Russia’s Crypto Fate to Be Sealed on Sep 18 + 10 More Crypto Briefs

Tim Alper
Last updated: | 4 min read

Crypto Briefs is your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptocurrency and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.

Source: iStock/Vladimir Cetinski

Regulation news

  • Crunch talks have been set for cryptocurrency in Russia, reports Tass. The country’s leading political and financial leaders will decide on legalizing (or outlawing) cryptocurrencies at a summit in Sochi on September 18. The parliamentary committee charged with preparing the long-awaited legislation on cryptocurrencies says the bill will be “ready in two weeks,” and the country’s prime minister is set to attend the summit. Politicians say they are facing a binary choice – legalize cryptocurrencies, or issue a total, China-style crackdown.
  • Brazilian regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission of Brazil (CVM) says it will “not stand in the way of cryptocurrency progress,” per an official statement. The commission spoke of creating an “experimental regulatory sandbox” and “encouraging” cryptocurrency businesses. Earlier this week, however, it was revealed that the CVM has probed no less than eight exchanges and brokerages on suspicion of foul play this year – with one of its investigations resulting in a police raid.

Mining news

  • Considering the current state of Bitcoin’s network and growth difficulties during last two quarters, the average mining difficulty growth rate is expected to be greater than 5% for Q3–2019, TokenInsight, a token data and rating agency, said in a report published today. “Under this circumstance, most of the Bitcoin miners will not be able to cover the current cost. Only miners with high hashrates (such as the whatsminer M20S, with a hashrate of 68 Th/s) will be able to cover the cost,” they stressed.

Tax news

  • France does not intend to tax crypto-to-crypto trading, but wants to tax crypto-to-fiat transactions, says the country’s economy minister, Bruno Le Maire. Bloomberg reports that Le Maire believes tax authorities need only concern themselves with cryptocurrencies when tokens are “converted into traditional money.”

Blockchain news

  • Dapper Labs, the company behind CryptoKitties and upcoming projects such as NBA Top Shot, said it developed a new blockchain, Flow, which is “a solution to the problem of blockchain scalability for consumer applications like games and digital collectibles.” The blockchain is scheduled to launch in 2020, while mobile gaming platform Animoca Brands is said to be one of the first to build on Flow. Additionally, Dapper Labs said they have raised USD 11 million in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto fund.
  • On Wednesday, the Chinese police raided and sealed the office of Hangzhou Cunxin Data Technology Co., “a high profile blockchain company that provides data services to online peer-to-peer lenders” and the operator of blockchain project GXChain, Caixin reported, adding that police will disclose more details “later.”

Adoption news

  • The state-owned Banco de Venezuela has become the first financial institution in the country to offer customers the option of banking both in fiat and cryptocurrencies. Per a report from Crypto Divisas, the bank has not yet made any formal announcement on the matter, but online banking-enabled accounts now appear to offer a Petro wallet (for the state-issued, oil-backed cryptocurrency). Accounts also have a drop-down menu that asks customers to “select which cryptocurrency” they would like to use in conjunction with their accounts, suggesting bitcoin and altcoin options will soon become available.
  • Staked, a crypto staking startup backed by Coinbase among other investors, launched the Robo-Advisor for Yield (RAY), which is a set of smart contracts that automatically move crypto assets to the highest yielding opportunity. RAY initially supports lending on Compound, dYdX andbZx, but offers a generalized approach to plug-in novel yield-generating opportunities, the company said.
  • Libra, the digital token project initiated by Facebook, still aims to launch in the second half of 2020, Bertrand Perez, the head of the Libra Association, said in an interview with Les Echos. Meanwhile, as reported yesterday, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said that we “cannot authorize the development of Libra on European soil.”

Trading news

  • Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Pro said it will begin trading on the DASH/USD, and DASH/BTC order books on September 17 if liquidity conditions are met. These pairs won’t be available in New York State and the UK. Coinbase, the operator of the exhange, did not elaborate when dash might be available on its another platform, Coinbase.com.
  • New York-based crypto brokerage Tagomi said it has developed a method of making it easier to short on crypto quickly, Bloomberg reported. The company is now allowing its clients to lend or borrow bitcoin and ethereum to facilitate long or short trades on the digital tokens. It plans to make the process for shorting easier by offering immediate access to multiple counterparties from a single platform, according to the report. The ability to short is not just for those who want to bet against digital assets, but can also be useful for relative-value trades, quantitative strategies and for hedging, Dennis Chou, director of trading at Pantera Capital, was quoted as saying.