The Bitbuy Brief: Crypto Has Bullish Signals Again?

Weekly Market Movement: Bullish

Analysis: Crypto finally saw some bullish upward movement after weeks of stagnation. Altcoins led the way with Ethereum up 12.62% over the 7 day period. Many DeFi also saw large gains.

Big Story Of The Week in Crypto: Bullish Trend

After A Period Of The Low Volatility, Crypto May Have Recently Awakened With Bullish Fundamental Arguments Continuing To Stack Up

Takeaway: In spite of the flat price action for many coins, the crypto ecosystem continues to develop and mature. A couple items we would point out:

Improvements In Banking:  Banking for crypto on/off-ramps has been a challenge since crypto’s inception. Over the last two years that situation has improved drastically. Crypto-friendly banks such as Deltec and Silvergate provide reliable, professional backstops for the ecosystem while new large players such as JP Morgan announce initial forays into the space. Just yesterday, it was announced that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is letting all nationally chartered banks in the U.S. provide custody services for cryptocurrencies. This is considered big news, as it opens the door for banks to get much more integrated into crypto then they were before.

The Rise Of DeFi: A new movement is building into the cryptocurrency industry that has many enthusiasts and analysts alike excited. It’s called DeFi, short for decentralized finance, and it’s the idea that crypto builders can recreate traditional financial products in a decentralized way, outside of centralized companies and governments’ control.  With the world rapidly changing due to COVID, and central banks printing money at record speeds, DeFi seems to have found it’s moment. Some DeFi tokens have completely exploded in terms of value in recent months adding to the excitement.

Growing Avenues For Procurement / Spending: The ecosystem allowing crypto owners to use their currency as a form of payment has continued to mature. Mainstream payments firm Square was one of the key additions to the crypto infrastructure in 2019. Now it is reported that Paypal, which owns the popular Venmo app, will also follow suit. Beyond such channels the amount of major firms accepting crypto as payment in some capacity continues to grow.

Other Weekly Headlines

• The threat of a US Bitcoin ban is “a thing of the past” according to experts. As bitcoin is gaining broader support on Wall Street and in Washington, the chief executive of major bitcoin and cryptocurrency investor Digital Currency Group, Barry Silbert, has said he thinks the risk of a “catastrophic” U.S. bitcoin ban is a thing of the past. The US apparently briefly looked into it in 2012.
  FULL STORY ON FORBES

• China’s state-backed Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) has announced the integration with six permissionless blockchains. The networks are: Tezos, NEO, Nervos, Cosmos’ IRISnet, Ethereum and EOS. Developers working on the aforementioned networks will be able to connect those blockchains to bandwidth and storage belonging to BSN starting August 10
  BSN ANNOUNCEMENT

• Lithuania’s central bank is due to release 24,000 blockchain-based commemorative digital tokens called LBcoins. The tokens, meant to serve as a collectible, will be available for purchase at the Bank of Lithuania’s online shop. Many view this at a test for a national digital currency that could come in the future.
  FULL STORY ON BLOCKCHAIN NEWS

• British bank Standard Chartered’s venture and innovation arm, SC Ventures, confirmed that it is building a custody solution for crypto. The custody service provider would be based in the UK while SC Ventures is based in Singapore.
  FULL STORY ON COINDESK

• The Ethereum Foundation has launched ‘attack networks’ for ETH 2.0, which aim to give developers a simulated environment within which to explore the network’s security vulnerabilities. The launch of the system is considered a necessary step in the process of launching ETH 2.0.
  FULL STORY ON COINTELEGRAPH

PODCAST OF THE WEEK

Camila Russo On The Most Pivotal Moments In Ethereum’s History, Unchained Podcast, July 21, 2020

• Camila Russo author of a new book about Ethereum, titled ‘The Infinite Machine,’ discusses significant moments in the network’s history and other topics.