Developments in Financial Services

• A cryptocurrency exchange-traded product (ETP) that trades on Switzerland’s Six Exchange saw record trading volumes on Thursday and Friday last week, suggesting that institutional investors may be buying the dip in cryptocurrencies. Four major cryptocurrencies underlie the HODL ETP, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ripple (XRP), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). While HODL ETP’s one-month average daily trading is 20,000 shares, on Thursday, December 6th, and Friday, December 7th, 53,233 shares and 62.986 shares were traded, respectively.
• A report published last week by global anti-money laundering policymaker, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), indicates that cryptocurrency exchanges in the United Kingdom pose a, “low risk,” for money laundering and terrorist financing activities. The report, however, does highlight that such activities on UK cryptocurrency exchanges are an, “emerging risk,” although there is not yet enough evidence to suggest that these activities are occurring through cryptocurrency exchanges. In its report, the FATF urged UK regulators to, “Continue to develop an understanding of emerging risks (such as virtual currencies) and intelligence gaps, and take appropriate action.”
• Andreas Utermann, CEO and CIO of Allianz Global Investors, called on global financial regulators to ban cryptocurrencies while speaking at a panel discussion in London. According to a report by Reuters, Utermann said, “You should outlaw it,” while participating in a panel alongside Andrew Bailey, the head of Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority. Bailey responded by saying that Utermann’s comments were, “quite strong,” before adding that cryptocurrencies have, “no intrinsic value.”
• Basis, a major US-based stablecoin project, is shutting down its operations and returning most of its funds to investors, according to a report by crypto news outlet The Block. The report by The Block cited, “multiple people with direct knowledge of the situation,” in claiming that the algorithmic stablecoin project, which generated UDS$133mm of funding through private investments in April, will return funds to investors. According to the Co-Founder and CEO of competing stablecoin project Nevin Freeman, Basis’ shutdown is due to regulatory concerns around one of its token types. Freeman explained, highlighting that algorithmic stablecoins implement a “secondary token”, known as a “bond token”, to help maintain the primary token’s peg. In many cases, regulators like the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) consider these secondary tokens to be securities.
• Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume, announced that it has added Circle’s US dollar-pegged stablecoin, USD Coin (USDC), to its combined Stablecoin Market. Circle, a company backed by Goldman Sachs, first released its stablecoin in September of this year. Binance’s combined Stablecoin Market features other notable stablecoins, like Tether (USDT), that trade against cryptocurrencies as interchangeable base pairs.
• Coinone, a South Korea-based cryptocurrency exchange, has officially launched Cross, a cross-border payments application that leverages Ripple’s xCurrent product to increase efficiencies. The application, released by Coinone’s payments subsidiary, Coinone Transfer, targets unbanked or underbanked South Koreans by enabling the transfer of funds to Thailand or the Philippines at a low cost.
• Gemini, a cryptocurrency exchange heralded by the Winklevoss twins, released an official company blog post this weekend announcing that the firm will support Bitcoin Cash (BCH) custody and trading. The exchange will support only the Bitcoin Cash ABC network at this time, adding that they, “are continuing to evaluate Bitcoin SV over the coming weeks or months, and we may or may not choose to support withdrawals and/or trading of Bitcoin SV in the future.” Additionally, the company detailed that its listing of BCH is pending regulatory approval by the New York State Department of Financial Services.
• Gemini, the cryptocurrency trading platform founded by the Winklevoss twins, announced the launch of a mobile crypto trading application in an official blog post today. Accompanying the launch of the crypto trading app is a new investment vehicle, dubbed, “The Cryptoverse,” that is comprised of a basket of cryptocurrencies weighted by market capitalization. While speaking to Bloomberg today, Cameron Winklevoss said that, “A lot of our decisions have perhaps given off a perception that we’re more institutional-based. The reality of the situation is that we have a diverse customer base. And the retail story is just beginning.” The Winklevoss twins went on to detail of a goal to expand reach to Asian markets by 2019’s end.
• Good Money, a US neo-banking platform, has closed its Series A investment round that generated USD$30mm led by cryptocurrency-focused merchant bank Galaxy Digital and the founder of EOS (EOS) Block.one. Good Money aims to provide a variety of banking service and certain financial instruments to US account holders while exploring innovative changes to traditional banking practices. “Modern banking is a primary driver of so many issues we as a society face – from economic inequality, institutional racism, environmental destruction to political corruption,” said Good Money founder Gunnar Lovelace. Specifically, Good Money eliminates ATM fees while offering each bank user equity in the company.
• Kraken, a notable cryptocurrency exchange, is seeking to raise funding with a USD$4bn valuation for the company and a USD$100,000 investment minimum, according to CoinDesk. In an email to investors, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell wrote, “There is presently a limited time opportunity available to a very small select number of clients to purchase shares.” The email goes on to detail that the exchange will close its offer on December 16th.
• OKEx, the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume, will begin listing Bitcoin Cash ABC under the original Bitcoin Cash ticker (BCH), as per an official announcement Tuesday. Additionally, OKEx will change the Bitcoin Cash SV ticker from BCHSV to BSV. The announcement by OKEx comes after other notable cryptocurrency exchanges have made the same switch, including Coinbase and Gemini.
