Crypto && Coffee 035 | OCC Greenlights Banks to Hold Crypto - Ciphertrace

Crypto && Coffee 035 | OCC Greenlights Banks to Hold Crypto

Technology Recap: 

Bitcoin: 

• BIP-339 support has merged into Bitcoin Core. This allows for the use of wtxid (transaction hash plus all witness data) to be used for relays and directly affects bloom filters.  

• Ivy, a high-level programming language for writing smart contracts on the Bitcoin protocol, has published all docs on a new site. This language is fully compatible with Bitcoin Scripts and SegWit.  
• BitMex shared Bitcoin’s soft fork activation methodology with potential for an upcoming Taproot upgrade.  

Ethereum: 

• The specifications have been released for the “official” testnet this past week. The testnet, Medalla, will launch on August 4, 2020, and has been slated as the final testnet before ETH2.0 launch.  
• Check out the full ETH1.0 + ETH2.0 merger progress update from the Ethereum Foundation. 

• The Ethereum Foundation, in conjunction with ConsenSys and DeepWork Studio, has announced the release of the ETH2.0 validator launchpad. 
• Geth v1.9.18, Illium Elite is out! This fixes a sync throttling degradation and stabilizes transaction pool churn.   

Other Chains:  

• Haven, which is based on Monero, launched the first private  stablecoin, xUSD, on July 20th, 2020 during the Apollo v1.0.0 network upgrade.  
• The Augur v2 protocol contracts have successfully deployed to Ethereum mainnnet. The new REPv2 token contract address is included in the update as well as all Augur v2 contract addresses. 

• Gelato released notes on how to use Gelato to easily build automated DApps in four steps.  
• zkSync announced the upgrade period for v2 contracts. This brings seven changes to the contracts with event denoting, supports for non-compatible ERC-20 tokens, and more. 
• Vitalik Buterin shared his thoughts on GitCoin Grants.  
• Beam released notes on a platform they are building to allow developers to create confidential decentralized financial applications.  
• Zoom meets Bitcoin with Sphinx. Using Sphinx Chat, users can tip using sats (Satoshis) via the Lightning Network.  

• mStable released their Week4 MTA reward details regarding holders and Balancer Pool tokens.  
• The Elastos Ethereum Sidechain announced the integration of Chainlink to aid in powering the cross-chain stablecoin protocol. This will be deployed by the Cyber Republic ETH Task Force.  
• More details have been released from NiceHash as they are now offering Lightning-based payouts with zero fees. By paying out via Lightning Network, mining pools can save space in produced blocks and execute all payouts off-chain. 
• Luxor, a decentralized data spreadsheet with Ethereum support, is now live.  
• StarkWare shared what they set up for Reddit utilizing StarkEx Rollup on Ethereum.  

• Ocean Protocol now boasts Filecoin’s decentralized cloud storage capabilities. The proof of concept is hoping to deliver multiple customizable storage options and reduce expenditures on a data provider.  
• ICON’s first DeFi platform, Balanced, integrates Band Protocol’s scalable oracles for collateral and synthetic assets.  
• The Synthetic Foundation process of decommissioning has commenced. The protocol is now under the control of three distinct DAOs: protocolDAO, grantsDAO, and synthetixDAO.  
• Sandbank is now powering financial products on its hybrid DeFi platform using Chainlink oracles.  
• Gnosis shared their stance on focusing on group management of funds via the Gnosis Safe Multisig in relation to their mobile application via their new beta version. 

• Liquidity mining on UMA is now live! Risk Labs, the foundation supporting the UMA ecosystem, modeled this liquidity mining pool off popular “yield farming” schemes, with some key differences.  
• Yearn Finance announced a v2 upgrade with three main components: yVaults, Controller, and Strategies.  
• You can now track the entire DeFi market from the same place your track your portfolio via Zerion. 

Mainstream Recap: 

• Ledger addressed the July 2020 e-commerce and marketing data breach. The data breach was discovered to have occurred on June 25th, 2020, by an unauthorized third party who accessed the e-commerce and marketing database.  
• The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is letting all nationally chartered banks in the U.S. provide custody services for cryptocurrencies. Read the full press release here. 
• In response to French National Assembly’s Finance Committee suggesting that privacy-preserving virtual currencies should be banned, the Electric Coin Company shared their thoughts and how Zcash is compatible with AML/CFT regulation.  
• Avanti Financial, a crypto-friendly bank which is led by Wyoming blockchain advocate Caitlin Long, is expected to open its doors this October. 
• MobileCoin announced the newest member of the MobileCoin Foundation board, Renée DiResta.  
• Visa shared their outlook on digital currencies and how they have been working with Coinbase and Fold to provide a bridge between digital currencies and their existing global network of 61M merchants.
• Binance’s fiat gateway partner Banxa is making a move into North American markets. CoinDesk reported how Banxa plans to leverage custody and settlement infrastructure from Zero Hash, which is already registered with FinCEN and is additionally registered as a money transmitter in over 40 U.S. states.  

• The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) is seeking industry feedback on the regulatory framework for digital asset wallet providers, which in turn will complement the existing frameworks for Digital Asset Exchange (DAX) and Initial Exchange Offering (IEO).  
• CenterPrime, a private Hyperledger based blockchain which holds access to the Korean open banking API, is sharing foreign exchange rate data to Chainlink’s decentralized oracle network. The list of Korean banks includes Hana Bank, Shinhan Bank, Nonghyup Bank, and Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK).  
• Twitch is now offering a 10% discount if users pay for subscriptions using crypto via BitPay. 

• Banks across Italy are using R3’s Corda blockchain to speed up the process of validating transaction logs. The project is in its second phase with roughly 85% of Italian banks using the platform to share interbank transfer data. Full report from CoinDesk here. 
• Payburner launched the beta for a new platform that enables instant, global P2P payments with XRP.  
• Coinbase customers can start earning Kyber (KNC), as of July 27, 2020, by watching lessons and completing quizzes on the Kyber Network. 

 This Week’s Cup of Coffee: 

This week, we are grabbing a cup from Alamo, California–based Zolo Coffee Roasters. Their darkest roast, Bocca Del Lupo, is a blend of Central and South American washed coffees that yield a full-bodied flavor of chocolate and fig. Enjoy!