Fintech Daily Digest

The Wild West of cryptocurrency trading is getting something typically associated with the safest of savings accounts: FDIC protection.

Bitcoin strengthened past $8,000 for the first time in about 10 months on Tuesday, crossing another milestone as cryptocurrencies continued their scorching rally.

A new routing proposal is expected to be merged today into the official "specifications" of lightning, the technology many advocates trumpet as the fix to bitcoin's long-standing payment problems.

Facebook is working on a blockchain-based payment solution code-named Project Libra. What are the implications for FacebookCoin, the Facebook ecosystem, and the wider blockchain space?

Certain exchanges that facilitate initial exchange offerings may be breaking U.S. securities laws, a top SEC official said.

The recently reintroduced US Token Taxonomy Act will create a de minimis tax exemption for crypto transactions under $600.

Grayscale experienced a 42% uptick in product inflows from $30.1M in 4Q18 to $42.7M in 1Q19, with hedge funds ramping up their investments, from less than $1M in 4Q18 to approximately $24M in 1Q19.

Gemini is joining forces with Flexa, a platform that enables shoppers to spend bitcoin, ether, Bitcoin Cash, and Gemini dollars at major retailers across the U.S.

Microsoft is building a decentralized identity network atop of the bitcoin blockchain. The Identity Overlay Network is based on an evolving set of open standards developed in conjunction with the Decentralized Identity Foundation.

Major retailers including Whole Foods, Lowes, Petco, Regal Cinemas, and Gamestop will now accept payments in crypto processed by Flexa using its Spedn custodial wallet.

The cryptocurrency hedge funds that survived the 2018 market collapse lost almost half their assets, according to the most comprehensive accounting of its impact on the industr

"Bitfinex was able to raise $1B in 10 days, in a private sale. Private companies made investments for > $100M each, and a legion of inside and outside users made investments for > $1M each."

Börse Stuttgart has listed two crypto exchange-traded notes based on XRP and litecoin and traded against the Swedish krona and euro.

Binance, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, said hackers withdrew 7,000 Bitcoins worth about $40 million via a single transaction in a "large scale security breach," the latest in a long line of thefts in the digital currency space.

The company behind the Paxos Standard (PAX) stablecoin announced that its users can now instantaneously redeem unlimited amounts of its tokens for United States dollars.

A one-standard-deviation increase in the current day's Bitcoin return predicts a 0.33% increase in the next day's. A one-standard-deviation increase in the Twitter post count for the word "Bitcoin" yields a 2.5% increase in week-ahead Bitcoin returns.

Is the Maker DAI experiment over? Have MKR holders been underwater from the beginning, and increasing stability fees is their attempt to resuscitate their investment with the side effect of killing the patient?

Microsoft is launching the first decentralized infrastructure implementation by a major tech company that is built directly on the bitcoin blockchain.

Nivaura has developed "the first commercially viable floating rate bond using blockchain technology," and the new instrument is now being tested by Santander and LeasePlan, the vehicle leasing company.

DACC offers native support for 13 blockchains, as well as more than 100 assets. The DACC CEO and other team members will be assimilated into the Bakkt operational structure.