End of the bear market, Chinese government-back blockchain fund, Samsung making ASIC chips.

The News

A Chinese, government-backed, $1.6 billion blockchain fund has launched in Hangzhou. coindesk
Venrock, the Rockefeller family VC firm partnered with Coinfund, a cryptocurrency investor group. fortune
The Japanese Financial Services Agency released cryptocurrency exchange statistics indicating the country has 3.5 million crypto traders. coindesk
Europol arrested 11 in Spain suspected of using cryptocurrencies to launder money. europol
The European Commission want to create a single digital market and will invest $370 million in blockchain technologies. europa

Capital

Basecoin, a cryptocurrency designed to have a stable value raised $125M in an ICO according to forms submitted to the SEC. sec

Samsung have announced they are going to make ASIC chips (application specific integrated circuit) to be used in cryptocurrency miners. techcrunch
Santander have launch a blockchain application to allow international money transfers in real time. finextra
Salesforce announced they are working on a blockchain product. techcrunch
Chile’s Energy Minister announced the country will use the ethereum blockchain to record energy sector data to ensure integrity. coindesk

Prices across the board have surged over the last few days, indicating the bear market might be over. Overall the cryptocurrency market is up 30% and currently sitting at $325 billion. Bitcoin gained 19% this week including a $1000 climb in under an hour on Thursday. Currently the bitcoin global average is $8,114 USD. Ethereum rose 36% finishing the week at $517 USD.