Crypto Recap Feb 6: US Regulators Embrace Blockchain, Jubilant Mood

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• HOT! Coinbase Begins Final Testing Phase for Segwit
• HOT! No Plans from Australia’s Largest Banks to Ban Crypto Purchases
• HOT! New Study Shows No Correlation Between Tethers and BTC Price
• HOT! Crypto Space Reacts Positively to US Senate Hearing
• No Strong Case to Ban Cryptocurrency Trading — Deputy PM of Singapore
• Waves Platform to Enter Southeast Asian Cryptocurrency Markets
• Baracoin Partners with Stellar to Bring Financial Services to Africa
• SEC’s Jay Clayton Testimony Today Gets Expertly Summarized
• $75 Million Mining Facility to Be Built in Montana
• Singapore Airlines Embraces Blockchain Technology
• UAE Regulator Issues Warning on ICO Risks
• Carbon Wallet Is Now Live with Zcash and Bitcoin Cash
• LTC Hashrate and Network Security on a Record Breaking Spree
• Japan’s First Ever Online Bank Pilots the Blockchain Technology
• Harbor Raises $10 Million for Crypto-Securities Compliance Protocol Project
• Indian Government to Use Blockchain to Deal With Fake Education Certificates
• Virgin Money Bans Credit Card Bitcoin Purchases
• Crypto Trader Sues T-Mobile for Failing to Prevent Theft
• IOTA Foundation Welcomes Financial Expert Mark Sulavka

Market Summary

When it comes to innovation, the United States is the global benchmark, and Tuesday’s testimonies by CFTC’s Giancarlo and SEC’s Clayton on cryptocurrencies showed beyond any doubt that regulators in the US are embracing the blockchain revolution. In their own words, the potential for the technology to disrupt the efficiency on how enterprises, charities, governments conduct day-to-day activities is ‘enormous’, which by itself is a description that attests to their stance of full endorsement towards the sector.

As a result, we saw a healthy comeback in the valuation of crypto assets, with Bitcoin and Ethereum traveling at similar speeds north-bound, landing at price levels just over $7,500 and $750 respectively. In terms of top assets by market cap, the outliers, to name a few, included Neo, Nem, Icon, ZCash, Sia, Walton, Dragon Chain, all up to the tune of ~20%, while on the flip side, Bitcoin Cash / Gold, Augur, Cardan, DigixDAO, Populous saw very little buying interest in comparison.

One of the moments that best represents the endorsement by US regulators towards blockchain technology saw both CFTC’s Giancarlo and SEC’s Clayton agree on the enormous potential for the application of the technology. The overall positive tone by key players in the US regulatory space lays the ground for a potential inflection point on how policy-makers perceive the potential of the technology, strengthening the case for an increase of adoption.

There were notes of caution and readiness to tackle the crypto market with tougher regulations if warranted. For example, CFTC’s Giancarlo said that “while scams and fraudsters must be cracked down, the general market must be allowed to develop. A working group of SEC, FINCEN, CFTC and other group members are working on identifying scams in this space.”

It was such the appreciation and jubilant mood in the crypto community towards the candy remarks of CFTC’s Giancarlo, that Reddit user Lifeistooshor1 led an initiative to action by suggesting to follow J. Christopher Giancarlo, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Twitter and show him their appreciation of his remarks during the US Senate Banking Committee hearing. The number of followers of Chairman Giancarlo skyrocketed from 5K to nearly 8K in the last couple of hours.

While the testimony by US regulators was at the epicenter of today’s talk without a doubt, a variety of other industry-wide news continues to back up sentiment. We learned that Coinbase announced that it has begun the final testing phase for SegWit. Once finalized, customers will now have the facility to implement SegWit compatible send/receive BTC transactions. The Deputy PM in Singapore said that there is no strong case to ban cryptocurrency trading in the country. Also, Singapore’s largest airline operator is going to use the blockchain technology to boost their loyalty wallet.

In the US, Crypto Watt is planning to build a huge mining facility in Montana, with over $75 mill to be invested. In Japan, the Japan Net Bank, Limited, the first online Japanese bank, announced that they were going to be taking part in a Proof of Concept project with Tech Bureau, a fintech and cryptocurrency solutions company. In India, the government is planning to launch a blockchain powered system, IndiaChain, to tackle the problem of fake education certificates and degrees by implementing a digital certification.

On the hot topic of credit card bans, as is well known, many high profile banks continue to outright ban the buying of cryptocurrencies through credit cards citing volatility and debt risks. JP Morgan Chase & Co., Llyods, Bank of America, Citigroup all banned cryptocurrencies purchases on their credit cards, with Virgin Money, a financial services company that operates in the United Kingdom, Australia, and South Africa, joining too.

However, major Australian banks on Tuesday came out with statements announcing that they were not planning to take a similar measure as of yet. For instance, a spokesperson for ANZ Bank told ABC News: “ANZ does not prohibit customers buying digital or cryptocurrencies, or accepting them as a form of payment.” Also in Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada’s largest lender by assets, spokeswoman Julie Bellisimo announced that the bank would continue to allow such purchases using a TD credit or debit card.

Looking at fresh developments by crypto projects, the most relevant include: Waves Platform entered the Indonesian market by partnering with Tokenomy. In some exciting news, it has been noted that Segwit adoption is almost up to 20% now, while the lightning network mainnet has crossed 500 nodes. Baracoin announced a partnership with Stellar to bring financial services to Africa. LTC Foundation Director and Lead Designer, Franklyn Richards, tweeted about Litecoin’s hashrate and network security. It turns out that Litecoin’s hashrate just crossed 130 TH/s. Monero might soon approve the first ever community recommended wallet for iOS - Cake Wallet -, which promises a simple interface, create new wallets and restore existing ones. CFO and Co-Founder of ARK, Lars Rensing recently wrote a blog post talking about the partnership between ARK and, decentralized crypto exchange, Blockport. In Status, interesting updates and tidbits came to the surface during the Status Town Hall. Meanwhile, Matthew Spoke, Founder of Aion, gave an interview to the YouTube channel The Blockchainers.

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