Digital Assets
Digital assets are about more than just Bitcoin. The global adoption of blockchain, expansion of cross-border payments, new investment vehicles tied to intellectual property, and more, could one day establish a global market of digitized assets worth $50 trillion. This channel provides access to the latest developments, opportunities, risks, and thought leaders in the growing Digital Assets space.
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SoFi Technologies Inc., a rapidly expanding financial-services provider, is exiting the cryptocurrency market due to heightened regulatory scrutiny. The San Francisco-based company, initially focused on student-lending refinancing, diversified its services over 12 years. Having obtained a bank charter in January 2022, with conditions attached regarding its crypto business. Those necessitated regulatory approval or an exit from the digital asset sector within a two-year conformance period.
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More Stories on Digital Assets
Digital Assets: A World-beating Digital Yuan Taking Shape?
Mu Changchun, head of the People’s Bank of China’s digital currency research institute, said China’s “central bank digital currency” (CBDC) would be “a digital form of the yuan.” Mu is also the Chinese central bank’s official in charge of the country’s new sovereign digital currency.
“The currency is not for speculation. It is different to bitcoin or stable tokens, which can be used for speculation or require the support of a basket of currencies,” Mu said, according to the South China Morning Post.
Digital Assets: Facebook’s Libra Rollout Plan Hazy
There is no concrete plan yet for the launch of the Facebook-led Libra digital currency, according to Reuters’ interview with Ellis.
Though Libra is scheduled to roll out by June of 2020, a regulatory backlash has put a cloud on that date.
Digital Assets: The Dawn of Quantum Computing a Nightmare for Bitcoin?
Google’s recent announcement of successful quantum computing could spell doom for 4 million bitcoins.
Bitcoin is a massively juicy target for a quantum computing criminal. Financial analysts have long predicted that quantum computing is a huge risk to cryptocurrencies. Why?
It’s because quantum computing is leagues ahead of contemporary computing. Google’s October announcement said its Sycamore chip performed a computation in 200 seconds that would take the world’s fastest supercomputer 10,000 years.
Digital Assets: Malta-based Digital Asset Exchange OKEx Launches Options Trading
Malta-based Digital Asset Exchange OKEx Launches Options Trading. With the launch of options trading, OKEx becomes the first crypto exchange to offer crypto-to-crypto (C2C), Scott, futures, perpetual swap, and options trading under one roof.
Simulated trading in the options product has already commenced from December 12, 2019.
Digital Assets: The ESCB has Proof-of-Concept of Anonymous Digital Currency
An ECB-coordinated project, conducted by the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), has established a proof of concept (PoC) for anonymity in digital cash, reports COINTELEGRAPH.
The experiment does not indicate that the ECB will actually proceed with a CBDC. It’s just that – a prototype, so to speak.
Digital Assets: Fidelity Digital Assets Floats UK Arm to Sell Crypto Services
Fidelity Digital Assets has branched out across the Atlantic and incorporated its UK arm on December 16. The UK office will offer crypto services to European businesses, hedge funds, and family offices.
Digital Assets: A Bitcoin Video Lands Up On TikTok, Goes Viral
The Wolf of Bitcoin posted the bitcoin video on TikTok.
The TikTok video zooms in through a door with says, “this is why GPU prices went up,” and then pans across a room filled with power cables and computers. It appears to be a cryptocurrency mining location. Catchy, foot-tapping music plays in the background of the video, which has hashtags like bitcoin, explainbitcoin, bitcoin mining, and minecraft.
Digital Assets: Fidelity Digital Assets Could Add Support for Ether in 2020
Fidelity’s crypto arm has already done a lot of work on Ethereum.
Speaking in an interview with TheBlock, Tom Jessop, who is president of Fidelity Digital Assets, said the firm intended to support the Ethereum cryptocurrency in the New Year, according to cointelegraph.
“We’ve done a lot of work on Ethereum. We intend to support it in the New Year. We’re very led by our clients,” he said.
Digital Assets: solarisBank to Provide Custody Services Through New Subsidiary
The new company is one more initiative by solarisBank, the tech company with a banking license, in the digital world. It follows up on solarisBank’s 2018 launch in 2018 of the solarisBank Blockchain Factory. solaris Digital Assets GmbH, the 100% subsidiary will provide an API-accessible platform for the proposed custody solution for digital assets
Digital Assets: Dutch Bank ING to Provide Safe Custody for Digital Assets
ING is working to develop safe custody technology for cryptocurrencies and other digital assets. The $980 billion bank will address a major problem that deters institutions and other high net worth entities from dabbling in the digital assets market: secure and compliant custody of these assets.
Though ING’s project is still in a nascent stage, it is one of several initiatives by the bank in the digital asset space, such as in blockchain.
Digital Assets: Jay Clayton – SEC Hastens Slowly on Digital Assets
Jay Clayton said in testimony to the Senate that the SEC was taking a measured approach to regulation of digital assets.
