BlackRock toying with Bitcoin investments; Phase 1 at Ethereum 2.0; Ex-Ripple advisory board could become OCC boss; TenX deactivates accounts and Visa cards, and Deutsche Bank survey sees bubble potential in Crypto Trader and US tech stocks.
Another exciting week in the crypto space is coming to an end. The most important events around Bitcoin and Co. in a compact overview
The largest asset managers in the world rises may be a doubly in the crypto business. That emerges from two filings the financial giant has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) has filed. Specifically, it concerns the two funds “BlackRock Global Allocation Fund” and “BlackRock Funds V”. BlackRock has submitted an amendment to the respective securities prospectus for both of them with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The applications indicate that investments in Bitcoin futures will also be reserved in the future. BlackRock will also point out potential risks in the forms submitted. Among other things, this means the volatility of the cryptocurrency, any regulatory measures and the difficulties in determining the price of digital gold. BlackRock also plans to trade Bitcoin Futures exclusively on exchanges that are subject to the supervision of the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The BlackRock was already flirting with the cryptocurrency in December.
Ethereum 2.0 is moving towards phase 1
The conversion of the consensus procedure to a proof-of-stake model in the course of Ethereum 2.0 is in full swing. Ether enthusiasts will still have to be patient until Ethereum 2.0 is finalized. According to Ethereum developer Danny Ryan, the transition is in phase 1planned for the second half of 2021. The process is currently still in phase 0. The changes that the proof-of-stake model entails are tested using a test chain, the beacon chain. The transition to phase 1 then extends the network to include the sharding function. The beacon chain is initially extended by 64 shard chains. By splitting the processing of transactions into several parallel chains. This increases the transaction throughput considerably and is therefore an essential key to solving the scaling problems that the crypto network currently still has. The subsequent final phase would end the transformation to Ethereum 2.0.
Ex-Ripple advisory board could become the new OCC boss
As the Wall Street Journal reports, President Biden is toying with the idea of making Michael Barr the new head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ( OCC ). The financial magazine claims to have found out from internal circles. Barr worked in the US Treasury Department under the Obama administration. The change could also be of interest to Ripple’s legal battle with the SEC. Michael Barr has been on the advisory board of the Californian FinTech since 2015. Should he actually get the chief post of the currency regulator, he could act as a mediator between Ripple and the SEC. Another aspirant for the job is Mehrsa Baradaran. She is Professor of Banking Law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. The OCC did not want to comment on the rumors about Michael Barr to BTC-ECHO.