment platform eToro. On the other hand, 77 percent of older “Generation X” respondents trust stock exchanges more, it found. The survey polled 1,000 online traders. “Younger investors' experience with the stock market has seen a great deal of loss of trust, with the fall of Lehman Brothers because of irresponsible practices followed by the worst recession since the Great Depression,” said Guy Hirsch, managing director at eToro U.S. “As more investors become educated on the benefits of blockchain, we'll continue to see this trend play out," he added. THE REST BLOOMBERG: Emaar Properties PJSC, Dubai’s biggest publicly traded real estate developer, has denied reports that it plans to accept payments in cryptocurrencies, according to Bloomberg.  “Emaar does not accept payment in digital currency. Emaar only accepts payment in government-issued currency, primarily in U.A.E. dirham and U.S. dollar,’’ a company spokesperson told the news source. Some media and blog reports cited an alleged Emaar circular to real estate brokers as saying that the developer will accept payment in digital currencies such as bitcoin and ether through a broker in Switzerland, the report added. COINBASE BLOG: Crypto exchange Coinbase is adding support for bitcoin cash (BCH) to its Wallet app, meaning users will soon be able to directly control their BCH private keys from the app. The Coinbase Wallet will be updated over the next few weeks to add BCH support to all users on iOS and Android, the exchange said. Support for the cryptocurrency will be on by default, and users will just have to tap the “receive” tab in the app and select “bitcoin cash” to receive BCH directly in the wallet. The app currently supports ethereum (ETH), ethereum classic (ETH) and "over 100,000" different ERC-20 tokens and ERC-721 collectibles built on ethereum, the exchange said. Bitcoin support was added earlier this month.  WHO WON #CRYPTOTWITTER Copyright © 2019 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

Take two 🎬

February 20, 2019

ARCHIVE

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Press forward. Do not stop, do not linger in your journey, but strive for the mark set before you."

- George Whitefield

What's up Unbankd! 👋

We officially launched on Product Hunt today and it would be awesome to get your support!

Come join us for conversation, feedback, or anything else that's on your mind. Visit here.

---

MARKET

COIN	PRICE	24H
BTC	$3,974.45	- 0.39%
ETH	$147.01	- 0.94%
XRP	$0.328854	- 2.53%
EOS	$3.80	+ 4.59%
LTC	$50.95	+ 4.65%

*Information as of 10:30 AM EST

---

ETF

The SEC is Now Reviewing Two Bitcoin ETF Proposals

According to the Federal Register, two Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) now sit before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In a nutshell, the firm...

1. VanEck/Solid X filed with Cboe
2. Bitwise Asset Management filed with NYSE Arca

This is the first time in 6 months that more than one proposal has awaited its fate from the SEC.

On the clock

For VanEck/Solid X, the ETF that has been delayed several times and even withdrawn this last month due to the government shutdown, the 45-day countdown starts today.

That means we're looking at a deadline decision date of Friday, April 5th.

Let's talk approvals

While the SEC has been reluctant to move forward with a Bitcoin ETF in the past, some believe the ecosystem has evolved to meet the regulator's standards.

Bitwise head of global research Matt Hougan told CoinDesk:

"A little more than year ago, we didn't have futures. A year ago we didn't have nearly as many firms making markets. A few months ago, you didn't have folks like Fidelity announced in the space. It's evolving really, really quickly."

Hougan also added that a number of firms now offer regulated crypto custody - an important factor for funds holding large amounts of digital assets.

Now, the ball is in the SEC's court again. An ETF would further evolve the space and bring Bitcoin under the SECs watchful eye, but a denial wouldn't mean anything different for the asset that thrived without Wall Street for so long.

---

TRADING

Bitcoin Shorts Hit 6-Month Low While Volume Hits 9-Month High

Is the bear turning bull? Some investors are calling for a turnaround after short holdings on the Bitfinex exchange platform fell below 18,888 Bitcoin - a level not seen since August.

The low came just a day after Bitcoin climbed 8%, which likely caused investors to eat their shorts and take holdings off the table.

That's only one part of the formula.

Volumes are surging

Conveniently, at the same time, Bitcoin volumes are surging.

Yesterday, Bitcoin trading volumes netted a total value of $9.93 billion - the highest level seen since May 2018.

Tack on the 20% appreciation the asset has seen in the past few days and investors are feeling pretty confident in short term gains.

---

BITCOIN

Elon Musk Stands Behind Bitcoin Saying it is "Quite Brilliant" But Too Energy Intensive

In a podcast released by advisory firm ARKInvest, famous entrepreneur Elon Musk shared his thoughts about Bitcoin.

Musk explained:

"The Bitcoin structure was quite brilliant" and cryptocurrency certainly "bypasses currency controls [...] paper money is going away, and crypto is a far better way to transfer value than pieces of paper, that's for sure."

But Tesla doesn't fit

Though his words positive words had waves of affirmation for the industry, he also mentioned that Bitcoin is too energy intensive at the moment.

For that reason, Tesla, his electric car company focused on sustainability, is staying out.

Musk stressed:

"It would not be a good use of Tesla resources to get involved in crypto. We're just really trying to accelerate the advance of sustainable energy."

---

BITS

But wait, there's more...

• 🚀 Binance launched the testnet of its upcoming decentralized exchange.
• 💰 A crypto surveillance startup led by ex-Goldman Sachs employees just raised $3 million to cut down on crypto manipulation.
• ⛏ One mining pool accidentally received 600 times the normal block reward for mining Ethereum and netted $300,000.

---

MEME

---

SHARE UNBANKD

If you ❤️ Unbankd, share us with your friends to help them get crypto smart too!

So far you have 0 referrals but we still have more rewards for you.

INVITE FRIENDS

Or copy & paste your unique link to share:
https://unbankd.co/?ref=192f87b56d

---

SUBSCRIBE	FEEDBACK	ADVERTISE

303 5th Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414

The above is not intended to be investment advice.

Copyright © 2018 Unbankd, All rights reserved.

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