I thought it would be really cool to have an ultimate guide for those new to crypto currencies and the terms used. I made this mostly for beginner’s and veterans alike. I’m not sure how much use you will get out of this. Stuff gets lost on Reddit quite easily so I hope this finds its way to you. Included in this list, I have included most of the terms used in crypto-communities. I have compiled this list from a multitude of sources. The list is in alphabetical order and may include some words/terms not exclusive to the crypto world but may be helpful regardless.
2FA
Two factor authentication. I highly advise that you use it.
51% Attack:
A situation where a single malicious individual or group gains control of more than half of a cryptocurrency network’s computing power. Theoretically, it could allow perpetrators to manipulate the system and spend the same coin multiple times, stop other users from completing blocks and make conflicting transactions to a chain that could harm the network.
Address (or Addy):
A unique string of numbers and letters (both upper and lower case) used to send, receive or store cryptocurrency on the network. It is also the public key in a pair of keys needed to sign a digital transaction. Addresses can be shared publicly as a text or in the form of a scannable QR code. They differ between cryptocurrencies. You can’t send Bitcoin to an Ethereum address, for example.
Altcoin (alternative coin): Any digital currency other than Bitcoin. These other currencies are alternatives to Bitcoin regarding features and functionalities (e.g. faster confirmation time, lower price, improved mining algorithm, higher total coin supply). There are hundreds of altcoins, including Ether, Ripple, Litecoin and many many others.
AIRDROP:
An event where the investors/participants are able to receive free tokens or coins into their digital wallet.
AML: Defines Anti-Money Laundering laws**.**
ARBITRAGE:
Getting risk-free profits by trading (simultaneous buying and selling of the cryptocurrency) on two different exchanges which have different prices for the same asset.
Ashdraked:
Being Ashdraked is essentially a more detailed version of being Zhoutonged. It is when you lose all of your invested capital, but you do so specifically by shorting Bitcoin. The expression “Ashdraked” comes from a story of a Romanian cryptocurrency investor who insisted upon shorting BTC, as he had done so successfully in the past. When the price of BTC rose from USD 300 to USD 500, the Romanian investor lost all of his money.
ATH (All Time High):
The highest price ever achieved by a cryptocurrency in its entire history. Alternatively, ATL is all time low
Bearish:
A tendency of prices to fall; a pessimistic expectation that the value of a coin is going to drop.
Bear trap:
A manipulation of a stock or commodity by investors.
Bitcoin:
The very first, and the highest ever valued, mass-market open source and decentralized cryptocurrency and digital payment system that runs on a worldwide peer to peer network. It operates independently of any centralized authorities
Bitconnect:
One of the biggest scams in the crypto world. it was made popular in the meme world by screaming idiot Carlos Matos, who infamously proclaimed," hey hey heeeey” and “what's a what's a what's up wasssssssssuuuuuuuuuuuuup, BitConneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeect!”. He is now in the mentally ill meme hall of fame.
Block:
A package of permanently recorded data about transactions occurring every time period (typically about 10 minutes) on the blockchain network. Once a record has been completed and verified, it goes into a blockchain and gives way to the next block. Each block also contains a complex mathematical puzzle with a unique answer, without which new blocks can’t be added to the chain.
Blockchain:
An unchangeable digital record of all transactions ever made in a particular cryptocurrency and shared across thousands of computers worldwide. It has no central authority governing it. Records, or blocks, are chained to each other using a cryptographic signature. They are stored publicly and chronologically, from the genesis block to the latest block, hence the term blockchain. Anyone can have access to the database and yet it remains incredibly difficult to hack.
Bullish:
A tendency of prices to rise; an optimistic expectation that a specific cryptocurrency will do well and its value is going to increase.
BTFD:
Buy the fucking dip. This advise was bestowed upon us by the gods themselves. It is the iron code to crypto enthusiasts.
Bull market:
A market that Cryptos are going up.
Consensus:
An agreement among blockchain participants on the validity of data. Consensus is reached when the majority of nodes on the network verify that the transaction is 100% valid.
Crypto bubble:
The instability of cryptocurrencies in terms of price value
Cryptocurrency:
A type of digital currency, secured by strong computer code (cryptography), that operates independently of any middlemen or central authoritie
Cryptography:
The art of converting sensitive data into a format unreadable for unauthorized users, which when decoded would result in a meaningful statement.
Cryptojacking:
The use of someone else’s device and profiting from its computational power to mine cryptocurrency without their knowledge and consent.
Crypto-Valhalla:
When HODLers(holders) eventually cash out they go to a place called crypto-Valhalla. The strong will be separated from the weak and the strong will then be given lambos.
DAO:
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations. It defines A blockchain technology inspired organization or corporation that exists and operates without human intervention.
Dapp (decentralized application):
An open-source application that runs and stores its data on a blockchain network (instead of a central server) to prevent a single failure point. This software is not controlled by the single body – information comes from people providing other people with data or computing power.
Decentralized:
A system with no fundamental control authority that governs the network. Instead, it is jointly managed by all users to the system.
Desktop wallet:
A wallet that stores the private keys on your computer, which allow the spending and management of your bitcoins.
DILDO:
Long red or green candles. This is a crypto signal that tells you that it is not favorable to trade at the moment. Found on candlestick charts.
Digital Signature:
An encrypted digital code attached to an electronic document to prove that the sender is who they say they are and confirm that a transaction is valid and should be accepted by the network.
Double Spending:
An attack on the blockchain where a malicious user manipulates the network by sending digital money to two different recipients at exactly the same time.
DYOR:
Means do your own research.
Encryption:
Converting data into code to protect it from unauthorized access, so that only the intended recipient(s) can decode it.
Eskrow:
the practice of having a third party act as an intermediary in a transaction. This third party holds the funds on and sends them off when the transaction is completed.
Ethereum:
Ethereum is an open source, public, blockchain-based platform that runs smart contracts and allows you to build dapps on it. Ethereum is fueled by the cryptocurrency Ether.
Exchange:
A platform (centralized or decentralized) for exchanging (trading) different forms of cryptocurrencies. These exchanges allow you to exchange cryptos for local currency. Some popular exchanges are Coinbase, Bittrex, Kraken and more.
Faucet:
A website which gives away free cryptocurrencies.
Fiat money:
Fiat currency is legal tender whose value is backed by the government that issued it, such as the US dollar or UK pound.
Fork:
A split in the blockchain, resulting in two separate branches, an original and a new alternate version of the cryptocurrency. As a single blockchain forks into two, they will both run simultaneously on different parts of the network. For example, Bitcoin Cash is a Bitcoin fork.
FOMO:
Fear of missing out.
Frictionless:
A system is frictionless when there are zero transaction costs or trading retraints.
FUD:
Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt regarding the crypto market.
Gas:
A fee paid to run transactions, dapps and smart contracts on Ethereum.
Halving:
A 50% decrease in block reward after the mining of a pre-specified number of blocks. Every 4 years, the “reward” for successfully mining a block of bitcoin is reduced by half. This is referred to as “Halving”.
Hardware wallet:
Physical wallet devices that can securely store cryptocurrency maximally. Some examples are Ledger Nano S**,** Digital Bitbox and more**.**
Hash:
The process that takes input data of varying sizes, performs an operation on it and converts it into a fixed size output. It cannot be reversed.
Hashing:
The process by which you mine bitcoin or similar cryptocurrency, by trying to solve the mathematical problem within it, using cryptographic hash functions.
HODL:
A Bitcoin enthusiast once accidentally misspelled the word HOLD and it is now part of the bitcoin legend. It can also mean hold on for dear life.
ICO (Initial Coin Offering):
A blockchain-based fundraising mechanism, or a public crowd sale of a new digital coin, used to raise capital from supporters for an early stage crypto venture. Beware of these as there have been quite a few scams in the past.
