28/02/2018: Biggest Stories in the Cryptosphere

1. The Marshall Islands To Launch Own Cryptocurrency

The Marshall Islands, a country located between Hawaii and the Philippines, is preparing a state-owned cryptocurrency. It will be called the Sovereign. The parliament recently voted to recognise it as a legal tender. The Oceanian country currently relies on the US Dollar, but the move could change that. Kenneth Ked, a Senator and Speaker of Parliament, discussed the initiative during an interview with Bloomberg. Furthermore, David Paul, Minister-in-assistance to the President, has added that the Initial Coin Offering will allow boosting local budgets while the listing and trading of the cryptocurrency will be promoted among crypto exchanges.

2. Could Tokenised Bonds Arrive In The US?

The Californian city of Berkeley might tackle the funding issue of services such as affordable housing by issuing tokenised bonds. Jesse Arreguin and Ben Bartlett, respectively the Mayor and Councilmen of the city, have formed a partnership with Neighborly, an investment group located in San Francisco. In this case, their bonds would be divided into micro-bonds and then sold as tokens. The process would be called an “Initial Community Offering”. Bartlett believes that being backed by whole bonds makes this safer than ICOs. It was also added that blockchain technology would make the process cheaper and more transparent while the size of these micro-bonds would enable a wider pool of people to join the fundraising.

3. Litecoin Could Be The Best Performing Cryptocurrency Of February

With a 21% surge in February, Litecoin could be the best performing cryptocurrency of the month. It could actually even be one of the few closing in the green. Despite being the 5th largest by market cap, it has outperformed Bitcoin, which fell by 4%. Still, Bitcoin’s loss was less significant than the 8% of the total market, which was at $449 billion earlier today. Even Ethereum and Ripple, respectively the second and third largest by market cap, had losses of 20% and 22%. One of the reasons for Litecoin’s positive performance this month could be Bloomberg adding it to its terminal.

4. Financial Services Group SBI Delays The Launch Of Its Crypto Exchange

Tokyo-based financial services company SBI Group has announced it would again delay the launch of its new cryptocurrency exchange ‘SBI Virtual Currencies’. The reason provided was a desire to improve the security measures. Japan’s financial watchdog’s plans to increase scrutiny for crypto exchanges might have contributed to the decision. High priority investors have already the chance to register an account on the platform. However, general investors still have to wait. This means that trading cannot commence. The extra time will allow the group to improve its security, as well as customer and asset custody management.

To receive our daily news roundup in your mailbox, sign up here: http://bit.ly/BlockExNewsRoundup