Fintech Daily Digest

The group of six US legislators will hold a meeting with the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner Adrian Lobsiger. It will be led by Maxine Waters, Chair of the House Banking Committee.

Approximately $2.9 billion deposits have been lost in an alleged scam with a crypto wallet provider and exchange PlusToken. Six suspects affiliated with PlusToken have been arrested, although main operators of the alleged scam are still on the run. PlusToken allowed users to earn profits on their crypto deposits and incentivized members to bring in new users by providing monetary rewards.

ITU and Stanford University have agreed to launch a new partnership to support pilot implementations of Digital Fiat Currency (DFC), digital currency authorized and issued by a Central Bank.

A data-driven look at global financial technology investment trends, top deals, active investors, and corporate activity in Q2 2019.

There are many reasons why the Philippines is becoming increasingly crypto-friendly. Not only has its central bank registered more crypto exchanges recently, but the Securities and Exchange Commission has also been actively finalizing crypto guidelines. The country has an active crypto community, and one of its largest banks has engaged in multiple crypto projects.

Research by PARSIQ details the massive accumulation of wealth in the hands of a minuscule few, resulting in inequality greater than what can be found in the established "old money" institutions. Just 0.023% of the top Bitcoin addresses hold 50% of the total funds. 50% of XRP outstanding is held just 14 addresses.

So as a dystopian cat-and-mouse game emerges in Hong Kong, with a technologically sophisticated police chasing protesters for their faces, a refusal to use centralized digital cash, and arrests of protesters for their participations in virtual forums and state-mounted attacks on communications apps -- cryptocurrency has quite a role to play in what may be the opening act of the dystopian, cyberpunk protests of the future.

Digital assets and cryptocurrencies make estate planning complex. You need to track where assets exist online and how to access them. If you fail to do proper planning, your digital footprint and assets will likely be stuck in the cloud forever.

Satoshi Nakamoto will reveal his true identity in three installments, starting on August 18 at 4 pm Eastern time, including his plans for a bitcoin renaissance and an explanation of the critical role that Chaldean numerology cyphers and encryption played in his creation of bitcoin.

There's an arms race afoot over who can store cryptocurrency safest.

In just over one year since launch, Coinbase Custody has grown to over $7 billion in Assets Under Custody stored on behalf of more than 120 clients in 14 different countries, making it the largest institutional custodian in the world.

Most crypto funds are backed by traditional venture capital, so even though they are supporting the emergence of the new crypto economy, it will be one that will have strong, foundational links with the financial system.

While Facebook was talking about their proposed cryptocurrency and blockchain linked to a basket of fiat currencies, Monerium was issuing fully licensed fiat-denominated e-money on an established blockchain, Ethereum.

Regulators have made clear that the old way of transacting, where you have pseudonymous transfers-that's not going to scale. Some users may leave compliant exchanges for others that choose not to share personal information, or seek out more decentralized methods of exchange that are harder to police. Such a community will have to remain niche.

Ethereum-based banking alternative platform Monolith, is issuing a new Visa debit card, which allows users to spend Dai stablecoin anywhere in the world at stores that accept Visa payments.

St. Louis Fed President Bullard: "Cryptocurrencies are creating drift toward a non-uniform currency in the U.S., a state of affairs that has existed historically but was disliked and eventually replaced... Consumers and businesses may not like a system in which many types of currency trade simultaneously at a variety of prices in a local market."

Our contracts have already received the green light from the CFTC through the self-certification process and user acceptance testing has begun. With approval by the New York State Department of Financial Services to create Bakkt Trust Company, a qualified custodian, the Bakkt Warehouse will custody bitcoin for physically delivered futures.

ICE subsidiary Bakkt has acquired a New York state trust charter through the New York State Department of Financial Services, and claimed that the CFTC has green lighted it to begin offering its physically-settled bitcoin futures contracts on September 23.

But the battle is far from over. Fintechs have failed to take significant share of core banking activities despite a decade of a benign credit environment with banks hampered by their recovery efforts after the 2008 crisis. Many of the newcomers are plagued by poor customer service and attract the attention of regulators for weak controls. As the cycle finally turns, there will be more serious casualties and perhaps an opportunity for traditional banks to eat up some of the new companies at more appetising prices.

A review of over 50 patent applications submitted by the People's Bank of China shows the design of its central bank digital currency will only resemble a cryptocurrency in limited ways, and it probably won't use a blockchain.