BitDigest July 23 · Issue #706

Jul 23, 2020
  • Crypto prices jump based on OCC announcement and increasing interest in decentralized finance applications
  • The OCC announced that US banks can now offer digital custody services
  • Binance forms partnership allowing European users to trade digital assets through a German regulated entity
BitDigest July 23 · Issue #706

Weekly Stock Review

BitDigest July 23 · Issue #706

Highlights from the North American listed crypto, blockchain and mining stocks:

  • Pricing of shares in Chinese bitcoin mining equipment producer Canaan (NASDAQ: CAN) jumped to a 2 month high of $2.93, while both Grayscale Investment’s Digital Large Cap Fund (OTCQX: GDLC) and Reality Shares Nasdaq NexGen Economy ETF (NASDAQ: BLCN) traded at 52-week highs this week at $6.60 and $32.40 respectively. CAN’s move saw a significant increase in average volume, spiking 174% during the week.
  • Grayscale Investment announced FINRA had approved new OTC listings for its Bitcoin Cash Trust and Litecoin Trust. It is expected both offerings will begin trading in the coming weeks.
  • The premium on Grayscale’s premier offering, the Bitcoin Investment Trust (OTCQX: GBTC)  increased 72% this week rising from 7.2% to 12.4%.
  • Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ: RIOT) announced it received 1,000 S19 Antminers, approximately one-third of its open-orders, at Coinmint’s upstate New York facility.

The Headlines

BitDigest July 23 · Issue #706

OCC Says National Banks Can Custody Crypto Assets

www.occ.treas.gov
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency published a letter clarifying that national banks and federal savings associations are authorized to provide customers with cryptocurrency custody services.
BitDigest July 23 · Issue #706

Russia's Lower House Passes Crypto Bill

www.tass.com
Russia’s State Duma passed a bill banning the use of digital currencies as a means of payment; the bill now needs to be approved by the upper house of parliament and Kremlin.
BitDigest July 23 · Issue #706

PBoC Issues Standards for Blockchain-based Financial Applications

www.theblockcrypto.com
The People’s Bank of China issued new rules requiring financial institutions building blockchain applications to comply with three standards — technical, performance, and security – in evaluating their design and application release.
BitDigest July 23 · Issue #706

National Defense Authorization Act Includes Blockchain Amendments

www.soto.house.gov
Representative Darren Soto (D-FL) announced that two blockchain-related amendments were included in National Defense Authorization Act requiring the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering to report on the potential use of distributed ledger technologies for defense purposes , and adding ““distributed ledger technologies” to the definition of “emerging technologies” so that it be included in the assessment of what must be done for the United States to maintain their technological edge.
BitDigest July 23 · Issue #706

Senate Banking Committee to Discuss Digital Dollar In Light of US-China Competition

www.forbes.com
The Senate Banking Subcommittee on Economic Policy will hold a hearing this morning on the competitive economic situation between the US and China and expects to hear testimony from former CFTC Chairman Christopher Giancarlo arguing for the US to respond to China’s digital currency electronic payment (DCEP) with a digital dollar.
BitDigest July 23 · Issue #706

Bank of Korea Launching Digital Innovation Department

www.cointelegraph.com
The Bank of Korea is launching a digital innovation department that will leverage blockchain technology in implementing new digital policies and expanding the use of the technology across infrastructure projects.
BitDigest July 23 · Issue #706

Lithuania Issues Digital (Collector) Coin

www.lb.lt
Lithuania released its digital collector coin, LBCOIN, this morning, making it the first digital coin to be issued by a central bank in Europe.
BitDigest July 23 · Issue #706

Binance Expand Crypto Asset Trading Services in Europe

www.binance.com
Binance announced a partnership with CM-Equity providing Binance users with the ability to trade digital assets through a fully regulated German investment firm.
BitDigest July 23 · Issue #706

Visa Defines Values in Crypto Strategy

www.usa.visa.com
Visa issued a blog post highlighting its key values (Security, privacy, integrity and trust, Remaining currency- and network-agnostic, and Aligning with the company’s core capabilities) in its digital currency strategy and explaining that the company is working to provide a bridge between digital currencies and its existing global network of 61 million merchants.
BitDigest July 23 · Issue #706

tZERO to List Digital Shares of St. Regis in Aspen

www.businesswire.com
Overstock’s digital asset platform tZero announced that digital securities in the St. Regis Aspen Resort would begin to trade on the tZero ATS.
BitDigest July 23 · Issue #706

YouTube Looks to Toss Claims in Ripple Lawsuit

www.news.bloomberglaw.com
Google and YouTube requested that a federal judge toss claims that it should have “prevented cryptocurrency scammers” from impersonating blockchain payments company Ripple Labs arguing that the Communications Decency Act protects platform publishers from being liable for third parties.
BitDigest July 23 · Issue #706

Woz Sues YouTube Over Bitcoin Giveaway Videos

www.cpmlegal.com
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was named as the lead claimant in a lawsuit filed against YouTube and Google claiming the company and streaming service failed to respond to repeated requests to remove ‘Bitcoin Giveaway’ scams-videos.
BitDigest July 23 · Issue #706

Tokenization of NBA Contract Did Not Meet Expectations

www.sec.gov
The token offering providing investors with a share of NBA star Spencer Dinwiddie $34 million contract was only able to sell 9 tokens totally $1.3million, 10% of the offering amount.

Exchange, Custody and Product News

BitDigest July 23 · Issue #706

Kraken Redefines Hashrate Metric

www.blog.kraken.com
US digital exchange Kraken has proposed a new statistical model for measuring hashrate representing the crypto metric as a 95% confidence interval band.
BitDigest July 23 · Issue #706

ShapeShift Launches Mobile App

www.prnewswire.com
ShapeShift released a mobile app on iOS and Android enabling users to easily buy, trade, and transfer digital assets without requiring a 3rd party to hold their digital keys.

Thoughts on the Ecosystem

BitDigest July 23 · Issue #706

US Falling Behind CBDC Development

www.cointelegraph.com
Former CFTC Commissioner Sharon Bowen says development of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) would help the US dollar maintain prominence in the world economy, but warned that the US is falling behind other nations, like China, in developing its CBDC.

Reports you may have missed

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