Market Analysis Report

MVIS-CryptoCompare Index

The MVIS CryptoCompare Digital Assets 10 Index closed at 3,206.07 Yesterday at 5 pm (GMT) and has since increased 0.83%.

See the live index here

Market Update

At the time of writing, the Bitcoin price is sitting at $6,493 representing a gain of 1.21% in the last 24 hours. More than $460 M worth of BTC were exchanged in the BTC/USD market representing a 23% share of the global daily volume. The BTC/JPY pair represents a 10% share.

The Ethereum price has dropped 0.76% over the past 24 hours and is currently sitting at $225, with over $150 M worth of Ether exchanged in the past 24 hours on the ETH/USD pair which has a 17% market share of the daily trading volume.

See live charts here and here

Coinbase has reportedly tapped BlackRock's expertise to launch a crypto ETF

According to a report published yesterday by Business Insider, San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is looking to launch a crypto ETF to help investors gain access to the market. Per the report, the exchange held a number of conversations with executives from BlackRock’s blockchain division, hoping to gain valuable industry insight and expertise from a firm that’s deeply engrained in the ETF space. However, it is still unclear if the two firms will together pursue a cryptocurrency ETF. The news outlet stated:

"It remains unclear whether the talks were a one-off or part of ongoing conversations between Coinbase and BlackRock. BlackRock representatives from the working group didn't give any concrete recommendations to the crypto exchange operator, the person said."

Read more here

Winklevoss Brothers Win Patent for Crypto Key Storage System

Crypto exchange Gemini founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have won a patent for a cold storage method involving air-gapped computers, geographically remote vaults, plastic cards and, possibly, papyrus. The patent published Tuesday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office outlines a plan to develop a network of computers capable of generating accounts for storing cryptocurrencies or cryptocurrency-related exchange-traded products (ETPs).

Read more here

Kraken CEO Confirms Employee Layoffs, but Denies Security Breach Rumors

Yesterday, Kraken's CEO Jesse Powell, confirmed by email that 57 employees (based in North America) had been laid off, but denied that this was due to a security breach. The email was sent after a few rumors circulating on social media that claimed the exchange has suffered a security breach and, as a result, shut down offices in Halifax, Canada. Later on the exchange stated on Twitter:

"We can confirm that we are not shutting down any operations in any specific place, and there has been no security breach. Everything is fine & secure."

Read more here

Circle’s Crypto Exchange Poloniex Lists QTUM

Yesterday, Goldman-backed FinTech startup Circle announced that its Poloniex crypto exchange has added support for QTUM. On the 19th of June 2018, Circle had published a blog post that explained how it planned to add new cryptocurrencies and mentioned the "Circle Asset Framework", which was the tool used for evaluating/prioritizing new cryptocurrencies listings across its various products. Now, it seems that Circle has decided that QTUM meets all of its requirements for a new listing.

Read more here

The LGBT Foundation Launches test Integration with OST Blockchain Technology & Mints LGBT Token on Mainnet

If the LGBT community was an economy, it would be the world’s 4th largest. LGBT+ persons worldwide spend $4.6 trillion annually, making the LGBT economy somewhere between the size of Germany and Japan. It’s big.

The LGBT Foundation, in partnership with OST, are launching LGBT Token to promote equality. Every purchase with LGBT tokens will give back to the LGBT+ community and support human rights organizations worldwide. By harnessing the power of blockchain technology, the LGBT Foundation aims to foster greater acceptance of the LGBT+ community, drive positive social change, and protect vulnerable community members.

This week on OST LIVE, LGBT Foundation CEO Sean Howell, discusses the goals of LGBT Token, integration with OST, and this week’s milestone of staking OST to mint LGBT Tokens on Mainnet. Sean also discusses integration plans for the first LGBT Foundation platform partner, the Hornet app, which has 25 million active LGBT+ users worldwide.

Hornet and the LGBT Foundation considered conducting their own ICO but opted instead to partner with OST as a more viable and regulatory compliant path to building the LGBT token economy.