Here’s what happened this week in Bitcoin in 99 seconds.
Japan’s GMO corporation revealed its new ASIC miner, the B2. The device achieves a 24 terahash per second hashrate for a power cost of 1950 watts, making it about 20% more efficient than Bitmain’s S9. The B2 sells for $2000 and will ship in late October.
Supreme Court of Korea has ruled that Bitcoin is a legally recognizable asset. This clarifies the legal situation for South Korean Bitcoin traders and holders.
Popular US exchange, Coinbase, has applied to the SEC for broker dealer status. Coinbase recently acquired several companies in order to qualify. If approved, Coinbase will be allowed to offer products and services unrelated to cryptocurrency, and to offer trade in SEC-approved ICO tokens.
The head of the SEC, Jay Clayton, stated that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are not securities but rather replacements for traditional currencies. This effectively places such cryptocurrencies beyond the regulatory reach of the SEC. As distinct from cryptocurrencies, ICOs remain under the agency’s remit.
Fidelity Investment, a firm with $2.5 trillion under management, placed a recruitment ad for a developer to build a digital asset exchange. Another ad from the firm revealed plans to create a crypto wallet. The firm’s CEO, Abigail Johnson, spoke about Bitcoin in positive terms in mid-2017.
Finally, hardware wallet manufacturer, Ledger, revealed its new desktop-based wallet software. This ends the company’s reliance on Chrome browser integrations for its wallet app.
That’s what happened this week in Bitcoin. See you next week.
