Blockchain Insider Podcast by 11:FS

Simon's in the studio with Joon Ian Wong, Managing Director for Europe and Asia at Coindesk, Claire Wells, Director of Legal & Business Affairs EMEA at Circle, and Aman Kohli, CTO of Financial Services and Insurance Practice at Microsoft. First up, Circle eyes crypto securities bid with crowdfunding site acquisition. Circle is reportedly moving to acquire SeedInvest, a crowdfunding platform for startups. Their acquisition will – if approved by regulators – open to the door to allowing startups to raise funds by selling digital tokens via its platform. Yale Invests in Crypto Fund That Raised $400 Million. The Ivy League school is getting into the market for cryptocurrencies. $30 billion endowment is headed by David Swensen. Under Swensen’s leadership, Yale has returned 11.8 percent on average for the past 20 years. Ninety-six percent of endowments and foundations responding to a survey by consulting firm NEPC in February said they don’t invest in digital currencies. SEC, CFTC charge bitcoin futures firm 1Broker with securities law violations. The SEC announced in a press release that it filed charges against 1pool Ltd., also known as 1Broker, as well as its CEO Patrick Brunner for selling security-based swaps to U.S. and international investors without following proper "discretionary investment thresholds." Notably, investors could only purchase these swaps with bitcoin, according to the claims. The SEC is further claiming that 1Broker was not registered a "security-based swaps dealer" and "failed to transact its security-based swaps on a registered national exchange." Marco Polo blockchain platform for trade finance released. Marco Polo is an initiative to develop an open account trade finance platform powered by blockchain technology. The platform is built by TradeIX, R3 and a group of banks on the Corda blockchain framework, using TradeIX’s open-source tools to test, pilot and manage open account trade finance transactions. The announcement was made at the CordaCon London event on September 13, where Rob Barnes, co-founder and CEO of TradeIX, gave the audience new insights into the project’s timeline. TD Ameritrade all-in with crypto, invests in exchange. Announced this week a strategic investment in ErisX, the cryptocurrency spot and futures exchange. We also have a Tweet of the Week on Iconomi discontinuing their ICN token. Tying up the show we have a great interview with Adi Ben-Ari, Founder of Applied Blockchain (he was supposed to be on this week but he was sick). All this and so much more on this week's episode of Blockchain Insider. And if you enjoyed our tweet of the week why not send us your best tweets? See if you can get a shout out on the show! We hope you enjoy the show and, as ever, don't forget to subscribe! Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show @bchaininsider and if you really love the show, please leave us a review on iTunes. This week's episode of Blockchain Insider was produced by Laura Watkins and Petrit Berisha. Edited by Michael Bailey.Special Guests: Adi Ben-Ari, Aman Kohli, Claire Wells, and Joon Ian Wong.Links: Circle Eyes Crypto Securities Bid With Crowdfunding Site Acquisition - CoinDesk Yale Said to Invest in Crypto Fund That Raised $400 Million - Bloomberg SEC, CFTC Charge Bitcoin Futures Firm 1Broker With Securities Law Violations - CoinDesk Marco Polo blockchain platform for trade finance released | Global Trade Review (GTR) TD Ameritrade All-In With Crypto, Invests In Exchange

Today's episode is a little bit different. Simon and Colin interviewed some great guests at Blockchain Live to get an insight into what's happening in blockchain straight from the experts. We speak to: Garrick Hileman, Head of Research at Blockchain Xen Baynham-Herd, Head of Strategy and Lead Economist at Blockchain Joanna Hubbard, Co-Founder of Electron Rhian Lewis, Founder of London Women in Bitcoin David Williams, CEO at Chorum Richard Crook, CTO at Chorum Ben Wyeth, Senior Innovation Engineer at Chorum Lydia Torne, Senior Associate at Simmons & Simmons All this and so much more on this week's episode of Blockchain Insider. And if you enjoyed our tweet of the week why not send us your best tweets? See if you can get a shout out on the show! We hope you enjoy the show and, as ever, don't forget to subscribe! Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show @bchaininsider and if you really love the show, please leave us a review on iTunes. This week's episode of Blockchain Insider was produced by Laura Watkins and Petrit Berisha. Edited by Michael BaileySpecial Guests: Ben Wyeth, David Williams, Garrick Hileman, Joanna Hubbard, Lydia Torne, Rhian Lewis, Richard Crook, and Xen Baynham-Herd.

