Market Watch

Prices as of 1:15 p.m. ET

Binance says a local newspaper misreported its conduct regarding Liechtenstein's Union Bank. The local news report claimed that CEO Changpeng Zhao was attempting to overtake the bank before its imminent liquidation.

The claims:

• CFO Wei Zhou says that Binance has not tried to acquire Union Bank nor applied to Liechtenstein's Financial Market Authority for approval.
• Binance's spokesperson declined to comment on whether the article was factually inaccurate.

Why is Liechtenstein important?

• Liechtenstein is an affluent tax haven and a strategic banking center due to its proximity to Switzerland.
• GDP per capita in Liechtenstein exceeds $173,000.
• Nearby is the Swiss canton of Zug's Crypto Valley, home to the Ethereum Foundation and other multi-billion dollar cryptocurrencies like Cardano (ADA) and Datum (DAT).
• Banks in Liechtenstein custody cryptocurrencies, including Mason Privatbank Liechtenstein AG and Bank Frick. They also have access to SWIFT, the world's largest bank wire network.

Coinbase has resigned from the Blockchain Association. The Blockchain Association is the crypto industry's most prestigious and influential policy group in Washington DC.

Was it because of Binance...

CoinShares releases its August bitcoin research report, recommending a 4% portfolio allocation to bitcoin. The 4% carve-out comes from an otherwise typical 60/40 (60% equities, 40% bonds) portfolio; generic model portfolios do not generally constitute personalized investment advice.

Key research findings:

• CoinShares does not identify particular catalysts, instead pointing to general financialization trends like more order management systems, insured custody solutions, prime brokerages, options, futures, and Exchange Traded Products (ETPs).
• CoinShares claims that the proportion of investors holding bitcoin for more than 12 months has doubled since 2012.
• CoinShares also rationalizes bitcoin's price drop during March's coronavirus panic. Coinshares claims that leverage levels were abnormally high, $500m of bitcoin-collateralized loans were auto-liquidated, and forecasts that "liquidation cascades" will happen again.
• CoinShares manages approximately $700m in assets and sponsors several ETPs listed on European exchanges. Its investments include MenaPay, Paradigm, Blockdaemon, Zabo, Arwen, Globacap, Fold, and Kaiko. Its most frequently interviewed executive is CSO Meltem Demirors.

Quick Hits:

• The natural resources trading subsidiary of Mitsubishi has launched a blockchain platform to facilitate trade confirmations and invoices between counterparties.
• Revolut customers held $121m worth of cryptocurrencies in 2019.
• The latest DeFi "meme token" is YAM by Yam Finance.
• Ex-NYSE broker Michael Ackerman pleads not guilty to charges of running a $33m crypto scam.
• Coin Metrics initiates a new quarterly publication focusing on "key stakeholders," transparency, and other difficult-to-find supply metrics for cryptocurrencies.
• The People's Bank of China will launch its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), which it calls its Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP), in the Hong Kong Bay Area comprising Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau.
• The fittest athletes in the world swear by CBD. See what they're using here.*

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