John mcAfee:
A man who will one day eat his balls on live television for falsely predicting bitcoin going to 100k. He has also become a small meme within the crypto community for his outlandish claims.
JOMO:
Joy of missing out. For those who are so depressed about missing out their sadness becomes joy.
KYC:
Know your customer(alternatively consumer).
Lambo:
This stands for Lamborghini. A small meme within the investing community where the moment someone gets rich they spend their earnings on a lambo. One day we will all have lambos in crypto-valhalla.
Ledger:
Away from Blockchain, it is a book of financial transactions and balances. In the world of crypto, the blockchain functions as a ledger. A digital currency’s ledger records all transactions which took place on a certain block chain network.
Leverage:
Trading with borrowed capital (margin) in order to increase the potential return of an investment.
Liquidity:
The availability of an asset to be bought and sold easily, without affecting its market price.
of the coins.
Margin trading:
The trading of assets or securities bought with borrowed money.
Market cap/MCAP:
A short-term for Market Capitalization. Market Capitalization refers to the market value of a particular cryptocurrency. It is computed by multiplying the Price of an individual unit of coins by the total circulating supply.
Miner:
A computer participating in any cryptocurrency network performing proof of work. This is usually done to receive block rewards.
Mining:
The act of solving a complex math equation to validate a blockchain transaction using computer processing power and specialized hardware.
Mining contract:
A method of investing in bitcoin mining hardware, allowing anyone to rent out a pre-specified amount of hashing power, for an agreed amount of time. The mining service takes care of hardware maintenance, hosting and electricity costs, making it simpler for investors.
Mining rig:
A computer specially designed for mining cryptocurrencies.
Mooning:
A situation the price of a coin rapidly increases in value. Can also be used as: “I hope bitcoin goes to the moon”
Node:
Any computing device that connects to the blockchain network.
Open source:
The practice of sharing the source code for a piece of computer software, allowing it to be distributed and altered by anyone.
OTC:
Over the counter. Trading is done directly between parties.
P2P (Peer to Peer):
A type of network connection where participants interact directly with each other rather than through a centralized third party. The system allows the exchange of resources from A to B, without having to go through a separate server.
Paper wallet:
A form of “cold storage” where the private keys are printed onto a piece of paper and stored offline. Considered as one of the safest crypto wallets, the truth is that it majors in sweeping coins from your wallets.
Pre mining:
The mining of a cryptocurrency by its developers before it is released to the public.
Proof of stake (POS):
A consensus distribution algorithm which essentially rewards you based upon the amount of the coin that you own. In other words, more investment in the coin will leads to more gain when you mine with this protocol In Proof of Stake, the resource held by the “miner” is their stake in the currency.
PROOF OF WORK (POW) :
The competition of computers competing to solve a tough crypto math problem. The first computer that does this is allowed to create new blocks and record information.” The miner is then usually rewarded via transaction fees.
Protocol:
A standardized set of rules for formatting and processing data.
Public key / private key:
A cryptographic code that allows a user to receive cryptocurrencies into an account. The public key is made available to everyone via a publicly accessible directory, and the private key remains confidential to its respective owner. Because the key pair is mathematically related, whatever is encrypted with a public key may only be decrypted by its corresponding private key.
Pump and dump:
Massive buying and selling activity of cryptocurrencies (sometimes organized and to one’s benefit) which essentially result in a phenomenon where the significant surge in the value of coin followed by a huge crash take place in a short time frame.
Recovery phrase:
A set of phrases you are given whereby you can regain or access your wallet should you lose the private key to your wallets — paper, mobile, desktop, and hardware wallet. These phrases are some random 12–24 words. A recovery Phrase can also be called as Recovery seed, Seed Key, Recovery Key, or Seed Phrase.
REKT:
Referring to the word “wrecked”. It defines a situation whereby an investor or trader who has been ruined utterly following the massive losses suffered in crypto industry.
Ripple:
An alternative payment network to Bitcoin based on similar cryptography. The ripple network uses XRP as currency and is capable of sending any asset type.
ROI:
Return on investment.
Safu:
A crypto term for safe popularized by the Bizonnaci YouTube channel after the CEO of Binance tweeted
“Funds are safe."
“the exchage I use got hacked!”“Oh no, are your funds safu?”
“My coins better be safu!”
​
​
Sats/Satoshi:
The smallest fraction of a bitcoin is called a “satoshi” or “sat”. It represents one hundred-millionth of a bitcoin and is named after Satoshi Nakamoto.
Satoshi Nakamoto:
This was the pseudonym for the mysterious creator of Bitcoin.
Scalability:
The ability of a cryptocurrency to contain the massive use of its Blockchain.
Sharding:
A scaling solution for the Blockchain. It is generally a method that allows nodes to have partial copies of the complete blockchain in order to increase overall network performance and consensus speeds.
Shitcoin:
Coin with little potential or future prospects.
Shill:
Spreading buzz by heavily promoting a particular coin in the community to create awareness.
Short position:
Selling of a specific cryptocurrency with an expectation that it will drop in value.
Silk road:
The online marketplace where drugs and other illicit items were traded for Bitcoin. This marketplace is using accessed through “TOR”, and VPNs. In October 2013, a Silk Road was shut down in by the FBI.
Smart Contract:
Certain computational benchmarks or barriers that have to be met in turn for money or data to be deposited or even be used to verify things such as land rights.
Software Wallet:
A crypto wallet that exists purely as software files on a computer. Usually, software wallets can be generated for free from a variety of sources.
Solidity:
A contract-oriented coding language for implementing smart contracts on Ethereum. Its syntax is similar to that of JavaScript.
Stable coin:
A cryptocoin with an extremely low volatility that can be used to trade against the overall market.
Staking:
Staking is the process of actively participating in transaction validation (similar to mining) on a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain. On these blockchains, anyone with a minimum-required balance of a specific cryptocurrency can validate transactions and earn Staking rewards.
Surge:
When a crypto currency appreciates or goes up in price.
Tank:
The opposite of mooning. When a coin tanks it can also be described as crashing.
Tendies
For traders , the chief prize is “tendies” (chicken tenders, the treat an overgrown man-child receives for being a “Good Boy”) .
Token:
A unit of value that represents a digital asset built on a blockchain system. A token is usually considered as a “coin” of a cryptocurrency, but it really has a wider functionality.
TOR: “The Onion Router” is a free web browser designed to protect users’ anonymity and resist censorship. Tor is usually used surfing the web anonymously and access sites on the “Darkweb”.
Transaction fee:
An amount of money users are charged from their transaction when sending cryptocurrencies.
Volatility:
A measure of fluctuations in the price of a financial instrument over time. High volatility in bitcoin is seen as risky since its shifting value discourages people from spending or accepting it.
Wallet:
A file that stores all your private keys and communicates with the blockchain to perform transactions. It allows you to send and receive bitcoins securely as well as view your balance and transaction history.
Whale:
An investor that holds a tremendous amount of cryptocurrency. Their extraordinary large holdings allow them to control prices and manipulate the market.
Whitepaper:
​
A comprehensive report or guide made to understand an issue or help decision making. It is also seen as a technical write up that most cryptocurrencies provide to take a deep look into the structure and plan of the cryptocurrency/Blockchain project. Satoshi Nakamoto was the first to release a whitepaper on Bitcoin, titled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” in late 2008.
And with that I finally complete my odyssey. I sincerely hope that this helped you and if you are new, I welcome you to crypto. If you read all of that I hope it increased, you in knowledge.
my final definition:
Crypto-Family:
A collection of all the HODLers and crypto fanatics. A place where all people alike unite over a love for crypto.
We are all in this together as we pioneer the new world that is crypto currency. I wish you a great day and Happy HODLing.
-u/flacciduck
feel free to comment words or terms that you feel should be included or about any errors I made.
Edit1:some fixes were made and added words.

