Market Watch
| Bitcoin |
$11,861 |
7 day Δ +6.2% |
| Ethereum |
$397 |
7 day Δ +17.2% |
| XRP |
$0.307 |
7 day Δ +24.5% |
Prices as of 4:30 p.m. ET
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Sberbank, a state-owned bank in Russia, is considering issuing a stablecoin. Sberbank executives say the bank could mint a stablecoin pegged to the Russian ruble. The bank says it has "no concrete plan" for the stablecoin and that executives will wait for Russia's new digital assets law to take effect in January 2021 before issuing the cryptocurrency.
More:
- Sberbank says its stablecoin would comply with all crypto laws signed by President Putin.
- Putin recently outlawed deposits into anonymous cryptocurrency wallets, defined cryptocurrencies as a form of property, required disclosure of cryptocurrency ownership on taxes, and prohibited the use of most decentralized cryptocurrencies for the purchase of goods or services.
Coindesk
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Goldman Sachs is considering creating a fiat-linked cryptocurrency. Goldman's competitor, JPMorgan Chase, has already minted its own USD stablecoin, JPM Coin.
More:
- In July, Goldman promoted Mathew McDermott from a Managing Director position to a new role, Global Head of Digital Assets.
- McDermott says Goldman's token will likely be a "fiat digital token," likely a stablecoin.
- He is doubling headcount in the digital assets departments of Goldman's London and Asia offices.
- Last month, McDermott hired Oli Harris, who worked on JPM Coin.
CNBC
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Federal Reserve Board Governor Lael Brainard says the Fed will debut its instant payment service "as soon as practically possible." Tentatively named FedNow, many are skeptical that such a system will launch before 2023.
More:
- Speaking on a webinar today, Brainard said that the pandemic illustrated the need for a faster and more resilient payment system.
- Brainard responded to inquiries regarding Facebook's Libra stablecoin with skepticism of the project.
- FedNow services will include clearing and settlement capabilities, "receive-only" accounts, request-for-payment capabilities and tools, funds availability broadcasts, a user interface, balance information on weekends, and other features to support payment integrity and combat fraud.
Coindesk
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Website visits to the DeFi service Uniswap increased 15x in July. Decentralized Finance refers to financial smart contracts, protocols, and decentralized applications (DApps). Uniswap is a popular Decentralized Exchange (DEX) and has quickly become the de facto DEX for DeFi tokens.
More:
- Between June 20 and July 20, Uniswap's trading volume increased 7x from $6.2m to $43.7m.
- On July 27, Uniswap trading volume increased to $120m.
- Uniswap's trading prices are not set like traditional human auctions. Instead, its deterministic algorithm – a so-called Automated Market Maker (AMM) automatically sets prices and balances values using supply and demand calculations.
Messari
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Ethereum Classic (ETC) continues to suffer from 51% attacks. This week alone, its blockchain has been 51% attacked twice.
More:
- Binance reported the second 51% attack approximately 16 hours ago.
- Another attack occurred between July 29 and Aug. 1, according to analytics firm Bitquery.
- Ethereum Classic has been hacked several times in the past, including a major attack in 2018.
- Ethereum Classic was formed by early ether tokenholders who disagreed with the Ethereum Foundation's decision in July 2016 to reverse The DAO hack manually.
Coindesk
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Quick Hits:
- Congressman David Schweikert pens a letter to the IRS asking them to tax cryptocurrency staking rewards differently than traditional income or capital gains.
- Semi-decentralized exchange IDEX raises a $2.5m seed round ahead of its IDEX 2.0 launch.
- Bitnomial is seeking to raise a $10m Series B round.
- Dapper Labs, the developer of CryptoKitties, has raised a $12m round, including participation from pro sports players like Spencer Dinwiddie, Garrett Temple, Andre Iguodala, JaVale McGee, and Aaron Gordon.
- Bitfinex has listed Cardano (ADA). Bitfinex's ADV totals $170m, similar to KuCoin's volume. Cardano hard-forked on July 29, making the token more decentralized.
- Kraken has cut fees on certain USD deposits and lowered minimum order sizes.
- Men’s skincare is the latest industry to be disrupted. Read why times have changed.*
*This is sponsored content.
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Curated by Associated Press fanboy, eye-strained news terminal watcher, and bitcoin follower since $1, Aaron Wise. Temporarily listening to news squawk boxes in Florida while awaiting the construction of cryptopia.
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Editor
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Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is writing an illustrated book about climate change that will be published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade.
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