Blockchain Industry Update (Grayscale, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Bank, JP Morgan, One River Digital)

This week’s highlights are cryptocurrency. More investment in Bitcoin and other digital currencies. Check out your favorite performer of the week…

::Bitcoin::

• MicroStrategy announced that it plans to raise $400 million via a private offering of convertible senior notes, so it can buy more Bitcoin.
• BitPay has applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to organize a federally regulated bank, dubbed the BitPay National Trust Bank, headquartered in Georgia.
• Citibank downgraded MicroStrategy stock rating on December 8, citing the business intelligence firm’s recent bitcoin allocations as the key factor.
• Grayscale buys $266 Million of Bitcoin and $58 Million of ETH. Grayscale has added more than $325 million worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum to its trusts in just over a week.
• Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, the second-largest bank in Spain, has announced the launch of its bitcoin trading and custody service through its Swiss subsidiary.
• MassMutal Life Insurance recently purchases $100 million in Bitcoin. The 169-year-old insurance company buying Bitcoin is a sign that BTC is no longer a ‘risk-off’ asset.
• Michael Saylor, the chief executive of the world’s largest publicly traded business intelligence firm, is revealing how Bitcoin could meteorically rise by 100x from its current valuation.
• JPMorgan recently stated that 600 billion dollars would soon flow from institutions to Bitcoin. Following the recent Bitcoin investment by MassMutual, the bank predicted that more insurance companies are likely to follow suit.
• Jim Cramer increases Bitcoin Portfolio, announces to buy more. The American television personality said that he bought Bitcoin for just under $18,000 to diversify his portfolio.
• PornHub’s premium membership is now supported through multiple cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Dash, Etheruem, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin, Nem, Tether, Tron, Verge, Waves, and Zcash. It has now also added Monero after Visa, Mastercard bow out.
• Banca Generali buys $14 Million stake in Bitcoin Wallet Conio. The wallet serves over 150,000 cryptocurrency portfolios for Italian customers and lets its users buy, sell, and transfer Bitcoin.
• Grayscale has added to its bags Bitcoin worth $270 Million in the last 7 days. Grayscale’s total assets under management have hit a total of $13 Billion.
• Microstrategy will hold upwards of 0.4% of all Bitcoin soon. The cryptocurrency space was rocked with the news last week that MicroStrategy would be purchasing an additional $650M stash of Bitcoin.
• One River Digital discloses its $1 Billion crypto goal after acquiring more than $600 Million worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum. The massive purchase has made hedge fund One River become one of the largest investors in Bitcoin.
• Bitcoin had a historical bull run by crossing $22K for the first time ever since its inception. With the Bitcoin Price gaining nearly $5000 in a single day, many other altcoins also follow the path.

::Blockchain::

• Huobi invested about $5 million via USDT to promote the Polkadot ecosystem. The funds will be used to sponsor developers and promote events, including Polkadot ambassadors.
  
  Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings and Switzerland’s principal stock exchange, SIX Swiss Exchange, have announced a joint cryptocurrency-related venture.
• Siam Commercial Bank, Thailand’s oldest bank is set to open a new cross-border remittances corridor in partnership with Lightnet, a fintech company that uses the Stellar blockchain.
• Sweden, one among the most cashless society is moving closer to launching its own sovereign national digital currency. The Swedish government is starting feasibility trials.
• DeFi tokens posting impressive triple-digit gains and high trade volume. TVL in DeFi recently breached $15B before dipping back to$14B levels. DeFi’s total value locked has a chance at breaching $20B before year’s end.

::Cryptocurrency::

• Cryptocurrency artist becomes the first to earn $1 Million. Ethereum-based artworks created by Murat Pak have been sold for over a million dollars combined, an industry record.
• Cryptocurrency funds recorded $429 million inflows in the last week as investors pulled record money out of the gold market.
• Bitwise Asset Management, a provider of cryptocurrency index funds to professional investors, announced that its 10 Crypto Index Fund is now available to U.S. investors as a public-traded cryptocurrency index fund.
• Mexico crypto exchange operator Bitso has raised $62 million in a Series B. The fresh injection of cash will help the firm push into Brazil, which could help double its user-base next year.
• Singapore’s largest bank DBS sets up crypto exchange platform. Singapore’s stock exchange SGX will also have a stake in the platform.
• Rostislav Solod, a young Ukrainian politician turned out to be a crypto millionaire after he declared $24 million in privacy coin Monero.
• Bitmain launches an international version of AntSentry. The company plans to make crypto mining easier with the launch of AnSentry International.
• ACDX unveils market maker incentive program, ACXT Liquidity Farming.
• South Korean securities exchange operator is now expanding its overseeing capacity by monitoring all crypto-related stock activities after volatile movements seen in the last few weeks on listed companies tied to the industry.
• Verge, the cryptocurrency now infamous for its links to the porn industry, is on the up again. A stagnant price period seems at an end as Pornhub is forced to go full crypto for payments.
• The amount of ZCash stored in shielded pools has hit an all-time high of 700,000. The number of ZCash monthly shielded transactions has also hit an all-time high of 121,475.
• Paxos has recently submitted paperwork with the OCC to potentially obtain a charter so that it can form a national bank
• Banxa, Australia-based digital payments infrastructure provider is set to list on a Canadian stock exchange after being granted approval from local regulators earlier this month.
• France approves new cryptocurrency measures to fight anonymous transactions.
• Slide, a US mobile payment app has launched support for cryptocurrencies with BitPay. This will allow the users to pay for items purchased using Bitcoin, Ether, and other cryptocurrencies.
• Japanese Financial Giant SBI Financial Services, a subsidiary of SBI Holdings, has acquired United Kingdom-based crypto trading firm B2C2.
• American Express, one of the biggest financial firms in the US, has entered the cryptocurrency market with the latest investment in an institutional crypto trading platform, FalconX.
• Bitpanda, an Austria-based cryptocurrency trading platform, is setting up a new tech hub in Poland in its bid to become one of the crypto industry’s biggest firms.

::Ethereum::

• Bitwise’s crypto index fund has done more volume than Grayscale’s record-breaking Ethereum product on its second day live. Trading day volume reached $33,162,394, eclipsing Grayscale’s ETHE by more than $2 million.
• Banking Giant Standard Chartered to bring Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Bitcoin Cash Services to institutional clients.
• Lil Yachty, the 23-year-old Grammy-nominated rapper, today sold  $375,000 worth of YACHTY tokens in a token sale.
• Grayscale purchases more than $74 Million for its Ethereum Trust. After announcing a massive purchase of over $280 Million in Bitcoin last week, Grayscale is now also betting on Ethereum.
• LINKSWAP hits $20M value locked. LINKSWAP, a decentralized exchange on Ethereum has become the eighth largest DEX by total value locked on Dec. 14, a week after its launch.
• MathWallet, a crypto wallet company just closed a $12 million Series B round of funding led by Binance Labs, the venture capital and incubator of Binance.

::Others::

• SuperRare launches timed auction formats for NFT artwork sales. The addition of auction formats should make buying and selling digital artwork easier, more fun, and more profitable.
• Polkastarter’s IDO Platform launches SpiderDAO Token. SpiderDAOhas released its SPDR token on Polkastarter on the 15th of December. It’s among the first token listings on the nascent Polkadot DEX.
• OSL, a major digital asset platform in Asia and a unit of Fidelity-backed BC group, has been officially licensed by the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong.
• Trump plans to pardon silk road black market creator Ross Ulbricht. The US President is reportedly considering a second chance for the founder of the world’s first modern darknet market.