Welcome to Issue 8 of Popular Crypto, a newsletter about the mainstream products and services taking crypto to the masses.
In this issue:
- The BitBox02 – a new hardware wallet from Shift Cryptosecurity
- The Cryptosteel Capsule takes an extreme durability test
- A DIY guide to building a Coldcard wallet with off-the-shelf parts
- AirCarbon, a trading platform for tokenized carbon credits
We also cover ReclaimCrypto – an initiative by Coinfirm and Kroll to help investors recover stolen cryptocurrency.
All that and more in this week’s issue. But first, here’s some…
🚀 Updates From Nomics
- We’re pleased to announce that our new embeddable price widget is up and running in the wild. The widget, seen here with price data for Beam (BEAM) and Bitcoin (BTC), is fully responsive, fast, and available for every asset on Nomics.
- @CoinDeskMarkets recently turned to Nomics for the latest market cap rankings and caught Binance Coin (BNB) sneaking past EOS (EOS). The above screenshot is from our website and includes our Transparent Volume metric. Check it out – second column from the right.
- The Flippening Podcast just released an episode on exchange volume spamming, ticker stuffing, and other ways that exchanges inflate their volume. Go here to check it out.
- Our Coldcard Wallet giveaway continues til November 4th at 11:59pm EST. Enter the giveaway here!
And now, let’s see what the cryptocurrency world has brought us this week.
Clay Collins
Nomics Co-Founder
😍 Thanks To Our Sponsor: Nexo.io
😎 Cool Products
- Shift Cryptosecurity used this month’s Berlin Lightning Conference to reveal the new version of its popular hardware wallet – the BitBox02. The team behind the project described it as “the best of both worlds between Ledger and Trezor.” The fintech company also announced an “early bird” program for BitBoxBase – a Bitcoin and Lightning node. According to the company, BitBoxBase will be first retail Bitcoin and Lightning node running c-lightning.
- For those of you who still don’t have first impressions of the recently launched Cryptosteel Capsule, make sure to check this cool review and see the product in action. The video also features a good comparison with the Cryptosteel Cassette.
- We’ve been told that the Cryptosteel Capsule is extremely durable and fire-resistant, but how can we be sure? @JimJones1913 helps us find the answer in a test where he exposes the gadget to a 550-gallon liquid pool fire. Check the results in the tweets.
🧧 Wallets
- This week brought us some new updates from Hydro Labs (@Hydro_Labs) regarding Vault, an anticipated cryptocurrency wallet, described by the company as “the world’s most advanced.” The new features include choosing your favorite security mechanism (Raindrop 2FA or Google Authenticator) manually and an option to have multiple Vaults per user.
- Coinkite, the company behind Coldcard, published a blog post showing how to build one’s very own version of the popular hardware wallet. The post includes a complete circuit diagram of the device plus a list of all the parts needed to complete the project.
- MyEtherWallet announced the launch of its own Chrome extension, called MEW CX. The extension features a new burn address feature to make it easier for users to interact with the Ethereum blockchain and DApps (decentralized applications) while using the browser. It also gives users the full functionality of their MyEtherWallet wallet, without having to log into the website.
🐌 Mainstreaming
- Forkast News came out with an interesting interview with Vitalik Buterin about his opinion on Google’s recent quantum computing breakthrough and how it could affect cryptocurrency blockchains. The co-founder of Ethereum also discusses China’s recent change in stance regarding cryptocurrency adoption and what it could mean to the world.
- After launching an iOS app earlier this year, Voyager Digital announced that they are preparing the launch of the Android version of their no-fee crypto trading service. The app allows users to buy and sell over 30 digital currencies and pays 3% interest on Bitcoin.
- The Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress in China announced a new cryptography law that will become effective on January 1, 2020. The legislation aims at tackling emerging legal and regulatory challenges related to commercial cryptography use-cases and blockchain applications, which have an increasingly important role in the development of the Chinese economy.
- The Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) in the United Arab Emirates announced that it had drafted a resolution for digital assets regulation, to provide greater clarity for crypto-related projects in the country. The latest regulatory move makes UAE, alongside with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, a leader in the movement towards a better crypto environment in the region.
- After failing to go public in Shanghai and Hong Kong, one of the world’s leading Bitcoin mining rig producers, Chinese Canaan Inc., announced that it aims to raise $400 million in a U.S. IPO. The company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this week and plans to be listed on NASDAQ under the ticker “CAN”.
- The cryptocurrency derivatives platform FTX announced the launch of a new index that tracks 8 popular Chinese crypto projects. The index is called the “Dubbed Dragon Perpetual Futures Index” (DRGN-PERP) and mimics the price movement of BTM, IOST, NEO, NULS, ONT, QTUM, TRX, and VET. Each cryptocurrency is added with a weighted average of its price.