Simon and Colin are live at the Blockchain Insider stand and sat down with a great guest, Teana Baker-Taylor, CMO at Coinfloor. We also have an exclusive interview with Dan Larimer, CTO of Block.one and Brendan Blumer, CEO of Block.one. First up the panel takes a look at New York AG report faulting crypto exchanges for manipulation risks. The New York Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has released a report on cryptocurrency trading platforms, finding that many are vulnerable to market manipulation and referring several exchanges to another agency for potential violations of state law. NYAG's inquiry was launched in April, seeking voluntary participation from 13 of the world's most notable trading sites, including Coinbase, Kraken, Bitfinex, Bittrex, and Binance, among others. a16z crypto purchases 6% of MKR, backing Stablecoin Vanguard MakerDao. Signaling their support of MakerDAO’s Dai stablecoin, investment fund a16z crypto has purchased 6% of the total MKR token supply for $15 million USD. The purchase gives a16z crypto a stake in the first functional decentralized stablecoin and the only system built with formally verified smart contracts on Ethereum (or any blockchain). From adoption to FOMO: Reasons behind Ripple’s leap. Over the past week, altcoin Ripple’s (XRP) price has gone through the roof. It has seen an unprecedented 140 percent growth over the past seven days. We explore the major reasons why it's grown so fast. How Colin because a crypto quadrillionaire without writing a single line of code. Bitcoin bugs out. CVE-2018-17144, a fix for which was released on September 18th in Bitcoin Core versions 0.16.3 and 0.17.0rc4, includes both a Denial of Service component and a critical inflation vulnerability. In order to encourage rapid upgrades, the decision was made to immediately patch and disclose the less serious Denial of Service vulnerability, concurrently with reaching out to miners, businesses, and other affected systems while delaying publication of the full issue to give times for systems to upgrade. We also have a Tweet of the Week on moggy miners. All this and so much more on this week's episode of Blockchain Insider. And if you enjoyed our tweet of the week why not send us your best tweets? See if you can get a shout out on the show! We hope you enjoy the show and, as ever, don't forget to subscribe! Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show @bchaininsider and if you really love the show, please leave us a review on iTunes. This week's episode of Blockchain Insider was produced by Laura Watkins and Petrit Berisha, written by Dhanum Nursigadoo and edited by Holly Blaxill.Special Guests: Brendan Blumer, Dan Larimer, and Teana Baker-Taylor.Links: New York AG Report Faults Crypto Exchanges for Manipulation Risks - CoinDesk a16z crypto purchases 6% of MKR, backing Stablecoin Vanguard MakerDAO From Adoption to FOMO: Reasons Behind Ripple’s Leap | Cointelegraph How I became a Crypto Quadrillionaire without writing a single line of code… Bitcoin Core :: CVE-2018-17144 Full Disclosure In Wake of 'Major Failure,' Bitcoin Code Review Comes Under Scrutiny - CoinDesk

Colin and Sara are in the studio with Noelle Acheson, Editorial Producer at Coindesk and Tim Swanson, Founder and Director of Research at Post Oak Labs. First up, the group takes a look at a U.S. Judge stating that Initial Coin Offerings are covered by securities law. A federal judge has ruled that U.S. securities laws may cover an initial coin offering, handing the government a legal victory in its effort to regulate billions of dollars in cybercurrency offerings much like stocks. The ruling came in a criminal case against a man charged with promoting digital currencies backed by investments in real estate and diamonds that prosecutors said didn’t exist. Finra charges broker with fraud and unlawful distribution of unregistered cryptocurrency securities. FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) filed a complaint against Timothy Tilton Ayre of Agawam, Massachusetts, charging him with securities fraud and the unlawful distribution of an unregistered cryptocurrency security called HempCoin. This case represents FINRA’s first disciplinary action involving cryptocurrencies. SEC Chairman Jay Clayton releases statement regarding SEC staff views. The Commission’s longstanding position is that all staff statements are nonbinding and create no enforceable legal