• PayPal, an online payments portal, has launched its own internal private blockchain platform that will allow staff to trade and exchange tokens while generating ideas and participating in programs to foster innovation, as per a report by news outlet Cheddar. The private blockchain network, which was built by 25 PayPal employees in just 6 months, will allow employees to earn more for enrolling in learning and development programs. The PayPal tokens are not tradeable, or worth anything for that matter, outside PayPal’s blockchain.
• PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a big four consulting firm, is partnering with Bitfury Group, a large blockchain software and mining firm, to develop a blockchain accelerator specific to Russian businesses. As per an official press release by PwC, the partnership will leverage Exonum, Bitfury’s open source framework to build blockchain applications, for educational courses and seminars. The partnership aims to meet the, “current needs,” of PwC’s enterprise clients in Russia.
• Revolut, a digital banking alternative with an in-application cryptocurrency exchange, announced that it has been awarded a European banking license. Seeking to become the, “Amazon of banking,” the license will allow Revolut to offer traditional banking services alongside its current cryptocurrency offerings to European customers. Nikolay Storonsky, Founder and CEO of Revolut, said in regards to the newly acquired license that, “With the banking license now secured, commission-free stock trading progressing well, and five new international markets at final stages of launch, we are living up to our reputation as the ‘Amazon of Banking’. Our vision is simple: one ap with tens of millions of users, where you can manage every aspect of your financial life with the best value and technology.”
• Shinhan Bank, the second-largest commercial bank in South Korea, is launching a new project to implement blockchain technology in its internal processes with a goal of eliminating human error. According to a report by news outlet The Korea Times, Shinhan also recently completed a training program for its staff to increase their knowledge of blockchain technology across various applications. After Shinhan implemented blockchain technology for interest rate swap transactions on November 30th, South Korea’s second-largest bank is now aiming to apply the technology in its record-keeping process to enhance overall efficiencies.
• SolarisBank, Germany’s second-largest and Europe’s ninth-largest stock exchange, is partnering with Stuttgart Exchange Group, a German fintech company, to jointly develop a cryptocurrency exchange. As per a report by Cointelegraph Germany, the joint cryptocurrency exchange venture, “is scheduled to launch in the first half of 2019.” This news comes after SolarisBank announced plans to launch a zero-fee cryptocurrency trading application this past May.
• The Canadian city of Calgary is becoming the first city in Canada to launch a digital version of its local currency, according to a report by the Global News. Dubbed as the Calgary Digital Dollar, the digital currency will be exclusive to Calgary and operate alongside the country’s Canadian Dollar. Calgary-based businesses will now be required by law to accept at least 10% of a payment in digital currency, although they are allowed to accept up to 100%.
• The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is launching a pilot of its Global Payment Initiative (GPI) to combat growing blockchain and fintech solutions, according to an official announcement last week. Currently, the SWIFT Network is used by global financial institutions to conduct global financial payments and cross-border transfers of fiat currency. Although the project is still in its early stages, the GPI pilot hopes to, “build the foundation of a new integrated and interactive service that will significantly improve efficiencies in the payments process and which will ultimately be made available to all 10,000 banks across the SWIFT network.”
• The United Arab Emirates’(UAE) central bank is partnering with the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) to develop a cryptocurrency to facilitate cross border transactions between the two countries, according to a report by news outlet GulfNews. In a meeting pertaining to global banking standards and regulation in the Arab region, Mubarak Rashed Al Mansouri, the governor of the UAE’s central bank, said, “This is probably the first time ever that witnesses the cooperation of monetary authorities from different countries on this topic and we hope that this achievement will foster similar collaboration in our region.” The prospective digital currency will be used by both central banks and financial institutions in the countries.
• TokenSoft, a security token offering (STO) startup, has acquired a 20% stake in regulated broker-dealer Marpine Securities LLC in order to launch its own regulated broker-dealer. After acquiring the 20% stake, TokenSoft will launch its new regulated broker-dealer entity, called TokenSoft Global Markets, that will be registered through the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). The new regulated broker-dealer entity will allow TokenSoft to advise token issuers through every step of the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) process. Additionally, TokenSoft will now be able to legally operate in services related to insurance and management.
• Tom Lee, co-founder of Fundstrat Global Advisors and a notable cryptocurrency pundit, believes that the current fair value of Bitcoin (BTC) is between USD$13,800 and USD$14,800, according to a note published on Thursday. Lee arrived at this valuation by taking into account the number of active wallet addresses, usage per account, and other supply and demand metrics. Additionally, Lee forecasted that the fair value of BTC will reach USD$150,000/coin once BTC wallets account for 7% of Visa’s 4.5bn account holders.
• UAE Exchange, an exchange based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is partnering with Ripple to launch a blockchain-based cross-border remittances platform by 1Q2019, as per a Reuters report on Thursday. The report details further that Finablr, a payments and foreign exchange company that owns UAE Exchange, observes a high level of remittance inflows from expatriate workers in the Middle East region. “We expect to go live with Rippel by Q1, 2019 with two other Asian banks,” said Finablr CEO Promoth Manghat, adding, “This is for remittances to start with, from across the globe into Asia.”

