S&P Dow Jones Launches 5 More Crypto Indexes Expanding Its Digital Asset Tools

S&P Dow Jones Indices launched five new cryptocurrency indexes on Tuesday, marking the companys first significant expansion of its digital asset benchmarking tools since entering the market in May.  S&P Dow Jones Launch New Indexes  The worlds largest index provider, S&P Dow Jones Indices, announced the launch of five new cryptocurrency indices on Tuesday. In total, the organization presently has eight cryptocurrency indices.  A “broad digital market,” or BDM, index, which comprises over 240 coins, is the centerpiece of the tranche, according to a press statement. An S&P spokeswoman told CoinDesk, “The new subindices also provide multiple slices and dices of the BDM by market cap so that investors may watch different areas of the market.”  The “index is supposed to reflect a broad investable universe,” according to S&P‘s website. Lukka, S&P’s crypto data partner, did not immediately answer to CoinDesk‘s request for comment. According to CoinGecko, HXRO is the 240th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, while it’s unclear whether S&Ps selection criteria are based on size.  The second subset is the “S&P Cryptocurrency BDM Ex-Megacap Index” which excludes the constituents of the S&P Cryptocurrency Megacap Index. The crypto megacap index measures the performance of bitcoin and ethereum.  Another index being launched is the “S&P Cryptocurrency

2021-07-14Deep Dive

Record: UK Police Seized Nearly $250M Worth of Cryptocurrencies

The British police confiscated £180 million or about $250 million worth of digital assets as part of a thorough investigation for money laundering. The operation was marked as the largest seizure ever executed in the United Kingdom.  Breaking The Record  According to a recent Reuters report, the Mets Economic Crime Command made one of the largest global crypto seizures – nearly $250 million worth of various digital assets. The operation, which was part of an ongoing investigation for international money laundering, was led by Detective Constable Joe Ryan:  “Todays seizure is another significant landmark in this investigation which will continue for months to come as we hone in on those at the center of this suspected money laundering operation.”  It is worth noting that this move broke the previous record when the British police seized about $160 million worth of virtual assets at the end of June. Back then, a 39-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of money laundering offenses and later released on bail. Somewhat surprisingly, the UK authorities interviewed under caution the same woman regarding the latest record seizure.  Deputy Assistant Commissioner Graham McNulty noted that more and more criminals nowadays employ cryptocurrencies in their illegal endeavors. However, he outlined that the British

2021-07-14Deep Dive

Regulations Could be Healthy for Crypto, Says Bitmain’s Former CEO Jihan Wu

Jihan Wu, the founder and former CEO of the crypto mining company Bitmain, believes regulations are necessary for the cryptocurrency industry. In fact, they could be beneficial for the space as it would isolate it from bad actors and fraudulent activities.  Wu: Crypto Regulations Are Healthy  The topic of implementing a legislative framework around the crypto market has become wildly discussed in the past year or so as prices blossomed to new highs. Global watchdogs have dabbled with various propositions, but most have failed to execute them so far.  Jihan Wu is among those who believe that the market could actually prosper even more once clear regulations go into effect. Speaking to CNBC, he classified the current regulatory pressure as “very healthy” as it could help with criminals.  “I think the regulatory pressure is stronger than before, but it will get a lot of bad actors out of the industry and make sure that the industrys reputation is much better than without it. So I think this kind of a crackdown may be a good thing for the industry in the long term.”  While commenting on the crypto growth in the US particularly, Wu indicated that “more than 10% of the United States citizens have

2021-07-14Deep Dive

Ripple insists on deposing former high-ranking SEC official as part of XRP lawsuit

