Swiss finance minister and outgoing president Ueli Maurer believes that one of the most ambitious crypto projects of 2019, Facebook’s Libra stablecoin, will not be accepted by regulators in its current form. Though Libra has not seen the light of the day, it has forced a number of central banks to take cryptocurrencies seriously. China could be one of the first developed nations to launch a central bank digital currency. Though cryptocurrency trading is banned in China, the regulators are worried about its comeback. The Chinese government wants to ensure that the digital form of yuan, when launched, does not …

Tom Jessop, the president of Fidelity Digital Assets, said that the absence of a long track record is one of the main reasons that is keeping the institutional investors at bay from investing in cryptocurrencies. As the asset class is only 10 years old, Jessop said that the institutions question the durability and longevity and are unsure whether it would be around tomorrow. However, he said that these concerns are likely to be resolved with time. Even among the investors, the perception has been that crypto investing is largely male-dominated. Nonetheless, a survey by Bitcoin (BTC) fund operator Grayscale has …

The New York Digital Investment Group LLC (NYDIG) has received approval from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to offer its shares to institutional investors, including registered investment advisers, their clients and other eligible investors. The fund aims to invest in cash-settled BTC futures traded on exchanges that are registered with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Though the increasing number of offerings by various companies targeting the institutional investor is a positive sign, the larger players have been slow to invest in the space due to regulatory concerns and high volatility. Crypto market data weekly view. Source: …

This is the second year in a row that November has turned out to be the worst month for Bitcoin (BTC) of the year. In 2018, Bitcoin’s price had plunged 36.18%. While this year, the decline has been 17.51%. However, December is an important month to watch out for. Since 2015, Bitcoin has moved more than 30% in December. If history were to repeat itself, traders should buckle up for some violent moves in this month. At least five Chinese cryptocurrency exchanges have halted or terminated operations in November. This is the latest crackdown on crypto trading in China since …

Bitcoin (BTC) futures volumes have been consistently rising in the past few days. This shows that the interest of the institutional players has been gradually picking up. A close study of the futures volume and price action can provide the experienced trader an insight into the likely direction of the markets. Increasing volumes with a sharp dip in price is a bearish sign as it indicates the initiation of short positions. Crypto market data weekly view. Source: Coin360 However, at times, a market that has been heavily shorted also provides an opportunity to enter a counter-trend trade because if the …

The United States-focused wing of leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance will add support for Neo (NEO) and Cosmos (ATOM). Binance.US announced on Oct. 30 that it will add full trading support for the two tokens on Oct. 31, both of which are among the top-20 tokens by market capitalization according to Coin360. Per the announcement, users can already start depositing funds before trading commences at 9:00 p.m. EST tomorrow. Cosmos provides a blockchain-based platform that works as a mediator between different blockchains. It launched its first ecosystem hub in March 2019 after raising $17.3 million in its token sale in April …

In a forum post published on Oct. 1 blockchain interoperability platform Cosmos has disclosed a “high-severity security vulnerability” that was found in consensus engine Tendermint Core. According to the announcement, an update patch was released the following morning. The vulnerability reportedly affected all versions of Tendermint, on which Cosmos is built. All validators and service providers on Tendermint-powered networks are encouraged to update their software as soon as possible. Blockchain to blockchain communication The Cosmos platform allows individual blockchains to communicate and transact with each other. Developed by the Tendermint team, it employs an inter-blockchain communication protocol to establish blockchain …

European digital asset investment firm KR1 posted a $5.6 million profit for the half year ending on June 30, 2019, mainly due to the launch of Cosmos network. High returns from bull market in H1 2019 In an interim report published on Bloomberg on Sept. 30, KR1 CEO George McDonaugh emphasized that the firm’s portfolio surged in value in H1 2019 as Bitcoin (BTC) bounced off a low of $3,200 in late 2018 to over $13,000 in mid-2019. According to the report, the company’s profit was primarily driven by the successful launch of the Cosmos network, considered to be one …

Facebook’s Libra continues to face opposition from lawmakers and central banks around the world. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said that Europe should consider a European public digital currency to counter the Libra. German Christian Democratic Union parliamentarian Thomas Heilmann said that the grand coalition in Germany has agreed that it will not allow “market-relevant private stablecoins.” However, Bertrand Perez, the director general of the Libra Association, stated that the company will satisfy all regulatory requirements and that Libra might launch in the second half of 2020. He said that Libra does not aim to create new money supply, …

Chinese online retail giant Alibaba has applied for a United States patent entitled “Domain Name Management Scheme for Cross-Chain Interactions in Blockchain Systems.” Alibaba filed its latest application on Aug. 15 in a continuation of an application filed in November 2018. According to the filing, Alibaba intends to patent a system that uses what they call a “unified blockchain domain name” (UBCDN) in order to denote and share information. In the system, Alibaba proposes to use a computing system to generate a UBCDN message which contains a blockchain domain name and a chain identifier that is paired with that name. …

Major crypto platform Coinbase announced today that it is exploring support for eight new digital assets. The expansion is part of a larger agenda by the exchange to give customers access to 90% of the aggregate market capitalization of all digital assets. Coinbase announced its plans in an official blog post on Aug. 5. As part of the announcement, Coinbase noted that they may roll out public-facing APIs and show other indications of engineering work during the exploratory phase. Per the announcement, the exchange is currently exploring support for Algorand (ALGO), Cosmos (ATOM), Dash (DASH), Decred (DCR), Matic (MATIC), Harmony …

Thursday, July 25 — the crypto markets are seeing a strong surge of green, with altcoins posting the strongest gains and Bitcoin (BTC) breaking back above the psychological price point of $10,000. Market visualization. Source: Coin360 Having dropped to a four-figure price point in recent corrections, BTC is today up a solid 3.2%, bringing it to $10,075 by press time. While still short of its intra-week high of over $11,000 (July 21), today’s recovery has brought the coin to a circa 4% gain on its 7-day chart. In an interview on the podcast Unchained this week, Pantera Capital founder Dan …