Telegram raise $1.7 billion, Mailchimp ban ICO email campaigns, Coinbase announce ERC20 support.

The News

• Telegram have raised $1.7 billion USD so far in their ICO according to the latest filing submitted to the SEC. coindesk
• The email distribution company, MailChimp, have banned all ICO related email campaigns. mailchimp
• Another two Japanese exchanges will shut down following pressure from the Japanese Financial Services Agency. Five have closed in the last two months. nikkei
• Coinbase, the leading American cryptocurrency trading app has announced support for ERC20 tokens, meaning they can support all tokens that have been built on top of the ethereum blockchain (the majority of ICOs). Although they currently have no plans to list any new tokens, it paves the way for Coinbase to become the leading smartphone-based crypto wallet. coinbase

Capital

• Spring Labs have raised a $15M seed round to create a blockchain to decentralise data-sharing in the credit industry. springlabs

Adoption

• West Virginia is trialling a blockchain based mobile voting system. wv.gov
• The Chinese Banknote Blockchain Technology Research Institute have launched a blockchain-as-a-service platform for identity and supply chain tracking. coindesk
• Singapore’s government have launched a blockchain competition to develop transformational blockchain MVP within 6 months. gov.sg

Market

The market has steadily declined this week and the overall market cap is now sitting at $255B (down $70B). Most of the major coins are at the lowest point they have been in 2018. Bitcoin has fallen 24% this week and it now sitting around $6,800. Ethereum fell $160 and is now at $380, down 30% for the week.