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BEGINNING BANKRUPTCY: Ernst and Young (EY), the court-appointed monitor for QuadrigaCX, is moving to place the exchange in bankruptcy. According to its latest report, published Tuesday, the exchange is unlikely to emerge after the restructuring process it is currently undergoing, and bankruptcy would be cheaper and more efficient. EY also moved to freeze assets belonging to Jennifer Robertson, the widow of Quadriga founder Gerald Cotten, and hinted that its investigation into the exchange's missing funds was coming to an end. Full Story
PAYPAL FIRST: Online payments giant PayPal has made its first-ever investment in a blockchain technology company. Announced today, PayPal has joined the extension of a Series A funding round in Cambridge Blockchain, a startup that helps financial institutions and other companies manage sensitive data using shared ledgers. Neither PayPal nor Cambridge Blockchain disclosed the investment amount, but recent filings with the SEC indicate that Cambridge Blockchain has raised a total of $3.5 million in new equity from several investors over the past nine months. Full Story
STEALTH LAUNCH: Coinbase has quietly launched a “fast and free” payments service for its users. For the service, the exchange is using XRP and the USDC stablecoin, launched last fall by Circle affiliate CENTRE. Coinbase customers will have access to the no-fee service when sending to other users of the exchange. “It’s primarily designed as an educational resource for customers to learn about the benefits of using crypto for cross-border payments,” a company representative said. Full Story
XRP ETP: An exchange-traded product (ETP) tracking the price of the XRP cryptocurrency has gone live on Switzerland’s primary stock exchange SIX. Amun AG, the provider of the product, announced the news on Tuesday, saying that the XRP ETP had started trading on the exchange under the ticker symbol AXRP. With today’s launch, Amun AG now has a total of four cryptocurrency ETP products listed on the SIX exchange. The firm said it plans to add more crypto ETPs and indices later this year. Full Story
CRYPTO BANK: A new Puerto Rico-based institution catering to traders of cryptocurrency, has just accepted its first client deposit. Licensed last month as an international financial entity in the U.S. territory, San Juan Mercantile Bank & Trust International will provide custody and settlement services for both fiat and crypto traded on the exchange. A unit of Mercantile Global Holdings, the bank is not FDIC insured, but a spokesperson told CoinDesk it will place clients’ deposits at correspondent banks that are. Full Story
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| MARKET SHIFT: Bitcoin jumped this morning to 4.5-month highs near $5,080, confirming a transition from a bearish to a bullish market. While positive for the bulls, the trend change would gain credence if and when prices break above the former support-turned-resistance of the 21-month EMA, currently lined up at $5,200. If signs of bullish exhaustion emerge in the next few days, though, prices will likely consolidate in the range of $4,400–$4,700. Full Story |
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BEST OF THE BEST
MYSTERY WHALE: Just one mystery buyer may have triggered the frenzied buying that saw bitcoin surge to 4.5-month highs today. According to Reuters, BCB Group CEO Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie said the sudden rise to over $5,000 in a matter of an hour was likely kicked off by an algorithmic order for around $100 million divided into smaller buys at the Coinbase, Kraken and Bitstamp exchanges. “There has been a single order that has been algorithmically-managed across these three venues, of around 20,000 BTC,” he said.
THE REST
ISLAND AGENTS: Malta has approved in principle the first 14 agents that will help crypto companies set up on the island under its Virtual Financial Assets Act. The agents are planned as a “first line of defense” against financial crime and market risk, carrying out due diligence of clients, as well as helping them prepare and submit their licensing applications. The Malta Financial Services Authority said the move was an “important milestone” in its drive to build a regulatory framework that “caters for all fields of risk.”
BING BAN: Microsoft’s web search engine Bing blocked more than 5 million ads relating to cryptocurrencies last year. In a 2018 overview, Bing Ads said that, with the lack of regulatory oversight and the pseudonymous nature of bitcoin and its crypto peers, cryptocurrency investors had become a “prime target for fraudsters and scam artists” after the bull market early in the year. As a result, it took the decision to ban all crypto content from the platform. |
WHO WON #CRYPTOTWITTER  |
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Spring is here?