This week bitcoin’s price carried on toward new yearly highs as price interest increased. Other headlines from the week include a Binance hack, Fidelity BTC trading, a Bitfinex IEO and more. Catch up on this week!
Fidelity goes all in crypto, Bitfinex to launch an IEO, how to Win 1 BTC
In fall of 2018, mainstream giant Fidelity Investments unveiled plans to start up digital asset trading and custody, via its new endeavor – Fidelity Digital Assets.
March 8 saw Fidelity launch custody services for bitcoin. The company also plans to provide institutional bitcoin trading in the coming weeks, according to a Bloomberg post.
In other news, information reached the public on Bitfinex’s initial exchange offering (IEO). Bitfinex looks to raise as much as $1 billion in funds, according to a tweet from shareholder Zhao Dong. The exchange’s token sale has now been officially confirmed through the release of a whitepaper by IFinex, Inc., Bitfinex’s parent company.
The embattled exchange reportedly plans to sell an asset named LEO, a utility token used to lower fees on the exchange.
Additionally, a headline came in this week revealing the Gemini exchange’s plans to give away one BTC to the person who can capture the best picture of the Gemini Crypto Bus, which can be found roaming the streets of San Francisco, Chicago and Washington D.C. This contest appears to be part of an initiative supported by the Gemini Trust Co., which involves developing progressive regulations for cryptoassets.
Ether futures contract coming soon, more Bitfinex drama, PepsiCo tries out blockchain
Ethereum futures trading might see approval from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in the coming days, “according to an anonymous senior official familiar with the matter,” Crypto Insider reported. More news also hit in the Bitfinex department as previous Minnesota Vikings owner Reggie Fowler “was supposedly involved in processing unregulated transactions on behalf of Bitfinex,” Crypto Insider noted. Fowler faces charges of bank fraud and charges associated with running a money transmitting business without a license. Additionally, mainstream giant PepsiCo ran a test to see if blockchain tech might help its industry “in the automated buying and selling of online advertising space,” Crypto Insider reported. Read on Crypto Insider
Blockchain adoption: Canada, Russia, and Starbucks to use distributed ledger tech
The Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Desjardins Group and Toronto-Dominion Bank now offer blockchain-based digital identity technology for customers through Verified.Me. Made by SecureKey Technologies Inc., the system works via a mobile app for customers of the aforementioned banks. Russia is also looking into using blockchain in relation to voting. “The Moscow City Duma, a local parliament of the Russian capital city, is planning to protect the process and results of an electronic voting system using blockchain technology in the university student council elections towards the end of June,” Crypto Insider reported. Coffee powerhouse Starbucks is looking into blockchain these days. The coffee provider has paired up with Microsoft to make use of machine learning to find out what customers like, as well as working with blockchain for the coffee supply chain. Read on Crypto Insider
Binance no longer #safu: Hackers steal 7000 BTC
One of crypto’s largest exchanges, Binance, faced a 7,000 bitcoin hack this week. Valued at about $40 million at press time, the theft equaled roughly 2% of the exchange’s hot wallet bitcoin funds. Binance’s blog post on the event stated, “Hackers were able to obtain a large number of user API keys, 2FA codes, and potentially other info. The hackers used a variety of techniques, including phishing, viruses and other attacks. We are still concluding all possible methods used.” Binance CEO “CZ” has communicated with the public throughout the aftermath of the situation, with the team looking into the mishap further.
Read more at: https://cryptoinsider.com/weekly-roundup-may-6-may-10/
