Canadian investment fund manager 3iQ hopes to attract Canadian retail investors with its regulated, publicly-traded Bitcoin (BTC) fund. In a press release on Nov. 28th, 2019, 3iQ announced that it had filed a preliminary prospectus for its close-end Bitcoin fund, which is expected to be available on the Toronto Stock Exchange by end of January 2020. The Toronto-based company revealed that 3iQ filed the prospectus for the Bitcoin fund in relation to an initial public offering of Class A and Class F units at $10 each.
They currently are looking to get two or three of the top 3 Canadian banks on board to join their syndicate group. Pye, who previously worked as senior VP at Fidelity Investments Canada, added that retail investors have been showing a great deal of enthusiasm for 3iQ’s Bitcoin fund, as the investments will also be eligible for Canadian Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSP) and Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSA). Read more...
According to local media reports, starting from 2020, it may become legal for German banks to sell cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and provide custody solutions. Currently, financial institutions operating in Germany are not allowed to directly sell cryptocurrencies to their clients. A newly planned law that implements the fourth EU Money Laundering Directive has already passed Germany’s federal parliament (Bundestag) and now it awaits the consensus of the 16 states. The final version of the bill goes beyond anti-money laundering initiatives as it proposes allowing regulated banking institutions to provide cryptocurrency services without relying on third-party custodians and special subsidiaries. Read more...
Almost $9 Billion of Bitcoin Moved on Chain in 1-Hour Record
On Dec. 4, 2019, $8.9 billion in Bitcoin was moved on the blockchain in a single hour, excluding change volume (these are Bitcoins that are returned to senders). Bitcoin’s high transaction volume was pointed out by Rafael Schultze-Kraft, the co-founder of on-chain market intelligence firm Glassnode. In a tweet on Dec. 4, he claimed that such a high hourly transaction value was a first for the network. Schultze-Kraft’s company apparently soon started work to uncover who or what was the reason for this unusual spike. on Dec. 5, Glassnode posted on Twitter claiming that the spike was caused by cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex moving a large amount of Bitcoin multiple times. Read more...
Crypto “Ponzi-Scheme” Arraigned: Runners of BitClub Network Arrested
On Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019 the U.S. Justice Department announced that three men running “BitClub Network,” a Bitcoin/crypto mining network marketing operation and Ponzi-scheme, were charged for operating a “worldwide fraudulent scheme.” According to an AFP report on the matter, the scheme operated from April 2014 through December 2019. A statement from the Justice Department said: “The defendants allegedly made hundreds of millions of dollars by continuing to recruit new investors over several years while spending victims’ money lavishly.” BitClub Network is the most recent large-scale cryptocurrency scam to have been under scrutiny by authorities. Read more...
A Look at Innovation in Bitcoin’s Technology Stack
Bitcoin has come a long way over the past ten years. Relative to the first iteration of its software, the quality and reliability of current implementations has remarkably improved. Bitcoin is at the cutting edge of digital technologies and so much is currently happening at the many layers of its technology stack, it can be incredibly difficult to keep track of newly emerging solutions. The diagram in this article is an attempt to map all relatively new initiatives and showcase a more complete picture of Bitcoin’s technology stack. It is not exhaustive, but nevertheless, it is impressive to see that innovation is being pushed on all fronts; from layer 2 technologies, to emerging smart contract solutions.
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