rights or obligations of the Commission or other parties. The $1Billion Tezos Blockchain has officially launched. The Tezos Foundation raised $232 million in July 2017 to build the network and issue a new type of cryptocurrency to its backers in one of the largest-ever initial coin offerings. Several class-action lawsuits have been filed in the United States against the project’s organizers alleging the fundraiser violated federal securities laws and defrauded investors. Binance to start closed beta testing of new crypto-fiat exchange in Singapore. While no further details have been specified, the crypto-fiat Singapore-based exchange will presumably support the local Singapore dollar. Singapore ranked third most favourable country for ICOs in mid-July (in terms of number of top global ICO projects. Bitcoin trading volume has "Skyrocketed" in Argentina due to rising inflation. Alexander Tapscott, Canadian businessman and author, recently pointed out that bitcoin trading volumes are ‘skyrocketing’. It appears that Argentina is heading toward a recession due to mismanaged monetary policies. Argentina is struggling and many of its citizens now appear to have more confidence in cryptocurrencies than in the traditional financial system. Significantly, weekly bitcoin trading volume on peer-to-peer (P2P) exchange, LocalBitcoins, (in Argentina) has increased to nearly $7 million. We also have a Tweet of the Week on ICO skeptics. All this and so much more on this week's episode of Blockchain Insider. And if you enjoyed our tweet of the week why not send us your best tweets? See if you can get a shout out on the show! We hope you enjoy the show and, as ever, don't forget to subscribe! Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show @bchaininsider and if you really love the show, please leave us a review on iTunes. This week's episode of Blockchain Insider was produced by Petrit Berisha, written by Dhanum Nursigadoo and edited by Michael Bailey.Special Guests: Noelle Acheson and Tim Swanson.Links: Initial Coin Offerings Covered by Securities Law, Judge Says - Bloomberg FINRA Charges Broker with Fraud and Unlawful Distribution of Unregistered Cryptocurrency Securities | FINRA.org SEC.gov | Statement Regarding SEC Staff Views Volume 2 Issue 35 – Diar Cryptocurrency project Tezos to launch main network next week | Reuters Binance to Start Closed Beta Testing of New Crypto-Fiat Exchange in Singapore Bitcoin Trading Volume Has "Skyrocketed" in Argentina Due to Rising Inflation | CryptoGlobe

This is an extra special bonus episode of Blockchain Insider as in this interview with Richard Brown, CTO of R3, Simon and Colin talk to him about how they first encountered Bitcoin and the start ofthe blockchain phenomenon. They also look at what blockchain, in the Corda sense, brings to the world that was missing before, how open source blockchain holds the potential to change industries across the world and how to represent real world assets on the blockchain. The four also talk about blockchain as the next megatrend, what the future of blockchain could be, why they focused on financial aspects of blockchain and sidechannel attacks. We hope you enjoy the show and, as ever, don't forget to subscribe! Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show @bchaininsider and if you really love the show, please leave us a review on iTunes. This bonus episode of Blockchain Insider was produced by Petrit Berisha and edited by Michael Bailey.Special Guests: Mike Hearn and Richard Brown.Sponsored By: R3: R3 is working with a network of over 200 financial institutions, regulators, trade associations, professional services firms and technology companies to develop on Corda, its open source open source blockchain platform designed specifically for businesses. R3 is an enterprise software firm working with banks, financial service providers and tech companies to make contracts smarter. Corda is the outcome of over two years of intense research and development by R3 and its members. ItCordaItand meets the highest standards of the financial services industry, yet is applicable to any commercial scenario. It records, manages and executes institutions’ financial agreements in perfect synchrony with their peers, creating a world of frictionless commerce... And it’s open source. Corda - It’s blockchain for every business, in every industry business. For business. Head over to r3.com to find out more.

