Weekend Recap: Everything That's Happened in Cryptocurrency & Blockchain: Aug. 17-19

Industry 5 min, 8 sec READ

by Shira Lando

Need to quickly catch up on everything that happened this weekend? This 2-liner piece sums up everything you missed in crypto & blockchain

Weekend or no weekend, crypto news keep on coming in. Luckily, Bitrates is here to give you a recap of everything important that's been going on. If you've been out of the game for a while, check out last week's article for a quick update. 

Industry 

• Nvidia stock plummets after declaring in the Q2 report that GPU sales for crypto mining fell short of Wall Street forecasts by 82%. The chip-making giant's stocks have since dropped by as much as 6.4% in extended trading.  
• Capital One, a U.S.-based banking giant, filed for a patent for a blockchain system on which encrypted user authentication data can be received, stored and retrieved. The new tech is meant to offer safer user authentication methods, to be used in different sectors such as banking security. 
• JD.com, a Chinese retail giant, announced the release of an app for digitally tracking corporate invoices. The app is expected to increase efficiency by automating the invoicng process and keeping the data on an updated distributed ledger. The company also rolled out a new blockchain platform that lets users build, host and use their own blockchain apps.
• Tube8, a Pornhub subsidiary, announced a partnership with Vice Industry Token (VIT) to reward users for watching or engaging with its services.

getting paid to watch porn was always a pipedream / Robin Turner, speaking to Hard Fork

• Contrary to reports from last week, SoftBank officials deny any involvement in the investment deal with Bitmain, Bitcoin mining giant, according to Cointelegraph. According to the reports, Bitmain inked a pre-Initial Public Offering deal (IPO) that raised its valuation to $15 billion, purportedly involved two tech giants, Tencent and Japanese SoftBank, which is also Uber's largest shareholder with 15% stake in the company. Kenichi Yuasa, a SoftBank exec, told Cointelegraph, 

Neither the SoftBank Group Corp. nor the SoftBank Vision Fund were in any way involved in the deal.

• A non-profit Russian electoral watchdog, the National Public Monitoring (NOM), is piloting a blockchain-based electronic voting system, according to an announcement made in a press conference in Moscow Friday.

Blockchain

• Northwestern University, Illinois, and bloXroute Labs have been developing a scalability solution for Bitcoin and other mainstream blockchains. Basically, they look to semi-centralize a blockchain by creating an ecosystem where a trusted set of independent servers propagates blocks throughout the network.
• Vitalik Buterin sees limited use from the current blockchain technology, citing part of the problem from false values attributed to tokens. Buterin conveyed these views while participating in a discussion with Jason Hsu, aka "Crypto Congressman", both speaking on a panel regarding the future of blockchain at an event hosted by Blockchain at Berkeley. 
• Artists-activists Ai Weiwei (Chinese) and Keving Abosch (Irish) are setting out on a blockchain art project that will see the creation of two new Ethereum-based tokens. The project aims to stir up a discussion about the value of human life in modern times, and on the concept of "Priceless".  

Exchanges

• Coinbase acquired Distributed Systems, a five-person team specializing in identity technology on blockchain. The acquisition is part of Coinbase's expansion into decentralized mobile browsing and the creation of a new product offering called "Login with Coinbase"
• Binance and the Liechtenstein Crypoassests Exchange (LCX) revealed a collaboration to create a fiat-to-crypto exchange dubbed Binance LCX to enable the purchase of cryptocurrencies for fiat currencies. 
• Thomas Zeeb, head of the new crypto platform at SIX, the top Swiss stock exchange, says the company will probably not offer cryptocurrency trading, although he believes digital assets "are here to stay". 

Coins & Tokens

• Ripple has named three exchanges that are preferred in its xRapid payment system. These are Bittrex (for transactions involving USD), Bitso (for when Mexican Pesos are involved), and Coins.ph (for Philippine Pesos).
• Privacy coin Zcash announced a major update, the release of Zcash 2.0.0, a network software that is compatible with the upcoming Sapling hard fork. Sean Bowe encouraged all users to upgrade to the new version in a blog post.
• Crypto Facilities, a UK-based crypto futures exchange, announced it is adding Bitcoin Cash to its list of futures products. 

Hacks & Frauds

• Unikrn, an Esports betting platform backed by Mark Cuban, has found itself in hot water after a disgruntled investor initiated a class action lawsuit against the startup. The plaintiff, John Hastings, believes Unikrn broke SEC regulations by selling unregistered securities during its ICO fundraiser.
• Riot Blockchain, a biotech turned crypto mining firm, is under SEC investigation that could result in a stop order, preventing share sales. The company, formerly known as Bioptix, saw a 5x jump in value from $8 a share to over $40, following its transformation. Its current share value is $5.39.  
• A San Francisco-based federal court established a new court precedent when it ordered the payment of a $750,000 bail via Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. The suspect, Martin Marsich, was arrested earlier this month on criminal charges for hacking the servers of video game company Electronic Arts. 
• Kryptovault, a Norwegian crypto mining company received a bomb threat Saturday. The noise-related threat read, 

This is Sabotage. If you are expanding crypto mining and filling the country with noise, then you will be sabotaging the peace. I am threatening to send you some explosives. 

Regulation

• Thailand's SEC has authorized seven companies to operate as cryptocurrency exchanges in the country. These include five crypto exchanges and two dealers.
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will begin "live fire testing" of a blockchain platform to verify North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) certificates. 

Markets

• Market bounces as Bitcoin awaits SEC decision, VEN, ETC & XRP Higher, market analysis, Aug. 17
• LTC and altcoin market roundup, some quiet after the storm, market analysis, Aug. 18 
• Have ETH, BCH & BTC recovered? Not really, market analysis, Aug. 19