SEC Punts Decision on Wilshire Phoenix’s Bitcoin ETF Proposal to February

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed making a decision on a bitcoin and U.S. Treasury bond exchange-traded fund (ETF) proposal filed by Wilshire Phoenix. According to a document published Friday, the SEC will continue evaluating the proposal, which was first filed earlier this summer, setting Feb. 26, 2020 as its next decision date to approve or reject the ETF proposal. The securities regulator has been loathe to approve any bitcoin ETF, rejecting more than a dozen in the last two years. The agency has pointed to concerns about…

Art Haus Ethereum Meets Bitcoin Financialization

One of the most important (yet somehow quiet) narratives of 2019 has been the financialization of bitcoin and the emergence of a robust market for derivative products. That was reinforced today as Binance announced a significant investment in derivatives exchange FTX. How will key events coming up in 2020 like the bitcoin halving be impacted by the presence of derivatives? One of the most important (yet somehow quiet) narratives of 2019 has been the financialization of bitcoin and the emergence of a robust market for derivative products. At the same time,…

Alibaba Patents Would Secure, Accelerate Its Consortium Blockchain

Chinese internet giant Alibaba Group has won two U.S. patents designed to make its blockchain network safer and faster.  One patent aims to reduce the time to verify block data, while the other is designed to help participants set a validity period for a transaction in a blockchain network.  Both of the patents were approved by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) this week.  The approvals comes at a time with Ant Financial, the fintech arm of Alibaba, announced the launch of its Ant Open Blockchain Alliance, a consortium…

A Decade of Quantitative Easing Has Paved the Way for the Age of Digital Currency

This post is part of CoinDesk’s 2019 Year in Review, a collection of 100 op-eds, interviews and takes on the state of blockchain and the world. Michael J. Casey is CoinDesk’s chief content officer. The views expressed here are his own. Our social media-constrained attention spans make it hard to focus on anything lasting longer than 24 hours, let alone a decade. So, we risk missing the big, secular trends that lead to the kinds of paradigm shifts Bridgewater Associates founder and co-chairman Ray Dalio speaks of. Once they’ve occurred,…

Libra Lacks Strategic Plan for 2020 Launch, Says Board Member

Ever since Facebook announced earlier this year that it was going to launch its own cryptocurrency, Libra, the token has been met with a lot of skepticism. Leading regulators at some of the world’s central banks, as well as United States President Donald Trump, have criticized different aspects of Libra. Major Details In a new development, one of the board members of the Libra Association, Patrick Ellis, has stated that there is still no plan with regards to the launch of the token. He added that the association is not…

CipherTrace to Tackle ‘Modern-Day Slavery’ With Crypto Analytics

Blockchain security firm CipherTrace has partnered with the Anti-Human Trafficking Intelligence Initiative (ATII) to track cryptocurrency transactions from suspected traffickers. Announced Friday, CipherTrace has provided ATII with access to its user interface, a tool that will allow the organization to track criminal cryptocurrency transactions and help prevent them from accessing financial services. “CipherTrace will be an instrumental partner in helping us promote corporate responsibility within financial institutions such as cryptocurrency exchanges,” said Aaron Kahler, ATII founder and president. “As public and private organizations continue to collaborate in the creation of…

US Lawmakers Ask IRS to Clarify Crypto Tax Rules Around Airdrops, Forks in New Letter

The U.S. taxman’s most recent crypto guidance is sowing confusion, according to a letter from eight congressmen published Friday. According to a letter penned by Representatives Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Bill Foster (D-Ill.), David Schweikert (r-Ariz.), Darren Soto (D-Fla.), Lance Gooden (R-Texas), French Hill (R-Ark.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) latest guidance clarifies some aspects of the tax treatment for cryptocurrencies, but leaves much to be desired. The IRS published guidance around taxing cryptocurrency holdings in October, addressing cost basis and forks, two long-standing…

Crypto Must Embrace the Fringe to Win Over the Mainstream

This post is part of CoinDesk’s 2019 Year in Review, a collection of 100 op-eds, interviews and takes on the state of blockchain and the world. Jeffrey Amico is an attorney at Fluidity, creators of the ethereum-based peer-to-peer trading network AirSwap. In his seminal book The Innovator’s Dilemma, Clay Christensen explains how “disruptive” innovation occurs. Whereas incumbents are constrained by the needs and desires of their existing customers, new entrants can instead experiment with new technologies and target under-served or “fringe” customers. In the eyes of mainstream users, these new…

Defeating the ‘Domination’ of the US Dollar

With bitcoin seemingly back to ‘normal’, Iran and Myanmar are talking about a sanction busting ‘Muslim’ cryptocurrency. We take a moment to look at historical adoption over time, and how it might apply to national cryptocurrencies. No time to listen? Scroll down for the full transcript Adam B. Levine:  On today’s episode, Back to Normal Bitcoin, Nation-State Crypto,  and Miner Hedging Strategies Adam: It’s December 20, 2019, and you’re listening to Markets Daily, I’m Adam B. Levine, editor of Podcasts here At Coindesk, along with our senior markets reporter, Brad…

New Ransomware Tactic: Pay Us or the World Sees Your Keys

The creators of Maze Ransomware have added a new wrinkle to the typical hacker’s MO. Instead of quietly infecting and requesting ransom from victims, the so-called Maze team is publicly exposing victims by displaying real files exfiltrated from their hacked servers. This tactic could be a disaster for crypto companies that may have put private keys or other important financial data into their private archives, should they be breached. “Represented here companies don’t wish to cooperate with us, and trying to hide our successful attack on their resources. Wait for…