- Coinfirm, a company specializing in anti-money laundering on cryptocurrency networks, has teamed up with the global investigations firm Kroll to develop a new way for investors to recover stolen cryptocurrency. The initiative is called ReclaimCrypto and combines the latest in blockchain analysis with established investigative and asset recovery techniques.
- Alliance Investments, together with tZERO, announced plans for the tokenization of approximately $640 million of U.K. real estate. The first initiative will be the tokenization of a $25 million slice of River Plaza, a 180-unit luxury development in Manchester. The security token offering is expected to launch in Q1 2020.
💳 Payments
- Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, declared that his company wouldn’t be joining Facebook’s Libra project. He said that Libra wasn’t a real cryptocurrency, that it wasn’t based on an open standard, and that it wasn’t born on the Internet but of a company’s intention.
- Samsung announced that its Galaxy smartphones now have support for Tron (TRX), a cryptocurrency focused on the gaming industry. Thanks to Samsung’s Blockchain Keystore SDK, Galaxy owners will now be able to store Tron on their phones and use it in apps. Tron becomes the fourth coin added, following Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin (BTC), and Klaytn (KLAY).
🏦 Banks
- The Bahamas Central Bank plans to launch its own digital token. The bank believes that having its own cryptocurrency can help stabilize the economy, ensuring that it will become less prone to volatility and more stable in times of natural disasters.
- The Japanese merchant bank MBK announced the signing of a deal that allows it to tokenize real estate property in Estonia. The financial company revealed that it would team up with BitOfProperty (BOP), a Singapore-incorporated Tallinn-operating enterprise that’s already selling fractional ownership of real estate assets in the EU member state. The company will work with MBK to convert the assets into blockchain-based tokens, which will then be available for trading.
- The Association of German Banks, which represents more than 200 private commercial banks and eleven member associations, has issued a position paper in which they discuss the idea of introducing a digital version of the Euro.
💱 Exchanges
- KuCoin, the Hong Kong-based crypto exchange, announced that it now offers its clients margin trading. The new service that went live on October 31 allows traders to take bigger positions by borrowing funds from the platform directly. The exchange also announced a 20% discount on all margin trades where the processing fee is paid in KuCoin Shares (KCS), the platform’s native token.
- OKEx revealed that it is joining Klaytn, a leading public blockchain platform developed by Kakao subsidiary Ground X, in a bid to expand blockchain adoption and establish a more stable and open ecosystem. By joining Klaytn, OKEx is teaming up with leading industry giants such as Samsung Blockchain, IDG Capital, and Shinhan Bank.
- Confirming accusations by Bitfinex general counsel Stuart Hoegner, the the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York indicted Crypto Capital principal Oz Yosef on counts of bank fraud and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Following criminal investigations by multiple international bodies, including U.S. authorities, Crypto Capital’s funds were frozen. $880 million of the frozen funds belonged to crypto exchange Bitfinex.
- Kraken announced the listing of the OmiseGO (OMG) and PAX Gold (PAXG) tokens on its platform. Both assets will be available for trading as pairs with Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), as well as with fiat currencies such as the euro and the U.S. dollar.
- Deutsche Börse revealed that its venture capital arm, Deutsche Börse Venture Network (DBVN) has partnered with Cashlink, a local fintech company, to allow institutional investors to obtain digital securities. Going forward, investors will be able to complete the funding process entirely virtually using blockchain-based tools. The obtained digital assets will be treated with the same regulation guarantee as Deutsche Börse’s regular offerings.
- After receiving financial backing from Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, CoinList, a platform helping crypto startups raise capital via airdrops and token sales, announced that it is going to launch an exchange. Aside from the trading service, CoinList will also be launching a wallet app.
- A new exchange known as AirCarbon has launched in Singapore that will enable airlines to buy and sell tokens representing carbon offset credits or Eligible Emission Units (EEUs). The exchange is expected to be fully operational in 2020.
- Binance.US revealed that it has added support for NEO (NEO) and Cosmos (ATOM). From October 31, all Binance.US clients will enjoy full trading support for the tokens, which are currently among the top-20 digital assets by market capitalization.
- The CME Group issued specifications for the upcoming introduction of its Bitcoin options contracts. The exchange revealed that each contract would be based on one of CME’s bitcoin futures contracts, quoted in U.S. dollars per bitcoin with a tick size of $25. The contracts would be available for trading from 5:00 P.M. Central Time Sunday to 4:00 P.M. Central Time Friday.
🏆 Our Weekly Poll
In our last poll, we asked you about your favorite mobile crypto wallet. Here are the results:
This week, we want your opinion on blockchain phones. That item about Samsung adding support for Tron (TRX) has us wondering…
If we missed your favorite, let us know in the comments!
We’ll publish the results next week. See you then!
