Image of The Day, 22 of October: The Verge, Blokt, The Next Web and Others
We're presenting "the image of the day". Bitnewstoday.com has chosen the most important news about the digital economy and virtual currencies. Only the most valuable stories from only the trusted sources. Each and every event from this list will change the world of the digital economy either way. The most important stories of this day in the most indicative quotes are below!
1. THROWING A DOG A BONE (The Next Web)
IBM and Visa partner to upend global payments using Ethereum tech
Visa has just announced it has partnered with IBM ahead of the commercial release of its blockchain-powered global financial payments platform, B2B Connect.
Visa believes that its distributed ledger (DLT) ecosystem can reduce opportunities for fraud when processing global remittances, and give those who adopt it increased odds of remaining compliant with new and incoming government regulations.
2. GUIDING A HERD (The Daily Hodl)
According to the CNBC’s Brian Kelly: institutional herd is starting to enter the crypto market
The founder and CEO of crypto investment firm BKCM says the “institutional herd” is starting to move into the cryptocurrency market. Brian Kelly told CNBC that Fidelity’s bold entrance into crypto combined with Yale’s new investment signal a shift that will continue to grow through the new year.
“Custody has been a very big hurdle. And having somebody like Fidelity put their stamp on it and say yes, this is a new asset class and we’re going to custody this – and I believe they even said they may have some insurance. So that is a step closer.”
3. SOCIAL BLOCKCHAIN (TechCrunch)
Minds, the blockchain-based social network, grabs a $6M Series A
Minds, a decentralized social network, has raised $6 million in Series A funding from Medici Ventures, Overstock.com’s venture arm. Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne will join the Minds Board of Directors.
What is a decentralized social network? The creators, who originally crowdfunded their product, see it as an anti-surveillance, anti-censorship, and anti-“big tech” platform that ensures that no one party controls your online presence. And Minds is already seeing solid movement.
4. STELLAR RECOVERY (Hacked)
Stellar Lumens quietly leads crypto market recovery
The latest upsurge in Stellar’s price follows speculation that Fidelity Investments may consider adopting the XLM blockchain for its digital asset business. The speculation is tied to Tom Jessop, a Fidelity executive who used to run a promising blockchain startup by the name of Chain. The Chain project was recently acquired by the Stellar Development Corporation. Following the merger, the Stellar Development Corporation re-branded as Interstellar.
From an institutional standpoint, Fidelity is considered an early adopter of cryptocurrency. The asset manager has been mining cryptocurrency for the past four years and recently announced plans to develop a new suite of blockchain-focused products.
5. PLEASE, ID YOURSELF (The Verge)
China will soon require blockchain users to register with their government IDs
China’s central government has drafted a new regulation that would strip blockchains of their anonymity, requiring users to provide their real names and national ID card numbers when registering for a blockchain service. Trading Bitcoin is already banned in the country, but the policy will place significant restrictions on ongoing blockchain development.
On Friday, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s internet regulator, released a draft of the policy, which would also require blockchain services to remove “illegal information” quickly before it spreads among users. The services will also be required to retain backups of user data for six months and provide them to law enforcement whenever necessary. Users who break the nation’s laws will be warned, have access to their accounts restricted, or have their accounts shut down, depending on what service providers deem appropriate.
6. STATE OF ICO IN 2018 (Blokt)
According to the EY study, ICO portfolio falls by 66% in the first half of 2018
ICO investors may have started the year with high hopes, but a recent report from EY shows that portfolio values have tumbled during the first half of the year. During this time, the value of portfolios investing in initial coin offerings went down by 66 percent. Interestingly, ICOs have raised more than $21 billion from investors year to date, with over $5 billion collected in June alone. This staggering loss of value could suggest deeper problems in the ICO market.
In a new study titled “Initial Coin Offerings: The Class of 2017 – One Year Later,” EY study suggests that the value of a portfolio holding these coins has fallen by 66 percent since the peak of the market between December 2017 and January 2018. During the first half of 2018, 86 percent of the leading ICOs that got listed on cryptocurrency exchanges in 2017 were selling for prices lower than their initial listing price. The study further shows that 30 percent of all coins have lost all their value.
7. A VOLATILITY KING (MarketWatch)
What’s more volatile than Bitcoin?
Day traders looking to make a quick buck buying and selling Bitcoin might be better off switching lanes as volatility in the world’s largest digital currency continues to decline. In fact, volatility in the No.1 virtual currency is now below some of the biggest and most popular stocks on Wall Street.
According to data from Cboe Global Markets, the 20-day historical volatility, or HV, of Bitcoin has fallen to 31.5%, below that of online retail giant Amazon.com (35%), tech-darling Netflix (52%) and Nvidia Corp, (40%) the chip producer that sells GPU cards to Bitcoin miners. Furthermore, it’s creeping towards that of tech-behemoth Apple Inc. (29.3%) — one of the most popular stocks on Wall Street.
8. TOO LITTLE TOO LATE (Yahoo.Finance)
Stablecoin Tether regains footing
Coming off a week in which Tether, the most popular stablecoin, broke its peg, investors in the U.S. dollar-backed cryptocurrency have begun packing up shop for more stable options.
“For traders, the instability of Tether provides an interesting conundrum of whether to opt into other more regulated stablecoin options such as Gemini dollars, Circle dollars or TrueUSD, which offer the same 1:1 to USD option to Tether, but with more apparent robustness and security,” wrote Aditya Das, economist at Brave New Coin, a blockchain and crypto asset market data company.
9. POSH CHOICE (Blokt)
Marks Jewelers will now accept Bitcoin
The cryptocurrency sector is maturing as the prices have remained relatively steady throughout the second quarter of the year. Though the bear market has disappointed traders, merchants are now quickly moving ahead to offer crypto payments at their establishments. The newest addition in this list is the fine jewelry maker Marks Jewelers, which will be accepting payments in digital currencies. The jeweler is partnering with e-commerce platform Shopping Cart Elite.
Cryptocurrencies provide a cost-effective and fully decentralized way of paying for jewelry purchases. Additionally, it offers convenience to the global clientele of the jewelers who may want a better way to pay for their purchases instead of using credit cards. Digital coins provide the functionality of fiat coins and the security and efficiency of distributed ledgers to users.
10. VANISHED (The Next Web)
$8M in cryptocurrency bizarrely goes missing from bank-protected wallets
Swiss digital asset exchange Trade.io claims hackers have stolen nearly $8M million worth of cryptocurrency directly from its cold storage devices, which were supposedly kept under lock and key in a bank. The team behind the exchange confirmed the losses in a message posted to its Medium blog on Sunday.
The situation is very strange. For one, Trade.io claims the hackers were able to remove the millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency from wallets that were supposedly being protected by a bank. But, the team later confirmed that “the safety deposit boxes were not compromised.”