Date: 06/25/2021
“We’re going to become the center of life science, the center of cybersecurity … the center of bitcoins.” — Eric Adams, NYC Mayoral Front Runner
Weekly News Report:
1. Wall Street behemoth Citigroup has officially launched a new business offshoot focused on the cryptocurrency and blockchain space. The launch of Digital Assets Group will be a part of Citigroup’s wealth management division called Citi Global Wealth Investments. With this development, Citi has become the latest major financial institution to join the crypto bandwagon.
2. On the eve of New York City’s mayoral race on Tuesday, Democratic front runner Eric Adams has given a brief endorsement of the world’s largest cryptocurrency. “I’m going to promise you in one year … you’re going to see a different city,” said Adams. “We’re going to become the center of life science, the center of cybersecurity, the center of self-driving cars, drones, the center of bitcoins.”
3. Colombia’s capital city, Bogota, has unveiled a 2.8 billion Colombian peso ($750,000) investment program to finance blockchain companies. The program is part of a wider 8 billion Colombian peso ($2.8 million) investment into innovative industries aimed at advancing Bogota as a “smart city.”
4. Sotheby’s, the world’s largest broker of fine art and jewelry, says it will accept cryptocurrency as payment when it auctions off a rare, 101.38-carat, pear-shaped D flawless diamond next month.
5. Portugal begins approving cryptocurrency exchanges — two licensed so far. The country’s central bank, the Banco de Portugal, has licensed Mind the Coin and Criptoloja.
6. Coinbase is now registered as a cryptocurrency exchange to operate in Japan. The Japanese financial regulator has approved Coinbase to trade five cryptocurrencies: bitcoin (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), ether (ETH), stellar lumen (XLM), and litecoin (LTC).
7. Athena Bitcoin plans to invest over $1 million to install cryptocurrency ATMs in El Salvador, especially where residents receive remittances from abroad. The firm expects to gradually install some 1,500 ATMs, hire staff and open an office to carry out operations in El Salvador.
8. Sweden’s Vourity has teamed up with Irish payments firm Hips to enable crypto payment for electric vehicle charging. People will be able to pay with Hips’ merchant token, MTO, at 50,000 charging stations in Europe. Hips’ CEO John Cavebring said it will “accelerate the move to an all-electric-vehicle future.”
9. TeraWulf — an environmental, social and governance-focused bitcoin mining company — is set for a Nasdaq listing after it agreed to merge with Ikonics, an imaging-technology company whose stock trades on Nasdaq.
10. Switzerland-based investment product provider 21Shares is launching the world’s first Solana exchange-traded product (ETP) on six Swiss exchanges. The vehicle, trading under the “ASOL” ticker, goes live on Tuesday. The exchange-traded product will track the performance of Solana’s native SOL token.
11. Brazil stock exchange lists first bitcoin ETF in Latin America. QR Capital’s bitcoin ETF started trading on the Sao Paulo-based B3 exchange under the ticker QBTC11.
12. Digital asset bank Wyoming Deposit & Transfer (WDT) has been awarded a bank charter by the Wyoming Division of Banking allowing the bank to provide commercial banking and custodial services for tokenized assets and digital currencies.
13. Paraguay’s Universidad Americana will begin accepting Bitcoin, Ether, and XRP as payment starting in August. Students at the institution can pay for degrees and courses using cryptocurrencies when the fall term begins.
14. Universal Fire & Casualty Insurance Company (UFCIC), a multi-line admitted property and casualty (P&C) insurance company and insurtech innovator, announces the company is now the first U.S. insurer to accept cryptocurrency for premium payments.
15. The recovery indicates capital has been flowing from stablecoins into bitcoin, Glassnode tweeted Thursday. In other words, bargain hunters look to have employed stablecoins to buy the dip in bitcoin and broader crypto markets.
16. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Blockchain Technology estimated at US$2.5 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$19.9 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 43% over the analysis period.
17. After China announced that it would begin ramping up its efforts to restrict the mining of cryptocurrency, Peter Smith, Blockchain.com co-founder and CEO said, “I think it’s actually fantastic news for the Bitcoin ecosystem … You’re going to see a diversification of mining operations around the world.”