Simon and Sara are with Aman Kohli, CTO of Financial Services and Insurance Practice at Microsoft and Ryan Radloff, CEO at Coinshares. First up the panel looks at What an SEC Bitcoin ETF rejection review really means. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Thursday that nine bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) disapproval orders are to be stayed until further review. The aftermath of the Bitcoin boom and the hard lessons for cryptocurrency investors and whether crypto is too accessible. IBM-Maersk blockchain platform adds 92 clients as part of global launch. A previously unnamed collaborative effort between the world’s largest shipping company, Maersk, and IBM, has now grown to 92 participants and been dubbed TradeLens. The blockchain platform has been quietly orchestrating global trade with less reliance on middlemen for a year, resulting in 154 million shipping events in ports around the world, and is now growing at a rate of one million per day. Wirex becomes third crypto company to receive FCA e-money licence. Wirex Limited, the popular global crypto/fiat payment platform, has just become the third cryptocurrency-enabled company in the world to be granted a UK FCA emoney license. The FCA’s approach to cryptocurrencies has been relatively cautious, but their progressive stance towards blockchain technologies is encouraging. Singapore presses ahead with blockchain-based Project Ubin. Singapore's central bank is working with the Singapore Exchange and three technology partners - Anquan, Deloitte and Nasdaq - to develop Delivery versus Payment (DvP) capabilities for settlement of tokenised assets across different blockchain platforms. Thailand's Central Bank Is Developing a Digital Currency Based on R3 Tech. The Bank of Thailand (BoT) has announced it expects to complete the first phase of a proof-of-concept trial for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) by March 2019. We also have a Tweet of the Week on how the XRP ledger is inherently decentralised, even more so than bitcoin and ethereum... Rounding off the show we have an interview from Colin with Michael Sonnenshein, Managing Director at Grayscale. All this and so much more on this week's episode of Blockchain Insider. And if you enjoyed our tweet of the week why not send us your best tweets? See if you can get a shout out on the show! We hope you enjoy the show and, as ever, don't forget to subscribe! Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show @bchaininsider and if you really love the show, please leave us a review on iTunes. This week's episode of Blockchain Insider was produced by Laura Watkins and Petrit Berisha. Edited by Holly Blaxill.Special Guests: Aman Kohli, Michael Sonnenshein, and Ryan Radloff.Links: What an SEC Bitcoin ETF Rejection Review Really Means - CoinDesk After the Bitcoin Boom: Hard Lessons for Cryptocurrency Investors - The New York Times IBM-Maersk Blockchain Platform Adds 92 Clients As Part Of Global Launch Wirex becomes third crypto company to receive FCA e-money licence Singapore presses ahead with blockchain-based Project Ubin Thailand's Central Bank Is Developing a Digital Currency Based on R3 Tech - CoinDesk Major Russian Airline Tests Blockchain in Bid to Track Fuel Payments - CoinDesk

Simon and Sara are with Teana Baker-Taylor CMO of Coinfloor, Michele Curtoni, Director of Digital Assets, Blockchain at State Street, and Alex Hern, Technology Reporter at the Guardian to go over the biggest blockchain stories of the week. First up the panel looks at ASX's declaration that a new DLT system could save billions. The Australian Securities Exchange could save as much as $23 billion in its effort to replace its settlement system with a distributed ledger, its CEO announced Thursday. Dominic Stevens, MD and CEO of ASX believes DLT in place of Clearing House Electronic Subregister System (CHESS), would offer greater efficiency transmitting messages and accessing information. California opens up to allowing crypto political donations. The California Fair Political Practices Commission met on Thursday to discuss a number of election issues, including whether candidates for public office can accept cryptocurrencies as campaign donations. There's a blow to Bitcoin as Coinbase CEO makes a stark warning. He has warned that widespread, mass bitcoin adoption for payments is going to be a long time coming, Bitcoin price is down some 70% from its highs at the end of last year and many of newer cryptocurrencies that have been created in the last few years have been all but wiped out. Venezuela just devalued the bolívar by 95% and pegged it to a cryptocurrency. Venezuela has announced another series of desperate measures to try to save its economy from collapse. The government is devaluing the Venezuelan bolívar by 95% and pegging it to the government's oil-linked cryptocurrency. Nividia gives disappointing sales forecast on lower crypto demand. Nvidia Corp.’s nine-month crypto gold rush is over, sales of graphics chips to miners of cryptocurrencies like Ethereum dried up faster than expected. Nvidia said it had expected about $100 million in sales of chips bought by currency miners in the fiscal second quarter. Instead, the total was $18 million in the period, and that revenue is likely to disappear entirely going forward. Lack of Correlation for Bitcoin sees little relief as Markets Sell Off. While cryptocurrencies aren’t correlated with other asset classes, they’re strongly correlated among themselves. Bitcoin has held a correlation of over 0.7 with Bitwise’s 70 Small Cap and 10 Large Cap crypto indexes for most of the year. We also have a Tweet of the Week on how to explain Bitcoin to your grandpa. All this and so much more on this week's episode of Blockchain Insider. And if you enjoyed our tweet of the week why not send us your best tweets? See if you can get a shout out on the show! We hope you enjoy the show and, as ever, don't forget to subscribe! Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show @bchaininsider and if you really love the show, please leave us a review on iTunes. This week's episode of Blockchain Insider was produced by Laura Watkins and Petrit Berisha. Edited by Holly Blaxill and Michael Bailey.Special Guests: Alex Hern, Michele Curtoni, Sara Feenan, and Teana Baker-Taylor.