Regulatory Environment

• De Nederlandsche Bank, the Netherlands’ central bank, will soon require domestic cryptocurrency providers to obtain a license from the regulator to operate, as per a report by Dutch news outlet DeTelegraaf. The Netherlands' central bank is taking these measures in the hope that it will, “prevent such cryptocurrencies from being used to launder money obtained through crime or to fund terrorism.” In order to receive a license, cryptocurrency firms must maintain Know-Your-Customer procedures and report any suspicious activity to the Dutch central bank.
• Eddie Hughes, a conservative member of the United Kingdom’s Parliament, suggested that Bitcoin (BTC) should be accepted as legal tender for tax and utility payments, according to news outlet Express.co.uk. The article discusses that Hughes, who is a self-described, “crypto enthusiast with amateur knowledge,” recently met with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, which accepts cryptocurrency donations. This news comes after the US state of Ohio announced that it would begin accepting BTC as legal tender for tax payments.
• Following a case in Canadian courts that resulted in a ruling ordering mistakenly sent crypto funds to be returned to their owner, a blog post from the University of Oxford Faculty of Law is noting that there could be repercussions with the case potentially setting a precedent for lost or stolen cryptocurrency claims. The Canadian court case’s ruling will require defendant Brian Wall to return USD$370,482 worth of Ethereum (ETH) tokens to the plaintiff, Copytrack. The blog post from the University of Oxford Faculty of Law reads, ‘This precedent may have major repercussions for the enforcement of claims regarding lost or stolen cryptocurrencies,” adding that the ruling allows the plaintiff to recover tokens, “in whatsoever hands those Ether Tokens may currently be held.”
• Japan’s government is considering plans to ease cryptocurrency taxes in an effort to revitalize the domestic cryptocurrency and blockchain industry. This week, Japanese Congressman Takeshi Fujimaki proposed four significant changes to taxation requirements pertaining to digital assets, which include: a reduction on the cryptocurrency gains tax from 55% to 20%; elimination of taxes on crypto-to-crypto payments; elimination of taxes on miniscule cryptocurrency payments; and an adjustment that would allow cryptocurrency investors to carry forward losses across quarters and years, effectively until cryptocurrencies are ‘cashed’ out.
• Jay Clayton, Chairman for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC), said during a speech that Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), “can be effective,” for fundraising, but that, “securities laws must be followed.” Clayton went on in his speech to comment on the US SEC’s work regarding distributed ledger technology (DLT), digital assets, and ICOs, saying that it is an, “area where the Commission and staff have spent a significant amount of time,” and, “that this trend will continue in 2019.”
• Jay Clayton, the Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), expressed his optimism for distributed ledger technology’s potential impact on traditional financial markets in a testimony before the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs yesterday. According to a transcript published on the SEC’s website, Clayton said, “I am optimistic that developments in distributed ledger technology can help facilitate capital formation, providing promising investment opportunities for both institutional and Main Street Investors.” Additionally, Clayton highlighted that the SEC is, “Focusing a significant amount of attention and resources on digital assets and initial coin offerings (ICOs).”
• Maxim Akimov, the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, announced that no significant changes will be made to the draft of a bill concerning cryptocurrency regulation in the country, as per news outlet Finmarket. The bill was already approved by Russia’s parliament, the State Duma, in May 2018, although the bill has generated substantial discussion since. Since approval of the bill, all cryptocurrency and token-related terminology have been removed and replaced with the term “digital rights”. At the beginning of December, Pavel Krasheninnikov, Chairman of Russia’s State Duma, said that the bill needed to be, “significantly,” changed.
• Pan Gongsheng, a deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, highlighted that Security Token Offerings (STOs) in China are illegal while speaking at a summit in Beijing. As per a report by news outlet the South China Morning Post, Gongsheng told the summit that, “illegal financing activities through STOs and ICOs were still rampant in the mainland despite a nationwide clean-up of the cryptocurrency market last year.” In citing reasoning for the continued ban on STOs, Gongsheng explained that, “Virtual money has become an accomplice to all kinds of illegal and criminal activities.”
