After having made headlines for the majority of 2019, DeFi seems to be losing some steam, as the number of ETH locked up in DeFi contracts is on a sharp downwards trend in recent weeks. For example, the total ETH locked in the MakerDAO ecosystem has declined sharply from about 2.1 million ETH at the peak to less than 1.6 million ETH at last count.

We have looked at DeFi in our earlier editions (here, here and here). The emerging DeFi ecosystem has the potential to disrupt the traditional financial services industry as we know it. One reason why we are witnessing a decline in the amount of ETH staked in DeFi could be Bitcoin’s strong outperformance that has likely led to capital moving out of the Ethereum ecosystem into Bitcoin, and indeed back into Ethereum itself, that is also experience a run-up, given its historic correlation with BTC.

Also, the other important factor is the media-sensitivity of crypto. Over the past few weeks, other critical themes have emerged to take center stage. With media bandwidth dominated by Libra, India’s potential crypto ban, and the FATF regulations on exchanges, crypto, or at least BTC, is rescaling heights last seen in 2017. Some technical analysts reckon this might be a run up all the way to 20k. Anecdotally, we can confirm that retail FOMO is slowly coming back, but more importantly, more and more institutions are now being forced to seriously consider crypto as an asset class that is critical to their portfolio.

Norway-based internet browser company Opera has launched the iOS version of its mobile web browser, Opera Touch, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph. Opera Touch reportedly supports the Ethereum (ETH) protocol and the Ethereum Web3 application programming interface (API). This means that the browser accommodates Ethereum-based decentralized applications (DApps) and all ERC-20 tokens, stablecoins, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The browser also is said to feature a cryptocurrency wallet for storing Ether, the “Opera Crypto Wallet.” Opera released the Android version of its mobile browser at the end of 2018, which offers these same Ethereum-related capabilities. Opera Touch, however, purports to be the first mobile browser on iOS with ‘Web 3’ support and a crypto wallet.

J.P. Morgan is reporting interest in the JPM Coin from its U.S., European and Japanese clients, Bloomberg writes. The bank is planning to start trialing the new token as soon as this year, having first publicly announced it had created a crypto-like coin in February. JPM Coin will allegedly speed up securities trading considerably as it currently can take days to finalize a trade. Umar Farooq, JP Morgan’s head of digital treasury services and blockchain, also said the coin could provide its clients with “instant” bonds delivery in exchange for cash. People will be able to buy the tokens in advance, storing them in their JPMorgan deposit account, will transfers being near-instant. The token itself is pegged to the U.S. dollar.

As its bid to improve its crypto data offering continues, CoinMarketCap is snapping up a firm building technology said to provide a “true price” for cryptocurrencies. In a move that marks its first ever acquisition, CoinMarketCap said in press release Wednesday that it is purchasing Hashtag Capital, a startup developing algorithms that analyse “all points of available liquidity” in order to more accurately reflect an asset. Hashtag had originally been an absolute returns crypto trading fund, and began working on ways to create better quality markets data as part of its fund management. This project was what attracted CoinMarketCap to the company, according to the release. The Hashtag team will be joining CoinMarketCap once the acquisition is complete.

San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken said today it has raised $13.5 million in new funding via crypto investment service BnkToTheFuture. Kraken, formally known as Payward Inc., plans to use the money to make new acquisitions and expand existing business operations. The fundraising was supported by 2,263 individual investors who invested into Kraken via a “special purpose vehicle.” Under the arrangement, the individual investors are treated as a single capital investor and do not become Kraken shareholders.

Uniswap and Kyber Network Analysis by Delphi Digital

Libra: Facebook’s world domination by Blockchain Insider

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