Coinbase Offers Unusual Health Insurance Coverage To Employees

One of most successful crypto-based company in Silicon Valley, Coinbase has offered unusual and expensive health insurance options in its bid to entice prospective employees and retain existing ones.

The company offers up to $5,000 a year for treatments like egg-freezing which helps women conceive children later in life.

The treatment is offered by startup Carrot. This is provided on top of the standard insurance coverage they offer.

The inclusion of this benefit puts Coinbase in the elite few of companies that offer egg-freezing benefits which include multi-billion businesses like Google, Apple, and Facebook.

According to John Paller, co-founder of the benefits and payroll startup Opolis, such coverage is extremely rare among companies in general and even rarer in blockchain startups.

It was not revealed how many employees have taken advantage of the these treatments citing privacy concerns but Nat Garth reveals that it is available for all employees and their partners.

This latest move by Coinbase shows how the company is leveraging their ample resources in retaining and recruiting talent.

The new silicon valley unicorn has recently raised $300 million in a funding round that valued the company at $8 billion.

Pro-Crypto Candidates Wins U.S. Midterm Elections

Candidates from California and Colorado who are pro-cryptocurrency have won gubernatorial seats.

Democrat contender Gavin Newson was able to garner 59% of the electorate’s support defeating John Cox who was fielded in by the Republican Party.

It has been reported that Newson is one of the first high-profile politicians to accept campaign donations in Bitcoin in 2014 bringing it into the political scene relatively early in its life cycle.

Another Democrat, Jared Polis, won the gubernatorial seat from incumbent Walker Stapleton who is Republican.

The former got 51.6% of the votes while the latter was able to get 45%.

Like Gavin Newson, Polis also used Bitpay for his campaign donations which accepted Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. Part of Polis’ agenda includes several Blockchain initiatives that seek to put Colorado in the forefront of blockchain development, regulations and usage.

The success of the two crypto-friendly politicians is a welcome news for cryptocurrency enthusiast in the U.S. and around the world as it has been a long uphill battle for crypto proponents in seeking regulatory clarity in the U.S.

Their election is seen as a positive development in spreading awareness as well as creating crypto-positive policies in the space.

Eric Schmidt Thinks Ethereum Has Major Potential

The former Chairman of internet giant Google, billionaire Eric Schmidt says that Ethereum is a powerful platform that has untapped potential which he describes as “off-the-charts.”

He made this remark during a live event with economist Tyler Cowen hosted by Village Global in San Francisco.

The conversation touch upon several topics which includes the future of technology, corporate governance reform, Google’s hiring practice and bifurcation of the internet.

The budding Bitcoin and blockchain enthusiast said that blockchain is publicly overrated but technically underrated adding that it is a great platform for cryptocurrencies to conduct banking transactions where people don’t trust each other.

He also believes that exciting developments are occurring with Ethereum that could revolutionize business and society.

Eric Schimidt, whose net worth is around $13.4 billion would not be getting into cryptocurrencies for money but it seems that he is really intrigued with the technology.

Back in 2014 he stated that Bitcoin is a remarkable cryptographic achievement saying that the ability to create something which is not duplicable in the digital world has enormous value.

Lawyer Warns Against Giving Too Much Weight On Bakkt Entry

Cryptocurrency community is generally excited about the entrance of Bakkt cryptocurrency-based exchange that is operated by the Intercontinental Exchange, the same company that operates the largest stock exchange in the world, New York Stock Exchange.

However, Jake Chervinsky, a government enforcement defense and securities litigation attorney at Kobre & Kim LLP says that there is definite positive impact on the entrance of Bakkt into the space, its impact on the emerging assets class is yet to be determined.

It has generally been considered that the entry of Bakkt will be a major catalyst for the next bull ran of Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies globally.

The lawyer warns that there still exist too many variables and conditions to the successful long-term growth of Bakkt.

Bakkt is said to play the same role as Bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) as a trusted vehicle to entice institutional money into the space.

The Bitcoin futures of Bakkt is the company’s first product and start of the first phase of its development.

Until the company release its futures and evaluate its potential impact and releases its plan to pursue the second phase of growth it is too early to determine its effect in the nascent industry.

Blockchain And Stellar Airdropping $125M of XLM

Wallet provider Blockchain has recently announced that they will distribute $125 in Stellar XLM cryptocurrency to it user in an effort to spur mass adoption of cryptocurrencies.

It has partnered with the Stellar Development Foundation to distribute the funds which it claims to be the largest giveaway in crypto’s history.

The first batch of recipients will get their allocations within the week.

According to the company the very first step in becoming an active participant in the crypto ecosystem is getting a crypto asset and by offering XLM to its users for free might help in building a bigger community of crypto users.

To get the free XLM they are required to obtain a Blockchain Wallet and undergo Know-Your-Customer (KYC) procedures to avoid multiple disbursement to the same person and abuse of the free giveaway. Each participants will get $25 worth of XLM.

Jed McCaleb, Stellar co-founder states that it is their company’s hope that eventually have global citizen use lumens from developing and developed economies.

He also adds that by working with Blockchain to increase the availability and active users of lumens leveraging its 30 million wallets.

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