Hello Hive Fam!
I'm back with another Fintech Flash, where I go over the biggest news happening in Fintech and blockchain over the last week.
Here's what was covered in Episode 21:
After Bitcoin hit $42,000 and global market cap soared past the $1 trillion mark, this last weekend put a damper on things. Total market cap is now hovering around $850 billion, losing over 20% in a 24 hour period. Trader and analyst Alex Kruger told CoinDesk that, “Hefty spot selling against an over-levered market caused the price drop,”. Data provided by South Korea-based analytics firm CryptoQuant suggests miner selling did contribute to the price drop as well.
The OCC greenlights national banks to run nodes and stablecoin networks. Monday evening, the Treasury's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency told national banks that they are allowed to run independent nodes for distributed ledger networks. Brian Brooks, who formerly led Coinbase's legal team, has been the Acting Comptroller since May. During his tenure, the office has put out a host of guidance authorizing banks to be more active in crypto and, more recently, barring them from cutting off services to legal industries.
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a consumer warning about the risks of investing in cryptocurrency. In its warning, the FCA listed five main risks and concerns associated with “high-return investments based on cryptoassets,” including consumer protection, price volatility, product complexity, charges and fees, and marketing materials. Firstly, the FCA reminded the general public that some digital assets— including the ones promising high returns—may not be regulated..
Novogratz predicts young people will buy Bitcoin with their stimulus checks. A further round of stimulus checks at $2,000 each, recently approved by the House of Representatives, could, from Novogratz's perspective, be further good news for the markets. With the Senate now flipped after the runoff election in Georgia, he noted that: "A lot of stimulus checks will find it's way into the markets. Certainly, when it comes into young people's hands.”
Dan Larimer announced his resignation from his position as Chief Technology Officer on the crypto project Block.one. His tenure with Block.one began in April 2017, the same year it hit world headlines when it raised $4 billion in an Initial Coin Offering to build EOS, a rival blockchain to Ethereum. On his next steps Larimer says that he will continue on his mission to create free market, voluntary solutions for securing life, liberty, property, and justice for all.
Kim Dotcom, political activist and founder of the now-defunct file hosting service MegaUpload, has “officially” joined the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) community, as per a tweet on monday morning. The German-Finnish entrepreneur gained fame in the early 2000s after becoming a dotcom millionaire.
Hope you enjoyed it and i'll be back next week for another Fintech ⚡️Flash!
XO, Lea
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