The Month in Crypto — September 18

$60M hack in Japan, Bitcoin ETF postponed, Winklevoss stablecoin, xRapid release drives ripple up 70%.

The News

• The Zaif exchange in Japan was hacked, with $60 million stolen. This is the second major hack in Japan this year. prtimes
• Another bitcoin ETF proposal, originally filed by the CBOE and thought to be the most likely to succeed, was postponed for a second time by the SEC. coindesk
• The Winklevoss twins released a cryptocurrency that is pegged to the USD. Is it the first ‘stablecoin’ to have received a license from the New York Department of Financial Services. It will be backed by USD held by State Street. cnbc
• Ripple, the company behind the third most valuable cryptocurrency (XRP), hinted that they will release a highly anticipated new product called xRapid. The product will use XRP as a liquidity source. The anticipation has driven the price of XRP up 70% over the last month, making it one of the best performing cryptocurrencies in September. cnbc
• Bitmain, the mining hardware giant filed for IPO in Hong Kong, following months of speculation. Documentation reveals they made $2.8 billion in revenue over the first six months of 2018. techcrunch

Capital

• Veem, the bitcoin payments company, raised $25 million in a round led by Goldman Sachs, with Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins and Silicon Valley Bank participating. forbes
• A16z invested $15 million in the MakerDAO project, a stablecoin that is powered by smart contracts built on the ethereum blockchain. medium

Adoption

• AT&T announced a suite of blockchain services for enterprise clients using technology built by IBM and Microsoft. att
• Google reversed a ban on cryptocurrency related advertisements. cnbc
• The CEO of Fidelity Investments, the world’s fourth-largest asset management firm, announced they will roll out blockchain and crypto services before the end of 2018. cryptodaily
• New York University became the first university to offer a blockchain major. cointelegraph
• Japanese financial giant, SBI Holdings announced they are testing a cryptocurrency to enable mobile retail purchases. sbigroup

Market:

The market continued to fall in September, reaching new overall lows of $186B. The market again showed extreme volatility, falling 15% in 24 hours following rumours that Goldman Sachs will close their bitcoin trading platform. The CFO of Goldman later claimed that as ‘fake news’ (techcrunch). The market slightly recovered and overall is 8% down in September. Bitcoin fell 9% over the month and finished at $6,580 USD. Ethereum performed worse, falling 20% and finishing the month at $230 USD.