The cryptocurrency and Blockchain have had a mixed bag kinda of week, with the overall cryptocurrency market taking a nosedive. While Facebook’s Libra raising more concerns than thumbs up, Bitcoin did manage to hold its position.
Bitcoin (BTC) gained 2.9% week, closely followed by Monero with a 2.77% gain. Almost every other altcoin took a beating with Ethereum losing 6.14% on the week and rest observing double-digit price hits: Litecoin 12.43%, XRP 10%, Bitcoin Cash 13.55%, EOS 17.36%, Bitcoin SV 18.45%, Cardano 12.65%.
US SEC Approves Blockstack’s Token Offering – The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gives a thumbs up to the blockchain-based startup Blockstack, to run a $28 million public token offering under Regulation A+. Notably, previously other firms have had taken advantage of Regulation A+ funding, however, this particular instance will be the first time investors will receive a token, rather than shares in the company.
US SEC And FINRA Issue Statement On Crypto Custody Issues – The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) outlines the regulatory compliance issues for cryptocurrency custodians in an announcement on July 8. As per the joint statement, the organizations haven’t yet to discover a set of circumstances where the crypto custodian could comply with the SEC’s Customer Protection Rule.
New draft On GST For Crypto – The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) publishes a draft guide that details the conduct of goods and services tax (GST) towards cryptocurrency transactions, owing to the increase in the use of cryptocurrencies as a mode of payment.
The draft refers to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dash, Monero, Ripple(XRP) and Zcash as digital payment tokens. As per the draft, cryptocurrency users can spend their digital currencies like cash as they are no more liable to GST.
Bitcoin Hash Rate Hits A New All-Time-High – The uproaring B itcoin (BTC) hash rate reached a new all-time high on July 7, as per the data from monitoring resource Blockchain.com. Notably, the previous record was broken in the second half of June, when it reached 65.19 TH/s and has since been steadily increasing.
Simply putting, Hash rate is the number of calculations performed by a given hardware or network every second. An important parameter for miners as higher hash rate, higher the chances of solving the mathematical problem that seals off the block and collecting their reward. The high hashrate also increases the number of resources needed for performing a 51% attack that makes the network safer.
BTC Peer-To-Peer Trade Rises – Even with Zimbabwean government baning use of foreign currencies on June 24, Bitcoin (BTC)trading continues to surge. Reportedly, Zimbabwe has been observing a rise in peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto trading. Notably, due the existing ban by Zimbabwe’s central bank excersiced in May 2018, local exchanges have been barred from offering cryptocurrency transactions.
tZERO Tokenizes Upcoming Movie – The cryptocurrency wing of American retail giant Overstock, TZERO plans to t okenize forthcoming motion picture “Atari: Fistful of Quarters.” As per the release, tZERO collaborates with the producers of an upcoming movie in order to develop a token dubbed “Bushnell,” they will be reportedly sold by the production and financing company Vision Tree. The owners of the said token will be privy to shares of the movie earnings.
Binance Destroys Its Team’s BNB Tokens Worth $26 Million – The world’s top exchanb ge by trading volume, Binance completes the eight quarterly “burn” of its native Binance coin (BNB) tokens. The burn is an industry term that indicates destroying tokens. This particular burn comes in accordance with BNB’s white paper and included 808,888 BNB previously allocated to the Binance team.
Miami Dolphins Endorses Litecoin – Miami Dolphins, a American professional football team announcing Litecoin (LTC) as the team’s official cryptocurrency. Litecoin and the Miami Dolphins also partnered with Aliant Payments, a crypto merchant services and payment processing firm, so as to allow crypto payments for the team’s upcoming 50/50 raffle, that will reportedly donate half of its revenue to charity.
Facebook’s Libra A Big Mistake – Mark Cuban, a billionaire entrepreneur and the owner of Dallas Mavericks basketball team calls Libra, Facebook’s recently announced stablecoin a big mistake. During an interview with CNBC, Cuban shared his opinion about the social media giant’s cryptocurrency endeavors stating, “I’m not a big fan of what they’re doing there. […] I think it’s a big mistake.”
Trump Against Libra and Bitcoin – Donald Trump and his tweets are quite infamous, this time around the United States President went on against cryptocurrencies, particularly badmouthing Bitcoin and Libra, in a series of tweets published around 8:15 p.m. EST on July 11. While what prompted Trump to speak out about the issue is unkown, it did come on the night of Trump’s “Social Media Summit.” It is a closed-door conference with participant from right-wing social media notables.
Comparing Bitcoin to Gold – Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve Chairman presents his testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on Facebook’s planned Libra cryptocurrency hoping for an era where multiple currencies are being used in the United States, returns.
Facebook’s David Marcus Promises Libra’s Cooperation – The head of Calibra at Facebook, David Marcus has assured the members of the House Financial Services Committee that Libra is committed to cooperate with the regulators. In preparation for the upcoming Libra hearings on July 17, Marcus addresses a letter to Chairwoman Maxine Waters and members of the House Financial Services Committee. Marcus wrote, “I want to give you my personal assurance that we are committed to taking the time to do this right.”
Korean Watchdog Raises Concerns Over Facebook’s Libra – South Korean financial regulator joins the ever-increasing list of regulator’s showing concern over Facebook’s recently unveiled Libra cryptocurrency project. As per the report, the nation’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) is pondering what might occur “If 2.4 billion Facebook users worldwide transfer one-tenth of their bank deposits to Libra.”
