Ep. 35. Get Bits or Die Tryin' and Ripple Explain XRP

First up, this week's big news that Circle (backed by none other than Goldman-Sachs) have acquired crypto exchange Poloniex. Is this Wallstreet's 'in' to Crypto?

Moving on to some regulatory news, NYC lawmakers claim that they are 'open' to revisiting the BitLicense regulation. What kind of impact would a reform have on the market and on blockchain innovation?

From Lawmakers to Lawbreakers, Craig Wright, who's infamously claimed to be Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, is being sued for a whopping $10 billion!

Next, R3 pilots blockchain trade finance platform with global banks-aiming to develop a "fully interoperable" open-source trade finance network built with their distributed ledger technology (DLT) product Corda.

The blockchain space has largely been male dominated in recent years, however the NY times has rightly voiced the opinions of many brilliant female minds in the industry. Their title "Women in Cryptocurrencies Push Back Against ‘Blockchain Bros'" was widely shared, a quote that stuck out to us was “Women always question if they’re qualified-but look at these clowns around us.”

ICO's just don't go away and Germany’s financial regulator BaFIN issues a letter titled "Supervisory classification of tokens or cryptocurrencies underlying so-called Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) as financial instruments according to securities supervision laws". So. Many. Words.

Next, the Venezuelan president has apparently asked central banks to mine their national cryptocurrency. If you though a country having a petrol backed token was strange enough, just imagine their banks mining it?

As always, on stories we didn't have time to cover: Elliott Management, a $34 billion hedge fund, described cryptocurrencies as 'one of the most brilliant scams in history', the Tezos board is reorganized and 50 cent admits in a bankruptcy document that he never actually owned any bitcoin. Right Fifty, whatever you say.

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Special Guests: Frank Müller and Marcus Treacher.

Links:

• Bitcoin News: Circle Buys Poloniex in Big Cryptocurrency Deal | Fortune
• New York Lawmakers Open to Revisiting the BitLicense - CoinDesk
• 'Satoshi' Craig Wright Is Being Sued for $10 Billion - CoinDesk
• R3 Pilots Blockchain Trade Finance Platform with Global Banks - CoinDesk
• Women in Cryptocurrencies Push Back Against ‘Blockchain Bros’ - The New York Times
• For Women in Cryptocurrency, a New Effort to Grow Their Ranks | WIRED
• Regulators mount up – BaFin provides further guidance on ICOs
• 46% of Last Year’s ICOs Have Failed Already - Bitcoin News
• Venezuelan President Asks Banks to Mine Cryptocurrency | Fortune
• Bitcoin 'one of the most brilliant scams in history,' says Elliott Management - Business Insider
• Tezos Board reorganized - Tezos Foundation
• 50 Cent admits in bankruptcy document that he never actually owned any bitcoin