Above is the number of security token offerings (STOs) per year. Please note that the 2019 figure is a projection. For more information on this relatively new and increasingly popular way of raising funds, check out Bloomberg’s article: https://bloom.bg/2E5izxY

📨 #DeCenterDaily

🔙 A California-based asset manager Reality Shares has withdrawn its exchange-traded fund proposal that, if approved, would have included Bitcoin futures.
via CoinDesk

🇺🇸 The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has named cryptocurrency surveillance practices one of its top examination priorities for registrants.
via Cointelegraph

👁‍🗨 NASDAQ has announced the launch of two new indices tracking Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) prices.
via Bitcoin.com

📉 Japanese IT giant GMO Internet’s cryptocurrency exchange and mining business reported major losses in 2018.
via ccn

🇮🇱 An Israeli civil rights NGO Shurat HaDin (Israel Law Center) has demanded that Coinbase ban a foreign terrorist organization Hamas from accepting donations via the platform.
via The Jerusalem Post

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., the largest U.S. bank by total assets and market capitalization, has launched its own cryptocurrency dubbed JPM Coin. The token runs on Quorum, which is a version of Ethereum, and will enable the company’s wholesale customers to settle transactions in an instant.

“Each JPM Coin is redeemable for a single U.S. dollar, so its value shouldn’t fluctuate, similar in concept to so-called stablecoins.”

The number of possible use cases is likely to increase, according to the head of J.P. Morgan’s blockchain projects. Pilots are scheduled to begin in a few months.

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China-based web search giant Baidu is launching an operating system called Baidu Blockchain Engine, which aims to facilitate the development of decentralized applications and is based on the mix of cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence.

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According to a recent report, KT Corporation, which is South Korea’s market-leading telecommunication services provider, has been granted the right to design a local cryptocurrency to be used in one of the cities in the country.

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On December 10, 2017, Cboe—the world’s largest options market—listed futures contracts on Bitcoin. Within a few hours, the price of the derivative jumped by 25%, and the price of Bitcoin, “built-in” in this futures contract, was 10% higher than the market average. At first, the cryptocurrency did not keep up the pace at which its price rose on the free market with the demand for futures, and then, on December 17, it broke through the maximum, setting a historical record of $20,085. A few hours later, on December 18, Bitcoin futures also appeared on another Chicago-based exchange, the CME Group, while the value of the underlying asset in a contract there was five times higher than on Cboe, at five against one Bitcoin. As a result, the effect of the high price of cryptocurrency No. 1 was able to hold out for several days.

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The year 2018 showed that it is impossible to get rich quick on mining, as the market is plummeting, farms are no longer profitable, and mining pools are closing due to unprofitability. Many experts predicted the industry’s inevitable death, but mining has still lived on to 2019, and many still manage to earn on it. We tried to figure out whether one should pull the plug out of the socket or just wait out the difficult period.

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👛 Coinbase, a leading U.S.-based digital asset exchange, has enabled its users to send Bitcoin SV to an external wallet. The platform, however, does not support purchases or sales of the cryptocurrency.
via Cointelegraph

💸 Banking giant HSBC has managed to reduce foreign exchange trade settlement costs by 25% thanks to its blockchain-based solution.
via Reuters

💵 Digital currency asset manager Grayscale attracted $30.1 million in capital in the last quarter of the previous year.
via The Block

📉 According to statistical data from Coinschedule, the amount of money initial coin offering (ICO) projects raised has plummeted from $5.8 billion in March 2018 to $291 million in January 2019.
via Bitcoin.com

🇮🇩 To participate in cryptocurrency futures trading, the citizens of Indonesia are now required to hold a deposit of at least $5.7 million.
via ccn

Larry Cermak, head analyst at The Block:

“With Binance kicking off the ICO purge with delisting five projects, I suspect that this is going to be a recurring theme in 2019. And when some of these horrible projects get rightfully delisted from all the large exchanges that’s when the lawsuit floodgates will really open.

The exchanges are now incentivized to delist projects because the volumes are so low that the little revenue they generate is not worth the reputation risk of listing a project that will be criminally prosecuted.”

