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Gemini is the First Cryptocurrency Exchange in the World to Complete a SOC2 Type 1 ReviewJanuary 29 – Gemini, a leading cryptoasset exchange founded by the Winklevoss twins, has announced that it has recently passed a widely-accepted security audit called the SOC 2 Type 1 examination. The audit was completed by the “big four” accounting firm, Deloitte. Deloitte conducted an independent evaluation of Gemini’s security controls which have passed the trust services criteria as defined by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Gemini has now become the first cryptocurrency exchange in the world to pass this examination. Gemini has long put an emphasis on secure, regulated cryptoasset custody and high operational standards. The SOC 2 Type 1 audit, while recognized in traditional fields of business, has not been widely sought by the cryptoasset exchange industry. It remains unclear whether this type of audit on cryptoasset exchanges will become an industry standard. “Going forward, we will perform a SOC 2 examination on an annual basis in order to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to safeguarding your data and cryptocurrency,” said Yusuf Hussain, Head of Risk at Gemini. Read the full article here. |
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CBOE Resubmits the VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETF ProposalJanuary 31 – The Chicago Board Options and Exchange (CBOE) has reportedly resubmitted the ETF application of VanEck/SolidX just a week after the application was withdrawn. The original notice of withdrawing the ETFs application did not identify a specific reason; however, critics had speculated that the US government shutdown had a role to play as it had reportedly left the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) unstaffed around the withdrawal time. According Jan van Eck, the CEO of VanEck, “we were engaged in discussions with the SEC about the bitcoin-related issues, custody, market manipulation, prices, and that had to stop. And so, instead of trying to slip through or something, we just had the application pulled and we will re-file when the SEC gets going again.” Read the full article here. |
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Fidelity Investments Says Its Crypto Trading and Storage Platform is in “Final Testing” StagesFebruary 1 – Fidelity Investments, one of the largest asset managers with around $2.46 trillion USD in assets under management, has announced that their crypto trading and custody platform is in its “final testing” stages. The company is reportedly working with auditing firms to help test its existing policies and procedures, as well as “to set new benchmarks for this aspect of cryptographic and blockchain-based finance.” Near the end of 2018, Fidelity had announced that is would create a new business unit, titled “Fidelity Digital Assets” which aimed to provide their institutional clients with trading and custodial services for cryptoassets. Fidelity aims to release this new platform sometime in March, 2019. “Our initial clients are an important part of our final testing and process refinement periods, which will eventually enable us to provide these services to a broader set of eligible institutions,” said the firm. Read the full article here. |
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JPMorgan Says Blockchain is Making Progress Outside of CryptocurrenciesJanuary 29 – The major investment bank JPMorgan has recently come forth to suggest that apart from cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology will provide benefits to banks and existing payment systems. A recent interview with JPMorgan’s chair of global research, Joyce Chang, noted that blockchain applications in businesses that operate within trade-finance are more common due to the benefits arising from efficiency, digitization, and decentralization. Chang said that while cryptocurrencies have gathered the most attention from blockchain-based technologies, the underlying technology of a distributed ledger is still an important factor to consider. Chang also identified that the Interbank Information Network (IIN), which is comprised of 157 member banks internationally, is based on Ethereum blockchain through JPMorgan’s Quorum platform. The IIN aims to remove the barriers of sharing information between banks and to quicken transactions to recipients. “Blockchain isn’t going to reinvent the global payment system, but it will provide marginal improvements. The most meaningful impact will probably be three to five years away and mostly on trade finance,” said Chang. Read the full article here. |
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Litecoin Creator Charlie Lee to Make Coin More Fungible and PrivateJanuary 29 – In a recent tweet, Charlie Lee, the founder and creator of Litecoin, announced that he will focus on making the major cryptocurrency “more fungible” on January 28. According to Lee, “fungibility is the only property of sound money that is missing from Bitcoin & Litecoin”, noting that “the next battleground will be on fungibility and privacy”. He concludes his message by saying that he wants to implement private transactions in Litecoin, “I am now focused on making Litecoin more fungible by adding Confidential Transactions.” In a response to a reply on the same tweet, Lee described that these confidential transactions could be added to Litecoin through a “soft fork”. A soft fork is a modification, or upgrade, made in a cryptocurrency’s source code that won’t lead to the division of blockchain, which happens in a hard fork. For example, a hard fork of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, required an entirely separate group of miners to adopt the source code to keep the network running. Read the full article here. |
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3iQ Global Cryptoasset Fund: Price as at February 1, 20193iQ is the first regulator approved multi-cryptoasset portfolio manager in Canada, providing accredited investors with exposure to bitcoin, ether, and litecoin through its 3iQ Global Cryptoasset Fund. |
