|
'The Daily Crypto Update for Institutional Investors'
OVERNIGHT MOVERS
(24hrs)
Bitcoin  U$9,901.00; +0.58% | XRP  U$0.2737; +0.33%
Ether  U$224.35; +1.69% | EOS  U$4.9842; +1.81%
Litecoin  U$74.95; +1.81% | Bitcoin SV  U$361.78; +4.34%
Two Sentence Summary: Crypto is marginally positive this morning with bitcoin (BTC) holding below USD 10,000. Bitfinex (BFX), the World's largest fiat on-ramp is currently down for planned maintenance.
STORY OF THE DAY
Last Week In A Reddit AMA (Ask-Me-Anything), Representatives Of The Ethereum Foundation Confirmed Plans To Upgrade To Ethereum 2.0 In July 2020 - The Development Is Extremely Significant And Has Plenty Of Implications For Ethereum And Other Networks
- In the AMA, reps from the Ethereum Foundation pointed to July 20, 2020 as the official date for the launch. The most recent date floated for Ethereum 2.0 had been January 2020 after years of discussion around the move. When asked what was the likelihood of the upgrade not occurring this year, reps responded that they would consider such an outcome a failure and that they were, '95% confident in the July date.' The most significant part of the transition is the move off of a proof-of-work type (PoW) consensus algorithm to proof-of-stake (PoS).
Takeaway: The decision to move to PoS was based on the related issues of capacity challenges and rising 'gas' costs. There is plenty of criticism around PoS which we will address as the upgrade approaches. Without getting into the details, there are many camps who do not believe in the philosophy of PoS and the likelihood of a contentious fork of the protocol is high. There are still other concerns about the approaching change. Ethereum has a mixed history of upgrades in general, which has included 11th-hour pivots, introduced vulnerabilities, all for developments which would be far less complicated than changing the protocol's underlying consensus algorithm. Given those facts, dapps built on Ethereum are likely to build redundancies on other chains to protect themselves. Were Ethereum to have issues in transition, one would think that there's a good chance those developers stick with their 'back-up' protocols. With this date now set, 2020 is surely going to be an interesting year for Ethereum.
CRYPTO HEADLINES
- The CFTC has put out a statement on ‘supporting innovation in digital asset products, including pooled investment vehicles.’ The announcement, coming from the Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight, stresses that firms looking to ‘launch a commodity pool should assess’ their obligation to register with the CFTC. The announcement also positions the Division as being helpful to asset managers exploring ways to offer pooled investment vehicles. - link - @CFTC
- Tether has announced that its USDt stablecoin is live on Algorand 2.0. The stablecoin is taking advantage of the Algorand 2.0 upgrade which allows for the tokenization of ‘any type of asset on the Algorand blockchain.’ - link - @Tether
- Poloniex has announced that it will be ‘rolling back 12 minutes of trade history’ from yesterday due to a software problem that saw ‘trades to be executed erroneously.’ The announcement, made on Twitter, did not provide further details regarding the exact nature of the software issue. - link - @PoloniexCustomerSupport
- Crypto derivatives exchange FTX has announced it will be down for maintenance tomorrow. The maintenance is part of the platform adding PAXG, EUR, GBP, AUD, HKD, SGD, TRY, ZAR, and CAD as collateral for futures trades. - link - @FTX
- Coinbase has announced that it has allowed residents of New York to trade USDC and Zcash. The exchange initially offered USDC and Zcash trading in 2018 but at the time New York was not a supported jurisdiction. - link - @TheBlock
- The Web3 Foundation, a managing partner of blockchain protocol Polkadot, has announced a partnership with Coinbase Custody in order to provide custody services for the network’s dot tokens. The new partnership will allow investors ‘with allocations of dots… to claim their holdings directly to their accounts.’ - link - @Web3
- London-based crypto market maker and trading firm Winterminute Trading has closed a ‘seven-figure’ seed funding round. Blockchain.com Ventures led the round, which saw participation from FBG Capital and other angel investors, according to a statement. The firm hopes to grow its team and enhance its algorithms with the funds. - link - @TheBlock
- Crypto custodian BitGo has expanded its operations into Germany and Switzerland by establishing two new entities in the countries, according to an announcement. BitGo CEO: ‘We saw a lot of demand in Europe last year and it was clear that clients there needed to be able to work with European based firms that were regulated within specific jurisdictions…’ - link - @BitGo
TOP ARTICLES
OPEN-SOURCE RESEARCH / LONG-READ OF THE DAY
The Blockchain Roadmap: Progressing Towards A Blockchain-Empowered Future, Australian Government, Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, January 2020
CRYPTO MULTIMEDIA
Michael Novogratz Discusses Bitcoin At Context Summits 2020, ContextTV, February 10, 2020
CHART OF THE DAY
Ether (ETH / USD) - ETH threatening the 225 to 228 range, a historically active / significant level...
|
