19/01/2018: Biggest Stories in the Cryptosphere

1. Infrastructure Could Soon Be Paid For with Cryptocurrency in São Paulo

The Brazilian state of São Paulo is considering the issuing of its own cryptocurrency, which would be called Buildcoin. The coin would be used to pay for engineerings conducting feasibility studies for the infrastructure system, a necessity for large construction projects. The move would allow the state and the city, of the same name, to attract more investors to the city, as the government would be able to afford to pay for independent studies and access skilled engineers. Furthermore, it would cut costs as well as increasing transparency and speed. The Secretary of Treasury State Hélcio Tokeshi said that São Paulo was closely monitoring the blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies which are seen as sources of innovation. Even a former informal advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump stated that cryptocurrencies could be the solution to infrastructure under investments. This seems to go against Brazil previous move to ban to ban cryptocurrency investments for local investment funds.

2. Bitcoin Futures To Be Cleared for Clients by Morgan Stanley

The financial services company Morgan Stanley had decided to start clearing its clients’ Bitcoin Futures. Jonathan Pruzan, Chief Financial Officer and Executive VP, announced the decision on Thursday, January 18. However, the firm is not the first one to offer the service as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. previously stated it would clear Bitcoin Futures issued by Cboe and CME for its clients. Coinbase is even marketing its Coinbase Custody product to institutional investors, due to the increasing interest by them shown. This could also result in an increase in price for cryptocurrencies.

3. Wall Street Creates Global Cryptocurrency Data Feed

The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is developing a global cryptocurrency data feed that should be up and running by Q1 2018. ICE’s new landing page reads:

“Our Cryptocurrency Data Feed, available on the ICE Consolidated Feed, gives you access to streaming real-time, end of day and historical data for the most actively traded digital currencies.”

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE) is the owner of many exchanges, such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as well as subsidiaries in Singapore and Netherlands. The company is a Fortune 500 based in Atlanta. On the other hand, its partner Blockstream is a private company. It is also more focus on bitcoin core applications such as sidechains, and Bitcoin-related projects funding.

4. France And Germany To Jointly Propose Bitcoin Regulation at G20 Summit

France and Germany will both make a proposal to help regulate Bitcoin at the next G20 summit, taking place in March in Argentina. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday

“We will have a joint Franco-German analysis of the risks linked to bitcoin, regulation proposals and these will be submitted as a joint proposal to our G20 counterparts at the G20 summit in Argentina in March,”

Le Maire also told reporters that the responsibility to educate citizens on cryptocurrencies and safeguarding them rely on the governments. The words came following Bitcoin fell to below $10,000 earlier this week. Many figures have been wary of cryptocurrencies but this could be the first time a cross-country approach is adopted.

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