Ripple Labs, the blockchain company behind the XRP token that is currently locked in a $1.3 billion legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has rescheduled the deposition of William Hinman, the SECs former director of Division of Corporation Finance, to July 19, according to court filing published last Friday.  “Mr. Hinman‘s deposition has been re-noticed for July 19, 2021, to accommodate his availability,” stated Ripple’s lawyers in their filing.  As CryptoSlate reported, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs and its executives—CEO Brad Garlinghouse and executive chairman Chris Larsen—in late 2020. The regulator alleged that defenders have “raised over $1.3 billion through an unregistered, ongoing digital asset securities offering”—in the form of XRP— since 2013.   Ripple wants to know more  As part of its defense, Ripple wants the SEC to explain why XRP is allegedly being treated differently from other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). Namely, the company points to a statement that Hinman made in 2018, suggesting that both BTC and ETH shouldnt be considered securities due to their inherent decentralization.  “When I look at Bitcoin today, I do not see a central third party whose efforts are a key determining factor in the enterprise.

2021-07-13Deep Dive

What Is Fueling The Constant Growth Of Binance Smart Chain?

Competition is healthy in any technological industry. Cryptocurrencies and blockchain are no exception to this unwritten rule. The growth of Binance Smart Chain throughout 2020 and 2021 has been remarkable and shows no signs of slowing down just yet.  The Ongoing Success Of Binance Smart Chain  Developers have multiple blockchain ecosystems to explore for building new applications, products, and services. However, until very recently, Ethereum was the only blockchain worth noting, even though smaller ecosystems have provided support for smart contracts and the likes. Ethereum is a developer-oriented ecosystem capable of facilitating many use cases, ideas, and products. Unfortunately, the network suffers from scaling issues and high transaction fees.  Despite those shortcomings, hundreds, if not thousands, are building on Ethereum‘s technology stack. Some will do so directly, whereas others explore opportunities on Layer 2 levels to achieve better scaling and efficiencies. Although this model works, Etheruem’s dominance has come under threat from competing ecosystems, Mainly Binance Smart Chain is of great interest lately, particularly for decentralized finance and NFT purposes.  The main reasons why people flock to Binance Smart Chain is its better scaling and far lower transaction costs. Whereas completing actions on Ethereum can cost up to $200, performing the same activity on

2021-07-13Deep Dive

Green energy-focused Bitcoin miner Hive joins North American mining pool

Hive aims to take advantage of the East-to-West shift in Bitcoin mining power after regulators in China have renewed efforts to crack down on the industry.  Following its approval for a Nasdaq listing, Canadian Hive Blockchain Technologies has bought more than 3,000 Bitcoin (BTC) mining rigs to get involved in the Bitcoin mining shift from East to West.  Purchased from Digital Currency Group subsidiary Foundry Digital LLC, the 3,019 MicroBT M30S miners acquired as part of the deal are already located at Hives facilities in Lachute, Quebec and Grand Falls, New Brunswick. Foundry will be issued cash and 1.5 million warrants of Hive, according to an official announcement.  Hives new hash power will join the Foundry USA Pool, which includes Blockcap, Hut 8, Bitfarms and Foundry as participants.  Noting the massive migration of mining power from China to the United States and Canada, Hive executive chairman Frank Holmes said that the firm‘s entry into a North American mining pool furthers the company’s goal of increased transparency and accountability with its partners.  “We are excited to have Hive as a partner for the Foundry USA Pool as we continue playing our part in securing the global bitcoin mining network,” Foundry CEO Mike Colyer added.  The announcement says

2021-07-13Deep Dive

Resurgence of Running Away: Three Exchanges Turn to Be Abnormal!

Many countries have tightened up the regulation on exchanges in cryptocurrency trading recently, which makes incompetent ones find nowhere to hide. Therefore, they plan to reap profits and run away, giving rise to the trend of escape!  Please be alert to three exchanges listed herein that have been problematic recently:  ZGK: According to a harmed investor, the platform notified him that his account was frozen because its risk control system was triggered when he applied for withdrawals. He was required to pay for the capital verification by the customer service, and his account could not be unfrozen until the verification was passed.  DCP: According to a harmed user, his withdrawals have been unsuccessful on this platform for half a year but the customer service have always been perfunctory. In addition, the website cannot be accessible at present.  Folgory: According to a harmed trader, he has applied for withdrawals but failed to pass the verification. It has been over 30 days since then! He has reported this to the police and waits for their results.  All these platforms feature low ratings on WikiBit, indicative of their high risks!  As a reminder, WikiBit is ready to help you search the qualifications and reputation of projects to protect you

