As bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies get increasing attention from investors, Wall Street and its traditional banks continue to adjust to the shift. Catch up on this week's top stories highlighting the intersection of these old guard and new school areas of finance with this recap compiled by The Fly.
FACEBOOK DEVELOPS STABLECOIN: Facebook (FB) is developing a cryptocurrency that will enable users to transfer money on its WhatsApp messaging service, focusing first on the remittances market in India, Bloomberg reported Thursday. The company is working on a stablecoin to reduce volatility but is far from launching the coin as its still developing its strategy, including a plan for custody assets.
LAWMAKERS SEEK SEC DEFINITION CHANGE: Congressmen Warren Davidson and Darren Soto have introduced a bipartisan bill that would exclude cryptocurrency from the decades-old definition of a security, CNBC reported Thursday. The "Token Taxonomy Act," which would amend the Securities Exchange Act, defines a "digital token" and notes that securities laws would not be applicable to cryptocurrencies when they become a fully functioning network.
INSURANCE WOES: Cryptocurrency exchanges and traders in Asia are struggling to get insurance against the risk of hacks and theft, which they claim deters large fund managers from investing, Reuters reported Wednesday. Solving the issue with insurance would be a significant step in the industry’s efforts to show it has come up with a solution for storing digital assets safely, allowing it to attract investment from mainstream asset managers.
MEDICI LAND GOVERNANCE, WYOMING COUNTY SIGN MOU: Overstock.com (OSTK) announced Thursday that its blockchain subsidiary Medici Land Governance has signed a memorandum of understanding, or with Teton County, Wyoming to develop a blockchain-based land records and information platform in 2019.
DPW PURSUES IPO FOR TECH BUSINESS: DPW Holdings (DPW) announced Tuesday that its Board of Directors has authorized DPW officers to pursue a separate listing and initial public offering of its DPW Technology Group, which will include the company's Defense and Aerospace businesses as well as the Electronics and Power Solutions businesses. The company anticipates completing the IPO in the first half of 2019 and expects that DPW will remain a majority shareholder of the new entity. The move comes after the company announced it was pursuing a spinoff of Super Crypto Mining through special dividend.
CRYPTO STOCK PLAYS: Cryptocurrency revenues have been pointed to as reasons to be bullish on Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Nvidia (NVDA) in select research. Overstock, DPW Holdings, Kodak (KODK), Ideanomics (IDEX), Riot Blockchain (RIOT), Pareteum (TEUM) and Social Reality (SRAX) are other stocks that have been touted, or promoted themselves, as a way to play the crypto theme.
PRICE ACTION: As of time of writing, bitcoin was up about 24.8% this week to $4,026 in U.S. dollars, according to TradeBlock.
Bitcoin
+ (+0.00%)
Bitcoin
+ (+0.00%)
Ticker changed to META
-1.82 (-1.36%)
Overstock.com
-0.12 (-0.88%)
Ault Global Holdings
-0.0103 (-9.36%)
AMD
-0.01 (-0.06%)
Nvidia
-0.16 (-0.12%)
Eastman Kodak
-0.03 (-1.12%)
Ideanomics
-0.01 (-0.81%)
Riot Platforms
-0.12 (-6.86%)
Pareteum
+0.03 (+1.96%)
Srax
-0.06 (-3.23%)