Hi Bitcoiners!
I’m back with the 30th monthly Bitcoin news recap.
For those unfamiliar, each day I pick out the most popularelevant/interesting stories in Bitcoin and save them. At the end of the month I release them in one batch, to give you a quick (but not necessarily the best) overview of what happened in bitcoin over the past month.
You can see recaps of the previous months on Bitcoinsnippets.com
A recap of Bitcoin in May 2019
Adoption

• A local convenience store accepting bitcoin (1 Jun)
  
• The ₿ symbol is now available on iOS, Android and Microsoft services (4 Jun)
  
• Wasabi Wallet does its first ever 100 person CoinJoin (6 Jun)
  
• Asking shops to accept bitcoins when buying online (10 Jun)
  
• South Korea gets its first bitcoin ATM (13 Jun)
  
• Bitcoin passes 1 million daily active addresses again, like in November 2017 (15 Jun)
  
• A bitcoin update from Venezuela (17 Jun)
  
• A gas station that accepts bitcoin (21 Jun)
  
• Someone receives a letter from their 88 year old father who started investing a few years earlier (25 Jun)
  
• Buying coffee through the Lightning Network at a Bitcoin conference (29 Jun)
  

Development

• Watchtowers are coming with the next big release for the Lightning Network (11 Jun)
  
• Someone who managed a bounty wallet dedicated to a scalability concept from 2012 is offering the 5.725 btc to a new scalability project (12 Jun)
  
• Lightning Labs’ non-custodial Lightning mobile app is now on mainnet (19 Jun)
  
• An overview of potential upcoming updates to Bitcoin’s consensus rules (21 Jun)
  
• Lightning Labs announces Loop In, a service that helps manage Lightning Channels (26 Jun)
  
• A list of technical improvements coming to the Lightning Network (28 Jun)
  

Security

• An overview of 9 easy ways to lose your cryptocurrency with a bonus 10th in the comments (5 Jun)
  
• A storage socket as an idea to store a physical bitcoin wallet (8 Jun)
  
• A discussion on what someone who lost access to their 9.5 bitcoins from years ago can do (11 Jun)
  
• A reminder to not store your bitcoins on any exchange (14 Jun)
  
• A warning against a support number scam for Ledger hardware wallets (14 Jun)
  
• Irish cryptocurrency exchange Bitsane exit scams its self-proclaimed 246k users (28 Jun)
  

Mining

• A reminder of a report on how 74$ of Bitcoin mining is powered by renewable energy (9 Jun)
  
• The block reward is halving again in under a year (12 Jun)
  
• A reminder that cloud mining ventures are scams (16 Jun)
  
• Bitcoin’s hashrate hits another all-time high (20 Jun)
  

Business

• Samourai Wallet receives $100k in funding (3 Jun)
  
• HodlHodl exchange enables users to buy and sell bitcoin directly from their Lightning Network wallets (5 Jun)
  
• Bitcoin Suisse ads on Zurch’s airport (11 Jun)
  
• Bitrefill raises $2M in funding to grow its team and advance its Lightning Network services (13 Jun)
  
• Bakkt will initiate user acceptance testing for its bitcoin futures in July (13 Jun)
  
• People are concerned about the ethics, censorship resistance, centralization and privacy of Facebook’s Libra project (14 Jun)
  
• Coinbase becomes one of the participants in Facebook’s Libra project (22 Jun)
  
• CashApp by Square enables bitcoin deposits (25 Jun)
  

Research

• goTenna releases a whitepaper for mobile mesh network bitcoin payments (11 Jun)
  
• Ruben Somsen explains his research on Statechains, a novel layer two protocol (16 Jun)
  

Education

• A livestream of day 1 from the Bitcoin lightning network hack day in Munich (1 Jun)
  
• A livestream of day 2 from the Bitcoin lightning network hack day in Munich (2 Jun)
  
• Setting up Lightning network channels could be an investment for the future (3 Jun)
  
• Alternatives to LocalBitcoins to buy Bitcoin privately (5 Jun)
  
• Andreas Antonopoulos on Bitcoin as the “email” of the Internet of Money (11 Jun)
  
• Carl Dong explains the Bitcoin build system security (12 Jun)
  
• A simple explainer of Erlay, a performance improvement to the Bitcoin network that reduces node traffic (16 Jun)
  
• This week’s Donald Duck children magazine in the Netherlands is about Bitcoin (21 Jun)
  
• People discuss capital gains tax on bitcoin investments and trading (21 Jun)
  
• A discussion on how many people don’t invest in Bitcoin, but use it to store their savings (24 Jun)
  
• An overview of useful information for newcomers to Bitcoin (25 Jun)
  
• A reminder of Andreas Antonopoulos testimony for the Canadian Senate in 2014 (26 Jun)
  
• Edward Snowden speaks about privacy at a Bitcoin conference (27 Jun)
  
• A reminder that a Bitcoin equals 100M satoshis and you can own less than a full bitcoin (30 Jun)
  

Regulation & Politics

• LocalBitcoins is forced to remove its cash trade option (1 Jun)
  
• The Reserve Bank of India denies involvement in a draft bill to ban cryptocurrencies (8 Jun)
  
• Binance to block users from the US (15 Jun)
  

Archeology (Financial Incumbents)

• Someone’s bank account is frozen for 4 weeks because they sold bitcoin (4 Jun)
  
• 86 years ago the US moved off of the gold standard for the people (5 Jun)
  
• Warren Buffet claimed that Bitcoin is a ‘gambling device’ with ‘a lot of frauds’ loses $340M in a Ponzi scheme (6 Jun)
  
• The European Central Bank announces its new plans to print more euros and cut interest rates (10 Jun)
  
• Warren Buffet has 40% of his stock portfolio invested in banks and credit card companies (15 Jun)
  
• Federal Chairman Jerome Powell speaks on cryptocurrency (19 Jun)
  

Price & Trading

• People discuss marketing manipulation vs a free market in bitcoin trading (4 Jun)
  
• An overview of annual minimum bitcoin prices (8 Jun)
  
• Bitcoin reaches an all-time price high in Argentine Pesos due to hyperinflation (9 Jun)
  
• Relative to this day, there were only 70 days that Bitcoin was unprofitable to buy (23 Jun)
  
• An article in the Wall Street Journal Business section on the bitcoin price (24 Jun)
  
• An animation of bitcoin’s price graph from 2009 to the present showing many hype cycles (26 Jun)
  
• A reminder of how most traders lose money (26 Jun)
  
• The $1 of free bitcoin Coinbase handed out in 2015 to new users is worth about $50 now (27 Jun)
  
• A TV interview in the Philippines on the bitcoin price (27 Jun)
  
• People talk a lot about the bitcoin price but not so much about the increase in volume (28 Jun)
  

Fun & Other

• Another Bitcoin street art painting (2 Jun)
  
• If you invested $10 per day into bitcoin starting at its peak in December 2017, you would be up 46% (3 Jun)
  
• A recommendation on the book Sapiens due to its chapter 10 on money, which reinforces the vision for Bitcoin (5 Jun)
  
• Bitpay is overcharging its users for bitcoin transactions (5 Jun)
  
• Bitcoin art on hyperinflated Venezuelan Bolivares bills (10 Jun)
  
• Forbes accurately reports that nobody knows what Bitcoin will do next (13 Jun)
  
• The launch of the FiatMarketCap website (16 Jun)
  
• A Satoshi Nakamoto impersonator has been ordered by a judge to prove his claims of being the creator of Bitcoin (17 Jun)
  
• A reminder that there will never be enough bitcoin for all of today’s existing millionaires to own one (17 Jun)
  
• A discussion on bitcoin as a store of value (23 Jun)
  
• A CNBC news anchor on Facebook’s Libra project compared to Bitcoin (25 Jun)
  
• Google’s search algorithm is unaware that Bitcoin has no CEO (29 Jun)
  
• Former Vice President of the US, Al Gore, on Bitcoin (29 Jun)
  