• Pantera Capital, a blockchain and cryptocurrency-focused investment firm and hedge fund, is warning investors that as much as a quarter of their ICO project could potentially be violating US securities laws, according to a Bloomberg report. In a newsletter to clients, Pantera Capital warned, “While we believe the vast majority of the projects in our portfolio should not be affected, approximately 25% of our fund’s capital is invested in other projects with liquid tokens that sold to US investors without using Regulation D or Regulation S”
• Russia has no intention of implementing Venezuela’s state-backed digital currency, the Petro, into commercial operations, according to a report by news outlet RIA Novosti. While speaking to reporters this week, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Storchak said, “Representatives from our tax service and central bank... got acquainted with the cryptocurrency Venezuela is introducing,” adding, “But no more than that. As for payments, they’re not happening yet.”
• South Korea’s representative body, the National Assembly, held its first official meeting with seven of the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges on Monday. The purpose of the meeting was to debate cryptocurrency regulation between stakeholders of South Korea’s cryptocurrency industry. Cryptocurrency exchanges Bithumb, CobitCoin, Coinone, Upbit, Gopax, Coinplug, and Hanbitco were among the attendees of the debate, which reportedly focused on Anti-Money Laundering (AML) customer protections and Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures.
• The United Kingdom’s Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental financial security body, is calling on the country’s government to increase monitoring of cryptocurrency markets. According to an official report last week, the UK must overhaul its Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and combat terrorist financing (CFT) efforts in order to prevent illicit activities with cryptocurrencies. “Virtual currency exchange providers are not yet covered by AML/CFT requirements,” the report details, adding, “this is an emerging risk and there is not yet evidence to suggest that broad scale ML/TF is occurring in the UK through this relatively small sector.”
• The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is interested in learning more about the Ethereum (ETH) network, its technology, and the markets build around it. On Tuesday, the CFTC published a Request for Input (RFI) that requests the public’s feedback on different questions concerning Ethereum. The RFI explains that its goal is to inform the CFTC about Ethereum and similar emerging technology, saying, “The input from this request will advance the CFTC’s mission of ensuring the integrity of the derivatives market as well as monitoring and reducing the systematic risk by enhancing legal certainty in the markets. The RFI seeks to understand the similarities and distinctions between certain virtual currencies, including here ether and bitcoin, as well as ether-specific opportunities, challenges, and risks.”
• The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC) is ordering that cryptocurrency asset manager CoinAlpha Advisors LLC pay a USD$50,000 fine, alleging that the firm conducted an unregistered securities sale. After forming in October 2017, CoinAlpha raised more than USD$600,000 from investors to invest in digital assets. In an official release, the US SEC said that CoinAlpha did not file a Notice of Exempt Offering of Securities, meaning that the firm breached securities laws by soliciting securities investors. Additionally, the firm allegedly did not adhere to proper know-your-customer procedures to verify that investors were accredited.
• Venezuela is reportedly beginning to convert its citizens’ monthly pension payments into Petros, Venezuela’s controversial state and oil-backed cryptocurrency, according to a report by local economics blog the Caracas Chronicles. The conversion of Venezuelan pensioners’ payments into Petros came after the country already sent pensioners their monthly payment in the form of a check for Venezuelan Bolivars -- normally, upon receiving their check, pensioners would deposit their funds into a bank account where they could then withdraw fiat from local branches. The Venezuelan government, however, converted pensioners’ fiat payments into the Petro upon their deposit into a bank. In the first few weeks of the Petro’s existence, its value has risen from 9,000 to more than 15,000.
• Warren Davidson, an Ohio Congressman and notable advocate of blockchain and digital assets, is floating blockchain technology as a solution to fund US President Donald Trump’s prospective US-Mexico border wall. While interviewing with NPR, Congressman Davidson suggested, “the American people, or whomever should choose to donate,” could pay for the border wall, adding, “you could do it with sort of like a crowdfunding site or you could do a blockchain and you could have WallCoins.”

