PRICE CHANGE WTD/YTD
- BTC ($3.972): +2% / +6%
- ETH ($139): +3% / +4%
- LTC ($61): +9% / +100%
- XRP ($0.32): 0% / -9%
- Crypto Market Cap ($140B): +4% / +11%
- BTC dominance: 51%
THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- Coinbase announced it was listing Stellar Lumens (XLM). Starting Wednesday Coinbase Pro will begin accepting XLM deposits and once liquidity is established full trading services will be available. Stellar is a distributed remittance platform connecting financial institutions, payment systems, and individual users. XLM was up approximately 3% on the news. Link.
- Samsung announced a new crypto wallet for the Samsung Galaxy S10 as well as support for 4 dApps. Samsung Blockchain Wallet supports ether and ERC20 tokens; it does not support bitcoin yet but expectations are that support will be added in the future. Four dApps are available including CryptoKitties, beauty social media app Cosmee, crypto gaming platform Enji, and payment service CoinDuck. Link.
- Tether is not 100 percent backed by fiat reserves. The company updated the terms on its website stating that while the stablecoin is 100 percent backed, its reserves may at times include other assets besides the US dollar. Tether has come under fire over the last year over questions on whether the firm has sufficient reserves to back its 1.9 billion USDT in circulation. Much of the controversy arises from the fact that Tether has never provided a full independent audit of its dollar collateral. Link.
- Coinbase Custody completed its first OTC trade directly out of cold storage. The technology gives clients immediate liquidity; previously traders would have to withdraw assets from cold storage to a hot wallet in order to execute a trade - this would take up to 24 to 48 hours and often leading to sub optimal execution. Link.
- Cosmos, a blockchain project focused on interoperability, is now live. Interoperability is about facilitating communication between otherwise incompatible blockchains. Though its unclear which exact blockchains will be used in the Cosmos system, there are roughly 70 active validators participating in the network who will vote on bringing chains onto the network. Link.
- Bumble Bee Foods, the largest seafood company in North America, announced it was using SAP's blockchain-as-a-service tech to track its yellowfin tuna supply chain. Customers will be able to see the entire timestamped history of each fish by scanning a QR code on the packaging. Link.
- Decentralized identity startup Civic is launching vending machines that can verify a user's age and accept payment via crypto. The $15,000 machines will use CVC tokens to verify identity and collect payments; users will download the Civic Pay app and use a QR code on the machine to complete the transaction. Link.
- Longtime Mozilla Chief Operating Officer Denelle Dixon has joined the Stellar Development Foundation as CEO, succeeding Stellar creator Jed McCaleb. McCaleb has moved to a chief architect role and will focus on protocol growth and adoption strategies. As Mozilla's COO Dixon led the organization in fighting for net neutrality and data privacy. Link.
- Xpring, Ripple's grant network for developers, is helping launch a $100 million fund to support game developers. The plan is to use blockchain tech to improve game designs and build better game economies, including using XRP for settlements. Link.
- Bitfury Group is partnering with payments processor HadePay to bring lightning network payments to merchants in the US, Canada, and The EU through its API integrations. After a payment is made, merchants can convert their bitcoins into another currency through HadePay's platform. Link.
- Kakao Corp, the parent company of South Korean messaging app Kakaotalk, raised $90 million in a private coin offering for its upcoming blockchain platform. the company is planning to have another similar sized round in march. The blockchain platform will start with popular third party services such as games and travel apps and already has 26 partnerships lined up with apps that already have millions of daily active users. The platform aims to attract 10 million users within the first year. Link.
- Riot Blockchain, the publicly traded company formerly known as Bioptix that shifted focus from biotech to crypto mining in 2017, plans to launch a regulated crypto exchange in the US. The entity, called RiotX, will develop three main services: Banking, trading and a digital wallet. Users will be able to transact with fiat or crypto. Link.
- A Texas bill has been proposed that would require a person receiving cryptocurrencies as payment to first "verify the identity of the person sending payment." The bill also proposes that regulatory bodies in Texas could promote the use of 'verified identity' digital currencies, though it's unclear exactly how the state plans to implement this. Link.