The Month in Crypto — July 18

Bitcoin ETF rejected, Bitmain $1.1B profit in Q1, SBI launch first bank-backed exchange in Japan.

The News

• An attempt by the Winklevoss twins to launch a Bitcoin ETF was rejected for the second time, citing fraud and manipulation concerns. cnbc
• Bitmain, the Chinese bitcoin mining and chip company, reported a profit of $1.1 billion USD in Q1 2018. They are reportedly planning to file for an IPO in Hong Kong this year. fortune
• SBI Holdings launched the first bank-backed crypto exchange in Japan. coindesk
• Northern Trust, the custodian for $10.7 trillion in assets are now offering fund administration services to crypto hedge funds. They are still not taking direct custody of cryptocurrency. forbes
• Blackrock’s CEO, Larry Fink stated they have assembled a crypto working group. reuters
• Peter Thiel led a funding round in block.one, the company behind EOS, a competing blockchain to ethereum. block.one
• Google’s Sergey Brin is mining ethereum. businessinsider
• Hedge Fund manager Steve Cohen reportedly invested in the crypto space through the fund, Autonomous Partners. fortune

Capital

• Oasis Labs raised a $45M round from a16z crypto, Accel, Panterra and Polychain Capital. They are building a “privacy-first” cloud computing platform. venturebeat
• PolyChain Capital and Sequoia China invested $28M in Nervos Network, a next generation enterprise blockchain. venturebeat
• Bitmain (also mentioned above) reportedly closed a $300-$400M series B round led by Sequoia China, although no official statement has been released. chinamoneynetwork

Adoption

• Australia’s largest bank, Commonwealth Bank, completed a global trade blockchain trail using the ethereum blockchain. commbank
• A patent released by the US Patent Office indicates GE plan to use the blockchain to track and authenticate 3D printed products. uspto
• The Agricultural Bank of China are trialling a blockchain system to issue loans with agricultural land as collateral. coindesk
  *RiskBlock Alliance, an insurance alliance including Chubb, Marsh and Liberty Mutual, are trialling a number of blockchain applications on a blockchain built by the consortium, R3. coindesk

Market:

• At the end of June, the market was at a 7 month low and has since recovered 7% to finish July at $274B overall. Bitcoin was a strong performer over month rising from $6,400 USD to $8,400 on the 25th July. It is since fallen following the ETF rejection and currently the global average is $7,650, up 20% for the month. Ethereum didn’t track the market and finished the month 6.5% down with a global average of $426 USD.