General News

• “The long-term value of Bitcoin (BTC) is more likely to be USD$100 than USD$100,000,” says Kenneth Rogoff, a former Chief Economist for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the current Harvard University Professor of Economics and Public Policy. While writing an article for major UK news outlet The Guardian, Rogoff highlighted that, because BTC’s use is limited to transactions, it makes the digital asset more vulnerable to a bubble-like collapse. Rogoff also cited that BTC’s energy-intensive verification processes is, “vastly less efficient,” than systems that leverage, “a trusted central authority like a central bank.”
• A new report by PeckShield, a blockchain security company that monitors various cryptocurrency ecosystems, details that decentralized applications (DApps) on the EOS (EOS) blockchain have lost as much as USD$1mm in hacks since July 2018. The report details further that DApps on the EOS network have sustained 27 breaches since July, which are responsible for the up to 400,000 EOS that have been compromised from hacks. Guo Yonggang, a blockchain security expert cited in a report on the matter by crypto media firm Blockchain Truth, believes that the hacks can be attributed to security problems with the DApps themselves, rather than with the EOS network.
• A new study published by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance on Wednesday finds that the number of unique ID-verified cryptocurrency users nearly doubled in in the first 3 quarters of 2018. The study details that total ID-verified users increased to 35mm in the first three quarters of 2018 from 18mm at the end of 2017, representing an increase of 94%. As per an analysis of the study by Bloomberg, the growth of crypto’s userbase despite the market decline, “could signal that an eventual recovery could be coming.”
• Amid the continued cryptocurrency sell-off, only two cryptocurrency mining machines remain profitable, according to real-time data from ASICMinerValue.com. ASICMInerValue.com, which calculates the profitability of Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) miners, indicates that only indicates that only the Ebank Ebit E11++ and ASICminer 8 Nano 44Th mining models are profitable for mining cryptocurrencies based on the SHA-256 hash function -- notable cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) use this has function.
• Bitmain, a large Chinese cryptocurrency mining firm, announced that it is closing its development center in Israel, citing current cryptocurrency market conditions. In closing Bitmaintech Israel, the crypto mining giant was forced to fire all 23 employees. Among the employees let go is Gadi Glikberg, head of Bitmain’s Israeli branch and Vice President of International Sales, who said on the recent market turmoil, “The crypto market has undergone a shake-up in the past few months, which has forced Bitmain to examine its various activities around the globe and to refocus its business in accordance with the current situation.”
• Busan, a major South Korean city, will be the beneficiary of the South Korean government’s plan to spend 4bn Korean won (USD$3.5mm) to establish a blockchain-enabled virtual power plant (VPP). As per a report by South Korean news outlet Yonhap News Agency, the project will be angled as a national competition in 2019, hosted by South Korea’s largest electric utility, Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO). The VPP will integrate the idle capacities of multiple energy resources through a cloud-based distributed ledger in order to optimize power generation and decrease costs.
• Church’s Chicken, a large international fast food franchise, is partnering with Dash Venezuela to accept cryptocurrencies in its Venezuelan locations. According to an official press release, 13 Church’s Chicken establishments will begin accepting Dash (DASH) as payment following, “extensive and rigorous days of training,” staff to understand cryptocurrencies. With the addition of Church’s Chicken, more than 2,200 establishments in Venezuela accept DASH as payment.
• Crypto.com, a Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency payments platform, announced the appointment of former PayPal executive Tyson Hackwood to serve as the firm’s Vice President and Head of Global Merchant Acquisition in an official press release today. Crypto.com aims to increase cryptocurrency adoption by both merchants and consumers through their point-of-sale (PoS) transaction terminals. Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek believes that Hackwood will be integral in furthering this goal, saying, “As we develop the Crypto.com Chain to fulfill the current industry need to pay and be paid in crypto, Tyson will play an important role in expanding the number and quality of merchants that are part of our network.”
• Hyperledger, a notable blockchain consortium, is continuing its robust expansion after announcing the addition of 16 new members at the Hyperledger Global Forum in Basel, Switzerland. Among the notables to join the consortium are, Alibaba Cloud, Citigroup’s Citi Ventures arm, and Deutsche Telekom. The latest addition of 16 members brings the total membership of Hyperledger to more than 260 different companies. In a public statement, Hyperledger Executive Director Brian Behlendorf said that, “The growing Hyperledger community reflects the increasing importance of open source efforts to build enterprise blockchain technologies across industries and markets. The latest members showcase the widening interest in and impact of DLT and Hyperledger."
• Jeremy Henrickson, the former Chief Product Officer at Coinbase, has departed the US-based cryptocurrency exchange after serving since July 2016. “Jeremy’s contributions to Coinbase over the past two years were invaluable,” said a Coinbase spokesperson, adding that, “he helped to build our scrappy startup team into a high-functioning product and engineering organization -- overseeing a 5x+ growth of the team.” Henrickson’s departure comes after long-term Coinbase executives Adam White and Hunter Merghart left the US-based cryptocurrency exchange in recent months.
• LinkedIn’s, “2018 U.S. Emerging Jobs,” report released on Thursday ranks the role of blockchain developer as the fastest growing job in the United States. The report by LinkedIn indicates that blockchain developer jobs have increased 33-fold in the past 12 months alone. San Francisco, New York City, and Atlanta are among the cities with the highest demand for blockchain developer jobs.
• Orbs, a unique hybrid blockchain platform, raised more than USD$15mm in cryptocurrencies to fund its development of a public blockchain, according to a company blog post. South Korean application provider Kakao lead the fundraising efforts with a representative telling CoinDesk that the company, “always seeks to invest and support innovative startups, and Orbs is a good example.” In total, Orbs raised 139,000 Ether (ETH) and 892 Bitcoin (BTC), amounting to roughly USD$15.4mm. Orbs aims to build a public blockchain with this funding that is, “universal,” and, “scalable,” for decentralized applications (DApps) with the, “liquidity of a base layer.”
• Samsung has reportedly filed patent applications for three different blockchain-related trademark requests that all pertain directly to smartphones, according to news outlet Galaxy Club. Specifically, the patents named “Blockchain KeyStore”, “Blockchain Key Box”, and “Blockchain Core” all pertain to cryptocurrency custody capabilities on smartphones. This news comes amid the release of HTC’s Exodus 1 and Sirin Labs’ FINNEY, both of which are being marketed as blockchain smartphones with cryptocurrency custody capabilities.

