Here is an overview of the main cryptocurrency news of the first week of October
Grayscale Says Cardano is Undervalued
A report by Grayscale entitled “An Introduction to Cardano” suggests that Cardano may be undervalued based on its fundamentals. The report puts the value of Cardano at $30,000, while suggesting that the actual value of Ethereum is around $55,000.
The report released on Sunday noted that Cardano is slowly becoming the home of many decentralized finance projects (DeFi) after the introduction of the newly introduced smart contracts functionality, the lack of which has slowed the system. The report also suggests that Cardano’s insistence on getting things right on the first try has prevented the ecosystem from growing. Dubbed the “Ethereum killer,” the blockchain has recorded $1.6 trillion in on-chain transactions over the past year, representing 40% and 50% less volume than ETH and BTC respectively.
Elsewhere this week, digital asset management firm Solana and Uniswap joined its Digital Large Cap fund for the first time. The latest recordings follow the inclusion of Cardano in Grayscale’s large-cap fund in July. The inclusion of Solana reflects the recent impressive performance in the market.
Citadel Securities Waits for Regulation Before Crypto Investments
Citadel Securities founder Ken Griffin has stated that the hedge fund avoids cryptocurrencies because the regulations that apply to them are unclear. Reuters reported on Monday that the CEO was against participating in cryptocurrencies, as some of the competing firms have done, and that cryptocurrencies would become more competitive once regulatory uncertainty about them is cleared.
Griffin argued that market competitiveness would be achieved because regulation would shrink the market by excluding some people who “frankly just trying to make quick money”. He added that he would definitely trade cryptocurrencies to meet the expectations of his fund’s broker partners. The manager stuck to his anti-crypto stance, saying that many people are wasting a lot of valuable time investing in cryptocurrencies, time they could use more meaningfully in his opinion.
The billionaire is not only against cryptocurrencies, but even for the dollar, as he believes that digital assets, especially Bitcoin, will harm the fiat currency. Although Citadel Securities maintains its reservations, other financial organizations, including hedge funds and banks, have joined the crypto space.
The SEC will not ban digital assets, says chairman
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said Tuesday that the commission would not consider banning cryptocurrencies in the U.S., as the Chinese government has recently done. In a speech to the House Financial Services Committee, Gensler stated that the Commission did not have the power to do so, and if it did, Congress would have to decide.
He further stated that he is a supporter of the technology and that there have been and will continue to be use cases for the technology in question (blockchain), but that it will only last long enough if it is regulated. He explained that the government’s role is to ensure that investors and consumers remain well protected, alongside the implementation of anti-money laundering regulations and relevant tax laws.
The SEC chairman was also asked by North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry about his previous comments on cryptocurrencies that were strong enough to trigger market movements, rather than the “long-standing practice of taking note of comments on regulations and procedures” follow. Congressman McHenry felt that such spontaneous statements had affected investors, after which Gensler said he had complied with the Administrative Procedure Act.
US Bank Offers Crypto Custody Services
On Tuesday, the US bank launched the offering of crypto custody services to institutional clients in the US and the Cayman Islands. The launch of the services will be in collaboration with NYDIG and will store customers’ private keys for cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. The announcement also revealed that there are plans to introduce support for Ethereum and expand the network.
According to Gunjan Kedia, vice chairman of U.S. Bank Wealth Management and Investment Services, the choice of NYDIG as the first sub-custodial backer was right because it offers a balance between quality and risk management. The cooperation will now help to satisfy the growing interest of the Bank’s clients (private funds) in custody services.
US Bank is one of the better established retail banks in the US. NYDIG, on the other hand, is a successful asset manager, currently holding assets worth over $8.6 trillion and managing another $282 billion. With the introduction of custody services, US Bank now joins Bank of New York Mellon and State Street, which also provide custody services.
MoneyGram Uses Stellar Blockchain for Crypto Services
On Wednesday, MoneyGram announced that it plans to use the Stellar blockchain to allow users to easily exchange USDC to fiat or from fiat to USDC. This new program is scheduled to launch in late 2021, but is not MoneyGram’s first interaction in the blockchain world, as the company has previously partnered with Ripple to receive an investment of $ 50 million.
MoneyGram then added Ripple’s Forex On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) solution, which has XRP in play as an intermediary. However, after a mutual agreement, the cooperation had to be terminated earlier this year after the SEC pursued Ripple because of XRP’s offer as a security.
The announcement also said that payments to or from customers will be settled almost immediately, and United Texas Bank will be the participating settlement bank in accordance with regulatory requirements. Denelle Dixon, executive director of the Stellar Development Foundation, said the rollout would be gradual, initially at select locations later this year, before spreading to the international platform later in 2022. MoneyGram had already launched point-of-sale services in May in cooperation with the crypto exchange Bitcoin ATM and the exchange operator Coinme.