Stock Exchange MERJ Launches Tokenized IPO + 10 More Crypto Briefs

Tim Alper
Last updated: | 3 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/TimArbaev

Tokenization news

  • MERJ, the national stock exchange of the Republic of Seychelles, announced today the initial public offering (IPO) of its tokenized shares. The offering values the 8-year old exchange at USD 25 million, according to the company. The offering is now open to investors. The exchange’s tokenized security uses the Ethereum blockchain whilst also being listed on MERJ’s stock exchange and denominated in U.S. dollars. The company claims it has become “the first fully regulated stock exchange to list tokenized securities worldwide.”

Cryptocurrency exchange news

  • Share prices for chat app Line have rocketed after the company won approval from the regulatory Financial Services Agency for its Japanese exchange, Link. Per a Nikkei report, Line share prices hit a six-month high on the Tokyo stock exchange after the news was announced. Three major non-blockchain companies in Japan now run exchanges – e-commerce platform Rakuten and financial group SBI are the other two.
  • South Korean cryptocurrency traders fear exchange CoinZest is in financial trouble. New Daily reports that the platform has suspended Bitcoin and Ethereum withdrawals, and a man claiming to be a former employee has taken to Telegram to claim CoinZest is low on funds. The exchange’s CEO has denied the reports.
  • Angelina Kwan, chief operating officer of BitMEX, has stepped down after less than a year in tis role, Bloomberg reported.

Regulation News

  • America’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Jay Clayton is talking Bitcoin ETFs again. In a CNBC interview, Clayton says “progress is being made” on Bitcoin ETFs, but said “price manipulation” is a concern, and there is still “work left to be done” before the SEC can green-light Bitcoin ETFs.

Blockchain news

  • A report from Global Market Insights says the blockchain healthcare market will be worth over USD 1.6 billion by 2025. The company predicts that the “Swiss market will witness significant growth at 73.3% in the years ahead.”
  • Deloitte has formed a strategic alliance with Vancouver-based TruTrace Technologies to deliver blockchain product-traceability solutions to the cannabis industry. The alliance will improve clients’ ability to build trusted brands, ensure medical and recreational distributors and retailers receive accurate shipments, and provide consumers with confidence they are buying verified products from credible sources, according to Deloitte.

Crypto project news

  • MakeSense Labs, the company behind the recently launched dapp (decentralized app) Sense.Chat, announced that Bitcoin bull and prominent venture investor Tim Draper has been appointed to their Board of Directors. Draper was an early investor in Sense Chat Labs’ parent company Sensay Inc.
  • In an attempt to improve liquidity, governance and project development on the Bancor Protocol, decentralized liquidity network Bancor, among other things, will airdrop BNT’s entire Ethereum reserve, which will amount to 10% of BNT’s market capitalization at the time of the airdrop, on all BNT holders.

Mining news

  • In Russia, the government of the Irkutsk region wants to heat houses over the winter with the help of the local cryptocurrency mining community. Per news outlet Let Know, the region has the lowest electricity prices in the country – a fact that has brought scores of miners to Irkutsk…and authorities feel it would be a pity to let all the heat the miners generate go to waste when temperatures in the region start to fall.
  • Dutch billionaire John de Mol on Monday said he would ask a court to rule in the case he filed against social media giant Facebook earlier this year over fake Bitcoin ads, Reuters reported. It had proved to be impossible to reach an agreement with Facebook over measures to stop fake ads, according to de Mol.