Weekly Crypto #10
Stay ahead of the game with weekly industry updates, aimed to capture all important crypto and blockchain news of the week.
Crypto and blockchain industry working hard to develop the next generation internet, despite crypto prices in the bear market, or one could argue, even because of it. Finance world is getting more innovative, as custodial solutions enter the crypto industry and major banks plan to launch blockchain based commodities platform. Bitcoin is 300 times cheaper than wire transfers, says analysis. WEF proposes blockchain solution for global issues and Cloudflare goes InterPlanetary. There’s a new hardware wallet for iOS, decentralized world map launched and Ljubljana is one of most crypto-friendly destinations.
Regulations & Finance
Custodial Solutions Are Latest Innovation In Cryptocurrency Ecosystem As Seen By Coinbase And Others: The introduction of custodial solutions is expected to herald the entry of institutional capital into the crypto industry. Sam McIngvale, who’s leading the Coinbase Custody project, believes that crypto assets will flow into custody services once they become readily available. Multinational investment bank Citigroup launched a product called “Digital Asset Receipt” and will also offer crypto custody solutions to institutional investors. Others are joining in too, as BitGo, the market leader in institutional-grade cryptocurrency security, has also been approved, along with Lobstr, the leading wallet in the Stellar ecosystem, announcing support for custodial and wallet storage assets on the DigitalBits public blockchain.
Major Banks, Industry Players to Launch Blockchain-Based Commodities Platform: A group of major global banks, trading firms, and a leading energy company have launched a joint venture that will oversee a new blockchain-based platform for financing the trading of commodities, Reuters reports. The venture will digitalize trade and commodities finance processes through a blockchain-based open platform, and has been developed in partnership with the Ethereum-focused blockchain infrastructure and solutions group ConsenSys.
Bitcoin is 300 Times Cheaper Than Wire Transfers, Banks Take 83% Profit: According to Bank of America’s official data, the bank charges $30 for outbound domestic wire transfer and $35 for outbound international wire sent in foreign currency; while Fedwire charges $0.25 per transaction. Hence, banks, including Bank of America, are profiting $29.75 per transaction, which adds up to a 83 percent profit margin per transaction. With cryptocurrencies, the value of the transaction does not change or affect the fee of the transaction. In the analysis in the article, it is evident that cryptocurrency payments, even in an early development phase of blockchain technology, is substantially cheaper than banks.
SEC Moves to Make Decision on VanEck-SolidX Bitcoin ETF Proposal: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Thursday that it has begun proceedings to decide whether to approve a proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). The SEC has already delayed making a decision on the matter once, and can potentially delay making a final decision through February under existing regulations.
Industry & Technology
World Economic Forum Proposes Blockchain Solutions for Global Issues: In an effort with PwC, WEF investigated and diagnosed biggest environmental issues the world is facing today. The “Block(chain)s” report states: “Looking further afield, expected advances in AI, distributed computing and quantum computing will likely support — and potentially accelerate — blockchain’s technological evolution. If it truly lives up to its promise, this new global computational architecture could rewire commerce and transform how society operates, becoming one of the most significant innovations since the creation of the internet. The opportunity to harness this innovation to help tackle environmental challenges is equally significant.”
Cloudflare goes InterPlanetary — Introducing Cloudflare’s IPFS Gateway: Internet security provider Cloudflare is introducing a new product to help users more easily access the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), the decentralized storage protocol developed by Protocol Labs. Cloudflare also launched a Crypto Week, where it will announce “support for a new technology that uses cryptography to make the internet better” every day. The first of these technologies is a portal to more easily access IPFS, as well as build websites on top of the technology.
MEW Launches Mobile ‘Hardware Wallet’ App on iOS: MyEtherWallet (MEW), the company behind Ethereum’s original wallet interface, launched its hardware wallet replacement free app MEWconnect for iOS devices. With the launch, they company hopes to enter into an era of more secure software cryptocurrency wallets. According to MEW, there are several features that secure the cryptocurrency in a users’ Ethereum wallets when using this app. Users’ private keys are stored in an isolated, secure vault local to the user’s device. The app also uses two-factor authentication, prompting a second password entry before sending a transaction to the Ethereum blockchain.
From Malta to Prague: What Is the Most Crypto-Friendly Travel Destination? According to data from Coinmap, currently there are around 13,150 venues, shops and ATMs supporting Bitcoin on the planet, and that number has been unhesitatingly growing since late 2013. However, as Gili Gershonok, a crypto nomad who deliberately chooses not to have a bank account, told Cointelegraph, ignoring fiat money while travelling becomes more difficult, as all of the crypto prepaid cards she heavily relied on were canceled in early 2018. The article points out some of the most crypto-friendly destinations, among them also Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia.
FOAM Is Live: Decentralized World Map Launches on Ethereum. FOAM, which aims to build a reliable, resilient world map using smart contract technology, announced that the decentralized application (dapp) has launched on the ethereum blockchain and is already “seeing the first users populate the map.” Users are incentivized to populate the map with new locations through the use of a token (also called FOAM), which the company distributed in a $16.5 million sale that ended in August.
Bear markets are for builders. The calm, the quiet, the disillusionment… while the fickle and fair-weather peer around with nervous insecurity, the builders become the market’s foundation, preparing the mortar and stone of tomorrow’s towers. #bitcoin — Erik Voorhees, CEO of ShapeShift
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