Crypto Tidbits: Fidelity Expands Bitcoin Ops, Ripple’s XRP Sales Fall, Grayscale Sees Growing Altcoin Demand

Another week, another of Crypto Tidbits. Over the past week, Bitcoin hasn’t done too hot, sliding under $8,000 for the umpteenth time in a few months. A majority of altcoins — save for XRP, Dogecoin, Binance Coin, and a few others — have followed BTC lower, posting 3% to 6% losses.

Despite the growing potential for an extended downtrend, this past week was rather positive for the cryptocurrency industry at large. For instance, Fidelity Investments, the financial services giant, revealed on Friday that it will be rolling out its Bitcoin products to all qualified investors, marking a strong step forward in the institutional narrative.

Related Reading: Crypto Tidbits: Bitcoin ETF Denied, Libra Loses Visa & eBay, SEC Crackdown on Telegram’s Blockchain

Bitcoin & Crypto Tidbits

• Fidelity Starts “Full Rollout” of Bitcoin Custody:  Revealed in a report published by the Financial Times on Friday morning, Fidelity Investments — one of the world’s largest financial services giant that has long dabbled in Bitcoin — is ramping up its cryptocurrency operations. Fidelity Digital Asset Services (FDAS), the firm’s cryptocurrency division launched late in 2018 (a year ago now), is “now engaged in a full rollout of its custody and trading services for digital assets,” the report noted citing Fidelity’s pro-Bitcoin CEO, Abigail Johnson. It isn’t clear what group/subset is “eligible” to use the firm’s digital asset custody and trade execution products, yet Fidelity has some $2.4 trillion of assets under management.
• Circle Spins Out Crypto Exchange Poloniex to Group of Asian Investors: If you’ve been in crypto, you likely know Poloniex, a popular altcoin-centric exchange that gained mass traction in 2019. In 2018, fintech startup Circle, backed by Goldman Sachs, acquired the exchange, adding to its suite of products. Tides a’ changing, however, with the Bitcoin exchange revealing that it will be becoming its own company and will be backed by $100 million from an Asia-centric investment group (that purportedly includes Tron’s Justin Sun). Polo Digital Assets, as the new firm is called, will not be offering services to U.S. clients.
• Libra Association Finalizes Charter & First Members: On Monday, the Libra Association — the somewhat decentralized body governing the Libra blockchain — ratified its charter. In a press release published on Monday night, the Libra Association confirmed the 21 member companies — seven less than the initial 28 mentioned in initial documentation — that signed the charter. These companies are as followed: Anchorage, Andreessen Horowitz, Bison Trails Co., Breakthrough Initiatives, Calibra (Facebook’s cryptocurrency subsidiary), Coinbase, Creative Destruction Lab, Farfetch UK, Iliad, Kiva Micorfunds, Lyft, Mercy Corps, PayU, Ribbit Capital, Spotify, Thrive Capital, Uber, Union Square Ventures, Vodafone, Women’s World Banking, and Xapo Holdings.
• Grayscale Sees Massive Bitcoin Demand, Growing Altcoin Demand: The numbers are in: Grayscale, a top cryptocurrency investment services provider, continues to see overwhelming interest from retail investors and institutions for Bitcoin. In a report published Tuesday, Grayscale revealed that its products saw a record quarter, drawing in $254.9 million in three month’s time. The company claimed that this is the firm’s strongest quarter since Grayscale’s inception. Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust, which is the popular product that trades under GBTC, grew by an average of $13.2 million this quarter. The rest of Grayscale’s funds, which include trusts for Ethereum, ZCash, Litecoin, and an array of other leading altcoins, saw an average weekly investment metric of $6.4 million.
• G20 Reveals Crypto Worries: Revealed in a number of reports published this week, the Group of 20 nations are wary of cryptocurrencies, especially international stablecoins. The nations said in a press release this week, “We ask the IMF to examine macroeconomic implications, including monetary sovereignty issues in its members of global stablecoins.”
• Ripple Sees XRP Sales Drop Off: On Friday, Ripple published its Q3 2019 XRP Markets Report, which revealed that the company decreased sales of XRP by 74% to $66 million in fiscal Q3.
• Inheriting Bitcoin With Casa Covenant: Bitcoin has forever revolutionized how your money works. It is the first technology that allows one to “become their own bank”. Yet this has its drawbacks. One of these drawbacks is inheritance. But have no fear, Casa has launched the fittingly-named “Casa Covenant” to tackle the pressing question of what happens to your precious Bitcoin when you pass on. This system, put simply, “allows you to securely pass on your bitcoin to whomever you designate, while minimizing the risk that someone can steal these funds in advance of your death.”
• Bitcoin Key in Cracking Down on Child Abuse Video Site:  A dark web site for uploading child abuse video content, which was dubbed “Welcome to Video,” was recently shut down by global authorities, including the Department of Justice. What’s interesting is that Bitcoin played a key role in not only the video-sharing site but also in catching the perpetrators. In a press conference outlining this elaborate case, officials revealed that they sent BTC transactions to Welcome to Video’s wallets, which could then be tied to exchange accounts and KYC info.
• HTC Launches Bitcoin Full Node Feature & EXODUS 1s:  At Berlin’s The Lightning Conference on October 19th, 2019, HTC Decentralized Chief Officer Phil Chen announced the launch of the EXODUS 1s. Put simply, this new device is a cost-effective version of our EXODUS 1s flagship, which has helped to bring Bitcoin mobile. The EXODUS 1s will provide an opportunity for users who want to dip their toes into the crypto world and harness the powers of blockchain technology at the more accessible price point. The phone comes with the ability to natively run a Bitcoin full node.

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