If and when such a scenario comes about, banks’ solvency would diminish along with their loan reserves, posing a threat to emerging markets from the relocation of the capital out of those countries.
China To Push Its National Digital Currency – China’s central bank could hasten the development of its own digital cash, according to a People’s Bank of China (PBoC) official. Wang Xin, the head of the research bureau at the PBoC spoke at an event at Peking University’s Institute of Digital Finance earlier on Monday asserting that Libra could be widely used for international payments, effectively acting like money, “would it … accordingly have a large influence on monetary policy, financial stability, and the international monetary system?”
Blockchain Supply Chain Market To Reach Over $9B By 2025 – As per the latest study published by market research and consulting firm Allied Market Research (AMR) on July 8, the global blockchain supply chain market expects to cross $9 billion by 2025. AMR estimates that by the year 2025, the global blockchain supply chain market will amount to $9.85 billion, surging an 80.2% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2018 to 2025.
Blockchain Platform For Government Contract Bids – The state of Bahia, Brazil launches a blockchain application so as to track the process of public bidding on government contracts. Dubbed as Online Bid Solution (SOL), this blockchain-based solution is Cayenne Technology and Design. Reportedly, the bids will be completely transparent and secure, all thanks to blockchain tech. As per Bahia government, SOL primary beneficiaries are purportedly the Brazilian agriculture industry.
A Coffee-Backed Token – Jose Marcos Magalhaes, the president of Minasul announces that the Brazilian coffee farming cooperative is planning to issue a coffee-backed token. As per the report, Magalhaes declared at the Global Coffee Forum in Campinas about the token launch this month. The token will enable farmers to buy fertilizer, machinery and other non-farm products such as cars and food via a digital marketplace. Farmers could aquire the said token in exchange for current and future coffee beans production.
Turkey’s New Economic Roadmap Includes Central Bank Digital Currency – The government of Turkey published its 2019–2023 economic roadmap on July 9 and notably it includes a plan to central bank-issued digital currency. As per the 11th Development Plan from the Presidency of the Turkish Republic, “Blockchain-based digital central bank money will be implemented.”
The development plan further includes a list of blockchain adoption in the operations of transportation and customs, noting that public services and administration could improve through the emerging technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence and blockchain.
ABBC Foundation Launches Buyaladdin – ABBC Foundation announces it latest venture Buyaladdin, a digital shopping platform based in the heart of Manhattan, as per a press release shared by the platform. Aimed at becoming the biggest cryptocurrency shopping mall, Buyaladdin will set its base at the Rockefeller Center in Midtown, Manhattan, New York City from July 16, 2019. The ABBC Foundation’s newest platform will fully integrate cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to the e-commerce industry.
Nornickel To Launch Digital Trading Platform – Nornickel, a Russian mining and smelting giant plans to launch a digital platform for metals trading by the end of 2019. Andrey Bugrov, the vice-president of Nornickel told TASS that “the preparation process was quite lengthy, but nevertheless, we plan to bring this product [digitization of metal trading] to the market by the end of 2019 and begin trading our tokens.”
Blockchain-Based Tokenized Debt Marketplace – Cadence, an American blockchain-based alternative investment provider launches an investment platform for debt. Cadence turns commercial debt into digital tokens that can be traded on its plaform. With the launch of its private credit investment platform, Cadence key focus is to bring mtore transparency and efficiency to the asset class that will aid companies in their growth.
A type of alternative investment, Private credit, or private debt, has been accepted as a separate asset class very recently. Such investments are not backed by banks and aren’t issued or traded in an open market. They are often used to fund business growth and provide working capital.
A New Analysis Product – Crypto Briefing, a Digital currency review platform partners with CoinMarketCap’s Data Accountability and Transparency Alliance (DATA) so as to launch a Simetri, new crypto research, and analysis product. Simetri is an institutional-grade product that has been designed to ensure transparency and verifiable order book data from cryptocurrency exchanges, along with providing in-depth fundamental analysis and unbiased insights into crypto projects. The product will be embedded in cryptocurrency profiles on CoinMarketCap’s site.
Upset Protestors Burns Perpetrator’s Home – Paramedic-turned-bitcoin entrepreneur Sphelele “Sgumza” Mbatha’s home was set on fire by protestors, who were upset due to the collapse of his Ponzi-like “investment scheme.” Bitcoin Wallet, the company of Mbatha promised 100-percent returns to its investors by investing South African rand in cryptocurrencies. The firm shut down its operation on July 4, Mbatha believed to have been taking in more than R2 million, approximately $140,000, in cash deposits per day.
Veil Shuts Down– Just after few months of operation, Veil, a crypto-focused prediction market and derivatives platform is shutting down its shop. Launched in January, the Veil was a web interface that enabled users to place bets on Augur prediction markets, offering an instant settlement API to pay out on clear outcomes.
BitMarket Closes Shop – BitMarket, a Polish-based cryptocurrency exchange announces that it is shutting down its business. CoinMarketCap, a leading cryptocurrency analytics website shows a relatively low trading platform volume, just $850,080 in the past 24 hours. Though it is unclear how the trading continues as the exchange is seemingly closed, notably users may still be able to trade on the platform using API keys.
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