Originally posted by ankarlie :
https://steemit.com/eos/@ankarlie/newdex-creates-a-one-stop-service-for-users-fa5ab781031d5est
Newdex is a new kind of Decentralized Exchange that is able to provide unprecedented user experience of decentralized trading, which is only possible with highly scalable blockchain technology. The previous generation decentralized exchanges are not able to do this due to blockchain technological limitations their DEX are based on. The Newdex team chose to build on top of one of the most scalable blockchains known in the industry, EOS and has been continuously improving its DEX adding features after features to bring more value into its ecosystem.
On-chain Execution
It has become the world’s leading decentralized exchange that features on-chain matching and settlement) through the utilization of smart contracts. In simple words, all trading activities done on the exchange are triggered and recorded in the EOS high-performance blockchain achieving a whole new level of trust without the wait and associated cost seen in previous blockchain generations. This makes fast and high-frequency trading not only possible but feasible due to the EOS’ unique transactionless design and resource allocations. More importantly, data in the DEX are transparent and immutable.
Non-Custodial Trading
It also features non-custodial trading where users never lose custody of their digital assets, not until the moment the conditions of their trades are met and thereby executed. By doing so the exchange does not attract unwanted attention from hackers looking for their next crypto honeypot to exploit. Since wallets used in Newdex are non-custodial wallets there will never be a point where users can be restricted from access of their own digital assets. Unlike centralized exchanges, Newdex does not ask for the custodianship of tokens. While there are some feature in Newdex that requires locking up of some assets, unlocking them are within the power of users and does not require access to Newdex website.
Zero Deposit and Withdrawal Fees
Additionally, deposits and withdrawals in Newdex are instant and users will never be charged with fees. This allows frictionless trading within its platform and presents a quick way of having access to all available digital assets in the non-custodial wallet that has been linked. Once wallets are linked all cryptocurrencies contained in the wallet will immediately be detected by Newdex for immediate trading. This is a more efficient and cost-effective way of having access to digital assets. CEX requires users to send each of the assets one by one which is not only cumbersome but also costly as users have to spent transfer fees or resources to send them.
Private Keys not required
As an additional layer of security, Newdex decentralized bourse will never ask for the private keys of its users. Instead, users can log in using the widest range of wallets available for EOS, EOS sidechains, and TRON. This is one of the most striking features of Newdex as it essentially supports almost all types of login options for all supported platforms. Desktop wallets, Chrome extension wallets, and mobile wallets can be used to login to its DEX without having to ask the users to reveal their private keys. This highlights Newdex’s emphasis on security, privacy, and ease of use.
Pervasive
Newdex has become the quintessential DEX in EOS space becoming the go-to listing partner of many EOS-based projects and has been supported by virtually every wallet service provider that supports EOS. This demonstrates the market penetration of Newdex and the reputation it has gained throughout its existence. Its presence and market influence is the direct result of providing the first truly global decentralized exchange based on EOS and continuously building on its brand by providing high quality, relevant and timely products, and services.
Newdex Platform Ecological Token (NDX)
Newdex issued its own utility token dubbed as the Newdex platform Ecological Token (NDX). Its primary purpose is to serve as the platform’s primary currency for services its offers. These include VIP membership Fee, repurchase and destruction, staking concessions, Token airdrops, advertising bidding, independent listing and more. It is currently listed in Newdex with pairs of NDX/EOS and NDX/USDT. Recently it has been used to rewards those who opted to undergo identity verification for OTC services of the Newdex Platform.
Newdex Free CPU trades for VIP members
Newdex has been built on top of one of the most scalable and feature-filled blockchains in the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem. To elevate the trading experience of its users further, Newdex is giving its users limited Free CPU placing order in trades depending on their VIP levels. The CPU-free placing order time as shown below:
📷
This would allow its traders to execute trades without having to worry on having enough CPU-time EOS resources.
Multilingual
Newdex is designed to be a frictionless and borderless decentralized exchange, as such, it offers multilingual support to cover all the most active crypto trading jurisdiction in the world. Currently, it supports English, Korean, Chinese and Chinese tranditional. It is expected that more languages will be supported in the future as Newdex expands to new markets.
Simple yet Power User Interface (UI)
One of the first things users will notice about Newdex is its simple yet powerful user interface (UI) that enables them to gain access to all important features easily and conveniently. Its design is clean and purposeful without excess information clottering the screen enabling users to concentrate on what they are doing. The additional features of the DEX are carefully tucked away but easily accessible through the many non-intrusive menus buttons smartly positioned for optimal use. Hidden behind this elegant UI is a new breed of decentralized exchange that truly raises the bar of excellence in Decentralized Finance (DEFI) particularly the DEX sector.
Multi-Chain Trading
The recent support for TRON reveals its openness and intent of supporting other high-performance public blockchains to achieve multi-chain trading. This opens up unlimited opportunities for growth for Newdex not only in terms of partnerships with other blockchain projects but also in terms of user base as each of these projects typically has its own supporters and believers. The willingness of the Newdex Team to work in both EOS and TRON platform demonstrates their flexibility and agility to react to current market conditions in a meaningful and timely fashion.
Excellent Tech support
To give the very best tech support to its users, Newdex has hired the services of Zendesk, a software company that is headquartered in San Francisco and listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The support page is very well organized and response times are top-notch. Nothing less is be expected from a professional tech support team. The same company is also used by many well-established blockchain-based companies who want professional-level services for its tech support.
Highly ranked among dApps Trading Platforms
📷
It comes to no surprise that Newdex has consistently ranked on top of dApps data services providers, such as the Dappradar, in terms of the trading volume. This makes them the top EOS-based DEX in the space. This is just a confirmation of what we already knew about Newdex and about its team who tirelessly seek out new innovative products and services with the purpose of bringing to the crypto trading community the very best of what DEX trading has to offer. But wait there is more! Its newest innovation is explained in the next section where it tries to marry traditional and blockchain-based fintech together.
How to Join the Newdex OTC marketplace?
Regulatory compliance requires the Newdex team to ask its users to accomplish KYC and AML procedures before they can avail of the OTC services. Prospective users are required to declare their identity, contact information and to submit proof to validate the information submitted. Once this information has been approved users can start using the OTC market.
While the Newdex team values the privacy of its customers they also acknowledge the need for such procedures for the safety of its users since the service entails interaction with government-issued assets (fiat) as well as to be able to resolve disputes when the need arises. Currently, the platform only offers Renminbi or the Chinese Yuan CNY for fiat purchases and has expressed the intention to expand to other fiat options in the near future.
NDX Rewards For OTC Participants
As a way to celebrate the launch of their OTC services and to rewards participants who undergo KYC procedures the Newdex Team have initiated the Newdex OTC NDX Rewards Program. Users who will participate in Identity Verification Procedures will receive NDX. The program started November 25, 2019, and will end at 9:00 am Decemver 16, 2019 (UTC).
There are two activities where users can join and they are allowed to join both so long as they qualify. Rewards are limited and will be distributed based on a first come first serve basis. Since the rewards program is sponsored by Newdex, their final interpretation of the results of the rewards program are final and cannot be reconsidered.
The first activity (Activity 1) is the real name verification. The total rewards for this activity is 2,500 NDX
Activity Rules： During the activity, users who log in to Newdex and complete the real name verification on the OTC fiat trading page can claim NDX reward:
Reward 500 NDX via completing the primary verification (3,000 openings).
Reward 2,000 NDX via completing the intermediate verification (3,000 openings).
The second activity (Activity 2) is the fiat trading which has a total reward of 2,200 NDX
Activity Rules： During the activity, users who log in to Newdex and complete EOS or USDT trading on the OTC fiat trading page can claim NDX reward:
One time reward of 200 NDX for a single order ≥ 50 EOS/150 USDT
One time reward of 2,000 NDX for a single order ≥ 500 EOS/1500 USDT
Newdex’s One-Stop Service
Newdex has proven once again why it is the leading high-performance decentralized exchange in the space as follows:
Providing scalable decentralized exchange trading
Instant and Secure
Non-custodial
On-Chain matching and Settlement
Transparent and Immutable
No Deposits and Withdrawals Fees
Top-rated trading dApps
Highest trading volumes
Most supported DEX by top wallet service providers
Offering the widest range of EOS-based tokens including EOS Native Tokens and EOS Sidechains
Multichain Trading
Added Support to Tron-based Tokens
Plans to support other high-performance blockchains
Providing innovative opportunities for its users
Newpool multichain staking pool
Widest range of EOS-based Stablecoins offering
OTC trading desk for fiat trading
The list goes on......
The diverse and extensive product/service offerings from Newdex have truly created a One-Stop Service where users can enjoy the fullest benefit of their digital assets as well as opening the floodgates of OTC fiat trading. With this new service, it has empowered its users the flexibility to conduct trades with both blockchain-based and fiat assets.
For more information about Newdex please follow its official links below:
Website: https://newdex.io/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NewdexOfficial
Medium: https://medium.com/@marketing_27690
Let's Connect!!!