​

[Policy]

1. The government of Transnistria plans for 100 MW of mining capacity and has already managed to secure the needed investments;
2. France's National Assembly has rejected a number of tax amendments aimed at lowering taxes for cryptocurrency traders and users;
3. Russian lawmakers have revised another bill which sets the maximum amount of money ordinary Russians will be permitted to invest in projects like ICOs at less than $9,000 per year;
4. UK tax agency publishes detailed guidance for crypto holders;

[Cryptocurrency]

1. Multiple EOS DApps were hacked on Dec 18 with nearly 300,000 EOS lost;
2. Citing data from Messari's OnChainFX, Dogecoin is third only to Bitcoin and Ethereum in terms of daily active addresses;
3. The price of BCHABC started to go up since the afternoon of December 18 and increased by more than $33.53 USDT, about 39.34%, from $85.21 USDT to $118.74 USDT on Binance within 24 hours.

[Exchange]

1. According to a report the Japanese Nikkei newspaper, Japan's Financial Services Agency (JFSA) has decided to approve Coincheck's application for a cryptocurrency exchange, but the official registration of Coincheck has not been confirmed.

[Others]

1. Odilon Almeida, the president of Western Union, revealed that Western Union is prepared to add cryptocurrencies when it's necessary;
2. U.S.-based venture capitalist Tim Draper has invested $1.25 million in OpenNode, a Bitcoin-only payments processing startup;
3. CSPay (Capital Payments), a third-party cryptocurrency payment platform, announced its formal entry into the Hong Kong market;
4. Dukascopy said on Dec 18th that it has become the first Swiss bank to win approval for an ICO by the Switzerland's financial market supervisor, FINMA;
5. Dai (DAI), Golem (GNT), Maker (MKR), and Zilliqa (ZIL) will be added to the Coinbase Professional platform but with some regional restrictions;
6. Tron founder Justin Sun said on China's Sina Weibo today on December 19 that he will help his friend, DAI Wei, CEO of the Chinese bike-sharing pioneer ofo, refund up to 10,000 users' deposits.
7. Telegram becomes a hub of crypto pump-and-dump schemes, study shows;
8. Goldman Sachs-funded startup Circle has recently published a third-party audit report of its dollar-pegged stable coin USDC.

