Weekly Insights #32

FINRA Approves Grayscale Ethereum Trust for Retail—May 23, The Block

Grayscale by Digital Currency Group manages $1.9B in a number of funds with underlying crypto assets, but the funds are only available to accredited investors. The company has gained approval from FINRA to list eligible shares of its Grayscale Ethereum Trust on OTC markets, making it the first publicly listed security tied to ether.

Coinbase Now Supports Another Stablecoin, Dai—May 23, Coinbase Blog

DAI is a decentralized stablecoin running on Ethereum that was designed with the goal of maintaining a target value of approximately US$1.00. Starting yesterday, Coinbase.com and the Coinbase Android and iOS apps added support for Dai (DAI) trading. DAI will be available for customers in most jurisdictions, but will not initially be available to residents of the state of New York.

SIX Stock Exchange is Working on a Swiss Franc Stablecoin—May 22, Coindesk

Swiss stock exchange SIX, which is a developing blockchain-based asset settlement and tokenization solution, is now working on a fiat-backed Swiss franc stablecoin. It is not clear whether the stablecoin will be used inside their blockchain system or be issued on a general public blockchain and transferred freely.

Tether Admits to Investing Some of Its Reserves in Bitcoin—May 21, The Block

According to a court transcript obtained by The Block from the ongoing Bitfinex/Tether vs. NYAG case, David Miller, an attorney for Bitfinex, said that Tether used its reserves to buy bitcoin. While there is no information regarding the size of the bitcoin position, Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino tweeted that Tether owned a small amount of bitcoin for paying miner fees.