2021-07-13Deep Dive

First CBDC Coming To Africa As Ghana Plans to Launch Pilot in September

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) will launch its central bank digital currency project‘s pilot in September, according to the Bank’s First deputy governor, Maxwell Opuku-Afari.  Modern Ghana, a local news outlet, reported that the deputy governor said the project is currently in its last phase of development, and implementation is expected to start in two months time.  “The pilot phase is expected to start by September and the success rate will determine the next step.”  The project is aimed at transforming the West African developing nation into a cash-lite environment. It is also intended to enhance financial inclusion, encourage competition in the financial sector and promote both the efficiency and stability of the payment system.  The governor said that to better understand how the post-pandemic era will affect monetary policies, the BoG has decided to design the CBDC with all the security features.  “We have started it in a pilot phase through what we call a sand-box to learn lessons before we open it up to the general public.”  The BoG partnered with the digital transformation consortium Emtech back in February to launch the sandbox which focuses on blockchain technology, central bank digital currencies, and financial inclusion. Emtechs other partners include Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Lenovo, and

2021-07-13Deep Dive

Top-15 Crypto Exchanges Register 51% Decline in Trading Volume

Cryptocurrency trading volumes on major exchanges fell by more than 40% in June aided by the market crash in May and the ongoing crackdown in China. As the Bitcoin slump continued, a daily volume maximum of $138.23bn was traded on 22nd of June, down 42.3% from the intra-month high in May.  According to data from London-based researcher CryptoCompare, spot trading volumes fell to $2.7 trillion with derivatives volumes down to $3.2 trillion (40.7%).  On average, a 51.6% decrease was registered on the 15 largest crypto exchanges in June. This was also seen for BTC and ETH futures open interest, which were down 31.8% and 29.3% respectively.  “Headwinds continued as China persisted with its crackdown on bitcoin mining,” CryptoCompare said. “As a result of both lower prices and volatility, spot volumes decreased.”  As Chinas stringent crackdown to rein in cryptocurrency began in May this year, Bitcoin fell by almost 35% and volatility in the market reached a new peak.  “Aggregate open interest fell for the second month in a row, from a weekly average of $27.8bn in May to $16.4bn in June (40.9% decline). This is adjacent with the continued fall in price in cryptocurrency markets, as Bitcoin saw a 6.0% decline during June.”  In June, Bitcoin

2021-07-13Deep Dive

Tech Titans Kakao, Naver and SK in Battle to Test South Korean CBDC

Some of South Korea‘s biggest tech and telecommunications giants will duke it out for the right to pilot the central Bank of Korea (BOK)’s forthcoming digital won.  Per KBS and Chosun, the bidding process has become a “three-way battle” between the search engine and chat app operator Naver, the chat app service, banking and e-commerce firm Kakao and the telecom heavyweight SK.  The BOK has now closed the bidding, with consortiums or solo bids led by Kakao‘s blockchain subsidiary Ground X, the Naver affiliate Line Plus and SK’s SK Cs own IT services and blockchain subsidiary, Samsung SDS, reportedly dropped out of the bidding process.  Both Kakao and LG have created digital won-compatible platforms, and appear keen to begin doing digital currency-related business.  The BOK is set to announce its decision on which of the bids to accept before the end of the month. The winning consortium or company will conduct a 10-month pilot beginning in August.  The BOK wants operators to test its prototype central bank digital currency (CBDC) in areas such as cross-border remittance, “digital asset” purchasing and offline payments, as well as bank deposits and e-commerce payments.  The pilot, the BOK said, will be divided into two stages. The first will check the

2021-07-13Deep Dive
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