- Dubai "gold" company Regal RA has received a license to trade in cryptocurrency.
- Morgan Stanley: Bitcoin and S&P 500 are back to 200-day levels.
- Former Blockstream developer Gregory Maxwell accused Vitalik Buterin of bias.
- Bitfinex will launch a decentralized trading platform based on EOS.
- Comcast Ventures invests in blockchain startups that invest in blockchain startups.
Dubai "gold" company Regal RA has received a license to trade in cryptocurrency.
Dubai-based gold trading company Regal RA DMCC has been awarded the first "crypto license" in the Middle East, according to the Dubai Multidisciplinary Commodity Exchange (DMCC). The company will provide services for storing bitcoin, ether and other cryptocurrencies in a vault located at the DMCC headquarters in the Diamond Tower of Dubai. “At the heart of DMCC's long-term strategic plan is the use of technology and innovation to develop and connect new markets, industries and customers. Today's statement embodies this approach, ”said DMCC Chairman Ahmed Bin Suleyem. Tyler Gallagher, CEO of Regal Assets, which owns Regal RA, believes that cryptocurrency investors are forced to store large amounts of money on online wallets and exchanges that are at risk of hacker attacks. “We've developed what we believe is the safest way to invest in bitcoin, ether and other cryptocurrencies,” Gallagher said. According to Ksenia Kiseleva, manager of the Dubai office of Regal RA, the company is working on the creation of a cryptocurrency exchange. “We view cryptocurrencies as a commodity and not as a means of payment,” said Kiseleva, noting the growing demand for a digital asset in the United Arab Emirates and around the world. Regal intends to seek trade licenses in other countries as well.
Morgan Stanley: Bitcoin and S&P 500 are back to 200-day levels.
Michael Wilson, Chief Strategist, Morgan Stanley for the US Stock Market, She urgedinvestors to be “disciplined” when buying stocks. According to him, the large-scale market correction is caused by the decline in interest in Bitcoin: from the peak that occurred in December 17 and approached $ 20,000, Bitcoin fell by almost 70%. Speaking about the events adjacent to his rise, Wilson notes that the predicted price-earnings ratio S & P 500 - "stock market gauge" - peaked on the same day as bitcoin, and a week later closed a loophole in article 1031 of the US Internal Revenue Code (IRS), which allowed crypto traders to evade taxes. “We think that the period of tax cuts has coincided with increased hype, at least in terms of price and speculation, as seen in the example of bitcoin,” says Wilson. "We believe that it was Bitcoin that started the massive correction last December, and that it returned to the 200-day level on Tuesday is a good sign." Last Friday, the S&P 500 also returned to the end of November and surpassed it shortly thereafter.
Former Blockstream developer Gregory Maxwell accused Vitalik Buterin of bias.
Hacking the BitGrail Italian Cryptocurrency Exchange last week resulted in a loss of 17 million Nano tokens (more than $ 170 million at the time of the attack) and led to dispute between Vitalik Buterin and the Bitcoin community led by Bitcoin Core developer Gregory Maxwell. While BitGrail did not comment on the incident, the Nano team posted post on Medium, stating that the vulnerability was not in its technology, but on the part of the exchange. After that, the owner of BitGrail Francesco Firano intervened in the situation, who accused the cryptocurrency project of defamation and misleading information, saying that the exchange "is making accusations against Nano for its irresponsible behavior." Firano also demanded that Nano conduct the hardbork of its blockchain "to cover the losses" of the exchange. In connection with this call on the network, a controversy about the “rescue hard forks” flared up, which can be used to protect the Altcoins, which some see as an advantage over Bitcoin. “I believe that rescue hard forks in exceptional cases can be a good choice for young blockchains at an early stage,” wrote Buterin. His comment caused a lot of discontent in the community, including one of the leading Bitcoin developers Gregory Maxwell personally. “The Ethereum team’s lesson is this: when Buterin funds are lost because of a vulnerability in a smart contract - this is a good choice. If Buterin’s money was not hit, but even large sums were lost due to errors in Ethereum software, this is a bad choice, ”wrote Maxwell in discussing on Reddit. “No one should have that kind of power. If there is even such a choice, the system has already failed, ”he said, noting that Paypal and Visa is better at canceling transactions "without spending billions of dollars on premines."
Bitfinex will launch a decentralized trading platform based on EOS.
On Monday, February 12, the company’s official blog appeared message about the upcoming launch of the EOSfinex "high-performance decentralized exchange" based on the EOS decentralized application platform. According to Bitfinex representatives, the new platform will allow trustless - direct, excluding intermediaries - cryptocurrency trading. EOS promises to address scalability issues and ensure fast transaction confirmation: “Bitfinex's long-term goal is to research and test various technologies that meet the stringent requirements of a large decentralized trading platform. This vision led us to EOS.IO, whose goal is to process tens of thousands of transactions in seconds with minimal fees and confirmation times - in many ways coincides with our needs, ”- says the official blog of the exchange. “Our experience shows that these improvements are transforming the entire blockchain industry, and Bitfinex remains committed to leveraging cutting edge innovation to continue to offer the best trading conditions,” said Jan Ludovicus van der Velde, CEO of Bitfinex.
Comcast Ventures invests in blockchain startups that invest in blockchain startups.
A subsidiary of Comcast Ventures, an American telecommunications company, will support investment funds working with blockchain projects to learn more about technology. The newly appointed Managing Director, Gil Beida, assembled a team of Comcast's five main investors, who will implement an “aggressive” investment strategy, analyzing in passing how the company can benefit from the use of technology. Several times a week, the five meets to discuss crypto trends. “We call ourselves the blockchain team,” Beida said in an interview with Coindesk and said he was ready to allocate tens of millions of dollars to support the industry. The first investment in this strategy was made in Comcast in January, in the accelerator mState, which is already supported by BM and Boldstart Ventures. And recently the company invested in Blockchange Ventures - an investment fund that will soon begin to invest in decentralized technology.