Google Play
ITunes

[Policy] 1. Ukraine may impose a 5% tax on cryptocurrencies withdrawals from exchanges to fiat currencies. 2. Portions of SB300, which clarify the legal status of blockchain signatures and contracts were inserted as amendments into SB220, has now become law in Ohio.
[Cryptocurrency] 1. Bitcoin hashrate sets a record high above 50 Ehash on August 4th. 2. The UAE exchange BitOasis now supports ETC. 3. The HSR mainnet will go live at block height 936,086. 4. EOS unveils $1 million seed funding program at Sydney hackathon.
[Exchange] 1. Commission-free trading App Robinhood now supports ETC. 2. FCoin plans to repurchase 50M FTs through bulk trading platform with 0.0003 ETH for each FTs. 2. Upbit and Gopax are backed by South Korea’s largest bank and internet firm, Shinhan Bank and Kakao. 3. India's Crypto Exchange Zebpay has enabled Trueusd (TUSD) trading, deposit and withdrawal. 4. Binance supports YOYOW mainnet swap.
[Others] 1. Goldman Sachs mulls over custody services for crypto funds. 2. Bitmain confirms a new crypto mining facility in Texas, which may start operations next year at the earliest. 3. Wall Street Journal released a study which shows organized crypto "trading groups" manipulated markets to make $825 Million in the first 6 months of 2018. 4. Japan's Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA) has applied for "certified fund settlement business association" from FSA. 5. Bob Goodlatte, the member of the House, has come forward that he holds somewhere between $17,000 and $80,000 worth of cryptocurrency.

