The first week of February has been exciting for the blockchain and cryptocurrency world. Perhaps the biggest news is the U.S. Federal Reserve is studying whether launching its own digital dollar (USD) could be an effective counter to private projects like Facebook's
Here is the rest of the week in review:
Intercontinental Exchange
Blockchain development firm ConsenSys announced it purchased Philadelphia-based broker-dealer Heritage Financial Systems in an attempt to overhaul the multi-trillion-dollar municipal bond market, according to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday. The recent acquisition gives ConsenSys advisory and broker-dealer capabilities in the U.S., allowing the company to offer newly tokenized municipal bonds through its Ethereum-based (ETH) operating system, Codefi. Local governments in the U.S. regularly issue municipal bonds to finance public projects and for general operating purposes. With a market value of over $4 trillion, the municipal bond sector continues to attract investors to park billions of dollars in the fixed income securities every year. ConsenSys believes distributed ledgers can disrupt the muni bond market by automating repayments and tracking bond transfers and secondary obligations.
Crypto prices jumped to $290 billion this week, making up some of its losses from the last year. For the majors, all were green, with Tezos (XTZ), Binance Coin (BNB), and Bitcoin SV (BSV) making outsized gains, while Bitcoin (BTC) retook $10,000. In the top 100, the biggest losers were Synthetix Network (SNX), down 23%, Swipe (SXP), down 21%, and MaidSafeCoin (MAID), down 9%. The biggest gainers were KickToken (KICK), up a whopping 619%, Lisk (LSK), up 110%, and Bitcoin Diamond (BCD), up 70%. Next week traders will see if crypto can break the $300 billion level.
The author owns a small amount of BTC.
- 1. https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/brainard20200205a.htm
- 2. https://www.coindesk.com/ice-ceo-envisions-bakkts-consumer-app-as-loyalty-point-marketplace
- 3. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-04/tough-to-disrupt-municipal-market-attracts-blockchain-developer?sref=5REZoVy2