Top Headlines
- Cryptocurrency Market Downtrend Continues
On Thursday, the crypto markets lost over $27B in market valuation and the downtrend continues, even after a two-month period of stability. The selloff of Bitcoin Cash may have triggered the market decline, but analysts have also speculated the market was weakening leading up to the selloff (Forbes, CoinTelegraph)
- New Rumors of Impending SEC Enforcement Actions
Additionally, rumors of impending SEC civil penalties and enforcement actions began to swirl as the crash continued, and a day later the first two civil penalties were, in fact, issued against ICOs solely due to their failure to register the token sales with the regulators. See the official SEC statement on these and other enforcement actions. (CCN, Cointelegraph, SEC.gov)
- How Long Will the Market Rebound Take?
Fundstrat analyst Rob Sluymer predicts that it will “take weeks, if not months” to repair the bear markets, but that the markets are merely stressed, not broken (Cointelegraph)
- BitLicense Granted to NYDIG
Another BitLicense has been granted, this time to a subsidiary of the New York Digital Investment Group. NYDIG Execution is now authorized to conduct crypto-related business within the state of New York. They’ll act as a crypto custodian for Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Ripple, and Litecoin (CoinTelegraph)
- Bank of America Patents New Crypto Deposit System
Bank of America won a patent for their system allowing enterprises to store individual customer crypto deposits in one enterprise account, aggregating crypto deposits made by customers and having the ability to store private keys, generate “vault keys”, and generate public keys. In addition, the patent allows for the elimination of third-party currency conversion using the enterprise account which simplifies the currency-to-crypto exchange and reduces transaction fees (CoinTelegraph)
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Cryptocurrency News
- SEC Probes Salt Lending Holdings
The Wall Street Journal reported on the SEC probe of crypto loan company Salt Lending Holdings, Inc. this week, reportedly focused on their $50M token sale in 2017. The SEC is said to be honing in on whether this sale was a non-compliant securities offering and if it should have been registered before going live (WSJ, Cointelegraph).
- Binance Lists USDC Stablecoin
Cryptocurrency firm Binance is listing the Goldman Sachs-backed USDC stablecoin, with sales going live as of this morning. The token was launched by Circle and Coinbase last month to provide more transparency for the global financial system (CCN).
- Congressman Plans Bill to Treat ICOs as Products
Republican Congressman Warren Davidson has plans to introduce a bill that would permit ICOs to “sidestep” US securities laws by treating ICOs as products instead of securities, although the bill faces a strong opposition from the incoming Democratic majority in the House (CoinTelegraph).
- ‘Sim-Swap’ Cryptocurrency Thefts Spur Arbitration Claim
Crypto investor law firm Silver Miller has filed an arbitration claim against AT&T and T-Mobile for losses occurred due to “SIM-swap” cryptocurrency thefts, accusing the companies of being complicit in the thefts due to “abject negligence” (CoinTelegraph)
- Colorado State ICO Task Force Targets Sale of Unregistered Securities
The Colorado State ICO Task Force issued cease and desist orders to four ICOs for selling unregistered securities, with signs that more orders are set to come as more sales are investigated (colorado.gov).
- Bitmain Sues After Theft of Cryptocurrency
China-based mining company, Bitmain has sued an anonymous hacker for the theft of cryptocurrency worth $5.5M in April, according to a filing based at the US District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle. The hacker purportedly took over the Binance account of Bitmain and manipulated the price of the Decentraland coin and then stole profits (CoinTelegraph)
- Fake Cryptocurrency Wallets Found on the Google Play Store
Four fake cryptocurrency wallets were discovered on the Google Play app store by malware researcher Lukas Stefanko, posing as legitimate wallets to store NEO, Tether and Ethereum (CoinTelegraph)
International Spotlight
- IMF Eyes Central Bank Digital Currencies
The Chief of the International Monetary Fund has encouraged the research and development of central bank digital currencies as the demand for cash has decreased amidst the rise of demand for digital currency (Coindesk)
- Thailand Regulators Warn Against ‘Q Exchange’
The financial regulator in Thailand has discouraged citizens from using cryptocurrency exchange Q Exchange, saying the platform has not been approved within the framework of its new cryptocurrency regulations (CoinTelegraph)
- Cryptocurrency Pyramid Scheme Suspects Arrested in Tokyo
Eight individuals were arrested in Tokyo after allegedly running a cryptocurrency pyramid scheme. The suspects are accused of collecting almost $69M, from thousands of individuals, during seminars pushing an investment method they claimed would yield a 3-20 percent return. (Coindesk)
Security Tokens
- StartEngine Launches $10M Reg D STO
As investment crowdfunding platform StartEngine awaits SEC approval for their Reg A+ self-crowdfunding security token offering, they’ve also launched a $10M Reg D STO that will run until the A+ offering is qualified. (Crowdfund Insider)
- Mike Novogratz Sees Potential in the Tokenization of Assets
Outspoken crypto proponent Mike Novogratz has used the crypto market crash to highlight the potential still held by the tokenization of assets, saying “There’s positive movement on the institutional adoption of the architecture needed.” Novogratz pointed to the tokenization of real estate assets in NYC and Aspen, CO as signs there are legitimate uses for tokenized assets emerging even in a bear market. (Bloomberg)
- KoreConX Partners with SME Brokers
Security token company KoreConX has partnered with SME Brokers to provide them with the KoreToken protocol for use in Australia with small-and-medium sized businesses wishing to raise capital using security tokens. (Cryptovest)
- Vertalo Partners with Financial Service Provider Securrency
Compliance platform and liquidity enablement provider Vertalo has partnered with Securrency, a financial services products company, in plans to use their token protocols to enable broker-dealers, issuers, and other digital asset service providers to work easily with the issuance service as provided by Securrency. (Crowdfund Insider)
Equity Crowdfunding
- Small Change Uses Reg CF to Provide Real Estate Investment Opportunities
Real estate investment platform Small Change uses Regulation Crowdfunding to provide real estate investment opportunities for retail investors into projects that directly benefit communities. The platform is currently hosting five Reg CF offerings and has become a vocal advocate for increasing the Reg CF cap of just over a million dollars (Crowdfund Insider)
- Kingscrowd Continues Expansion with Acquisition of Crowditz
Equity crowdfunding data and analytics firm Crowditz has been acquired by crowdfunding research and rating service Kingscrowd, who is also engaging in a equity crowdfunding raise on StartEngine with plans to expand the service offerings they provide to those contemplating an equity crowdfunding raise (Digital Journal)