Grayscale Investments has been taking in Bitcoin (BTC) at a frantic pace. In the last week alone, the fund gobbled up 19,879 Bitcoin, which is way over the 7,081 Bitcoin mined during the period, according to crypto researcher Kevin Rooke. This shows that demand far exceeds supply at the moment, which is a positive sign. However, Tone Vays believes that if the S&P 500 breaks below 3,000, it could fall another 12%. Due to the strong correlation between the S&P 500 and Bitcoin a crash in the equity markets could drag the top-ranked asset on CoinMarketCap to the $7,000 levels. …

In a recent interview with Wall Street Journal reporter Paul Vigna, Ripple’s co-founder and executive chairman Chris Larsen said that the United States has been “slow to the game” in terms of experimenting, implementing and regulating the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. Larsen said that the U.S. must change its viewpoint toward blockchain and cryptocurrency, as the industry is already past the 2017 and 2018 hype. The war against initial coin offering scams is won, he said, and now regulators must address the industry so that they can compete with China’s blockchain and cryptocurrency progress. According to Larsen, U.S. regulators have …

Coronavirus cases are jumping across the world as nations reopen their economies and this raises the risk of a second wave which could slow down the current recovery in major markets. Global debt levels are already at astronomical levels but it seems safe to assume that a resurgence in cases will result in central banks pumping more liquidity into the markets. OKEx CEO Jay Hao recently said that Bitcoin (BTC) rallied about 58% from $6,580 to $10,400 after the first stimulus bill was signed in late March. There are also expectations that the Trump Administration may announce a second $1 …

Asia may be the next proving ground for crypto firm Ripple to reach with its cross-border payments corridor. In a June 18 interview on the YouTube channel Thinking Crypto, Adam Traidman, CEO of SBI Ripple Asia—a subsidiary of Japanese financial services giant SBI Holdings—said Ripple has started to roll out its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) solution in Asia. According to Traidman, SBI Ripple Asia has started “limited trial and pilot projects” with various companies for Ripple’s payment corridor, with greater expansion forecast for 2021. “I expect that probably later this year, and into next year, things are going to move into …

The current economic environment has made it difficult for pension funds to sustain their expected rate of return. The U.S. Federal Reserve has continued along the path of cutting rates to zero and it seems likely to keep them there for at least a couple of years. This means pension funds may be forced to explore other strategies to increase their returns. Morgan Creek Digital co-founder Anthony Pompliano has suggested that pension funds allocate a small amount of 1 to 5 percent of their portfolios to Bitcoin (BTC). Such a move “would increase the risk-adjusted returns for a public pension …

Japanese crypto investors have been known for their passionate support of XRP. Indeed, at one point in Japan, XRP was more popular than Bitcoin. Yet, the official data from the Japan Virtual and Crypto Assets Exchange Association, or JVCEA, the self-regulatory organization approved by the Financial Services Agency, or FSA, shows that XRP is losing its charm in Japan. We already saw the "XRP army" shrink in the English speaking region. As XRP's price stagnation continues, the same thing is happening in the Japanese market. On June 20th, Yuya Hasegawa, a Market Analyst at the FSA licensed crypto exchange BitBank, …

Cardano (ADA) has seen its value increase by around 50% since May 25. This recent value hike comes in the wake of project co-founder Charles Hoskinson revealing the roadmap for Cardano’s much-hyped “Shelley” upgrade via a YouTube podcast hosted by crypto pundit Lark Davis, also known as Cryptolark. As part of the aforementioned upgrade, the Cardano ecosystem will transition from being a centralized network to a distributed one. In regard to the matter, Hoskinson stated: “This is like Ripple changing its consensus protocol. [...] No cryptocurrency has really done this to this scale after they’ve rolled out.” Over the last …

Juneteenth, a day which marks the end of slavery in the United States, has been commemorated every June 19 since 1867. It is especially relevant today, amid a wave of protests against racism following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless other innocent people of color. Blockchain community praising the day Many in the blockchain community have extolled today’s significance in history. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse spoke on behalf of the company in declaring the date a corporate holiday: “Recognizing and celebrating #Juneteenth today. It’s striking how many of us weren’t taught about this historic day growing up. …

Kraken crypto exchange CEO Jesse Powell has said that a large number of both retail and institutional investors have opened accounts with them. This shows that all types of investors are concerned about the current economic condition, hence they have been diversifying their portfolio using cryptocurrencies. The influx of institutional money is a positive sign because it will give confidence to the other institutions to take the plunge. WisdomTree Investments, a New York-based asset manager has sought approval to launch an exchange-traded fund that plans to invest about 5% of its net assets in cash-settled Bitcoin (BTC) futures and the …

More than 40 companies including Ripple, Brave and Huobi have joined forces to form the Open Payments Coalition and launch universal payments system PayID. Reaching more than 100 million consumers, the new payment process will allow users to send or receive money anywhere in the world across any payment network in real time. Users can provide an email address or a phone number linked to their bank account to instantly receive money without requiring complicated bank account numbers, international codes, routing numbers or SWIFT IDs. Cryptocurrency and blockchain companies involved include BitGo, BitPay, Bitrue, Bitso, Bitstamp, Blockchain.com, Brave, BTC Markets, …

Most XRP investors are “deeply in the red” according to Messari crypto analyst Ryan Watkins, using realized capitalization as the metric Watkins made the claim in a June 16 tweet saying that “XRP’s aggregate estimated cost basis is $1.38”, based on the realized cap of the cryptocurrency. As the current value of XRP is $0.19, this would mean token holders paid on average more than seven times the price. The realized capitalization of a token is a metric created by crypto analytics site Coin Metrics. It is calculated by valuing each unit of supply at the price it last moved …

American fintech firm Ripple has proposed a policy framework for regulating crypto in India amid local crypto uncertainty. In an effort to persuade Indian authorities to support fintech regulation and the growing crypto industry, Ripple issued a policy paper addressed to local legislators. India as a dominant use-case for cross-border payments and remittances Released on June 18, Ripple’s policy paper provides a number of recommendations for Indian policymakers, offering an overview of the global digital assets landscape and measures to adopt a new digital currency policy in the country. Titled “The Path Forward for Digital Assets Adoption in India,” the …