February 1, 2021 The top stories in bitcoin, crypto and more – all in one place, delivered daily. By Daniel Kuhn If you were forwarded this newsletter and would like to receive it, sign up here.
Three stories India’s Parliament is considering a bill that would ban “private,” non-sovereign currencies, including cryptocurrencies. This is the latest attack on the growing crypto industry in the country after a two-year ban was overturned by the country’s supreme court in March 2020, CoinDesk’s Tanzeel Akhtar reports.
Switzerland now lets tokenized securities trade on a blockchain with the same legal standing as traditional assets. The law, which went into effect today, treats tokenized securities as a new asset class providing legal ownership rights to investors via a blockchain, CoinDesk journalist Ian Allison reports.
Visa is exploring ways to make cryptocurrencies more “safe, useful and applicable.” In an earnings call, Visa CEO Al Kelly said the payments giant’s strategy “is to work with wallets and exchanges” to enable users to buy and cash out crypto “using their Visa credentials.”
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At stake Silver lining? This morning, silver traded above $30 an ounce, after being promoted on Twitter and Reddit all weekend. Similar spikes occurred in crypto markets last week. Dogecoin went parabolic, briefly entering the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap. Perhaps this isn’t so surprising for a coin that’s little more than a meme, as world’s richest man Elon Musk said on Clubhouse last night. Bitcoin also benefited from internet exuberance after Musk updated his Twitter bio to just #bitcoin on Friday. A surge to $38,000 wiped out $387 million worth of short positions, though the momentum didn't last long. Even comments from Musk last night that bitcoin is “a good thing” have failed to move the needle. While it appears WallStreetBets has yet to rally behind bitcoin, despite repeated calls for hivemind price action to send it to the moon, XRP did. As CoinDesk’s Omkar Godbole reported, the Buy & Hold XRP Telegram group, founded on Saturday, successfully orchestrated a classic pump and dump of the beleaguered cryptocurrency. The crypto hit a two-month high, erasing much of the value lost after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed suit against Ripple Labs, which holds a significant chuck of XRP. (Ripple responded to SEC allegations on Friday, arguing “the functionality and liquidity of XRP are wholly incompatible with securities regulation.”) But as of press time, XRP is down 40%, showing the limits of coordinated buying. It’s unknown why the price tanked, though “it’s quite possible that a whale (large investor) took advantage of the price rise and dumped his holdings,” Godbole noted. Is it all bad? Well, as Bloomberg noted, at least part of the reason silver didn’t go higher was the trouble in sourcing and moving its physical stock. Overwhelmed dealers said they were unable to process orders due to unprecedented demand. Clarifying his thoughts on bitcoin, famed investor Ray Dalio noted its strength as a gold-like "storehold" of value. Unlike other alternatives, bitcoin is easily transferred and can be privately held. You could call that a silver lining for digital gold.
Introducing State of Crypto, a CoinDesk Newsletter About Policy As the U.S. presidency changes hands, CoinDesk's global macro and policy reporter Nikhilesh De launches his State of Crypto weekly newsletter to break down how the new administration could shape the cryptocurrency industry.
State of Crypto covers how policy and regulation impact the crypto world – and the other way around.
Consensus 2021: Early Bird Ticket Sales End Jan. 31 We're counting down to Consensus 2021, our largest event of the year. Confirmed speakers include Ray Dalio, Jameson Lopp and Caitlin Long. Early bird ticket prices end Jan. 31. Register.
Quick bites HOLLYWOOD BETS: A movie about WallStreetBets, Gamestop and Robinhood is reportedly in the works, with the Winklevoss Twins attached. (CoinDesk) KRAKEN LINK: The fourth-largest cryptocurrency exchange is running its own Chainlink node, making its spot price data available for DeFi applications and developers. (CoinDesk) THE FLIPPENING: Someone bought an NFT for $130, sold it for $130,000. (Decrypt) ROCKS CRYPTO: KISS frontman Gene Simmons praises BTC, ETH and LTC – again. (Modern Consensus) ETHEREUM TRUST: Grayscale’s trust is back online. (CoinDesk)
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