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Another short one this week with a couple of updates on last week’s events.

Enjoy,

Cryptiv.

Last Week’s Updates

SEC to decide, finally.

The SEC will have to give a decision on whether to approve the Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF offering on March 11th after delaying the decision twice. A Bitcoin ETF would likely drive up the price of Bitcoin and provide greater access to this new asset class for institutional investors. One analyst put the chances of the ETF being approved to just 25%. As he argues in this interview, the SEC is mandated with protecting investors and not necessarily spearheading the development of nascent financial products. The analyst is bullish on Bitcoin, but doubts an ETF will happen anytime soon. You can find the full interview here (great podcast, highly recommend!).

Execs buy in on blockchain.

A survey conducted by the Tabb group and commissioned by Synechron, an IT and financial consulting firm, found that among the 200 high-level executives interviewed, blockchain technologies are viewed as important in the long-term. 89% of respondents believed that the technology will be in everyday use by financial service firms by 2026. Interoperability, scalability, and privacy were seen as important obstacles while regulatory uncertainty did not seem to deter firms from developing proof of concepts with the technology. Another survey polled 45-members of the Post-Trade Distributed Ledger Group which is made up of major financial intermediaries including the London Stock Exchange, CME Group, Euroclear, and LCH.Clearnet. The report states that 48% of respondents see the technology reaching mainstream adoption in three-to-five years, while 29% believe it will be within one-to-two years, and 21% say it will take five years.

A secure blockchain… almost.

Accenture announced that it has stepped up their blockchain security by developing a hardware security module that stores private-keys and allows transactions to be signed without the keys ever leaving the box. This is by no means a breakthrough development as the use of such HSMs is standard and widely used among crypto-exchanges. The more important question is who is authorized to request transactions? The HSM will sign any transaction pushed to it in a ‘secure’ manner but how is an organization to prevent a rogue employee sending a transaction to their laptop before jumping on a plane? If only there was a solution out there… (ahem.. there is, that’s what we do!).

China tames its traders.

China is stepping up its regulatory crackdown on its exchanges. All Bitcoin and Litecoin withdrawals have been frozen in a supposed effort to impose greater AML oversight. The announcement came after a meeting was held between the central bank and the operators of nine Chinese exchanges. After the announcement Bitcoin’s price had dropped but has since recovered to just below the $1000 mark. It is still unclear to what extent this intervention is aimed at stemming irrational exuberance and fending off any asset bubble that may be forming or whether the real objective is to crack down on citizens circumventing capital controls. These restrictions beg the question of whether China wants to significantly restrict the use of Bitcoin long-term or just ensure it’s use is compliant with new rules aimed at protecting the Yuan.

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