TL;DR: Welcome to In Case You Missed It (ICYMI), a daily crypto news update. Disney repels TRON’s attempts at trademarking. Binance takes stake in FTX derivatives exchange. Burger King accepts bitcoin cash (BCH) in Slovenia. Ripple raises $200 million in funding to accelerate XRP adoption. CoinEx obtains a license to operate in Estonia, and Libra lacks a solid plan for its launch, according to a governing member.



Disney Repels TRON Attempt to Trademark Its Name

Disney, the all-powerful entertainment empire, halted an attempt from TRON to trademark its name, arguing this registration would dilute the Disney motion picture brand and cause confusion between the cryptocurrency and their popular sci-fi franchise. Raybo Technology, a partner of TRON in China, attempted to trademark “TRON,” “TRONNETWORK” and “TRONIX,” but Disney quickly filed a Notice for Opposition to dismiss. TRON did not file any opposition and the trademark process stopped.

Binance Takes Minority Stake in Derivative Exchange FTX

This is a very smart investment and a great business decision for both Binance and FTX. Congratulations @cz_binance @SBF_Alameda @binance @FTX_Official https://t.co/Y7Nu6fI6Xz — Matthew Graham (@mg0314a) December 20, 2019

Binance has taken a minority stake in FTX, a derivatives exchange with considerable volume. Binance purchased “double-digit” ownership in the Antigua based exchange, spending “tens of millions” of dollars. Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, declared, “The derivatives space for crypto is very new, and we want to support multiple initiatives to grow the industry.” FTX moves $500 million daily, the seventh largest derivatives exchange by volume.

Burger King Taking BCH via GoCrypto in Slovenia

Burger King, the popular hamburger restaurant franchise, is now accepting Bitcoin Cash and GoCrypto, the Bitcoin Cash-based SLP token, as payment. This might be among the first Burger King physical restaurants to accept cryptocurrency payments, according to Dejan Rojvic, founder and CEO of Eligma, the cryptocurrency wallet company that onboarded the franchise.

Ripple Raises $200 Million to Accelerate XRP Usage

Ripple, one of the most successful startups in the banking and remittances sector, raised $200 million in a recent funding round. The C Series funding round was led by Tetragon, SBI Holdings, and Route 66 Ventures, changing the value of the cryptocurrency company to $10 billion, doubling its last calculated value. Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, declined to comment about how this funds will be spent but did clarify how next year Ripple will stick to their current strategy of fostering XRP adoption.

CoinEx Obtains Operating License in Estonia

🎉#CoinEx has successfully received the operating license from the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit! It paves the way for our global expansion and to obtain further licenses in other countries. Check out the full news: https://t.co/7hYQq4aJLI — CoinEx (@coinexcom) December 20, 2019

CoinEx, a regulated cryptocurrency exchange based in China, obtained a license from the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit to operate as a crypto exchanging agent in Estonia. This opens the doors for CoinEx to act as an institution to trade virtual currencies against fiat currencies, and offer virtual wallet services in the country. Haipo Yang, CEO of CoinEx and one of our Spiciest People of the Year, declared: “We are very delighted to be granted the license, as it is a milestone and marks the next step of our development.”

Libra Has No Solid Launch Plan, Says Governing Board Member

Libra, the cryptocurrency project spearheaded by Facebook, has no solid strategy or plan on how it will be launched next year, according to one of the members of its governing board. Patrick Ellis, member of the Libra Governing Board, revealed that “at this stage, there is no strategy set in stone for the markets or the product, or how it will actually get rolled out,” when asked about the subject during a phone interview. However, Ellis still thinks Libra will be launched next year.

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