The Short STOry

As the Moscow Times expected [6] and everyone now reports [2,3,4,5] Telegram cancels its TON project. The reason cited is the SEC's stance on the project and the on-going court case. For the STO market this sends mixed messages.

1. https://telegra.ph/What-Was-TON-And-Why-It-Is-Over-05-12

2. https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/12/telegram-abandons-its-ton-blockchain-platform/

3. https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/12/21256407/telegram-cryptocurrency-shutdown-sec-gram

4. https://cointelegraph.com/news/breaking-telegram-abandons-telegram-open-network-and-gram-tokens

5. https://www.coindesk.com/telegram-abandons-ton-blockchain-project-after-court-fight-with-sec

6. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/05/08/will-telegram-ever-launch-its-ton-blockchain-platform-a70221

7. https://en.bitcoinwiki.org/wiki/TON

The Block reports the JPMorgan now serves Coinbase and Gemini [1] based on a story in the Journal [2,$] This is good news, especially after Barclays no longer agreed to serve Coinbase in August ago [3]. Hopefully this is good news for other crypto firms who are finding it hard to pick up banking relationships and/or having problems with their existing banking relationships [4]

1. https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/64906/jpmorgan-now-serves-crypto-exchanges-coinbase-and-gemini-first-clients-report

2. https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/jpmorgan-extends-banking-services-to-bitcoin-exchanges-11589281201 ($)

2. https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/35904/barclays-cancels-banking-deal-with-coinbase-report

3. https://theshortstory-podcast.com/2020/05/tethers-missing-800m/

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]!

1. https://www.coindesk.com/events/consensus-2020

2. https://next.brella.io/events/consensusdistributed/people

I was a bit busy recording the "The Short STOry Academy" lecture on the economics of bitcoin mining [1] today, so there is no news podcast. Have a look though at the "The CoinDesk 50" article [2] linked in the notes, and the associated twitter thread [3]. Good intro to the good and great of crypto. Also next week's "Consensus: Distributed" virtual conference [4] is definitely something you should check out.

1. https://theshortstory-podcast.com/2020/05/the-economics-of-bitcoin-mining/

2. https://www.coindesk.com/the-coindesk-50

3. https://twitter.com/coindesk/status/1258386423188795393

4. https://www.coindesk.com/events/consensus-2020

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?

1. https://token.ben-elliot.com

2. https://twitter.com/benelliottoken

3. https://cointelegraph.com/news/french-artist-launches-personal-crypto-tied-to-value-of-his-career-and-output

4. https://fadmagazine.com/2020/05/01/the-artist-ben-elliot-is-launching-the-first-art-cryptocurrency-in-2021-named-the-ben-elliot-token-bet/

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]

1. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-07/paul-tudor-jones-buys-bitcoin-says-he-s-reminded-of-gold-in-70s

2. https://www.coindesk.com/hedge-fund-pioneer-turns-bullish-on-bitcoin-amid-unprecedented-monetary-inflation

3. https://twitter.com/mdudas/status/1258533777539620864

4. https://eng.ambcrypto.com/is-lack-of-crypto-custody-safeguards-preventing-institutional-adoption/

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.

1. https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertanzalone/2020/05/06/libra-hires-former-bush-and-obama-under-secretary-as-first-ceo/

2. https://www.paymentssource.com/articles/libra-association-names-stuart-levey-as-ceo-ahead-of-regulatory-push

3. https://www.coindesk.com/libra-association-names-hsbc-chief-legal-officer-as-first-ceo

3. https://www.coindesk.com/libra-association-names-hsbc-chief-legal-officer-as-first-ceo

4. https://libra.org/en-US/white-paper/

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.

1. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/charles-schwab-introduces-stock-slices-service-allowing-investment-in-sp-500-stocks-for-5-2020-05-05

2. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200505005240/en/Introducing-Schwab-Stock-Slices™-–-Designed-Investing

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.

1. https://www.sc.com.my/resources/media-releases-and-announcements/sc-issues-new-guidelines-on-advertising-for-capital-market-products-and-services

2. https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/82386/securities-commission-malaysia-to-allow-operators-of-e-wallets-to-distribute-capital-market-products

In this bonus episode we’ll discuss one topic close to my heart: global stable coins. The ECB just published a paper on regulatory and financial stability implications of global stable coins [1]. Whilst the results will come as surprise to noone except the author’s of last year’s v1.0 of the Libra whitepaper it is still worth going through them because they are important for the stable coin market.

1. https://www.ecb.europa.eu//pub/financial-stability/macroprudential-bulletin/html/ecb.mpbu202005_1~3e9ac10eb1.en.html

2. https://cointelegraph.com/news/european-central-bank-calls-for-proactive-stablecoin-regulation