Jay Clayton was very positive on the prospects of distributed ledger technology, or the blockchain, in his testimony to the Senate. He also stated that the SEC was a “measured approach” to regulation of digital assets.
Digital Assets: Its Halving in 2020 Could Boost Bitcoin to $50,000
Bitcoin’s halving in April/May 2020 could trigger a bull run in the cryptocurrency.
At least two analysts say that bitcoin’s halving in 2020 could eventually lead to prices in the range of $ 50,000.
Three Men Netted in $722 Million Crypto Mining Fraud
A 5-man team conned investors in a crypto-mining based Ponzi scheme.
According to US Attorney Craig Carpenito, two men from Colorado and a third from California were arrested on Tuesday for the crypto mining fraud. The other two are still absconding.
Matthew Brent Goettsche, 37, of Lafayette, Jobadiah Sinclair Weeks, 38, of Arvada, and Joseph Frank Abel, 49, of Camarillo, California, will face charges. These include conspiracy to commit wire fraud as well as conspiracy to offer and sell unregistered securities.
Digital Assets: The SEC Thaws; Approves Bitcoin Futures Fund
In what Commissioner Hester Peircetook hailed as “a bit of progress,” the SEC cleared the decks for the launch of a bitcoin futures fund.
The SEC last week approved the launch of the futures-based NYDIG Bitcoin Strategy Fund. The regulator cleared the Form N-2 filed by Stone Ridge Trust VI on October 2 with amendments on October 16 and November 26.
Hacker Uses Ingenious MO to Siphon $1M from VC Firm
Security researchers at cybersecurity firm Check Point relate how Chinese hackers hijacked $1 million of seed money that was supposed to travel from a Chinese venture capital firm to an Israeli startup. A “Man-in-the-Middle” attack, spoofed emails, bogus domains, lots of planning, plenty of patience, and bingo!
Global Blockchain Business Council: Asset Managers Still Don’t Get Blockchain
The Global Blockchain Business Council and Janus Henderson Investors have released a new survey this week. The two firms reveal that executives at asset management firms still struggle to understand blockchain technology. The groups interviewed 50 buy-side organizations. From that survey, just 24% of respondents stated that they had an above-average knowledge of blockchain technology.
HSBC World Bank Taps Blockchain to Transfer $20 billion in Digital Assets
HSBC World Bank will track $20 billion in digital assets on a blockchain storage platform in 2020. The company plans to initiate the platform Digital Vault by March.
CipherTrace Q3 2019 Cryptocurrency Anti-Money Laundering Report Takeaways
CipherTrace has released its Q3 2019 Cryptocurrency Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Report. Here are the key takeaways from this quarter’s report.
Digital Assets: A $200 Million Warchest to Spur Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Acceptance
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is the spin-off from the original Bitcoin (BTC) due to a hard fork in August 2017. The crypto offshoot is technologically faster with a “lighter blockweight.” Unfortunately, the use of Bitcoin Cash in transactions and eCommerce has been flagging, though it is fourth in the cryptoassets pecking order by size. But help may be at hand from Roger Ver, often referred to as the Father of Bitcoin Cash, even “Bitcoin Jesus.”
JP Morgan Will Use Blockchain to Monitor Dealers’ Financed Car Inventory
Error (or fraud-) prone recording of auto inventory will be a thing of the past after JP Morgan implements blockchain.
Wholesale car financing at JP Morgan will get a lot easier after the bank puts auto dealers’ floorplan lending onto a distributed ledger, or private blockchain.
Floorplan lending refers to the revolving line of credit provided by a bank against the collateral of vehicles forming a dealer’s unsold inventory.
Peter Brandt: Bitcoin Could Hit $5,500 in 2020
Peter Brandt, the Factor LLC CEO, said that Bitcoin could drop to $5,500 before it shows a recovery. In a Tweet sent on November 21, Brandt set his floor price for the world’s largest cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin Plunges to Sub-$7000 Levels Before Recovering
Bitcoin plummeted today after back-to-back crackdowns on virtual currencies by the Chinese Government. Yesterday, regulators in Shenzen, and today, in Shanghai, threatened to crack down on alleged illegal activities. The PBoC was reportedly behind both campaigns and seeking to impose a ban on trading in cryptocurrencies.
A UK Legal Task Force Clarifies on Cryptoassets and Smart Contracts
A UK Jurisdiction Task Force has issued a legal statement on cryptoassets and smart contracts.
Issued under the aegis of the Law Tech Delivery Panel, the document is a result of the consultative process that commenced in May 2019. Its object was to clarify the status of crypto assets, distributed ledger technology, and smart contracts in English private law.
AWS Killer? Blockchain-Based Cloud Storage in a P2P Architecture
Storj Labs’ beta storage service announced its Beta2 launch and the pricing thereof. The Tardigrade Decentralized Cloud Storage Service claims it costs less than half of legacy cloud storage providers.