Today’s top headlines in the crypto roundup: Block.one continues lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C., Helium attracts big-name cryptoasset investors as it launches peer-to-peer IoT device and former Google director marks first hire for Square Crypto.

At the time of writing, bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $8,139 (+1.64%) with a volume of $2.75 billion and ether (ETH) is trading at $260.9 (+4.22%) with a volume of $1.69 billion in the past 24 hours. The MVIS CryptoCompare Digital Assets 10 Index, it is currently tracking at 4,055 (+0.83%).

Block.one Continues With Lobbying Efforts in Washington, D.C.

Block.one – the company that organized the $4 billion EOS ICO and funded the development of the popular protocol - appears to be looking to influence blockchain policy conversation in the U.S. Block.one is cited as the client of lobbying firm Holland & Knight, LLP in a disclosure document filed in May.

The news follows efforts by Block.one to set up a new office in northern Virginia; a region that is adjacent to Washington, D.C. and home to various government institutions including The Pentagon (i.e., the United States Department of Defense headquarters) and the George Bush Center for Intelligence (i.e., the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)).

Helium Launches Blockchain-Enabled IoT Device, Raises $15 Million

Helium, a San Francisco-headquartered startup using blockchain technology to facilitate wireless connections, announced the launch of its Helium Hotspot product along with the closure of a $15 million Series C fundraising round.

Some big-name venture capital firms partook in the $15 million raise. This included Kyle Samani and Tushar Jain’s Multicoin Capital and Union Square Ventures (USV), who each co-led the Series C round. In a blog post appearing on Multicoin’s website, Jain noted the fact Helium marked “the largest private investment [Multicoin has] made.”

Although initially launching in the U.S., Helium intends to expand network coverage internationally, chief operating officer Frank Mong mentioned in a Medium blog post published Wednesday evening (CET).

Ex-Google Director Marks Square Crypto’s First Hire

Square Crypto, the crypto-focussed entity of the Jack Dorsey-led payments company, Square, announced angel investor and former Google director, Steve Lee, as its first hire.

Most recently, Lee served as a product manager for Bitcoin Operations Technology Group (Bitcoin Optech), a group dedicated to bringing open-source technologies and techniques to Bitcoin-using businesses. Notably, Square hosted Bitcoin Optech’s inaugural workshop in San Francisco in July 2018.

Whilst at Google, Lee led product management for mobile applications, Google Maps, as well as Google’s location platform. He was also a co-founder of Google Glass.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

Build your project with CoinDesk Data

Terms | Privacy

13 Charles II St, SW1Y 4QU

London, UK

This email may include advertisements by third parties. None of the advertised or promoted products and services have been verified or approved by us and this email is not any endorsement by us of the third party or of their products or services.