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.
FCA WARNS AGAINST ‘GET RICH QUICK’ CRYPTO PURCHASES: The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has released research on consumer attitudes towards cryptocurrency and found that most UK consumers don’t even know what a cryptocurrency is, Reuters’ Huw Jones reported Thursday. “Despite this lack of understanding, the cryptoasset owners interviewed were often looking for ways to ‘get rich quick’, citing friends, acquaintances and social media influencers as key motivations for buying cryptoassets,” the FCA said. However, the agency added the overall scale of harm might not be as elevated as previously believed, saying, “The results suggest that although cryptoassets may not be well understood by many consumers, the vast majority don’t buy or use them currently.”
BLOCKCHAIN STARTUP FILES INSOLVENCY NOTICE: London-based blockchain startup SETL, which is backed by Credit Agricole (CRARY), has filed an insolvency notice and hired administrators to restructure the business, Bloomberg’s Alastair Marsh reported Thursday. SETL, which appointed former Bank of France governor Christian Noyer to the board less than two months ago, has selected Quantuma to “help shape the future structure, enable the company to balance its strategic infrastructure holdings and continue its software development activities on a business-as-usual basis.’’
ISRAEL MARKET REGULATOR EYES CRYPTO TRADING: An Israel Securities Authority committee recommended forming a platform to trade cryptocurrencies under enhanced regulation, which would enable firms to raise funds by issuing digital coins to investors, Reuters’ Ari Rabinovitch reported Wednesday. “The excitement that defined the field in 2017 has cooled off, but the technology is here to stay,” ISA Chair Anat Guetta said, adding technological innovation can streamline and increase competition.
COINBASE BOOTS FORMER HACKING TEAM EMPLOYEES: In a Monday blog post, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said there was a “gap” in the company’s due diligence process in its acquisition of Neutrino. He said, “While we looked hard at the technology and security of the Neutrino product, we did not properly evaluate everything from the perspective of our mission and values as a crypto company. We took some time to dig further into this over the past week, and together with the Neutrino team have come to an agreement: those who previously worked at Hacking Team…will transition out of Coinbase. This was not an easy decision, but their prior work does present a conflict with our mission.”
IDEANOMICS TO ACQUIRE TREE MOTION STAKE: Ideanomics (IDEX) announced Tuesday that it has signed an agreement to acquire 51% of Malaysian's Tree Motion, the exclusive sales and distribution arm of Treeletrik. Additionally, in a separate deal, Ideanomics will acquire 11.22% of its parent company, Tree Manufacturing. The combined organization hopes to accelerate the adoptability and affordability of EV production and Treeletrik is the only licensed EV manufacturer in Malaysia. Ideanomics will acquire 51% of Malaysian's Tree Motion for a total of 25,500,000 common stock of Ideanomics at $2.00 per share for a total $51M. Separately, Ideanomics will acquire 11.22% of Tree Manufacturing for a total of $25M. These deals are expected to close in 1H19. Additionally, the company announced Friday that it has entered into an exclusive sales agreement with the Malaysian Government for the purchase of Electric Vehicle Buses via the recent acquisition.
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 (OSTK), DPW Holdings (DPW), Kodak (KODK), Ideanomics, 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 rouse roughly 2% this week to $3,889, in U.S. dollars, according to TradeBlock.
Bitcoin
+ (+0.00%)
Bitcoin
+ (+0.00%)
Credit Agricole
+ (+0.00%)
Ideanomics
+ (+0.00%)
AMD
-1.01 (-4.58%)
Nvidia
-4.2 (-2.82%)
OSTK
+
Ault Global Holdings
-0.0012 (-1.35%)
Eastman Kodak
-0.02 (-0.58%)
Riot Platforms
-0.03 (-0.86%)
Pareteum
-0.03 (-0.77%)
Srax
+ (+0.00%)