Author: CoinDesk

Welcome to The Breakdown: A daily analysis show distributed by CoinDesk, featuring @NLW

On this episode...

More crypto businesses are transitioning to or choosing to focus exclusively on bitcoin only from the beginning, in some ways representing a productization of bitcoin maximalism.

In China, however, the government is cracking down fiercly on resurgent crypto businesses that have taking President Xi’s positive comments about blockchain as an excuse to operate more openly.

Interestingly, the attitude of many US financial firms seems to be shifting from a version of “blockchain not crypto” to “digital assets not blockchain” as they begin to adapt to demand from customers. 

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• F2pool, believes that anywhere from 600k to 800k bitcoin miners have shut down since mid-November as the bitcoin network’s hashrate - and the cryptocurrency’s price - have declined.
• Ripple has released the latest version of its most popular product, xCurrent.
• Porn startup SpankChain raised $6 million in an initial coin offering in 2017.
• Ohio has officially become the first US state to accept bitcoin for taxes.

Late Confirmation is a CoinDesk production.

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• The U.S-based crypto mining firm Giga Watt filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy this past Monday, but it still owes creditors some $7 million.
• Insurance coverage in the crypto space totals about $6 billion, a mere drop in the bucket for a market cap of $140 billion.
• Six days after the bitcoin cash hard fork, it appears that the chains will be permanently split.
• Silvergate Bank has 483 crypto startups as its clients, according to a filing it made as part of an initial public offering.

Late Confirmation is a CoinDesk production.

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• The ICE’s bitcoin futures trading platform Bakkt is delaying its product launch.
• The U.K.’s FCA is considering a ban on some cryptocurrency-based derivatives, a senior executive has said.
• The Alabama Securities Commission is taking a hard stance on would-be ICO frauds.
• The U.S. Department of Justice is increasingly focusing a months-long investigation into crypto market manipulation on the tether stablecoin.

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• Bitcoin’s price fell below $5,000 for the first time since October 12, 2017, dropping more than $500 to hit $4,981 earlier today.
• Despite the falling crypto prices, developers and entrepreneurs are still moving into the crypto space.
• Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is calling on Interpol’s member nations to cooperate in preventing cryptocurrencies from being used for illicit purposes.
• The U.S. Federal Election Commission may allow people to mine cryptocurrencies to support political candidates - but some restrictions will apply.

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• A European Central Bank executive board member said this week that blockchain is promising – but that bitcoin is “the evil spawn of the financial crisis.”
• Two cryptocurrency startups have agreed to register their initial coin offering tokens as securities after settling charges with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Interest from both employers and job seekers in blockchain and cryptocurrency-related jobs has declined in the past year, new data indicates.
• After yesterday’s split of the Bitcoin Cash blockchain, several top exchanges have already accommodated the resulting two tokens.

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• Bitcoin cash's contentious hard fork happened today around 1 pm eastern time.
• Notable consumer bitcoin mining pioneer Baliji Srinivasan is backing a startup seeking to take another stab at popularizing in-home crypto mining.
• Police in Tokyo have arrested eight men alleged to have run a cryptocurrency pyramid scheme that collected 7.8 billion yen (almost $69 million) from thousands of victims across the country.

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• Bitcoin fell to its lowest price in over 12 months on Wednesday amid a broader cryptocurrency market sell-off.
• A new BitLicense has been issued by the New York State Department of Financial Services
• Messenger app maker Kik is quitting Ethereum for good as it continues to develop its own cryptocurrency.
• One of the bitcoin community’s most beloved veterans just got a promotion.

SPECIAL on today's episode: CoinDesk's Nolan Baurle and MarketWatch's Andrew Neary discuss the results of a study comparing the two publications' audiences. How do crypto fans stack up against traditional investors? The results are fascinating.

Our study was made possible with the help of Zion Trades.

Late Confirmation is a CoinDesk production.

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• It's increasingly looking like Bitcoin Cash mining pools will run a version of the software called Bitcoin SV.
• An ongoing legal battle between XRP investors and payments startup Ripple is entering its next phase.
• Japanese IT giant GMO has reported a loss of about $5.6 million for its cryptocurrency mining business in the third quarter of 2018.
• Oil industry giants Shell and BP are among a group of firms planning to launch a blockchain platform to automate post-trade processes in the energy industry by the end of 2018.

Late Confirmation is a CoinDesk production.

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