Previous reviews: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May
Crypto moves way too fast for me to keep up, so I aggregate each day's biggest headline and publish the list at the end of the month. Below is my list for June. My main news source was reddit. My main holdings are ETH and NANO, but I try to make these lists as unbiased as possible.
Market cap movement throughout June - a slight downward trend. Mostly sideways, with some sharp downward dips it has yet to recover from.
6/1 - Huobi, the 3rd largest exchange in the world, launches a cryptocurrency ETF that tracks the top 10 cryptos. 6/2 - EOS’ year-long ICO comes to an end, raising a record $4 billion total, over twice as much as Telegram’s next most valuable ICO. 6/3 - ZenCash undergoes two consecutive 51% attacks, with the attacks taking nearly 20,000 ZEN. 6/4 - Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says that he buys into the idea of Bitcoin becoming the single international currency. 6/5 - The Indonesian government clears cryptocurrency to be traded on futures exchanges as a commodity. 6/6 - Internal job postings reveal that Fidelity Investments is building a cryptocurrency exchange. 6/7 - MasterCard files a patent for a system that would securely verify credit card purchases using data stored on a blockchain. 6/8 - After a lengthy investigation, Korea National Tax Services fines Bithumb $30 million in unpaid taxes but finds no evidence of illegal activity. 6/9 - Columbian banks close all the accounts of South American crypto exchange Buda following legal issues with the platform. 6/10 - The EOS main net launches, but struggles to get 15% of its tokens staked, which is required for the main net to allow transactions 6/11 - Subscription-based crypto-mining company Argo Blockchain is approved to be the first blockchain related company listed on the London Stock Exchange. 6/12 - Iota and Volkswagen demonstrate a proof-of-concept for secure, over the air data exchange between autonomous vehicles at the Cebit 2018 conference. 6/13 - A study by the University of Texas at Austin concludes that the price of Bitcoin was inflated by Tether in December 2017 and January 2018. 6/14 - In both a written statement and a speech to the Yahoo All Markets: Crypto summit, SEC executive William Hinman declares that Bitcoin and Ether are not securities due to their decentralization. He also states that other ICO cryptocurrencies may be considered securities, and that it is possible for tokens to lose their security status over time. 6/15 - A fatal bug is found in the Icon smart contract that allows any unprivileged account to enable and disable ICX transfers for all accounts. 6/16 - Less than 48 hours after going live, the EOS mainnet pauses transactions to identify and fix a serious issue. 6/17 - The Brave browser commences a rollout of its ads trial program, allowing users to get paid in BAT to watch ads. 6/18 - Payment services company Square is granted a BitLicense by New York, allowing state residents to buy and sell Bitcoin through its Cash app. 6/19 - $30 million of assets are stolen from Bithumb in the second such attack against the Korean exchange in 12 months. The exchange pledges to replenish the funds themselves and ensures no losses in users’ accounts. 6/20 - A partial audit of Tether by DC law firm Freeh, Sporkin & Sullivan LLP concludes that Tether has enough money to fully back every USDT in circulation. 6/21 - Nano releases mobile wallets to Android and iOS, but users immediately discover that the seed generation technique on the Android wallet is insecure. A hotfix is pushed several hours later. 6/22 - The Tokyo District Court halts the sale of any Bitcoin held by MtGox until February 2019. 6/23 - Four blockchain entrepreneurs are awarded Thiel Fellowship grants: Vest co-founder Axel Ericsson, Polkadot co-founder Robert Habermeier, MyCrypto CTO Daniel Ternyak and Mechanism Labs co-founder Aparna Krishnan. 6/24 - Chinese authorities arrest a man for allegedly stealing power to fuel a secret crypto-mining operation. 6/25 - Top venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz raises $300 million for its first dedicated cryptocurrency fund. It plans to put the money in early stage tokens, as well as later stage networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum, and hold the investments for 10 years. 6/26 - Facebook reverses its ban on cryptocurrency ads while maintaining its ban on ICO promotions. 6/27 - Malta, the current location of Binance headquarters, passes three cryptocurrency and blockchain related bills in an effort to draw more business to the “blockchain island”. 6/28 - Dan Larimer proposes an EOS “Constitution 2.0 “ through Block.one after 27 EOS accounts were frozen by EOS’ Core Arbitration Forum. 6/29 - A joint report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Swiss Crypto Valley Association shows that the ICO volume for 2018 has already doubled that of 2017. 6/30 - BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes predicts the Bitcoin price to reach $50,000 by the end of 2018.

• AirSwap, a decentralized cryptocurrency trading platform announced a new partnership Tuesday that will tokenize New York’s real estate markets. AirSwap will partner with FINRA-registered broker dealer Propellr. In a statement, AirSwap said their main goal is to reduce time to complete secondary market transactions of private securities from months to days.
• Alive Casino is building a blockchain platform that allows users to participate in VR online gambling. Based in Costa Rica, Alive Casino is currently in the process of selling 15% of its AL tokens in order to raise the necessary funds to develop the platform. AL tokens have a value of USD$0.015/token and can be purchased with ETH, with a maximum purchase cap of 75 ETH.
• The Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), the country’s trade agency, and the Australian Digital Commerce Association are jointly sending a delegation of domestic blockchain startups to visit some of China’s largest fintech companies this week. China is one of the world’s leaders in innovative blockchain technology, having filed over 10% of the world’s blockchain patents.
• Authorities from US states Illinois and Arizona are asking India’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to seize property of promoters of Bitcoin investment firm BitConnect. The two US states are accusing BitConnect of being a Ponzi scheme, having raised approximately USD$5.6 billion from investors. India’s Criminal Investigation Department also claims BitConnect is suspected of money-laundering.
• After Bitcoinist reported Tuesday that investment bank State Street will back stablecoin Gemini Dollar, the Bitcion Foundation’s Charlie Shrem said solid stablecoins are going to serve as a bridge for mainstream investors that will span decades. Shrem elaborated, saying stablecoins’ biggest accomplishment is eliminating the risks associated with high volatility digital coins.
• A Canadian town in the Ontario Province is paying hackers a ransom in Bitcoin in order to get its computer network working again. The town of Midland had its computer systems breached and infected with ransom malware that encrypted files at the beginning of this month. Although critical services, like waste management ad fire response, were not affected, the town has begun paying the hackers Bitcoin in exchange for the decryption keys.
• CoinDesk is reporting that there is a new major competitor for Bitmain. Bitewei, a Shenzhen-based mining chip manufacturer led by the former director of design at Bitmain, Yang Zuoxing, raised CNY40 million (USD$20 million) to bring to mining hardware to market. Bitewei and Bitmain have been battling over the past 2 years in regards to intellectual property designed by Yang.
• Researchers from China’s Xi’an Jiaoton University published a report Wednesday saying at least 4 in 5 altcoins have stolen and plagiarized about 90% of their code. The report examined 488 digital currencies and found the code underpinning 405 digital coins (83%) yielded a ‘similarity score’ of between 90% and 100%.
• A variety of blockchain funds, exchanges, and startup have come together to form the Blockchain Association, a lobbying group for the crypto industry. Reported Tuesday, some founding members include Coinbase, Polychain Capital, Protocol Labs, and Digital Currency Group. One of the association’s first hires is Kristin Smith, former Senate aide. The Blockchain Association will specifically focus on lobbying for tax laws and know your customers/anti-money laundering regulations.
• Japanese telecom company, Softbank Corporation, has completed a proof-of-concept (PoC) for a blockchain that would allow peer to peer mobile payments across different carriers. Announced early Wednesday, the technology is the product of a partnership with blockchain startup TBCASoft, and Synchronoss, a publicly traded company that works with a communications protocol in Japan called Rich Communication Service.

Sources:
https://www.ccn.com/decentralized-crypto-trading-platform-airswap-strikes-deal-to-tokenize-ny-real-estate-market/ https://www.newsbtc.com/2018/09/12/alive-play-casino-offers-vr-online-gambling-experience-on-blockchain-launches-exclusive-private-sale/ https://www.ccn.com/australian-blockchain-delegation-heads-to-china-to-foster-fintech-ties/ https://www.coindesk.com/major-crypto-companies-form-dc-lobbying-group/ https://bitcoinist.com/winklevoss-gemini-dollar-charlie-shrem/ https://cointelegraph.com/news/two-us-states-implore-indian-authorities-to-seize-property-of-bitconnect-promoters https://www.ccn.com/this-canadian-town-is-coughing-up-bitcoin-after-ransomware-attack/ https://www.coindesk.com/inside-bitewei-the-20-million-bitcoin-miner-being-hailed-as-a-bitmain-rival/ https://news.bitcoin.com/chinese-report-finds-9-in-10-altcoins-stolen-80-code/?utm_source=OneSignal%20Push&utm_medium=notification&utm_campaign=Push%20Notifications https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-industry-leaders-establish-washington-based-lobby-group https://www.coindesk.com/softbank-completes-blockchain-poc-for-cross-carrier-mobile-payments/ https://www.ccn.com/binance-partners-malta-stock-exchange-to-launch-new-digital-exchange/ https://www.ccn.com/this-canadian-town-is-coughing-up-bitcoin-after-ransomware-attack/ https://bitcoinist.com/winklevoss-gemini-dollar-charlie-shrem/ https://news.bitcoin.com/chinese-report-finds-9-in-10-altcoins-stolen-80-code/ https://www.newsbtc.com/2018/09/12/alive-play-casino-offers-vr-online-gambling-experience-on-blockchain-launches-exclusive-private-sale/

