It is Consensus [1] this week, and the conference is great (and it is free!). If anything it is more time consuming as virtual conference than as a real one, so I am not sure to which extent I can publish podcasts this week. But maybe talk to me there? Just schedule a call with me on their networking system [2]!
A brief shoutout to CoinDesk for their CoinDesk 50 article ahead of next week’s conference.
Yesterday I covered a big news item, and today I’ll cover what looks more like a curiosity for the time being but which could turn into a very interesting project in the digital assets space if it takes off. It is already a bit older but given it is a slow news day it fits right in. The Parisian artist Ben Elliot is working on launch the “Ben Elliot Token” [1][2][3][4] that will be tied to his future artistic output, and bestow other privileges on its holder. Is this a way for artists who are just starting up to kickstart their careers? And an opportunity for art investors to get in at the bottom?
Today’s big news in the crypto space [1][2] is that Paul Tudor Jones – the famous hedge fund veteran – has a published a letter to his investors where he is very open about changing his investment mandate to be allowed to invest into BTC futures because of the current unprecedented macroeconomic environment. I will talk here about the “futures” part which involves a discussion about institutional custody [3][4]
Libra has a new CEO, Stuart Levey, currently Chief Legal Officer for HSBC and previously Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence under Bush and Obama [1][2][3][4]. After the whitepaper v2 [5] another sign of Libra playing in the big leagues.
After Robinhood and Fidelity, now Charles Schwab allows for “fractional” stock trading in S&P 500 companies, for a minimum investment as little as $5. Another step towards asset fractionalisation and making finance available for the masses.
Malaysia’s securities regulator – the Securities Commission – now allows e-wallet providers to distribute capital markets products through their e-wallet software [1] Finextra reports [2]. The SC also makes the process of issuing securities easier. Whilst this is not necessarily targeted at crypto wallets it is nevertheless an important step for retail distribution of securities tokens in Asia.