This Week in Crypto & Blockchain: Top Stories Week of July 9, 2018

A lot of really interesting things happened this week, in the world of cryptocurrency trading, and blockchain technology. Bitcoin tested $7,000 earlier in the week while Coinbase made a promising announcement on Twitter that they're exploring the addition of Cardano (ADA), Basic Attention Token (BAT), Stellar Lumens (XLM), Zcash (ZEC) and 0x (ZRX) to their digital currency exchange. This is all great news, but there were other stories that you might have missed. Here's a rundown of some of the top news for the week of July 9, 2018.

57 ERC-20 Tokens Added to BitGo Custody Service, Institutional Money Coming Soon

When hedge fund managers register as investment advisers with the SEC, as per the Dodd-Frank requirements, they must follow the hedge fund custody rule 206(4)-2 under the Investment Advisor Act. Generally, this rule sets a requirement for fund managers to maintain their assets with a qualified custodian, and that they undergo an annual audit by a PCAOB qualified firm. Contrary to popular belief on both sides of the issue, Dodd-Frank was neither repealed nor gutted, and these requirements remain in place. We can therefore assume that such requirements may find their way to cryptocurrency investments, particularly as more institutional investors develop an interest in the industry. In preparation for this, BitGo and several other firms are beginning to offer cryptocurrency custody services. BitGo took this to a new level by offering custodial services on 57 Ethereum-based tokens.
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Candidate for NY Governor Larry Sharpe Gives Keynote on Comic Books & Beanie Babies at Blockchain World Conference

Larry Sharpe, a candidate for Governor of New York, is one of the few politicians who is pushing for an the open market that is necessary for cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to thrive in the United States. BitLicense requirements drove at least ten cryptocurrency exchanges and other companies out of New York state when it was enacted in 2015, and has created a barrier to entry for Bitcoin startups that would seek to do business in the state. As a result, only heavily-funded, heavily-regulated businesses are able to work in the state, including Coinbase, Square and others. In his keynote speech at the Blockchain World Conference, Larry Sharpe would prefer to regulate cryptocurrency in the same way that the trading of comic books would be regulated. It's not as kooky as it sounds.
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Crypto.com Releases Cryptocurrency-Backed Visa Card

While trading in crypto on the exchanges is relatively easy, one of the greatest challenges to the adoption of cryptocurrencies as a means of exchange for the general public has been the relative difficulty in its use. People get lost when it comes to installing e-wallets and mining software for each individual cryptocurrency, and making purchases can be problematic. Crypto.com solves this problem with their crypto-backed Visa card. Users can now add liquidity to their digital assets by tying them to the new MCO Visa card, enabling them to make purchases at 40 million locations.
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Panel of Five Finance Experts Excited About Cryptocurrency

While the price of Bitcoin and many other coins have followed a bearish trend since May, it's had several spikes along the way. Earlier this week, Bitcoin tested $7,000 and it's been holding steady above $6,000 since reaching a low of $5,879 on June 29 according to CoinMarketCap. Regardless of the trend, five experts are bullish on Bitcoin, with estimates ranging from climbing back up to $20,000 by the end of 2018, to a $1 million per coin within 20 years.
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US DoJ Charges 12 Russians With Bitcoin-Funded Election Interference

If the length of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server was any indicator, the investigation into Russian collusion in the 2016 election, where Trump won the presidency will most likely continue at least through the 2020 election season. Both sides of the issue have attacked it from different angles, with Democrats investigating collusion and Republicans investigating the biases of investigators such as Peter Strzok. As part of this process, the Department of Justice has indicted 12 Russian nationals for alleged collusion in the hacking of servers and networks related to the Democratic campaign for the presidency. According to the indictment, hackers were paid $95,000 in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for their illegal work. While regulators cite the use of Bitcoin as a method for hiding criminal activity, the DoJ has nonetheless been able to figure out the source of the funds used for the "spearfishing" attacks, according to the report.
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