Developments in Financial Services

• A cryptocurrency exchange-traded product (ETP) that trades on Switzerland’s Six Exchange saw record trading volumes on Thursday and Friday last week, suggesting that institutional investors may be buying the dip in cryptocurrencies. Four major cryptocurrencies underlie the HODL ETP, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ripple (XRP), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). While HODL ETP’s one-month average daily trading is 20,000 shares, on Thursday, December 6th, and Friday, December 7th, 53,233 shares and 62.986 shares were traded, respectively.
• A report published last week by global anti-money laundering policymaker, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), indicates that cryptocurrency exchanges in the United Kingdom pose a, “low risk,” for money laundering and terrorist financing activities. The report, however, does highlight that such activities on UK cryptocurrency exchanges are an, “emerging risk,” although there is not yet enough evidence to suggest that these activities are occurring through cryptocurrency exchanges. In its report, the FATF urged UK regulators to, “Continue to develop an understanding of emerging risks (such as virtual currencies) and intelligence gaps, and take appropriate action.”
• Andreas Utermann, CEO and CIO of Allianz Global Investors, called on global financial regulators to ban cryptocurrencies while speaking at a panel discussion in London. According to a report by Reuters, Utermann said, “You should outlaw it,” while participating in a panel alongside Andrew Bailey, the head of Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority. Bailey responded by saying that Utermann’s comments were, “quite strong,” before adding that cryptocurrencies have, “no intrinsic value.”
• Basis, a major US-based stablecoin project, is shutting down its operations and returning most of its funds to investors, according to a report by crypto news outlet The Block. The report by The Block cited, “multiple people with direct knowledge of the situation,” in claiming that the algorithmic stablecoin project, which generated UDS$133mm of funding through private investments in April, will return funds to investors. According to the Co-Founder and CEO of competing stablecoin project Nevin Freeman, Basis’ shutdown is due to regulatory concerns around one of its token types. Freeman explained, highlighting that algorithmic stablecoins implement a “secondary token”, known as a “bond token”, to help maintain the primary token’s peg. In many cases, regulators like the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) consider these secondary tokens to be securities.
• Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume, announced that it has added Circle’s US dollar-pegged stablecoin, USD Coin (USDC), to its combined Stablecoin Market. Circle, a company backed by Goldman Sachs, first released its stablecoin in September of this year. Binance’s combined Stablecoin Market features other notable stablecoins, like Tether (USDT), that trade against cryptocurrencies as interchangeable base pairs.
• Coinone, a South Korea-based cryptocurrency exchange, has officially launched Cross, a cross-border payments application that leverages Ripple’s xCurrent product to increase efficiencies. The application, released by Coinone’s payments subsidiary, Coinone Transfer, targets unbanked or underbanked South Koreans by enabling the transfer of funds to Thailand or the Philippines at a low cost.
• Gemini, a cryptocurrency exchange heralded by the Winklevoss twins, released an official company blog post this weekend announcing that the firm will support Bitcoin Cash (BCH) custody and trading. The exchange will support only the Bitcoin Cash ABC network at this time, adding that they, “are continuing to evaluate Bitcoin SV over the coming weeks or months, and we may or may not choose to support withdrawals and/or trading of Bitcoin SV in the future.” Additionally, the company detailed that its listing of BCH is pending regulatory approval by the New York State Department of Financial Services.
• Gemini, the cryptocurrency trading platform founded by the Winklevoss twins, announced the launch of a mobile crypto trading application in an official blog post today. Accompanying the launch of the crypto trading app is a new investment vehicle, dubbed, “The Cryptoverse,” that is comprised of a basket of cryptocurrencies weighted by market capitalization. While speaking to Bloomberg today, Cameron Winklevoss said that, “A lot of our decisions have perhaps given off a perception that we’re more institutional-based. The reality of the situation is that we have a diverse customer base. And the retail story is just beginning.” The Winklevoss twins went on to detail of a goal to expand reach to Asian markets by 2019’s end.
• Good Money, a US neo-banking platform, has closed its Series A investment round that generated USD$30mm led by cryptocurrency-focused merchant bank Galaxy Digital and the founder of EOS (EOS) Block.one. Good Money aims to provide a variety of banking service and certain financial instruments to US account holders while exploring innovative changes to traditional banking practices. “Modern banking is a primary driver of so many issues we as a society face – from economic inequality, institutional racism, environmental destruction to political corruption,” said Good Money founder Gunnar Lovelace. Specifically, Good Money eliminates ATM fees while offering each bank user equity in the company.
• Kraken, a notable cryptocurrency exchange, is seeking to raise funding with a USD$4bn valuation for the company and a USD$100,000 investment minimum, according to CoinDesk. In an email to investors, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell wrote, “There is presently a limited time opportunity available to a very small select number of clients to purchase shares.” The email goes on to detail that the exchange will close its offer on December 16th.
• OKEx, the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume, will begin listing Bitcoin Cash ABC under the original Bitcoin Cash ticker (BCH), as per an official announcement Tuesday. Additionally, OKEx will change the Bitcoin Cash SV ticker from BCHSV to BSV. The announcement by OKEx comes after other notable cryptocurrency exchanges have made the same switch, including Coinbase and Gemini.
• PayPal, an online payments portal, has launched its own internal private blockchain platform that will allow staff to trade and exchange tokens while generating ideas and participating in programs to foster innovation, as per a report by news outlet Cheddar. The private blockchain network, which was built by 25 PayPal employees in just 6 months, will allow employees to earn more for enrolling in learning and development programs. The PayPal tokens are not tradeable, or worth anything for that matter, outside PayPal’s blockchain.
• PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a big four consulting firm, is partnering with Bitfury Group, a large blockchain software and mining firm, to develop a blockchain accelerator specific to Russian businesses. As per an official press release by PwC, the partnership will leverage Exonum, Bitfury’s open source framework to build blockchain applications, for educational courses and seminars. The partnership aims to meet the, “current needs,” of PwC’s enterprise clients in Russia.
• Revolut, a digital banking alternative with an in-application cryptocurrency exchange, announced that it has been awarded a European banking license. Seeking to become the, “Amazon of banking,” the license will allow Revolut to offer traditional banking services alongside its current cryptocurrency offerings to European customers. Nikolay Storonsky, Founder and CEO of Revolut, said in regards to the newly acquired license that, “With the banking license now secured, commission-free stock trading progressing well, and five new international markets at final stages of launch, we are living up to our reputation as the ‘Amazon of Banking’. Our vision is simple: one ap with tens of millions of users, where you can manage every aspect of your financial life with the best value and technology.”
• Shinhan Bank, the second-largest commercial bank in South Korea, is launching a new project to implement blockchain technology in its internal processes with a goal of eliminating human error. According to a report by news outlet The Korea Times, Shinhan also recently completed a training program for its staff to increase their knowledge of blockchain technology across various applications. After Shinhan implemented blockchain technology for interest rate swap transactions on November 30th, South Korea’s second-largest bank is now aiming to apply the technology in its record-keeping process to enhance overall efficiencies.
• SolarisBank, Germany’s second-largest and Europe’s ninth-largest stock exchange, is partnering with Stuttgart Exchange Group, a German fintech company, to jointly develop a cryptocurrency exchange. As per a report by Cointelegraph Germany, the joint cryptocurrency exchange venture, “is scheduled to launch in the first half of 2019.” This news comes after SolarisBank announced plans to launch a zero-fee cryptocurrency trading application this past May.
• The Canadian city of Calgary is becoming the first city in Canada to launch a digital version of its local currency, according to a report by the Global News. Dubbed as the Calgary Digital Dollar, the digital currency will be exclusive to Calgary and operate alongside the country’s Canadian Dollar. Calgary-based businesses will now be required by law to accept at least 10% of a payment in digital currency, although they are allowed to accept up to 100%.
• The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is launching a pilot of its Global Payment Initiative (GPI) to combat growing blockchain and fintech solutions, according to an official announcement last week. Currently, the SWIFT Network is used by global financial institutions to conduct global financial payments and cross-border transfers of fiat currency. Although the project is still in its early stages, the GPI pilot hopes to, “build the foundation of a new integrated and interactive service that will significantly improve efficiencies in the payments process and which will ultimately be made available to all 10,000 banks across the SWIFT network.”
• The United Arab Emirates’(UAE) central bank is partnering with the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) to develop a cryptocurrency to facilitate cross border transactions between the two countries, according to a report by news outlet GulfNews. In a meeting pertaining to global banking standards and regulation in the Arab region, Mubarak Rashed Al Mansouri, the governor of the UAE’s central bank, said, “This is probably the first time ever that witnesses the cooperation of monetary authorities from different countries on this topic and we hope that this achievement will foster similar collaboration in our region.” The prospective digital currency will be used by both central banks and financial institutions in the countries.
• TokenSoft, a security token offering (STO) startup, has acquired a 20% stake in regulated broker-dealer Marpine Securities LLC in order to launch its own regulated broker-dealer. After acquiring the 20% stake, TokenSoft will launch its new regulated broker-dealer entity, called TokenSoft Global Markets, that will be registered through the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). The new regulated broker-dealer entity will allow TokenSoft to advise token issuers through every step of the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) process. Additionally, TokenSoft will now be able to legally operate in services related to insurance and management.
• Tom Lee, co-founder of Fundstrat Global Advisors and a notable cryptocurrency pundit, believes that the current fair value of Bitcoin (BTC) is between USD$13,800 and USD$14,800, according to a note published on Thursday. Lee arrived at this valuation by taking into account the number of active wallet addresses, usage per account, and other supply and demand metrics. Additionally, Lee forecasted that the fair value of BTC will reach USD$150,000/coin once BTC wallets account for 7% of Visa’s 4.5bn account holders.
• UAE Exchange, an exchange based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is partnering with Ripple to launch a blockchain-based cross-border remittances platform by 1Q2019, as per a Reuters report on Thursday. The report details further that Finablr, a payments and foreign exchange company that owns UAE Exchange, observes a high level of remittance inflows from expatriate workers in the Middle East region. “We expect to go live with Rippel by Q1, 2019 with two other Asian banks,” said Finablr CEO Promoth Manghat, adding, “This is for remittances to start with, from across the globe into Asia.”

