BitDigest May 14 · Issue #902

• Crypto prices gain support to end “headline news” driven week
• Bank of England says government will need to issue public digital money
• COIN reports $1.5 billion in revenue on record increase in trading volumes
• MSFT announces end of Azure Blockchain Services
• Lots of news today…

Calls against privacy coins are coming

🅱️I have been expecting global regulators to take a much tougher stance against privacy coins like monero (XMR), DASH and Zcash (ZEC) and I believe the cyber-attack on the Colonial Pipeline will be the match that ignites cries against these forms of digital currencies.I understand the concern with untraceable transactions, but I also believe privacy protocols can be misunderstood as there is a real need to protect the users identify. It is not just protecting who we are, but it also protects how much we have in the funding address wallet. My guess is that we hear calls from senior representatives of the Biden Administration against privacy coins as the investigation in the Colonial Pipeline attack continues.

The Headlines

BoE Says CBDC Coming but Still Questioning Crypto as Investment Vehicle

www.bloomberg.com

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey says market factors like the sudden “rocketing up [in share price] for companies that nobody quite knows what they do” and bitcoin, should be a warning that “people are looking for investment opportunities” suggesting these assets have “no intrinsic value.” Separately, Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe said that if HM Government “want[s] to retain public money capable of general use…available to all citizens, the state will need to issue, public digital money.”

BoK Looking for Great Insight into Crypto Trades

www.koreaherald.com

The Bank of Korea (BoK) is looking to increase its authority to monitor crypto transaction and is working to receive receipts of all transaction at exchanges as well as trade records identified by user’s real names.

Blockchain Caucus Asks FASB for Greater Clarity

www.emmer.house.gov

Leading members of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus have written to the Chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) seeking new “accounting standards that afford companies clear alternatives to determining the accounting treatment for digital assets maintained on their books…[by taking] into consideration how a company intends to use its [crypto] holdings when determining the appropriate accounting method.”

Bosnia and Herzegovina Preparing Crypto Bill

www.news.bitcoin.com

Members of Parliament in Bosnia and Herzegovina plan to propose a bill to establish a regulatory and tax framework for digital currencies.

Central Bank of Bahrain Working with JPM on CBDC

www.cbb.gov.bh

The Central Bank of Bahrain announced a pilot with JP Morgan to introduce instantaneous cross border payments as it progresses in its effort to develop a central bank digital currency.

Coinbase Q1 Results Sure to Impress Market

www.s27.q4cdn.com

📈Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) reported a 276% quarterly increase in trading volume resulting in net revenue of $1.5 billion, an increase of 221% quarter-to-quarter and 792% year-to-year. Adjusted EBITDA totaled $1.1 billion. 🅱️The question to be answered is whether COIN can repeat this growth in the future. Here are transcripts of the earnings call as well as a separate document for the analysts Q&A.

GDLC to Become SEC Reporting Company

www.twitter.com

📈Grayscale Investments said it has voluntarily filed to have the SEC designate its Digital Large Cap Fund (OTCQX: GDLC) as an SEC reporting company.

Hut 8 Reports Record Revenue and EBITDA

www.hut8mining.com

📈Hut 8 Mining (TSX: HUT) reported record revenue during the first quarter of $32.5 million compared to $12.7 million in 2020 generating $16 million in adjusted EBITDA versus a prior year quarterly loss of $558,000.

Diginex Becomes First FCA Approved "Stand-Alone" Custodian

www.ir.diginex.com

📈Diginex (Nasdaq: EQOS) announced it has become the first stand-alone digital asset custodian to receive approval from the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to register as a as a custodian wallet provider under the new Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds regulations.

MicroStrategy Buys the Dip

www.microstrategy.com

📈MicroStrategy (Nasdaq: MSTR) responded to the current market dip by buying more bitcoin, announcing a purchase of approximately 271 bitcoin for $15 million. MSTR currently holds over $2.2 billion in BTC generating a 2x return on their initial investment.

Mogo Increases Ownership in Coinsquare

www.businesswire.com

📈Personal finance and money management app Mogo (NASDAQ:MOGO) has increased its ownership in Canadian digital exchange Coinmine from 19.9% to 37% with warrants to increase its ownership to 48%.

Argo Completes Acquisition of Canadian Data Centers

www.londonstockexchange.com

London traded crypto miner Argo Blockchain has completed the acquisition of two Canadian data centers with a combined total power capacity of 20 MW in Quebec

Binance Under Investigation by DoJ, IRS

www.bloomberg.com

Bloomberg is reporting that Binance is under investigation by the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service – specifics of what the agencies are examining have not been revealed.

MSFT ' Retiring' Azure Blockchain Service

www.docs.microsoft.com

📈😱In a surprise notice, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) said it plans to “retire” its Azure Blockchain Service on September 10, 2021 advising customers to “migrate ledger data … to an alternative offering based on your development status in production or evaluation.” 🅱️No reason for this decision was provided, but it raises further questions as to the economic viability of enterprise blockchain services.

DBS Offering Crypto Trust Services

www.reuters.com

👍🔐The private banking arm of Singapore’s DBS Bank has started offering crypto trust services for its clients helping them include bitcoin and ether into their wealth succession plans.

Cowen to Offer Custody for Digital Currencies

www.bloomberg.com

📈🔐Investment bank Cowen (NASDAQ:COWN) is starting to provide “institutional-grade” custody services for digital currencies to hedge funds and asset managers through a partnership with recent Bitlicense recipient Standard Custody & Trust. As part of this new effort Cowen is investing $25 million into Standard’s parent company.

Samsung Brings Third-Party Wallet Capabilities to Galaxy Smartphones

www.news.samsung.com

🔐Samsung Electronics announced that crypto investors can now manage and trade virtual assets from third-party wallets on Samsung Galaxy smartphones. In addition, the smartphone can now connect to hardware wallets including Ledger Nanos.

Market Data

Tether Provides Breakdown of Assets Backing Issued Tokens

www.tether.to

As part of an effort to increase transparency in its reserves, leading stablecoin Tether (USDT) provided its first quarterly breakdown of the categories of assets forming the basis of Tether’s issued token reserves as March 31, 2021: 75% is in cash and cash equivalents, 12.5% in secured loans, 9.9% in corporate bonds, funds and precious metals and 1.6% in other investments including digital tokens.

DeFi Theft Increasing Dramatically in 2021

www.ciphertrace.com

📝Blockchain analytics firm Ciphertrace released an updated Cryptocurrency Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Report finding that the total number of crypto thefts over the first four month of 2021 totaled $432 million down from the total 2020 number of $1.9 billion. DeFi hacks and theft volume accounted for 60% of the early 2021 incidents and at $156 million surpasses the total $129 million stolen in DeFi related hacks throughout all of 2020.

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