SAFE HARBOR: SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce is proposing a safe harbor for token projects, potentially giving startups a way to raise money without running afoul of U.S. securities laws. Under Pierce's proposal, crypto startups would have a three-year grace period from their first token sale to achieve a level of decentralization sufficient to pass through the agency’s securities evaluations. Full story
WREAKING HAVOC: Pseudonymous researcher Hasu has warned of a potential new attack on the bitcoin network, which he calls "Purge" after the B-movie franchise. “Purge attacks probably don’t constitute a bigger risk than other known forms of sabotage attacks, but seem like an interesting spin," Hasu said. Full story
BITCOIN STACKS: Blockstack is rolling out a consensus mechanism for its decentralized app-friendly blockchain that will require miners to pay in bitcoin rather than electricity (as bitcoin's miners do). "We accept bitcoin as the most secure blockchain in the world. We accept a world where this will continue to be the case," Blockstack CEO Muneeb Ali told CoinDesk in a phone call. Full story
VIRAL EFFECTS: The coronavirus outbreak in China may impact on the bitcoin network’s mining activity, say local miners, who together control 65 percent of bitcoin's total computing power. Full story
FIRST WORD: Telegram, the messaging app company currently facing a legal fight with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over its $1.7 billion token sale, revealed more details about the technical specifications underpinning its TON blockchain Wednesday. Full story
BEATING BITCOIN: Bitcoin prices surged to three-month highs above $9,700 yesterday, though altcoins have seen the real gains. Ether saw 9 percent daily gains and bitcoin offshoots bitcoin cash (BCH) and bitcoin SV (BSV) have cracked double-digit returns. Full story
SPACEY IDEA: In addition to covering the top crypto news of the day, CoinDesk's Adam B Levine and John Biggs discuss SpaceX's proposition to let anyone book a rocket launch with bids starting at $1 million, on today's Markets Daily. Listen in
Token harbor