Former Wall Street analyst Mary Meeker’s well-known annual Internet Trends report for 2018, published May 30, shows interest in cryptocurrency “exploding” since January of last year. The report also highlights that a course on Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency technologies made it into the top 10 most popular university classes in 2017. According to the report, “Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency Technologies” was one of the top courses of 2017 at Princeton University. The Internet Trends report, which was compiled by with help from Kleiner Perkins Partners, Hillhouse Capital, writes that it “use[s] data to tell stories of business-related trends we focus on. …

The global chief economist of a major investment firm has criticized cryptocurrencies in an op-ed on investment fund news site ETF.com published yesterday, May 21. Joe Davis, the global chief economist and global head of Vanguard Investment Strategy Group, stated that while blockchain technology shows promise, the rise of cryptocurrencies can be compared to the Netherlands’ 17th century “tulip mania,” a classic example of a bubble market. Davis, whose firm manages a reported $5.1 trillion in assets globally as of this January, began the piece by remarking on his enthusiasm for blockchain technology – which he notes Vanguard uses – …

Major US crypto wallet provider and exchange service Coinbase has announced it is launching a suite of new products aimed at institutional investors, according to an official blog post today, May 15. The four products – Coinbase Custody, Coinbase Markets, The Coinbase Institutional Coverage Group and Coinbase Prime – all focus on alleviating major concerns that have allegedly caused institutional investors to hold back from entering the cryptocurrency space so far, such as security and regulatory compliance. Adam White, Coinbase vice president and general manager, was confident in telling CNBC that: "We think this can unlock $10 billion of institutional …

The owner of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is mulling letting customers buy and hold Bitcoin, The New York Times reported late Monday, May 7. The move would be the second Wall Street giant in a week to reportedly open up to crypto. As the New York Times reports, citing “emails and documents” as well as four anonymous sources, NYSE owner Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is planning to offer traders contracts that eventually result in customers owning the cryptocurrency. The news comes just days after the publication quoted a Goldman Sachs executive, who appeared to confirm the bank would debut …

Charlie Munger’s uniquely imaginative vision of Bitcoin (BTC) was given yet a further twist today, as the Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman compared cryptocurrency trading to dealing in “freshly harvested baby brains.” During an interview with Yahoo Finance May 7, Munger was asked if there were anything he could recognize of value in the crypto phenomenon. He replied: “The computer science behind Bitcoin is a great triumph of the human mind, that’s what’s captivated all these people. They’ve created a product that’s hard to create more of but not impossible … [But] I see an artificial speculative medium … I regard …

Spencer Bogart, a partner at Blockchain Capital, said that other banks will follow Goldman Sachs’ example in opening a crypto trading desk, according to CNBC’s Fast Money today, May 4. Goldman Sachs reported yesterday that they would soon open a trading desk for Bitcoin (BTC) contracts after being “inundated” with client requests. Although Bogart told CNBC that the news is “definitely a big step,” he doesn’t think that it’s a “perfect solution, that all of a sudden now just opens the floodgates to the institutionalization of Bitcoin.” Bogart added that his reasoning that banks will follow Goldman Sachs is not …

Several high-profile investors have confirmed investing in a funding round that raised $28 mln for Harbor, a Blockchain company looking to remove legal barriers to securities trading, in press release today, April 17. Harbor, which already secured a $10 mln Series A round in February, has this time received fresh cash from moguls including Silicon Valley’s Andreessen Horowitz and Blockchain investment fund Pantera Capital. According to their press release, through a so-called R-Token system, Harbor will allow client businesses to smooth over trading of “a new wave of tokenized securities backed by real-world assets, such as real estate, company equity, …

Crypto wallet Blockchain.com has hired former Goldman Sachs executive Breanne Madigan as the head of institutional sales and strategy, CNBC reports today, April 17. Madigan had worked at Goldman Sachs from 2003 to 2017 as an associate, vice president, and finally as the head of institutional wealth services, a department that managed $1.49 trln worth of total assets in 2017, CNBC reports. Blockchain.com, which has 24 mln active wallets according to CNBC, added a buy and sell feature for Bitcoin (BTC) – with Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) promised soon after – in 22 US states in mid-January of …

After investment tycoon Tim Draper said earlier this week that Bitcoin (BTC) could hit $250,000 by 2022, CNBC Fast Money’s Brian Kelly has supported this prediction in a CNBC interview from yesterday, April 13. In response to a question about Draper’s high prediction, Kelly responded that although “it sounds crazy,” when one considers that BTC already had a 4,000 percent return over two years, a 3,000 percent return over four years could be a “continuation of the trend we’ve seen.” Kelly continues by noting that an increase of institutionalized money into the crypto sphere - Rockefeller’s VC arm, a Goldman …

While Wall Street giants JP Morgan and Citigroup experienced strong first-quarter earnings, their share prices overall fell, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Friday, April 13. The WSJ reports that while equity trading revenue rose by 26 percent to $2 bln at JP Morgan, which also saw a 35 percent net profit rise, and Citigroup’s equity trading revenue up 38 percent to $1.1 bln, with a 13 percent rise of net profit, share prices of both banks fell on Friday. JP Morgan’s share price is now around $110, down 2.7 percent by market’s close yesterday, according to data from Bloomberg …

Cryptocurrency merchant bank Galaxy Digital, founded and run by former Wall Street exec Mike Novogratz, will reportedly be hiring Goldman Sachs executive Richard Kim as its new chief operating officer, Bloomberg reported yesterday, April 9. “Crypto capitalist” Anthony Pompliano posted on Twitter that the “brain drain from Wall Street continues.” Richard Kim, a former VP at Goldman Sachs, is joining Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital as Chief Operating Officer. The brain drain from Wall Street continues. ?? — Pomp ? (@APompliano) April 9, 2018 Novogratz – who is one of crypto’s richest people in the world according to Forbes – left …

Bill Miller, multi-millionaire investor and founder of hedge fund Miller Value Partners, shared his positive view on the cryptocurrency market sell-off and talked about why it should not scare investors in a FOXBusiness exclusive interview Feb. 28. Calling himself a Bitcoin “observer”, rather than a Bitcoin “believer” or “evangelist”, in the interview Miller compared Bitcoin with other major inventions throughout history, stating: “What I observed with bitcoin is that it’s following a very time-honored path of disruptive innovation going all the way back to the printing press, railroad, electricity, radio in the 1920s, biotech, the internet.” While many on Wall …