PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- BTC ($10,627): -6% / +184%
- ETH ($240): -20% / +80%
- LTC ($91): -23% / +199%
- XRP ($0.32): -19% / -10%
- Crypto Market Cap ($290B): -11% / +130%
- BTC Dominance: 65%

THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO

- US President Donald Trump tweeted that he is "not a fan" of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, saying that they were "not money" and referenced their price volatility relative to the dollar in his first public comments on crypto since becoming president. He also criticized Facebook's crypto project, Libra, saying it "will have little standing or dependability" and suggesting US regulators would subject the social media giant to regulation. Link. 

- David Marcus, Facebook's blockchain lead, responded to Congressional concerns in an open letter of his own this week, assuring lawmakers that the social media giant won't have access to personal financial information through Libra. Instead customer and AML information would be processed by wallet providers, which could be developed by third party developers on Libra's open source blockchain. Marcus's response comes after US lawmakers expressed concern about Facebook's involvement with Libra. Link. 

- Congressional leaders have drafted a bill that would ban big tech from launching a digital asset. According to the draft, any tech company with annual global revenue of more than $25 billion and predominantly engaged in the business of offering online public marketplaces, exchanges, or platforms for connecting third parties would be prohibited. The draft bill is being floated by the House Financial Services Committee but doesn't have an official lead yet. Link. 

- Crypto custodian Anchorage raises a $40 million Series B from investors including Blockchain Capital, Visa, and Andreessen Horowitz. Anchorage has a security system that combines the security of cold storage with the usability of hot wallets. The company requires crypto withdrawals be approved by at least two thirds of employees, and then uses both human and AI review of biometrics and more to validate transactions before they are executed. Anchorage also offers end-to-end insurance coverage. Link. 

- After a year of cracking down on ICOs, the SEC approved a $28 million RegA+ offering from blockchain startup Blockstack. The tokens will be available for purchase by the public, not just accredited investors. Buyers of the Blockstack token won't get ownership stakes in the company but will instead get "utility tokens" they can use as currency on Blockstack's network of decentralized apps. Blockstack has already raised $5 million in venture funding and $47 million through a 2017 Reg D token offering, in which it sold tokens to accredited investors. Link. 

- Ex-Bitmain CEO Wu Jihan launched a new crypto financial services startup called Matrixport. Matrixport spun off Bitmain in February and will offer OTC trading, lending and custody for cryptocurrencies. It is possible Bitmain will become Matrixport's major client, which could potentially turn it into the world's largest OTC desk overnight. Link. 

- Influencer live-streaming platform YouNow became the second company to receive SEC approval for a RegA+ token offering. The company's spin-off Props received a formal green light to sell a consumer utility token that users can earn to get loyalty perks in multiple apps. Props raised $21 million in a token pre-sale by selling tokens to Union Square Ventures, Comcast, and Venrock, so it isn't raising additional capital in this RegA+ offering. Instead the regulatory approval will allow users to earn or "mine" Props by engaging with apps like YouNow which will award the tokens for creating broadcasts, watching videos, and tipping creators. The open-sourced Props blockchain system can also be integrated into other apps via an API and people can export their Props to crypto wallets. While Props are currently redeemable for fiat currency, they were valued at $0.1369 each by the SEC-approved filing. Link. 

- Facebook has said that it will not be launching its digital wallet service, Calibra, and cryptocurrency in India due to regulatory restrictions. Back in April the Reserve Bank of India effectively banned banks from providing services to cryptocurrency-related firms such as exchanges. India is Facebook's largest market. Link. 

- South Korean giant LG is rumored to be building a crypto wallet after it filed an application for the trademark, "ThinQ Wallet", and cited several uses including a "mobile electronic wallet for cryptocurrency". LG rival Samsung already offers a cryptocurrency wallet for its Galaxy S10 smartphone. Link. 

- Fortress Investment is offering to buy Mt Gox creditors' claims for $900 per bitcoin, which is roughly 200% of the bankruptcy value but only 7% of bitcoin's current value. Mt Gox collapsed in 2014 after 850,000 bitcoins disappeared from the exchange's servers. Creditors of the exchange hoped that they would receive their missing bitcoin, but may only receive the cash equivalent price of bitcoin at the time of the exchange's collapse ($451). Link. 

- Crypto exchange Coinbase is in talks to set up its own regulated insurance company with the help of insurance broker giant Aon. This would allow Coinbase to reduce costs and improve access to reinsurance markets, thereby eliminating the need for the exchange to self-insure by setting aside coins to cover losses from thefts or hacks. There is currently a shortage of insurance available to crypto exchanges. Link. 

- Binance, the largest crypto exchange by volume, launched margin trading on its platform. Traders can now borrow up to three times the amount of money the put down, and 10,000 traders signed up in the first day borrowing $15 million in funds. Link. 

- Near Protocol, a platform for developing decentralized applications, raised $12.1 million in funding from Metastable Capital and Accomplice. Near is developing the NEAR protocol, a sharded, proof-of-stake blockchain that will compete with protocols like EOS and Tron. By using sharding Near can run parallel computations to boost throughput and linearly scale as more nodes join, eliminating network capacity limits. Link. 

- Fidelity, Deloitte, Amazon and 20 other firms are backing a new blockchain accelerator program called Startup Studio to help blockchain startups with product design, user testing, hiring, finance, law and engineering through one-day workshops. to mentor budding entrepreneurs in the space. Each company will provide different resources to the startups. For example Amazon will provide resources on how to build and deploy services on top of its AWS while Deloitte will offer accounting, tax and structuring advice.The studio has been set up by IDEO CoLab Ventures. Link. 

- Fidelity Digital Assets, the crypto-focused branch of the major asset manager, is looking to add 10 new blockchain professionals to its team. Positions include a range of leadership roles, including a vice president, director and leading software engineer, and director of product management. Fidelity launched its digital asset custody service early this year, and aims to roll out a crypto trading service for its clients soon. Link. 

- Police in eastern China shut down an illegal bitcoin mining operation following a surge in local electricity usage. The police confiscated 4,000 mining devices and allege that the mining farm misappropriated nearly 20 million yuan ($3 million) in electricity costs. Bitcoin mining remains very popular in China - it is estimated that 50 percent of the global bitcoin computing power is located in southern China. Link.

- The Miami Dolphins have teamed up with the Litecoin Foundation to accept cryptocurrencies for the 2019 NFL season. Fans at home games at the Hard Rock Stadium will be able to pay with litecoin and bitcoin when buying tickets for the Dolphin's 50/50 raffle, which gives half of its proceeds to the Miami Dolphins Foundation and its charitable causes. Last December the Litecoin Foundation partnered with UFC in a deal to display the litecoin logo on the canvas of the fight octagon. Link.