TL;DR: Welcome to In Case You Missed It (ICYMI), a daily crypto news update. Messari raises $4 million in funding round. Google to launch banking services next year. Facebook debuts Facebook Pay. Bakkt will offer cash-settled bitcoin futures. Ethereum 2.0 might be classified as a security, and Binance prepares for the upcoming Bitcoin Cash upgrade.
Messari Raises $4 Million in Funding Round
Today, we’re proud to announce our latest round led by @uncorkcap and joined by new investors, @Coinbase and @balajis. We’d also like to welcome @Jeff to our board of directors! https://t.co/R7c48cZ0F2
— Messari (@MessariCrypto) November 13, 2019
Messari, a data transparency service for crypto, closed a successful $4 million funding round led by Uncork Capital. It was also supported by other cryptocurrency linked companies such as Blockchain Capital, CoinFund, and Coinbase Ventures, the venture wing of the exchange. With these newfound resources, Messari will “invest in the tooling necessary to further automate our data ingestion processes… as well as broaden our analytical product offering for crypto professionals.”
Google Banking Services to Launch Next Year
Google will offer banking services to its customers in alliance with Citigroup. The project, codenamed Cache, will let customers open a Google-tied checking account. According to The Wall Street Journal, the online browsing giant is interested in the data customers will deliver while using the platform.
Facebook Launches Facebook Pay
Facebook continues its push to offer financial services and has now launched a new payment platform called Facebook Pay, which will serve as a unified payment processor among all of its applications (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Whatsapp). The system will act as a bridge between other payment processors such as credit, debit cards, PayPal, and apps and services offered via Facebook-owned system. Facebook Pay will be implemented in the US next week.
Bakkt to Offer Cash Settled Bitcoin Futures
Bakkt is considering an offer of cash-settled bitcoin futures. The announcement was made by their COO, Adam White on a conference call last Tuesday. “We have the intention of offering a cash-settled contract as well,” he declared. The company might have identified a bigger market than the one they are targeting and decided to go up against the CME, the only institution offering a cash-settled bitcoin product in the US after the Cboe decided to stop offering them earlier this year.
Ethereum 2.0 Could be Classified as a Security
The US CFTC is considering to classify Ethereum 2.0 tokens as securities, according to statements from its new chairman Heath Tarbert. Tarbert explained the CFTC is thinking carefully about the classification due to the change Ethereum is undergoing to implement a new consensus mechanism, moving from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake. “Mining is, by its very nature, more decentralized as compared to a stake which reduces energy costs by giving it just one validator or a line of validators,” he concluded.
Binance Prepares for the Upcoming BCH Upgrade
Binance is preparing its platform to support the new upgrade of Bitcoin Cash happening November 15th. To secure the stability of user funds, Binance will suspend deposits and withdrawals of BCH during the upgrade, but actual trading will continue. Deposits and withdrawals will be reopened “once we deem the upgraded network to be stable.” As this is a normal upgrade and not a hard fork, no coins will be at risk.
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