The US OCC clears path for banks to custody crypto
As the great State of Wyoming leads the way in the USA for crypto and blockchain friendly banking (thanks to the tireless efforts of Caitlin Long, Tyler Lindholm and Jared Olsen) and with Texas saddling up to follow suit, huge news came out of the US as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the ‘OCC’) announced yesterday that Federally Chartered Banks and Thrifts may provide custody services for crypto assets.
The announcement stated that ‘national and state banks and thrifts have long provided safekeeping and custody services, including both physical objects and electronic assets. The OCC has specifically recognized the importance of digital assets and the authority for banks to provide safekeeping for such assets since 1998. In the letter published today, the OCC concludes that providing cryptocurrency custody services, including holding unique cryptographic keys associated with cryptocurrency, is a modern form of traditional bank activities related to custody services. Crypto custody services may extend beyond passively holding “keys.”’
Price Watch
At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at US$9,493.95 / GB£7,509.15 ; Ethereum (ETH) is at US$264.15 / GB£208.74.95; Ripple (XRP) is at US$0.2037 / GB£0.1612; Binance (BNB) is at US$18.26 / GB£14.46 and Cardano (ADA) is at US$0.1254 / GB£0.9912 Overall Market Cap is at US$284.91bn / GB£224.76bn (data source: www.CryptoCompare.com)
CityAM’s Crypto Insider
Following on from the Twitter hack (see the last edition of CityAM’s Crypto Insider) Co-Founder & CEO of IOHK Charles Hoskinson took to the digital chalkboard (see here) to make an open offer (at cost price) to fix Twitter’s hack issue with a methodology of authentication and verification to enable Verified Tweets. The video is well worth watching as it shows how it can be done relatively simply, at low cost and within a relatively short time frame of around six months. A very beneficial side effect of doing this will be the closure of the loophole exploited by scammers with cryptocurrency giveaways which are phishing exercises made to appear real by hijacking prominent individuals’ accounts.
Crypto AM Awards 2020 Finalist, tap, is a crypto ALT banking app and the currently the only company in Europe offering a Prepaid MasterCard, regulated to hold customers’ crypto assets and offering e-money services throughout the EEA, has added a new feature – the facility to fund the tap account wallets with a debit card for instant loading directly from the tap Hub. This additional facility which has been rolled out globally, makes it easier for the user to add, withdraw and exchange money to streamline the entire process of buying, selling and spending crypto. Arsen Torosian, tap Founder & CEO explained “We are continually upgrading and looking at how we can improve our product to ensure we stay the leading unified crypto ALT banking app. The latest addition of allowing instant loading from a debit card which was launched this month, will ensure our customers have the most seamless crypto experience on the market.” Next week you can read more from Arsen in Crypto AM: Founders Series.
More news came in yesterday from the Cardano Foundation, in advance of next week’s hard fork event, as it announced that it will be partnering on several initiatives with Lykke Corp, a Switzerland-based fintech firm, blockchain exchange and financial services provider.
The collaboration, aimed at combining the Cardano Foundation’s deep blockchain technology experience with Lykke Corp’s financial expertise, will enhance Lykke’s financial services offerings and strengthen its position in the market. Lykke Corp is in the process of applying for the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) authorization, which if granted shall vastly increase its operational scope and range of financial products.
The Cardano Foundation’s partnership with Lykke Corp will seek to accelerate the deployment of these products by offering unique access to the industry-leading Cardano blockchain with my friend Nathan Kaiser, Chairperson of the Cardano Foundation, enthusing “Lykke Corp is one of Switzerland’s most innovative blockchain financial companies and we are pleased to be partnering with its expert team. Through this collaboration, both the Cardano Foundation and Lykke Corp will seek to build out financial infrastructure and offer services that will both empower the Cardano ecosystem and enrich the wider blockchain space.”
In other news, as more and more Central Banks explore the world of digital currencies, the Bank of Lithuania has launched today LBCOIN, the world‘s first blockchain-based digital collector coin, a project it carried out with blockchain technology at the forefront. LBCOIN commemorates the 1918 Act of Independence of Lithuania. The digital collector coin consists of six digital tokens and one physical coin. A total of 4,000 LBCOINs have been issued. That is equivalent to 24,000 digital tokens and 4,000 silver collector coins. The six tokens each represent a different category, which consist of priests, presidents, diplomats, industrialists, academics and municipal servants from the time of the Act of Independence.
LBCOIN is one of many initiatives undertaken by the Bank of Lithuania as part of their long-term innovation strategy to create and maintain an environment conducive to competition and advanced innovations in the field of finance in Lithuania, which also includes a number of finance related sandboxes. The physical silver collector coins bear an unconventional denomination of €19.18. Priced at €99, LBCOIN is available for purchase at the LBCOIN e-shop.
And Finally
Last year my long term readers will remember that I attended the inaugural DeDays Conference. Obviously life is very different now but as various lockdowns ease, DeDays 2020 will be taking place on the 15th & 16th of September. In keeping with the Spanish government guidelines there will only be 100 tickets available and it isn’t going to be cheap, but it is your first chance to escape the lockdown blues and head for sunnier climes.
CryptoAM.io is proud to announce that we have once again partnered up with the DeDays team in Mallorca and we will be celebrating life, technology in all its forms and of course the simple fact that resilience prevailed again. The festival will be held at the amazing Puro Beach Resort Palma, which is simply breathtaking – watch this teaser!
DeDays this year will be very different. It will be the first open-air conference and it will include not just inspirational speakers, but also loads of opportunities to network and make new friends.
The €1,950 ticket will mean that DeDayers will be picked up at the airport, or at their hotel, shuttled to the conference and not have to worry about one thing. All of the amazing food, drink and evening events with DJ Sets from prominent artists are included in the price. This event is going forward and it will happen, but should the Spanish government decide to stop the party a full refund is guaranteed.
So pack your swim trunks and your flip flops and join me for one of the first COVID-friendly learning and networking events (with a strong dose of fun!) and certainly the first in Mallorca.
To find out more please visit here and do make sure that enter the following promo code CRYPTOAM for VIP add ons!