The State of The Market — October 23, 2018
BTC: $6,477.03 (-0.65%)
ETH: $202.96 (-1.24%)
XRP: $0.4436 (-2.13%)
Singapore Government Invests In Binance, And HTC Launches Its Blockchain Phone
Bitcoin continues to move sideways, fluctuating between $6,450 and $6,550. However, Ethereum has managed to maintain its price above $200. With most major cryptocurrencies in red, the total market cap experienced a minor dip, going from $212 Billion to $208 Billion.
In other news, Medici Ventures, the venture capital subsidiary of Overstock, recently took part in the Series A investment round of Minds Inc., a decentralized social networking platform. Through the investment, Overstock CEO will join the Minds board of directors. Also, Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange (GBX), the cryptocurrency exchange run by Gibraltar Stock Exchange (GSX) has announced the listing of IOST. Backed by institutional investors like Sequoia Capital, Matrix Partners, and ZhenFund, IOST is now live on GBX against USD, ETH, and BTC.
1) Vertex Ventures has announced an investment in the largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance to facilitate its expansion into Singapore. Founded in 2015, Vertex Ventures is a subsidiary of Singapore-based government-owned investment company Temasek Holdings. According to the press release, the investment aims to support Binance in developing a cryptocurrency-fiat exchange in Singapore, along with other crypto-fiat services throughout South Asia.
2) HTC’s Exodus 1.0, a Blockchain-based smartphone has launched today. HTC Exodus 1 will be accessible to thirty-four countries, including US, UK, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The blockchain phone costs 0.15 BTC or 4.78 ETH and can be pre-ordered before December. Exodus 1 comes equipped with a crypto wallet called Zion to work with its hardware.
3) Cryptocurrency hardware wallet Trezor, which is owned by SatoshiLabs, has followed through with its plans to launch a trading feature in its products. Trezor users can now exchange cryptocurrencies within the device, without having to transfer funds out of the wallet. Trezor has partnered with crypto trading platform ShapeShift and crypto exchange service Changelly for its exchange feature.