Newsflash: More bitcoin adoption cases spotted, Yale invests in cryptocurrency and more Bakkt details revealed
This Friday was an interesting one in terms of news updates. From Elon Musk “clapping back” at the regulators, over new Bitcoin adoption to a famous university catching the crypto fever, there was plenty of topics to report on. Once again, we decided to give you a short overview of the most interesting ones:
- Elon Musk mocks the SEC
Tesla CEO Elon Musk took a sarcastic jab at the Securities and Exchange Commission through Twitter, calling the agency the “Shortseller Enrichment Commission.” The tweet came after Musk’s settlement with the SEC hit a snag on Thursday when a federal judge who was supposed to approve this document asked the parties involved to submit a joint letter explaining why the deal should be signed off. Former federal prosecutor Jay Hulings said the order was unusual:
“It’s odd given the nature of this settlement. If there is a class action, it’s common. But just for SEC enforcement action, particularly with a big fine, it’s unusual,” he said.
SEC went after Musk because of him tweeting earlier this summer that he has the funds required to make his company private once the stock reaches $420. This caused the stock to rise 11%, and the SEC thinks he did this intentionally. Musk’s jab seemingly addresses the fact that this unusual decision by the federal judge also reeks of market manipulation and benefits short sellers.
- New Bitcoin adoption cases spotted
The bear market doesn’t seem to deter merchants and businesses from adopting cryptocurrency as means of payment. Just today this interesting thread was posted on Reddit, showcasing a dental care ordination which accepts Bitcoin payments from its customers. As adoption seems to be on a rise, so is liquidity. This thread showcased a new and shiny cryptocurrency ATM in London which you can use to buy/sell crypto. Except the process of using it is seemingly a bit clunky. Finally, Lightning Network supporting payment infrastructure has been spotted in a self-order food/coffee shop in Bern, Switzerland.
Lightning Network enabled Self Order Point in Bern, Switzerland pic.twitter.com/Hi09R6XAR3
— Dennis Parker⚡️ (@Xentagz) October 5, 2018
- Coinbase expanding their operations to accommodate institutional money
The biggest US fiat to crypto exchange Coinbase plans to enhance its New York-based office with 150 new employees. The reason for this: they expect an increased institutional interest in the upcoming 12 months.
“When we saw the market begin to correct, which we all expected, institutions didn’t lose interest,” Adam White, general manager of Coinbase Institutional, told CoinDesk. “It was exactly the opposite.”
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The New York office was opened to focus on institutional investors and currently has only 20 employees. The suggested influx of 150 new employees tells you enough about what they think about the future of institutional investing into crypto.
- Yale gets into cryptocurrency
The famous American university Yale invested $400 million into a new fund focused on cryptocurrency assets. According to this Forbes report, the fund is called Paradigm and was recently started by by Coinbase Inc. co-founder Fred Ehrsam, former Sequoia Capital partner Matt Huang, and Charles Noyes, an ex-employee of crypto fund Pantera Capital. These are definitely encouraging news as they signal that institutional interest in crypto is very much alive and well and seemingly on the rise.
- Bakkt platform details revealed
One of the biggest news in blockchain in the year of 2018, Bakkt, saw more details about it released in this article. The platform is a brain child of cooperation between Intercontinental Exchange, Starbucks, Microsoft and several other giants and it looks to become a legally compliant, easy to access way of buying, selling, storing and spending digital crypto assets. Bakkt is expected launch in November, pending CFTC approval.
- Wall Street Journal creates and then destroys its own cryptocurrency
This article reported today that one of the biggest newspapers in the world, Wall Street Journal, created its own cryptocurrency at one point. During the annual D-Live tech conference, a panel entertained an idea of having a “journalism coin” and distributed 150 WSJ Coins to the attending public. The project was supposed to run on top of Hyperledger’s Blockchain Irha and have a supply of 8.4 billion coins. The newspaper, noted for not exactly being in touch with new technology and information, eventually dropped the project, citing “ethical issues”.