Regulatory Environment

• De Nederlandsche Bank, the Netherlands’ central bank, will soon require domestic cryptocurrency providers to obtain a license from the regulator to operate, as per a report by Dutch news outlet DeTelegraaf. The Netherlands' central bank is taking these measures in the hope that it will, “prevent such cryptocurrencies from being used to launder money obtained through crime or to fund terrorism.” In order to receive a license, cryptocurrency firms must maintain Know-Your-Customer procedures and report any suspicious activity to the Dutch central bank.
• Eddie Hughes, a conservative member of the United Kingdom’s Parliament, suggested that Bitcoin (BTC) should be accepted as legal tender for tax and utility payments, according to news outlet Express.co.uk. The article discusses that Hughes, who is a self-described, “crypto enthusiast with amateur knowledge,” recently met with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, which accepts cryptocurrency donations. This news comes after the US state of Ohio announced that it would begin accepting BTC as legal tender for tax payments.
• Following a case in Canadian courts that resulted in a ruling ordering mistakenly sent crypto funds to be returned to their owner, a blog post from the University of Oxford Faculty of Law is noting that there could be repercussions with the case potentially setting a precedent for lost or stolen cryptocurrency claims. The Canadian court case’s ruling will require defendant Brian Wall to return USD$370,482 worth of Ethereum (ETH) tokens to the plaintiff, Copytrack. The blog post from the University of Oxford Faculty of Law reads, ‘This precedent may have major repercussions for the enforcement of claims regarding lost or stolen cryptocurrencies,” adding that the ruling allows the plaintiff to recover tokens, “in whatsoever hands those Ether Tokens may currently be held.”
• Japan’s government is considering plans to ease cryptocurrency taxes in an effort to revitalize the domestic cryptocurrency and blockchain industry. This week, Japanese Congressman Takeshi Fujimaki proposed four significant changes to taxation requirements pertaining to digital assets, which include: a reduction on the cryptocurrency gains tax from 55% to 20%; elimination of taxes on crypto-to-crypto payments; elimination of taxes on miniscule cryptocurrency payments; and an adjustment that would allow cryptocurrency investors to carry forward losses across quarters and years, effectively until cryptocurrencies are ‘cashed’ out.
• Jay Clayton, Chairman for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC), said during a speech that Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), “can be effective,” for fundraising, but that, “securities laws must be followed.” Clayton went on in his speech to comment on the US SEC’s work regarding distributed ledger technology (DLT), digital assets, and ICOs, saying that it is an, “area where the Commission and staff have spent a significant amount of time,” and, “that this trend will continue in 2019.”
• Jay Clayton, the Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), expressed his optimism for distributed ledger technology’s potential impact on traditional financial markets in a testimony before the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs yesterday. According to a transcript published on the SEC’s website, Clayton said, “I am optimistic that developments in distributed ledger technology can help facilitate capital formation, providing promising investment opportunities for both institutional and Main Street Investors.” Additionally, Clayton highlighted that the SEC is, “Focusing a significant amount of attention and resources on digital assets and initial coin offerings (ICOs).”
• Maxim Akimov, the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, announced that no significant changes will be made to the draft of a bill concerning cryptocurrency regulation in the country, as per news outlet Finmarket. The bill was already approved by Russia’s parliament, the State Duma, in May 2018, although the bill has generated substantial discussion since. Since approval of the bill, all cryptocurrency and token-related terminology have been removed and replaced with the term “digital rights”. At the beginning of December, Pavel Krasheninnikov, Chairman of Russia’s State Duma, said that the bill needed to be, “significantly,” changed.
• Pan Gongsheng, a deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, highlighted that Security Token Offerings (STOs) in China are illegal while speaking at a summit in Beijing. As per a report by news outlet the South China Morning Post, Gongsheng told the summit that, “illegal financing activities through STOs and ICOs were still rampant in the mainland despite a nationwide clean-up of the cryptocurrency market last year.” In citing reasoning for the continued ban on STOs, Gongsheng explained that, “Virtual money has become an accomplice to all kinds of illegal and criminal activities.”
• Pantera Capital, a blockchain and cryptocurrency-focused investment firm and hedge fund, is warning investors that as much as a quarter of their ICO project could potentially be violating US securities laws, according to a Bloomberg report. In a newsletter to clients, Pantera Capital warned, “While we believe the vast majority of the projects in our portfolio should not be affected, approximately 25% of our fund’s capital is invested in other projects with liquid tokens that sold to US investors without using Regulation D or Regulation S”
• Russia has no intention of implementing Venezuela’s state-backed digital currency, the Petro, into commercial operations, according to a report by news outlet RIA Novosti. While speaking to reporters this week, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Storchak said, “Representatives from our tax service and central bank... got acquainted with the cryptocurrency Venezuela is introducing,” adding, “But no more than that. As for payments, they’re not happening yet.”
• South Korea’s representative body, the National Assembly, held its first official meeting with seven of the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges on Monday. The purpose of the meeting was to debate cryptocurrency regulation between stakeholders of South Korea’s cryptocurrency industry. Cryptocurrency exchanges Bithumb, CobitCoin, Coinone, Upbit, Gopax, Coinplug, and Hanbitco were among the attendees of the debate, which reportedly focused on Anti-Money Laundering (AML) customer protections and Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures.
• The United Kingdom’s Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental financial security body, is calling on the country’s government to increase monitoring of cryptocurrency markets. According to an official report last week, the UK must overhaul its Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and combat terrorist financing (CFT) efforts in order to prevent illicit activities with cryptocurrencies. “Virtual currency exchange providers are not yet covered by AML/CFT requirements,” the report details, adding, “this is an emerging risk and there is not yet evidence to suggest that broad scale ML/TF is occurring in the UK through this relatively small sector.”
• The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is interested in learning more about the Ethereum (ETH) network, its technology, and the markets build around it. On Tuesday, the CFTC published a Request for Input (RFI) that requests the public’s feedback on different questions concerning Ethereum. The RFI explains that its goal is to inform the CFTC about Ethereum and similar emerging technology, saying, “The input from this request will advance the CFTC’s mission of ensuring the integrity of the derivatives market as well as monitoring and reducing the systematic risk by enhancing legal certainty in the markets. The RFI seeks to understand the similarities and distinctions between certain virtual currencies, including here ether and bitcoin, as well as ether-specific opportunities, challenges, and risks.”
• The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC) is ordering that cryptocurrency asset manager CoinAlpha Advisors LLC pay a USD$50,000 fine, alleging that the firm conducted an unregistered securities sale. After forming in October 2017, CoinAlpha raised more than USD$600,000 from investors to invest in digital assets. In an official release, the US SEC said that CoinAlpha did not file a Notice of Exempt Offering of Securities, meaning that the firm breached securities laws by soliciting securities investors. Additionally, the firm allegedly did not adhere to proper know-your-customer procedures to verify that investors were accredited.
• Venezuela is reportedly beginning to convert its citizens’ monthly pension payments into Petros, Venezuela’s controversial state and oil-backed cryptocurrency, according to a report by local economics blog the Caracas Chronicles. The conversion of Venezuelan pensioners’ payments into Petros came after the country already sent pensioners their monthly payment in the form of a check for Venezuelan Bolivars -- normally, upon receiving their check, pensioners would deposit their funds into a bank account where they could then withdraw fiat from local branches. The Venezuelan government, however, converted pensioners’ fiat payments into the Petro upon their deposit into a bank. In the first few weeks of the Petro’s existence, its value has risen from 9,000 to more than 15,000.
• Warren Davidson, an Ohio Congressman and notable advocate of blockchain and digital assets, is floating blockchain technology as a solution to fund US President Donald Trump’s prospective US-Mexico border wall. While interviewing with NPR, Congressman Davidson suggested, “the American people, or whomever should choose to donate,” could pay for the border wall, adding, “you could do it with sort of like a crowdfunding site or you could do a blockchain and you could have WallCoins.”

