Fintech Daily Digest

The Bitfinex probe has laid bare two fundamental weaknesses in crypto infrastructure as a whole: 1) the lack of high-level banking services; and, 2) the lack of auditing standards.

Bitcoin's price rose above $7,500 Sunday for the first time since August 2018, but it has since cooled off since, and was trading below $7,000 by early afternoon EDT.

The median crypto hedge fund delivered a 46% loss in 2018. Quantitative crypto funds, which can take short positions, fared better with a median return of 8%.

The Boston Fed is looking at setting up a "supervisory node," a regulatory surveillance tool that should be able to connect to various banking blockchains. This node will watch the money flows and settlements between different banks.

There is a clear correlation between bitcoin reward halving and price volatility afterward. These supply side changes happen every 4 years, and keeping that in mind can help build a better picture of what influences the price of bitcoin at different times.

"Enabling Blockchain Innovations with Pegged Sidechains" was viewed as a death blow for Altcoins. However, the type of sidechain outlined in the white paper has not materialized. Why not?

Sidechains are a unique and diverse solution for disparate blockchain networks to experiment and interact with each other. Developments within sidechains will go a long way in fueling better liquidity, interoperability, and scalability of the broader blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Is issuing fiat-backed stablecoins on public blockchains the best approach? Is a public, permissionless blockchain actually necessary? Let's take a closer look at what stablecoins supposedly gain from the use of public blockchains and whether there may be more practical options available to issuers.

Forbes has identified more than 100 big companies actively exploring blockchain through industry consortiums and other proprietary projects, 50 of which have minimum revenues or valuations of $1 billion.

Fluidity is launching ethereum-powered mortgages in California and New York. The mortgages will be recorded via smart contracts, while using cryptocurrency for back-end management.

Figure Technologies has closed a $1 billion uncommitted line of credit on a blockchain with investment bank Jefferies, which may periodically lend to Figure under a variable funding note secured by Figure's home equity lines.

Crescent Crypto Index Services has filed a prospectus for a new crypto-based ETF with the U.S. SEC. that will track the performance of a market capitalization-weighted portfolio of bitcoin and ether.

The Bank of Thailand and its private-sector partners have developed their first prototype for a blockchain-based system to enable digital currency for interbank settlements between the BoT and eight commercial banks.

In April, the GFIN global sandbox jointly run by 35 international regulators accepted its first eight firms into the program. The UK FCA said 44 applications were submitted. The eight successful firms will now develop plans for their cross-border trials, before being allowed to undertake tests. The firms that have successfully entered the testing stage will be announced in June.

Germany plans to introduce draft regulations allowing blockchain bonds as soon as this summer, local daily business news outlet Handelsblatt reported May 9.

The U.S. Senate Banking Committee wrote an open letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, asking him to share details about its secret cryptocurrency project, with a particular focus on consumer privacy.

The US House of Representatives Financial Services Committee has formed a Task Force on Financial Technology to "examine the current legal framework for fintech, how fintech is used in lending and how consumers engage with fintech."

Why do Ripple platform users still prefer to use xCurrent instead of the newer xRapid option? Only ten of the over two hundred financial institutions that are members of RippleNet are presently using XRP payment options.

CipherTrace found that losses due to cryptocurrency thefts, scams and fraud tally more than $1.2 billion in A1 2019. This includes $356 million stolen from exchanges and the loss of $850 million by major exchange Bitfinex

MakerDAO emerged as a clear market leader in part for its rock-bottom interest rates of 0.5 percent, which are a technological necessity for keeping its DAI stablecoin worth $1. With interest rates rising to 19.5 percent, some early borrowers are angry.