Weekly Crypto Market Update

• Bitcoin’s dominance is down by 0.9% (65.2%), the total market cap is up by 3.6% ($287bn)‚ and overall volume is down by 17% ($51bn) on the previous week. Bitcoin is down by 11%, Ethereum by 26%, XRP is down by 21%, and Litecoin by 26%. The best performers among the top-30 crypto were V Systems (16.2%) and Bitcoin Gold (4.6%).

• Fidelity’s Arm Has Officially Applied to Operate in New York as Trust

• Bakkt’s Test Net Launch on Monday

• Iran to Launch Gold-Backed State Cryptocurrency

• Bitcoin Networkis Moving $3 Billion daily, up 210% since April

• Securitize Publishes Adoption Report

• France to Approve First ICO Issuers

• Bitcoin is Now Officially a Virtual Property in China

• US Secretary of Treasury Mnuchin Comments on Crypto

• CFTC to Investigate Crypto Derivatives Exchange BitMEX

 

Market Momentum

 

 

 

 

Crypto Market News

Fidelity’s Crypto Arm Has Officially Applied to Operate in New York as a Trust

Fidelity Digital Assets Services has officially applied to the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) for a Trust licence, according to several sources familiar with the matter. If its application is successful, Fidelity Digital Assets (FDAS) would be cleared to add New York to the handful of states in which it currently operates its custody business for digital assets.

Bakkt’s Test Net Launch on Monday

Testing of Bakkt's long-awaited bitcoin futures product is set to start today, according to a blog post penned by its Chief Operating Officer Adam White. The physically-delivered futures product was originally set to go live at the end of 2018 but has been set back by regulatory hurdles. Still, White says Bakkt's solution addresses the market pain points elsewhere in the nascent cryptocurrency market. 

Binance Adds Support for Staking of Stellar

The largest crypto exchange by adjusted trading volume, Binance, announced that it will be supporting Stellar (XLM) staking from 20th July.

Iran to Launch Gold-Backed State Cryptocurrency

The Tehran News agency has reported that Iran intends to launch a gold-backed cryptocurrency. The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) approved the issuance last week.

Bitcoin Network is Moving $3 Billion daily, up 210% since April

 

SECURITY TOKEN NEWS

Securitize Publishes Adoption Report

Security token platform Securitize has published an adoption report affirming the growing traction in the security token space. Securitize has signed 43 clients, with nine of the clients having already issued close to $200m worth of tokens, which are held by 1,500 investors.

 

REGULATORY NEWS

UK Regulator Looking to Hire Series of Crypto Specialists

The FCA, which serves as the UK’s financial regulatory body, is looking to boost their involvement in cryptoassets and cryptoasset-related businesses. According to a job posting, it is looking to hire a Crypto Intelligence Associate to join its Intelligence Services Team. It is also seeking a “Crypto Asset Specialist Supervisor” as part of its efforts to build “a new team” dedicated to digital assets within the Financial Crime department.

France to Approve First ICO Issuers

France’s financial watchdog is poised to approve a first tranche of cryptocurrency-related companies under new rules on digital coins, some of the first such regulations to be launched by a major economy.

“We are in talks with three or four candidates for initial coin offerings” said Anne Marechal, executive director for legal affairs at the Financial Market Authority.

Bitcoin is Now Officially a Virtual Property in China

A Chinese court in Hangzhou ruled that bitcoin belongs to virtual property, which observers see as a first-ever judgement by a Chinese authority on cryptocurrency.

US Secretary of the Treasury Mnuchin Commentson Crypto

Steven Mnuchin, the United States Secretary of the Treasury, just concluded an official briefing on crypto regulation and various security issues related to assets like bitcoin and Libra. Echoing the statement released by U.S. President Donald Trump a few days ago, Mnuchin reaffirmed the speculative nature of cryptoassets. Mnuchin cited serious security issues regarding bitcoin and other cryptoassets, stating that the use of cryptocurrency to support illicit activity is a “national security issue.”

CFTC to Investigate Crypto Derivatives Exchange BitMEX

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is reportedly probing Seychelles-based crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX to determine whether it has  broken rules by allowing U.S traders onto its platform. As the table below shows, the 24h outflow from the BitMEX has seen a huge increase compared to another exchanges in the space.