General News

• “The long-term value of Bitcoin (BTC) is more likely to be USD$100 than USD$100,000,” says Kenneth Rogoff, a former Chief Economist for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the current Harvard University Professor of Economics and Public Policy. While writing an article for major UK news outlet The Guardian, Rogoff highlighted that, because BTC’s use is limited to transactions, it makes the digital asset more vulnerable to a bubble-like collapse. Rogoff also cited that BTC’s energy-intensive verification processes is, “vastly less efficient,” than systems that leverage, “a trusted central authority like a central bank.”
• A new report by PeckShield, a blockchain security company that monitors various cryptocurrency ecosystems, details that decentralized applications (DApps) on the EOS (EOS) blockchain have lost as much as USD$1mm in hacks since July 2018. The report details further that DApps on the EOS network have sustained 27 breaches since July, which are responsible for the up to 400,000 EOS that have been compromised from hacks. Guo Yonggang, a blockchain security expert cited in a report on the matter by crypto media firm Blockchain Truth, believes that the hacks can be attributed to security problems with the DApps themselves, rather than with the EOS network.
• A new study published by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance on Wednesday finds that the number of unique ID-verified cryptocurrency users nearly doubled in in the first 3 quarters of 2018. The study details that total ID-verified users increased to 35mm in the first three quarters of 2018 from 18mm at the end of 2017, representing an increase of 94%. As per an analysis of the study by Bloomberg, the growth of crypto’s userbase despite the market decline, “could signal that an eventual recovery could be coming.”
• Amid the continued cryptocurrency sell-off, only two cryptocurrency mining machines remain profitable, according to real-time data from ASICMinerValue.com. ASICMInerValue.com, which calculates the profitability of Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) miners, indicates that only indicates that only the Ebank Ebit E11++ and ASICminer 8 Nano 44Th mining models are profitable for mining cryptocurrencies based on the SHA-256 hash function -- notable cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) use this has function.
• Bitmain, a large Chinese cryptocurrency mining firm, announced that it is closing its development center in Israel, citing current cryptocurrency market conditions. In closing Bitmaintech Israel, the crypto mining giant was forced to fire all 23 employees. Among the employees let go is Gadi Glikberg, head of Bitmain’s Israeli branch and Vice President of International Sales, who said on the recent market turmoil, “The crypto market has undergone a shake-up in the past few months, which has forced Bitmain to examine its various activities around the globe and to refocus its business in accordance with the current situation.”
• Busan, a major South Korean city, will be the beneficiary of the South Korean government’s plan to spend 4bn Korean won (USD$3.5mm) to establish a blockchain-enabled virtual power plant (VPP). As per a report by South Korean news outlet Yonhap News Agency, the project will be angled as a national competition in 2019, hosted by South Korea’s largest electric utility, Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO). The VPP will integrate the idle capacities of multiple energy resources through a cloud-based distributed ledger in order to optimize power generation and decrease costs.
• Church’s Chicken, a large international fast food franchise, is partnering with Dash Venezuela to accept cryptocurrencies in its Venezuelan locations. According to an official press release, 13 Church’s Chicken establishments will begin accepting Dash (DASH) as payment following, “extensive and rigorous days of training,” staff to understand cryptocurrencies. With the addition of Church’s Chicken, more than 2,200 establishments in Venezuela accept DASH as payment.
• Crypto.com, a Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency payments platform, announced the appointment of former PayPal executive Tyson Hackwood to serve as the firm’s Vice President and Head of Global Merchant Acquisition in an official press release today. Crypto.com aims to increase cryptocurrency adoption by both merchants and consumers through their point-of-sale (PoS) transaction terminals. Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek believes that Hackwood will be integral in furthering this goal, saying, “As we develop the Crypto.com Chain to fulfill the current industry need to pay and be paid in crypto, Tyson will play an important role in expanding the number and quality of merchants that are part of our network.”
• Hyperledger, a notable blockchain consortium, is continuing its robust expansion after announcing the addition of 16 new members at the Hyperledger Global Forum in Basel, Switzerland. Among the notables to join the consortium are, Alibaba Cloud, Citigroup’s Citi Ventures arm, and Deutsche Telekom. The latest addition of 16 members brings the total membership of Hyperledger to more than 260 different companies. In a public statement, Hyperledger Executive Director Brian Behlendorf said that, “The growing Hyperledger community reflects the increasing importance of open source efforts to build enterprise blockchain technologies across industries and markets. The latest members showcase the widening interest in and impact of DLT and Hyperledger."
• Jeremy Henrickson, the former Chief Product Officer at Coinbase, has departed the US-based cryptocurrency exchange after serving since July 2016. “Jeremy’s contributions to Coinbase over the past two years were invaluable,” said a Coinbase spokesperson, adding that, “he helped to build our scrappy startup team into a high-functioning product and engineering organization -- overseeing a 5x+ growth of the team.” Henrickson’s departure comes after long-term Coinbase executives Adam White and Hunter Merghart left the US-based cryptocurrency exchange in recent months.
• LinkedIn’s, “2018 U.S. Emerging Jobs,” report released on Thursday ranks the role of blockchain developer as the fastest growing job in the United States. The report by LinkedIn indicates that blockchain developer jobs have increased 33-fold in the past 12 months alone. San Francisco, New York City, and Atlanta are among the cities with the highest demand for blockchain developer jobs.
• Orbs, a unique hybrid blockchain platform, raised more than USD$15mm in cryptocurrencies to fund its development of a public blockchain, according to a company blog post. South Korean application provider Kakao lead the fundraising efforts with a representative telling CoinDesk that the company, “always seeks to invest and support innovative startups, and Orbs is a good example.” In total, Orbs raised 139,000 Ether (ETH) and 892 Bitcoin (BTC), amounting to roughly USD$15.4mm. Orbs aims to build a public blockchain with this funding that is, “universal,” and, “scalable,” for decentralized applications (DApps) with the, “liquidity of a base layer.”
• Samsung has reportedly filed patent applications for three different blockchain-related trademark requests that all pertain directly to smartphones, according to news outlet Galaxy Club. Specifically, the patents named “Blockchain KeyStore”, “Blockchain Key Box”, and “Blockchain Core” all pertain to cryptocurrency custody capabilities on smartphones. This news comes amid the release of HTC’s Exodus 1 and Sirin Labs’ FINNEY, both of which are being marketed as blockchain smartphones with cryptocurrency custody capabilities.

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