ENG 한국어 HOME WHITEPAPER PRODUCT DEMO TOKEN SALE TEAM NEWS Bonds on Blockchain Issue and Invest in Fixed Income Assets with Crypto Pre-sale is over READ MORE ON MEDIUM Join the public sale Invest any amount REGISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SALE Soft cap reached Read more TELEGRAM
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REDDIT Read the news FIC Pre-sale Status Announcement: ETH Raised & Mainnet Update FIC Pre-sale Status Announcement: ETH Raised & Mainnet Update More FIC Network: Mainnet Launch & SAFT Update FIC Network: Mainnet Launch & SAFT Update More Smith + Crown: FIC is uniquely positioned Smith + Crown: FIC is uniquely positioned More Astronaut Capital invests in FIC Astronaut Capital invests in FIC More Crush Crypto review: Good/Good Crush Crypto review: Good/Good More 1/10IT'S HUGE It’s time to launch the largest financial market for the crypto economy.
The global credit and fixed income financial market exceeds $230 trillion USD, (3x the global equity market size of $70 trillion USD)1.
The global cryptocurrency market size exceeds USD $480 billion2 without an infrastructure for crypto credit and fixed income products.
FIC is a new blockchain infrastructure, designed to create a global crypto and fiat currency credit and fixed income financial market for all global participants.
FIC will accelerate global economic growth by enabling financial institutions, businesses, and individuals to lend and borrow crypto and fiat assets, and securitize crypto and fiat debt.
1https://www.statista.com/statistics/247092/transaction-volume-of-debt-securities-on-the-global-bond-market/ 2https://coinmarketcap.com/charts/ FIC is a blockchain-based network that will enable users to list, buy, and sell any type of crypto or fiat fixed income financial instrument including: LoansBonds Collateralized Loan ObligationsLoan Syndication Credit Default SwapsFutures 2/10IT'S COMING
A combined crypto and fiat fixed income market makes the future crypto market mainstream and sustainable. Existing crypto coins and tokens are operating as currencies or utilities without a fixed-income offering. A crypto and fiat fixed income market can sustainably drive the crypto market into mainstream usage. Better than the conventional fixed income market FIC’s blockchain-based platform will allow users to list, buy, and sell any type of crypto or fiat fixed financial instruments avoiding the drawbacks of conventional fixed income markets such as friction, illiquidity, lack of interoperability, asymmetry of information and operational risks.
Merging crypto and fiat markets within one seamless network One, multi-currency, asset agnostic system with a built-in exchange allows users to operate in currencies of their preference, eliminating exposure to exchange rate risk and simplifying accounting. 3/10IT'S NO JOKE
Because we’re up and running We don’t just have a prototype, we have a business that already exists.
Because the market needs us It’s only a matter of time until the fixed income market will migrate to blockchain.
Because the market trusts us We have a full time team backed by world-class advisers, prominent investors, business media and conference presence. AS SEEN IN:
PARTNERS:
4/10THE MAKERS AND DOERS Arturs Ivanovs, FoundeCEO
Arturs Ivanovs is the founder of FIC Network, a fixed income infrastructure for cryptocurrencies and blockchain assets. He started the company in 2016 when he moved to New York City, attracting investments from Startupbootcamp Fintech NYC, Boost VC and other prominent investors.
He serves as advisor to Turing Funds, the first mainstream exchange traded fund of cryptocurrencies.
Before getting deeply involved in blockchain technology in 2015, his background includes fintech regulation in European Union. Arturs holds LLB in Law and Business from Riga Graduate School of Law.
Alvar Soosaar, Co-foundeCOO
Alvar is an experienced executive in the structuring and management of fixed income securities and portfolios. He previously managed a $7.8 billion portfolio of fixed income securities. He is an investor with over 20 years of experience in a variety of asset classes, including a particular interest in and involvement with early-stage startups.
Alvar holds an MBA from the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School and BA from the University of Virginia.
Ismail Malik, Advisor
Ismail is an ICO strategist and chairman of Blockchain Lab in London, UK. Blockchain Lab acts a specialized crypto development project partner for existing DLT projects. The Lab has a strong focus on R & D, primarily researching, secure embedded smart contract trusted execution environments on the Ethereum, Bitcoin and Corda blockchains.
Ismail is regarded as one of the World's most influential people within the Blockchain industry.
moreSEE ALL OF US 5/10HOW IT WORKS One coin to rule them all — a complete infrastructure for fixed income market on blockchain.
Expected Cash Flows (ECF) Investors can buy and trade single installments of loans. Multi-currency and crypto Conventional lenders will be able to receive investments in crypto. Blockchain transactions Auditability and transparency enables price discovery and opens vast amount of credit data. Instant Settlement The ledger closes and reconciles every 4-10 seconds instead of 3 and more days. moreDOWNLOAD WHITEPAPER 6/10SEE FOR YOURSELF Explore the demo version. moreDOWNLOAD THE APP 7/10YOU READY? The FIC Coin COIN NAME FIC HARD CAP USD 16m SOFT CAP 3,500 ETH FIC PRICE USD 0.0002 TOTAL COINS FOR SALE 150,000,000,000
Pre-sale: Ongoing Public sale: Coming Soon moreSALES MECHANICS 8/10WE'RE READY Roadmap Since the creation of the prototype in 2016, we have received investments from various leading fintech, crypto and startup investors as well as formed a full time team and launched an Alpha version of our app. ACHIEVED Q2 2016 Prototype idea drafted ACHIEVED Q2 2016 Factury Inc. Delaware Incorporated ACHIEVED Q2 2016 Startupbootcamp NYC TOP10 team worldwide ACHIEVED Q3 2016 BoostVC, the World's leading blockchain accelerator, invests ACHIEVED Q1 2017 Bialla Venture Partners invests ACHIEVED Q1 2017 European reach: subsidiary formed ACHIEVED Q1 2017 Full time team ACHIEVED Q3 2017 Testnet & App Alpha version ACHIEVED Q4 2017 Newblock fund & fintech angels invest UPCOMING Q1 2018 Token Sale Q4 2018 FIC Network & App Launched 9/10SEE YOU SOON Events & Roadshows Tokyo, Japan 6-10 MAY Seoul, Korea 29 APRIL - 5 MAY Seoul, Korea 2-7 APRIL TokenFest San Francisco, CA 15-16 MARCH London 8-9 MARCH World Blockchain & Token Summit Dubai 4-5 MARCH GibFin 27 FEBRUARY - 1 MARCH
moreCONTACT US 10/10KEEP AROUND READ THE NEWS
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Enter your Email Terms of Use Privacy policy Terms of Token Sale Important Note: An investment in our SAFT or FICs (the “Coins”) involves a high degree of risk and uncertainty. You should consider carefully all of the risks including, but not limited to, the risk the Company may not successfully develop the FIC Network or may cease operations all together, the risks related to investing in untested technologies and startup companies, the risks related to illiquid and volatile investments like Coins, the uncertain tax and regulatory treatment of Coins, the risks related to the security and stability of the Ethereum network, the risks related to coin wallets and exchanges, and the risks related to a coin holder’s lack of governance rights. YOU SHOULD CONSIDER THESE RISKS TOGETHER WITH ALL OF THE OTHER INFORMATION CONTAINED IN OUR FULL TERMS OF TOKEN SALE AND SAFT BEFORE MAKING AN INVESTMENT DECISION. This site or product includes IP2Location LITE data available from http://lite.ip2location.com.
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