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.
PBOC DEEMS CRYPTO TRANSACTIONS ILLEGAL: The People's Bank of China announced that transactions in all cryptocurrencies, including services provided by offshore exchanges to domestic residents, are illegal financial activities, Bloomberg reported Friday, citing this morning's statement on the PBOC website. The report states that the central bank has announced that Bitcoin and Tether are not fiat currency and cannot be circulated on the market. The move is the harshest action China has taken against crypto and comes after the country has consistently expressed concerns over digital currency’s links to fraud, money laundering and excessive energy usage.
ROBINHOOD TEASES CRYPTO WALLETS: Robinhood (HOOD) announced Wednesday crypto wallets are coming to the app. The company said in part: "When wallets? We have news! We're excited to share that starting next month, the first customers will begin testing crypto wallets on Robinhood. We'll share their experience and feedback on our blog and twitter regularly so you can follow along and get an under the hood look into what we're building. After that, we will continue to roll out access to more and more customers through our waitlist. ...Robinhood crypto wallets will allow you to move your crypto in and out of your app in a few taps: send your crypto to other wallet addresses and receive supported cryptocurrencies into your Robinhood account. This means you can consolidate your coins into one account so it's easier to track your portfolio, move supported coins into your Robinhood account so you can trade those coins commission-free, and more...The best part? We're making crypto transfers safe, secure, and simple--whether you're a long-time crypto trader, or one of the millions of people transacting on-chain for the first time. At Robinhood, we're designing wallets to be intuitive, with security features such as identity verification, multi-factor authentication, and email and phone verification to keep coins safe from hacks and other threats."
INVESCO TEAMS WITH GALAXY FOR CRYPTO ETF PLANS: Independent investment management company and U.S. ETF issuer Invesco (IVZ) is expanding its efforts to emerge as a leader in the yet-to-launch crypto exchange-traded fund space, Bloomberg's Katherine Greifeld and Vildana Hajric reported Wednesday. The company is partnering with crypto investor Michael Novogratz's Galaxy Digital Holdings to develop a “comprehensive suite of U.S.-listed, physically backed, digital asset” funds. The arrangement that Invesco made with Novogratz reflects the investment manager's aspirations to be at the "forefront of crypto ETFs," which have not yet received the SEC's approval.
COINBASE OFFICIALLY LAUNCHES PRIME: Coinbase (COIN) said in a Monday blog post: "We have been working tirelessly since our beta launch in May to ensure that Coinbase Prime is the most comprehensive platform for institutional investors. Today, we're officially launching Coinbase Prime to all institutions. Coinbase Prime combines advanced trading, battle-tested custody, and financing in a single solution. Along the way, we've continued to add more venues to our smart router which allows clients to achieve the best available price, more assets to our custody capability, enhanced our post-trade reporting capabilities, and added to our post trade credit financing options.” The news comes after the company announced last Friday it was shelving its plans to launch its Lend program.
Additionally on Tuesday, Coindesk’s Nikhilesh De reported Coinbase intends to publicly roll out a proposal for a regulatory framework to federal officials in the coming days citing sources familiar with the regulatory discussions. Details of the pitch are not yet available, but among other matters the company plans to argue what should and should not be defined as a security within the United States.
TWITTER ROLLS OUT TIPPING WITH BITCOIN OPTION: Esther Crawford, Staff Product Manager at Twitter (TWTR), stated in a Thursday blog post: "Good news: Our tipping feature - now called Tips - is rolling out to everyone with more payment options to choose from - even crypto. People already drop links to their payment profiles in their bios and in their Tweets. Tips makes this easier to do, offering one fixed spot, right on your profile, where you can link to your Cash App (SQ), Patreon, Venmo (PYPL) and other platforms where people can support you... We'll roll out to people on iOS first and then bring Tips to people on Android over the coming weeks... In addition to the services currently enabled through Tips, people can now seamlessly tip with Bitcoin using Strike - a payments application built on the Bitcoin Lightning Network that allows people to send and receive Bitcoin. Strike offers instant and free payments globally... We want everyone on Twitter to have access to pathways to get paid. Digital currencies that encourage more people to participate in the economy and help people send each other money across borders and with as little friction as possible - help us get there.”
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), Ideanomics (IDEX), Riot Blockchain (RIOT), Pareteum (TEUM) and SRAX (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 dropped roughly 11.5% this week to $41,760 in U.S. dollars, according to TradeBlock.
