Michelle Phan and Ashton Kutcher Bet on Bitcoin Rewards + More News

Crypto Briefs is your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptocurrency and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.

Investment news

• Lolli, a bitcoin (BTC) rewards company, has today announced the close of an oversubscribed USD 3 million Seed II funding round led by Pathfinder, Founders Fund’s early-stage investment vehicle. Other new investors include beauty entrepreneur Michelle Phan, actor Ashton Kutcher (via his Sound Ventures) and more. The funding will be used to launch Lolli’s mobile app and expand the company internationally this year. Lolli is set to launch its full mobile app in the summer of this year.

Crypto adoption news

• Crypto.com (CRO) today announced it has secured a USD 100 million direct insurance policy led by Arch Underwriting at Lloyd’s Syndicate 2012. This is the largest coverage that Crypto.com has secured for its cold storage assets on custodial partner Ledger Vault. The new policy brings Crypto.com’s total cryptocurrency insurance to USD 360 million, including direct and indirect coverage via custodians.
• Blockchain company ConsenSys has conducted a survey with 287 current ethereum (ETH) holders as respondents to the question whether or not to stake their ETH on Ethereum 2.0, out of which 32.8% stated that they plan to run their own validator nodes. This group also expects an average of 5.8% annualized rewards. 33.1% plan to use a third party staking provider, expecting an average of 7.6% annualized net rewards. 14.6% haven’t decided if they will stake their ETH, expecting an average of 9.4% annualized rewards, while 2.8% said they’re not planning on staking it, indicating insufficient ETH holdings as the primary reason.
• The Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (HANFA) has approved a Bitcoin (BTC) investment fund. Per the ruling, Osijek-based Griffon Asset Management has been allowed to establish and manage the Passive Digital Asset fund, specialized in BTC investment, while Croatian state-owned bank HPB is now allowed to serve as the depository. The initial investment period closes when total assets hit HRK 1,000,000 (USD 142,991) or 15 working days after the ruling.
• The Litecoin Foundation announced that it will migrate from the multi-sig Electrum–LTC wallet to BitGo’s multi-sig wallet. The announcement states that the old addresses will be kept on the Finance page for one month for the public to track the funds, but the Foundation will remove them afterward to avoid any misusage of these old addresses.
• South Korean telecoms company KT says it will foot the entire cost of delivering coronavirus handouts made in the city of Busan’s new stablecoin, per ZDNet Korea. Citizens of South Korea are entitled to one-off payments aimed at stimulating local economies, with local authorities charged with deciding on the form of these handouts. In Busan, some 20%-30% of citizens are expected to request that their payouts are made in a KT-run local stablecoin, with the telecoms giant stating that it will cover all administrative and management costs incurred when delivering payouts.
• Also in Busan, South Korea, a proposal from a policy-forming research institute in the country’s second city has recommended that the city’s own “New Deal” post-coronavirus economic restart plans should involve promoting blockchain-powered business, enabling initial coin offerings (ICOs) and launching crypto exchanges, reports Paxnet News. The city’s regulatory blockchain sandbox has previously explored the idea of allowing regulated ICOs, despite the existence of a long-running nationwide ban on token launches.

Blockchain news

• Another Chinese province has announced an extensive two-year blockchain plan. Per Shupeidian, Guizhou, in the southwest of China, wants to adopt a range of blockchain-powered services and boost blockchain business by 2020, and will aim to foster some 100 new Anhui-based blockchain companies, as well as a number of locally run private blockchain platforms.
• A blockchain-powered legal app is now up and running in China’s Anhui Province, where it has been approved by the provincial justice department, according to media outlet Anhui News. The app, and an accompanying platform, will allow lawyers to share electronic certification of their legal practitioners’ licenses, and will also allow courts to handle digital documentation and other digitally submitted evidence.

Exchanges news

• Binance.US said it launched OTC Trading Portal today. The portal is a live request for quotation (RFQ) platform in which users will be able to place and confirm orders and receive quick settlement directly into their Binance.US accounts.

Career news

• The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is looking to hire a Head of Money and Cash. According to the job add, this individual will be focused on the future of money, manage large complex projects, and oversee policy around cash and other forms of money. The person will be on the forefront of the bank’s changes, as both it and the global market are transforming the demand and use of physical cash, it says.