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“‘We have no intention to curb (the crypto industry) excessively,’ he said. ‘We would like to see it grow under appropriate regulation.’”





LongHash Take: The Bank of Japan is an unlikely champion for crypto -- imagine the Fed using such sympathetic language. In the throes of this bear market, investors welcomed the news.





2. Wednesday, August 22: The World Bank is preparing for the world's first blockchain bond





“The World Bank has priced the world’s first public bond created and managed using only blockchain in a A$100 million ($73.16 million) deal designed to test how the technology might improve decades-old bond sales practices.”





“While there have been other prototypes or parallel simulation blockchain projects in the market before, [Commonwealth Bank of Australia] said the World Bank bond will be the first time that capital is raised from public investors through a legally valid bond issuance that uses blockchain from start to finish.”





LongHash Take: Ongoing! Additional concrete steps. Looks like the a blockchain bond is really happening. Given the World Bank's longstanding projects in developing countries, its adoption of blockchain tech could have far-reaching implications.





3. Thursday, August 23: “China to block more than 120 offshore cryptocurrency exchanges as crackdown escalates”





“Authorities will block access in China to 124 websites operated by offshore cryptocurrency exchanges that provide trading services to citizens on the mainland, the Shanghai Securities News, a newspaper affiliated with the country’s financial and markets regulators, reported on Thursday.”





LongHash Take:“Our way or the highway" continues to be Beijing's stance when it comes to crypto. Yet the Chinese blockchain space continues its work.





4. Thursday, August 23: “The Exchange Has Not Met Its Burden:” The SEC Rejects Another Round of Bitcoin ETFs





“‘The commission emphasizes that its disapproval does not rest on an evaluation of whether Bitcoin, or blockchain technology more generally, has utility or value as an innovation or an investment,’ the regulator wrote Wednesday. Rather, it disapproved because 'the exchange has not met its burden.’”





LongHash Take: We're starting to see a pattern here, but the latest ETF rejections by the SEC are still disappointing. Apropros, the markets continue to be in the doldrums.