Simon is with Anthony Macey, Martin Bartlam, Partner and International Group Head of Finance & Projects and Fintech Global Co-Chair at DLA Piper, Noelle Acheson, CFA and Editorial Producer at Coindesk, and Todd McDonald, Co-Founder and Head of Partnerships at R3, to go over the biggest blockchain stories of the week. First up the panel looks at crypto unicorn, Bitmain considering $18 Billion IPO, one of the world's largest. The cryptocurrency mining company is filing for an initial public offering (IPO) potentially as high as $18 billion this September at a market capitalization of $40 to $50 billion. Then they discuss Facebook's Marcus stepping down from Coinbase board. David Marcus is stepping down from the board of directors at cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, citing his new assignment at Facebook leading the social media giant's blockchain strategy. Barclays denies crypto trading desk plans as staff removes ‘Digital Asset Project’ LinkedIn Info. Barclays told Cointelegraph that they have “no plans for a crypto trading desk.” As of press time, Duval and Tyrer’s LinkedIn profiles still show positions at Barclays working with 'digital assets,' but all information detailing the specifics of the jobs is not listed. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan invest in Axoni's $32 Million funding round. Enterprise-focused blockchain startup Axoni has completed a $32 million Series B funding round led by Goldman Sachs and Nyca Partners. Also participating in the round were Andreessen Horowitz, Citi, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, Y Combinator and Digital Currency Group, among others. R3 publishes a new post-quantum signature algorithm tailored to blockchains. Corda team has recently announced a new digital signature scheme that unlike RSA and ECDSA, it will remain secure even against a powerful quantum computer. The panel manage to explain quantum computing. Criminal activity in cryptocurrency has dropped 80% since 2013. An agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has noted that Bitcoin’s (BTC) role in crimes has dropped to just 10% of transactions, while transactions themselves have “grown tremendously”. We also have a Tweet of the Week on Ripple. All this and so much more on this week's episode of Blockchain Insider. And if you enjoyed our tweet of the week why not send us your best tweets? See if you can get a shout out on the show! We hope you enjoy the show and, as ever, don't forget to subscribe! Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show @bchaininsider and if you really love the show, please leave us a review on iTunes. This week's episode of Blockchain Insider was produced by Laura Watkins and Petrit Berisha. Edited by Holly Blaxill.Special Guests: Anthony Macey, Martin Bartlam, Noelle Acheson, and Todd McDonald.Links: Crypto Unicorn Bitmain Weighs $18 Billion IPO, One of World's Largest - CoinDesk Facebook's Marcus Steps Down From Coinbase Board - CoinDesk Barclays Denies Crypto Trading Desk Plans as Staff Removes ‘Digital Asset Project’ LinkedIn Info Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Invest in Axoni's $32 Million Funding Round - CoinDesk R3 publishes a new post-quantum signature algorithm tailored to blockchains Soaring ICO Failure Rate Sees Investors Flock to 'Bigger Players' - Bitcoinist.com Where Have All the Augur Users Gone? - CoinDesk US DEA: Criminal Activity in Cryptocurrency Has Dropped 80 Percent Since 2013

Simon and Sarah are with Teana Baker-Taylor, CMO at Coinfloor. We also have a great talk with Jeff Bandman, Principal at Bandman advisors, to take us through the biggest story of the week. First up we hear from Jeff Bandman on the world’s biggest stock exchange operator launching a Bitcoin market. ICE (the owner of NYSE) made the groundbreaking announcement on Friday, revealing that the new platform — Bakkt — has been developed in partnership with a variety of blockbuster names, including Microsoft, Starbucks, and BCG.Bakkt will integrate with the ICE’s U.S. futures market and clearinghouse to list a physically-settled one-day bitcoin futures product, complete with physical warehousing managed in-house by ICE. Next up we go over our Twitter poll results, don't forget to vote this week! Then the trio takes a look at Starbucks clarifying media misrepresentation on its new crypto venture. Starbucks has clarified that it will not be accepting Bitcoin (BTC) or other cryptocurrencies as payment -“customers will not be able to pay for Frappuccinos with bitcoin”. After that we discuss OKEx moving to protect its futures market with an injection of 2500 BTC into the exchange’s insurance fund from its own capital after a forced