7 Conclusions About the Bitcoin Reformation + 15 More Crypto News

Tim Alper
Last updated: | 6 min read

Crypto Briefs is your daily bite-sized digest of cryptocurrency and blockchain-related news – keeping you up-to-date with under the radar crypto news from around the world.

Source: iStock/pinglabel

Adoption news

  • The Bitcoin ecosystem is maturing in all aspects of its economy, in particular in deposit banking, insurance, lending and derivatives, and early forms of life insurance, Bitcoin alpha hedge fund Adamant Capital said its report, titled The Bitcoin Reformation (published today.) According to them, if this process persists, Bitcoin’s layered protocol suite could become a global powerhouse and poten-tial alternative to the International Monetary and Financial System. Also the fund made seven conclusions in the report:
    – Bitcoin tolerance versus intolerance to become a major political faultline
    – Bitcoin’s primary drivers will be in saving, lending and underwriting
    – Collaborative custody to become an industry standard
    – Offshore banking may transform into bitcoin banking
    – Bitcoin to mature quickly: bonds, annuities, loans, insurance
    – Initial exchange offerings (IEOs) expected to stay and grow larger
    – Bitcoin savers could accelerate a revolution in the history of thought.
  • Cryptocurrency-based commerce is growing, according to Bloomberg, citing the data provided by the blockchain analysis company Chainalysis. The amount of digital money sent to 16 merchant service providers such as BitPay is up 65% between January and July, says the article, hitting USD 5.5 million daily, up from 3 million in January. This is still considered “tiny” by the publication, adding that Starbucks alone accounted for USD 70 million in sales, daily.The price of Bitcoin (BTC), which accounted for 89% of all such transactions, had more than doubled over the seven-month period to c. USD 10,000. Looking also at Tether, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash, the researchers found that “there’s more overall trust in crypto.
  • Venezuela has been busy with its cryptocurrency and Petro token operations again. Per Ultimas Noticias, the country’s government has allowed all licensed exchange houses in Venezuela to deal in cryptocurrencies. The same media outlet also reports that the government has delivered 200 Point of Sale (PoS) devices to stores in the country that have indicated they want to begin accepting Petro as a form of payment. And state media also reports that the country’s Bank of Venezuela has opened a Petro counter in each of its 23 branches – with one in each of the country’s states.
  • The payments company Square, founded by the Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, processed USD 148 million in bitcoin (BTC) sales in the third quarter of this year, with first-time BTC buyers approximately doubling. In the company’s Q3 2019 Shareholder Letter, the earnings results report total net revenue of USD 1.27 billion from July 1st to September 30th, compared to USD 43 million in Q3 of 2018. Additionally, Square had USD 146 million in BTC costs in Q3, the gross profit being USD 2 million on BTC sales.
  • In related news, Square’s Cash App is now charging standalone fees, with the website saying that “Cash App may charge a fee when you buy or sell bitcoin. If so, the fee will be listed on the trade confirmation before you complete a transaction.” Previously, it had stated that there are no conversion or any other fees for buying or selling BTC on Cash App.
  • STASIS, the technology provider and issuer of Euro-backed stablecoin (EURS), announced today that it has unveiled a sell-back UI (user interface) – a new crypto off-ramp which is structured to decentralize fiat reserves while allowing users to exchange EURS for Euros.

Regulation news

  • The Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) – the country’s top financial regulator – has issued guidelines that effectively ban cryptocurrency investment trust products in the country. Per Kabutan, the FSA has previously stated that it believes cryptocurrency trust products “encourage speculation.” Although the guidelines are not legally binding, the FSA is not likely to look kindly upon violators.
  • Binance has signed a deal with the Ukrainian government and will advise the country’s Ministry of Digital Transformation on forthcoming cryptocurrency regulations. Ukraine’s new government is attempting to fast-track a large range of cryptocurrency, crypto tax and blockchain regulations through parliament – at the behest of its blockchain-keen president. In a press release, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao called the government’s crypto plans “ambitious.”

Exchanges news

  • Bithumb Korea and Bithumb Global – now two separate entities, have launched the Bithumb Family brand, reports Hanguk Kyungjae. Bithumb, now known as Bithumb Korea, is South Korea’s leading exchange, but has been pushing its overseas operations in recent months. The exchange said it had “grown by more than 60% since July last year” and states that the Family brand will allow it to launch collaborative initiatives as it “continues to grow.”
  • A new Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange, AAX, has been launched today, offering trading in cryptocurrency OTC (over-the-counter), spot and derivatives products. In the press release, it states that it uses the London Stock Exchange’s LSEG Technology’s Millennium Exchange matching engine, capable of handling up to hundreds of thousands of transactions per second, while it also lists more than 50 crypto-to-crypto trading pairs, 5 perpetual futures trading contracts, and an OTC platform that supports conversion from USD, CNY and HKD.

Investment news

  • eToro has announced that it has bought Delta, a Belgian portfolio tracking service. In a press release, eToro stated that it had paid an “undisclosed amount” for Delta, and was bringing the latter’s employees into its eToroX team – although the Delta employees will continue to work in Belgium.
  • Blockchain startup Nervos Network announced that their CKByte token sale, which opened on October 16th on CoinList, surpassed the initial goal of USD 67.2 million, instead raising over USD 72 million, selling 21.5% of the total initial token supply, and closing the sale early. Additionally, on November 16th, they aim to launch their Mainnet “Lina.”

Mining news

  • Some 11% of all Peruvian computers are infected with cryptojacking malware, a figure that is reportedly highest in the world, reports Andina. The media outlet says that, per data compiled by ESET Latin America, almost 20% of all cryptojacking malware cases detected in the whole Latin American region in the period January-September 2019 have blighted Peruvian PC users.
  • Micree Zhan, co-founder of the major crypto mining company Bitmain, confirmed on Thursday in an open letter to all Bitmain employees that he has been removed as the legal representative of the company without consent. According to a tweet by Samson Mow, Chief Strategy Officer of Blockstream, Zhan said that he will take back control of the company through legal channels. “I never thought that as a person focused on technology and product, I have to start thinking from a legal perspective. It was embarrassing that as a Bitmain co-founder, the biggest shareholder, and a registered legal representative, I got ousted in this coup without knowledge while on a business trip,” he wrote in the letter posted on his WeChat account.
  • One of the largest bitcoin miner makers, Canaan Creative, made CNY 94 million (c. USD 13 million) in net profit in the third quarter of 2019. An updated filing of its IPO (initial public offering) application in the U.S. says that the company generated a profit of USD 13 million on a revenue of CNY 670 million (USD 95 million), which is a 40% growth compared to the same period in 2018.

Crime news

  • The police in Seremban, Malaysia arrested five people who were allegedly involved in stealing 85 Bitcoin machines worth RM 42,500 (USD 10,309) from a warehouse, according to the Sun Daily. The preliminary investigations showed that the suspects had rented a premises next to the warehouse for a day before drilling into the wall and removing the Bitcoin mining machine, said the Seremban police chief Supt Mohd Said Ibrahim.