PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- BTC ($7,226): +2% / 0%
- ETH ($183): +12% / +40%
- LTC ($43): 0% / +3%
- XRP ($0.19): 0% / 0%
- Crypto Market Cap ($209B): +3% / +9% 
- BTC Dominance: 64%

THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO

- In a concession to regulators, the Libra Association now plans to release several stablecoins backed by fiat currencies (such as USD, EUR, GBP, or SGD), instead of a global stablecoin directly tied to a basket of fiat currencies and securities. There will reportedly still be a multi-currency Libra "coin" but it won't be a cryptocurrency per se - it will be a digital composite of those single-currency stablecoins. When you send one Libra, you'll actually send a fraction of USD-backed, EUR-backed, GBP-backed (etc) stablecoins. The Libra Association also announced it will limit unregulated entities so those looking to add Libra will need to go through a registration or licensing process to add Libra support. They are also shifting away from being a permissionless blockchain; only members of the Libra Association will be able to run nodes. Link. 

- Circle's stablecoin USDC has grown its market cap by 65% since March, growing from a market cap of $444 million on March 1 to $734 million as of Friday. Demand for the dollar-backed stablecoin has surged globally, especially from Asian-based SMEs who want the safety and utility of digital dollars. The number of Circle Business Accounts - used by corporate clients to conduct business using USDC - grew 700% over the last few weeks, with more than 2/3 of those businesses coming from outside crypto. Link. 

- Andreessen Horowitz is reportedly raising $450 million for its second crypto-focused fund, up from the $350 million it raised in mid-2018. The firm has invested in crypto companies like Coinbase, Maker, Compound, and dYdX and is part of the Libra Association. Link. 

- Coinbase Custody is making it easier for its clients to vote their tokens on more DeFi protocols, starting with Compound. Coinbase Custody now supports Compound Governance, governance tokens issued by Compound that allow for community governance, making it the only custody provider and only in-app voting experience for Compound. Clients will have the option of manual voting, where they can vote directly on proposals, or delegate voting, where they can delegate their votes to a third party. Link. 

- Bison Trails, which offers blockchain 'infrastructure-as-a-service', is integrating with Coinbase Custody to allow Polkadot staking. When Polkadot goes live clients of Coinbase Custody will be able to delegate and stake their DOT tokens to Bison Trails validators to earn rewards. Link. 

- China's upcoming digital yuan is reportedly being piloted by one of the country's largest banks across four regions: Shenzhen, Xiongan, Chengdu, and Suzhou. The digital yuan project is being called DCEP for digital currency / electronic payment, and is expected to function more like a counterpart to paper money than a cryptocurrency. The pilot includes an app that allows for both online and offline mobile payments via a mobile wallet and QR scanner. Link. 

- Crypto custodian BitGo is acquiring Lumina, an integrated tax service for institutional traders. Lumina's two offerings, a tax accounting software and multi-exchange portfolio tracker, will now be offered as BitGo Tax and BitGo Portfolio respectively. Lumina had raised $4 million in seed funding in 2018. Link. 

- Ant Financial, the fintech arm of Alibaba, is launching the OpenChain blockchain consortium to allow small and medium-sized companies in China to execute smart contracts and build dApps faster. Developers on the blockchain consortium will offer dozens of readily available modules that will focus on a number of use cases such as tracking supply chains, digitizing invoices and donations. Link. 

- Crypto investment firm Grayscale raised more than $500 million in Q1, a significant increase from the $600 million it raised in all of 2019. Grayscale said that 88% of inflows came from institutional investors and into its bitcoin offering, though ethereum has seen some uptick as well. Grayscale now manages more than $2.2 billion in AUM. Link. 

- Coinbase experienced a record number of $1,200 deposits on its platform last week, soon after the US government began distributing stimulus checks of the same amount as part of its coronavirus relief program. Typically, amounts of $1,200 represent 0.1% of Coinbase's total deposits; last Thursday the percentage surged to 0.4%. Link. Link. 

- Wyoming has passed a law that allows domestic insurance companies to invest in 'digital assets' such as bitcoin beginning July 1. Wyoming is one of the most crypto and blockchain-friendly states. In the last two years they've passed a series of laws, including recognizing cryptocurrency as money and allowing favorable tax treatment of cryptocurrencies. Link.