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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made an announcement today that it was commencing the process of reviewing a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund rule change proposal that was filed jointly by NYSE Arca and Bitwise Asset Management earlier this year.

The regulatory agency is obliged to deliver its initial decision on the application within 45 days starting from today.

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This week’s #CryptoCaselawMinute covers the new SEC v. Blockvest opinion, the Breitmans’ briefing response to the lead plaintiff in the Tezos action, and a new lawsuit about an ICO consultant who made big promises but failed to deliver.

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Coinbase, the market-leading U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, was founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam. At the end of October 2018, the company was valued at $8 billion. Today, Coinbase has become a huge conglomerate and formed its own investment arm. By February 2019, the exchange acquired 14 companies and invested in more than 30 startups. In this article, we will explore the growth of the “Coinbase kingdom.”

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📨 #DeCenterDaily

💳 Shift Card, a debit card that enabled Coinbase users to spend cryptocurrency directly from their account, is shutting down.
via Bitcoin.com

🗓 Erik Voorhees, the chief executive officer of cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift, has announced a massive rebrand of the platform later this year.
via CoinDesk

📲 A major update of Rakuten Pay mobile application will reportedly include support for cryptocurrency payments.
via Cointelegraph

🖥 World’s leading social network Facebook is looking to expand its blockchain arm as it posts 13 related job ads.
via The Block

👨‍⚖️ U.S. District Judge Gonzalo reversed his ruling issued in late November that determined the SEC did not have enough evidence to claim that Blockvest’s BLV token is a security under federal law.
via Decrypt Media

Nouriel ‘Dr. Doom’ Roubini, a vocal Bitcoin skeptic, has criticized J.P. Morgan’s latest cryptocurrency initiative.

Craig Wright submitted a comment on the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s request for input on crypto-asset mechanics and markets, claiming once again that he is Satoshi Nakamoto.

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Brock Pierce, a well-known crypto entrepreneur, announced his plan to revive the infamous, now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange Mt.Gox. The platform was the world’s first—and once largest—Bitcoin trading venue. What is Gox Rising, and why does the company’s former chief executive officer oppose the effort?

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“Beyond being the first distributed blockchain, Bitcoin’s major innovation was tokenizing the distributed blockchain and solving the Byzantine general’s problem (aka the double-spending problem) with Proof-of-Work game theory.”

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Since the beginning of 2019, there has been an influx of news that indicates a significant growth of the crypto market. Compared with the previous year, experts note the rapid pace of technological development, as well as the steadily growing dynamics of the market prices of cryptocurrencies. This is due to the massive inflow of capital of global financial corporations, which are not ready to further lose the opportunity to seize competitive advantage, given the surge in interest in the blockchain and cryptocurrencies in previous years. In addition to these events, DeCenter also paid attention to the latest news on the use of Bitcoin and its “colleagues” in everyday life.

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📨 #DeCenterDaily

🏦 Just like Nouriel ‘Dr. Doom’ Roubini, some analysts from the Wall Street have voiced skepticism about J.P. Morgan’s upcoming cryptocurrency.
via The Block

💡 Pension and endowment consulting firm Cambridge Associates is certain that institutional investors should embrace cryptocurrencies despite the potential risks.
via Bloomberg

💻 Blockchain tech firm Blockstream has released the Schnorr-based test code for the upgrade of the first cryptocurrency’s blockchain.
via CoinDesk

🔋 Chinese Bitcoin mining equipment manufacturer Bitmain has announced a brand new 7nm processor designed to boost energy efficiency.
via Cointelegraph

💵 Privacy-focused cryptocurrency startup Beam has attracted capital from Recruit, a “Japanese LinkedIn.”
via Recruit

Bitcoin mining giant Bitmain could have made losses of around $500 million in the third quarter last year, according to the earnings report that the company submitted to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx) in line with IPO listing requirements.

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Coinbase, one of the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchanges in terms of daily trading volume, has acquired blockchain analysis startup Neutrino. Among other things, the acquisition will help the trading platform identify undesirable activity such as theft and fraud. The amount of the deal was not disclosed.

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