The last week of May has been exciting for the cryptocurrency markets. Arguably the biggest news is that on Thursday the Binance exchange announced a $1 billion investment fund for crypto and blockchain startups. Binance Labs calls the initiative the Social Impact Fund, and all investments will be made with the Binance token BNB. Some of the projects could include public blockchains, decentralized exchanges, wallets and custody solutions, security token platforms, and other venture funds. The fund launch is further evidence that the crypto space is maturing and becoming more self-sufficient.
Here's the rest of the week in review:
A Forbes piece claims that fraud and shady trading behavior is widespread in crypto. These unethical and often illegal practices include wash trading, spoofing, front-running, and insider trading. Crypto markets are still young, and market manipulation remains a serious growing pain.
The New York State legislature has voted to push forward bill that will create a digital currency task force. The nine-member task force would submit reports to the governor on the impact of regulations, local tax receipts, and overall transparency in the industry.
The Bittrex exchange is finally allowing crypto purchases with US dollars. The Seattle-based exchange seems to be complying with regulatory hurdles. It is now aiming to work with partner banks, expand its coin offerings, and compete better with Coinbase and Kraken.
Block.one, the company behind EOS, is again getting heat for its unprecedentedly long ICO. A Wall Street Journal piece reports that EOS investors are still unsure what block.one will do with the fundraising proceeds. EOS remains a controversial project in the crypto community, and the over $4 billion raised so far, dwarfing other ICOs, is an ongoing crypto mystery.
A promising Swiss crypto startup seems to be struggling to survive. The New York Times reports that Envion, a company that aims to replace environmentally harmful crypto miners with clean energy, has entered a crisis of confidence. The executives are attacking each other, and investors are complaining on social media. A CEO brought in from outside diluted the cofounders' shares and refused to relinquish control of the company. The takeaway: even good crypto projects can go bad.
Finally, the payment processor Visa (NYSE: V) experienced a brief outage in Europe due to a hardware failure. Cardmembers experienced chaos at checkout lines, and the episode prompted online crypto communities to tout the benefits of blockchain versus centralized systems.
Crypto prices shook off a few dips this week to end the week mostly positive at over $345 billion. Bitcoin Cash (BCH), EOS, OmiseGo (OMG), Aeternity (AE), and Veritasium (VERI) especially have surged in the last 24 hours. The biggest losers are WaykiChain (WICC), Theta Token (THETA), and Dragonchain (DRGN). Investors should watch to see if the majors can break last week's highs and key exponential moving averages.
The author does not hold any positions in any of the securities above.