WEF: Ripple CEO hints at IPO, says more crypto firms will go public in 2020...
One week in review: Jan. 20–26 We've selected the hottest materials of the past week for you to stay up to date with the latest crypto news: | | #1. WEF: Ripple CEO hints at IPO, says more crypto firms will go public in 2020 | | Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has predicted that initial public offerings will become more prevalent in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space in 2020 — and he hinted his company would be among those seeking a public flotation. "We're not going to be the first and we're not going to be the last, but I expect us to be on the leading side," he said. | | #2. Tether launches gold-backed stablecoin and begins trading on Bitfinex | | Tether has announced it is now supporting a gold-backed stablecoin, where one token represents ownership of a troy ounce of physical gold. The funds are said to be backed by physical gold held in a "Switzerland vault" — and the product is available as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain, as well as a TRC-20 token on Tron. Plans for commodity-backed Tethers have been in place for some time, but the company has often been criticized for its opaque approach to reserve management. | | #3. Elon Musk reveals his true opinion on Bitcoin and crypto | | Tesla's CEO may be constantly cryptic on his attitudes toward crypto, but this week, we got a little insight into Elon Musk's thinking. On a podcast, the billionaire said he's "neither here nor there on Bitcoin," acknowledged Satoshi's white paper was "pretty clever," and warned his stance on cryptocurrencies often "gets the crypto people angry." Musk has been known to write short tweets about crypto that were widely interpreted as jokes. Last year, he unexpectedly declared himself as the new CEO of Dogecoin — a gesture that helped the joke coin clock short-lived gains of 35%. | | #4. FUD of the Week Greece extradites alleged launderer of $4 billion in BTC, Alexander Vinnik, to France | | A Russian national accused of heading a group that laundered $4 billion in Bitcoin has been extradited from Greece to France. Alexander Vinnik formerly operated the now-shuttered exchange BTC-e and is believed to have a direct relationship to the infamous hack of Mt. Gox. The case has risked triggering a diplomatic row, with Russia filing several requests to bring him under its jurisdiction. Lawyers writing on behalf of Vinnik's young children had submitted a complaint to a Greek court at the start of the week in an attempt to prevent the extradition. Reports now suggest that Vinnik is being held at a hospital in Paris. His legal representative Zoe Konstantopoulou said: "In every way the government is trying to scare him, terrorize him, in a moment of great agony, while his health has worsened." | | #5. FUD of the Week India's central bank says it hasn't banned crypto | | The Reserve Bank of India has said restrictions on regulated entities offering crypto assets do not equate to an overall ban. In a document submitted to the country's supreme court back in September, which has now been made public, the institution said: "The RBI has not prohibited VCs (virtual currencies) in the country. The RBI has directed the entities regulated by it to not provide services to those persons or entities dealing in or settling VCs." All of this comes as a landmark case against the RBI concludes its second week. Hearings are set to resume on Jan. 28. | | #6. FUD of the Week Peter Schiff bungled wallet password, solving "Bitcoin mystery" | | Long-running crypto skeptic and gold bug Peter Schiff is likely to be even more skeptical after losing access to his funds. At first, he believed his wallet was corrupted — but he later found out that he mistook his PIN for his password, and he was unable to log in after an app update because he had never taken a copy of his seed phrase. | | Feel free to explore the most important news with Hodler's Digest by Thomas Simms: | | | |