Crypto weekly is authored by maaria

PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- BTC ($9,309): +1% / -30%
- ETH ($758): +10% / +4%
- LTC ($166): +8% / -24%
- XRP ($0.82): -6% / -58%

THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- Telegram cancels the public sale piece of its ICO, after raising $1.7 billion from private sale investors. Telegram raised capital to build the Telegram Open Network, a blockchain-based platform that extends its messaging app into a range of services including payments, file storage, censorship-proof browsing, and decentralized apps hosted on the platform. Telegram has about 200 million users globally. Link.

- Ryan Coffey, an investor who lost money buying and selling the cryptocurrency XRP, files lawsuit against startup Ripple, alleging the company violated state and federal securities laws. Coffey argues that XRP should be considered a security. XRP peaked at a market capitalization of over $140 billion in January, but has since fallen below $35 billion. Link.

- City council officials in Berkeley unanimously vote to explore the perks of using an ICO to raise funds in lieu of a conventional municipal bond offering. The initial program would be used to raise $3 million for a new fire engine. If successful, affordable housing projects could be next as the city has already partnered with municipal-bond tech startup Neighborly for the initiative. Link.

- The SEC is considering whether Ethereum, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, should be classified as a security. The SEC is focusing on the fact that ether was originally sold through a resale in 2014, unlike bitcoin which has been mined since inception. Recently, prominent venture capital firms and lawyers met with SEC officials in a bid to convince the agency to provide formal guidance that ether and certain ICOs are not securities. Link.

- Sequoia Capital sues Binance Exchange founder, Changing Zhao (aka CZ), for allegedly negotiating with another firm after signing an exclusivity agreement with Sequoia. The case is expected to be settled in arbitration. Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is currently more profitable than Germany’s largest bank, Deutsche Bank. Link. Link.

- Arizona legislature does not have sufficient votes to pass the cryptocurrency tax payments bill. The final version does not mention cryptocurrencies in any way, despite three previous versions of the bill all specifically mentioning including cryptocurrencies as a possible payment method for state taxes. Link.

- Goldman Sachs hires Justin Schmidt as head of digital asset markets, to help clients interested in trading bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Goldman currently offers clients exposure to bitcoin through bitcoin futures contracts on CBOE Global Markets and CME Group exchanges, meaning it does not have a direct crypto asset prop desk. The hiring of Justin Schmidt could be a signal this is changing. Link.

- Blockstack, the decentralized internet startup, and ShapeShift, the decentralized exchange platform, team up to entice developers to create an open-source, universal wallet. The two are offering a $50,000 bounty to the team or developer that makes the best open-source crypto wallet. Most cryptocurrency wallets support only a handful of tokens. Link.

- Coinbase suspends WikiLeaks Shop from transacting on its exchange, claiming violation of terms and services. WikiLeaks has been blocked from receiving cryptocurrency payments since March, about the same time that founder Julian Assange had his internet access suspended in the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he resides. WikiLeaks depends on donations to keep the site running. Link.

- Verisart, the startup bringing blockchain certification to the global art auction market, announces three major partnerships in the space with ArtSystems, Paddle8, and DACS. Verisart is using blockchain certification to bring legitimacy and liquidity to the art market, where often the risk of purchasing fraudulent art has prevented many from entering the market. Link.

- Bitmain unveiled a new ASIC designed at mining the Equihash algorithm, which is used by the privacy-oriented cryptocurrency Cash. Bitmain recently revealed an ASIC for mining privacy cryptocurrency, Monero, resulting in Monero hard forking and becoming ASIC resistant. Link.

- Square made $34.1 million in Q1 revenue through bitcoin sales, according to an SEC filing. Roughly 5 percent of revenue came from customers purchasing bitcoin through Square’s Cash app. Link.

- SALT lending issues $40 million in asset-backed loans to investors in cryptocurrencies to give them liquidity without the need to sell off assets. The loans are typically 36-months with a 60 percent loan-to-value ratio and interest rates between 12 to 22 percent. Currently, they are only lending against Bitcoin and Ethereum. Link.

- Billionaire Warren Buffett blasted bitcoin at the 2018 Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting, calling bitcoin “rat poison squared” according to CNBC reporter Becky Quick. Charlie Munger joined the bitcoin bashing, saying “I like cryptocurrency even less than Warren does… to me it’s just dementia”. Munger went on to describe a bitcoin trading desk, “like somebody else is trading turds and you’re being left out.” Link.

- Coinbase internally values itself at $8 billion, according to sources close to the recent acquisition offer for Earn.com. Link.

- Founders Fund backs Tagomi Systems, an early-stage startup aiming to be a new type of broker-dealer. Tagomi has raised $15.5 million to date and was founded by former Goldman Sachs executive Greg Tusar, who used to be in charge of Goldman’s electronic trading division. Link.

- Former Goldman Sachs Executive Director, Priyanka Lilaramani, joins HOLD, a Maltese cryptocurrency startup as its CEO. HOLD is building a financial marketplace where cryptocurrency investors can get instant cash against cryptocurrency collateral up to $15,000. It will credit the cash advance on Mastercard or Visa credit cards, and will not require bank-like credit checks, instead requiring the cryptocurrencies as collateral. Link.

- PWC acquires a small stake in VeChain, a China-based cryptocurrency with a market cap of almost $3 billion. VeChain is building an IoT network to assist large scale businesses. Link.