liquidation on July 31st threatened to destabilize its operations. The futures contract amounted to a staggering $420 million worth of BTC. Next the panel discusses Northern Trust opening doors to cryptocurrency hedge funds as part of pervasive blockchain expansion. In addition to adding a number of new blockchain features for managing its private equity workflow, the company, which has almost $10.7 trillion in assets under custody and administration, has also quietly opened its fund administration services to a select group of hedge funds betting on bitcoin and ethereum. Goldman Sachs Is Considering a Custody Offering for Crypto Funds. A formal offering from an institution like Goldman Sachs would provide a credible backing for crypto funds and could pave the way for more investors to bet on the asset class. Having a custody operation in place could also lead to other ventures, including prime-brokerage services. We also have a Tweet of the Week on Satoshi Nakamoto that you just can't miss. All this and so much more on this week's episode of Blockchain Insider. And if you enjoyed our tweet of the week why not send us your best tweets? See if you can get a shout out on the show! We hope you enjoy the show and, as ever, don't forget to subscribe! Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show @bchaininsider and if you really love the show, please leave us a review on iTunes. This week's episode of Blockchain Insider was produced by Laura Watkins and Petrit Berisha. Edited by Holly Blaxill.Special Guests: Jeff Bandman and Teana Baker-Taylor.Links: Breaking: World's Biggest Stock Exchange Operator is Launching a Bitcoin Market ‘No Coffee for Bitcoin,’ Starbucks Clarifies as Media Misrepresent Its New Crypto Venture OKEx Initiates 'Clawback' after BTC Futures Pool Can't Cover $420m Liquidation Northern Trust Opens Doors To Cryptocurrency Hedge Funds As Part Of Pervasive Blockchain Expansion Goldman Sachs Is Considering a Custody Offering for Crypto Funds - Bloomberg Coinbase Custody is exploring a range of new assets Binance CEO Interview: CZ on the Future of Blockchain, Cryptocurrency | Fortune Blythe Masters Looks Beyond Finance for Next Wave of Blockchain Growth - CoinDesk Bill Burdin on Twitter: "“People put more faith in a guy named Satoshi Nakamoto that no one has ever met than they do in the US Fed.” ICE founder, Chairman, and CEO Jeffrey Sprecher"

Simon's with Noelle Acheson, CFA and Editorial Producer at Coindesk, Vinay Gupta, Founder of Mattereum, and Stephane Malrait, MD Global Head of Market Structure and Innovation for Financial Markets at ING. We kick things off with a potential U.S. Bitcoin ETF launch in 2018, widely anticipated as a catalyst to jolt Bitcoin out of its bear market, an ETF launch for the cryptocurrency in the U.S. this year is unlikely, in Bloomberg’s view. The SEC is increasingly sensitive to public opinion and well-aware of the potential market impact. The SEC may release its decision on the latest proposed Bitcoin ETF from CBOE Global Markets on Aug. 10. Next up the panel looks at IBM, Barclays and Citigroup building a blockchain-based app store. IBM and foreign exchange settlement service CLS are building a network based on blockchain technology for testing new applications. Nine financial institutions, including Barclays and Citigroup, are already signed up to participate. We move on to BBVA's inability to hold cryptocurrency and why it's a problem. In the process of executing what was expected to be the third in a series of blockchain-based corporate loans, the bank had to work around a lack of legal and regulatory clarity over whether it could (or should) hold the cryptocurrency needed to power a transaction on ethereum. However, erring on the side of caution, BBVA chose to abide by European Banking Authority (EBA) recommendations and not use the native token of ethereum, ether. Instead, the bank anchored the loans to an ethereum testnet, a blockchain which simulates the live version, but that doesn't move real value. This week's Tweet of the week comes from Vitalik Buterin criticising the focus on ETFs and pushing for adoption strategies. All this and more on this week's episode of Blockchain Insider. And if you enjoyed our tweet of the week why not send us your best tweets to try and get a shout out on the show! We hope you enjoy the show and, as ever, don't forget to subscribe! Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show @bchaininsider and if you really love the show, why not leave us a review on iTunes? This week's episode of Blockchain Insider was produced by Laura Watkins and Petrit Berisha. Edited by Holly Blaxill.Special Guests: Noelle Acheson, Stephane Malrait, and Vinay Gupta.