The president and CEO of Nasdaq, Adena Friedman, says that cryptocurrency “deserves an opportunity to find a sustainable future in our economy,” This, she said in a Jan 20th post on Linkedin. Friedman stated that Nasdaq believes crypto will have a role in the future, characterizing “the invention itself [as] a tremendous demonstration of genius and creativity.”Thus far, she argued, crypto has evolved through what she terms a “classic invention lifecycle” The CEO argued that for crypto to evolve into a practical, useable invention with a stable value, it requires “governance and regulatory clarity.” Bakkt is in the news again, this time boasting their first acquisition. Kelly Loeffler, the CEO of Bakkt announced in a recent Medium post, their intentions to purchase the Rosenthal Collins Group, an independent futures commission merchant. Loeffler states that the mission of Bakkt is to build the first integrated, institutional grade, exchange-traded markets, for physical delivery of digital assets. Their vision is to bring digital assets into the mainstream by enabling efficient transactions between consumers and merchants. Loeffler exclaims, this acquisition underlines the fact we’re not standing still as we await regulatory approval by the CFTC for the launch of trading in our crypto markets. Amazon Web Services recently announced the preview of what they call Quantum Ledger Database. QLDB is a centrally administered, immutable data ledger, within AWS. QLDB is optimal for use cases when there is a trusted authority recognized by all participants and centralization is not an issue. Blockchains are optimal when there is no trusted authority and centralization is indeed an issue. QLDB does not benefit from decentralization and independent copies of the ledger that come with permissioned blockchain technology – features that further promote data security and integrity. The Autonio team is proud to announce that Stanley Larimer has joined Autonio’s advisory board. Stan will be working closely with the Autonio team to advise on the development of the NIOdex, Autonio, or Automated Nexus of Intelligent Operations, makes cryptocurrency trading readily accessible to users of any skill level. Autonio provides an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithmic trading ecosystem that can be accessed using the NIO token. Stan and his son Dan Larimer have co-founded or developed several industry-leading blockchain projects through their company Cryptonomex. These ventures include blockchains such as Steemit and EOS. Stan is perhaps best known for his work with BitShares, which he founded in 2013. The Bitcoin ATM manufacturer Coinme has partnered with the makers of the popular coin-to-cash Coinstar machines to offer Bitcoin in major malls and stores across United States. The partnership will allow US residents of Washington, California, and Texas to buy Bitcoins from Coinstar kiosks in their local malls and stores. When users enter fiat into these machines they’ll be provided a Bitcoin redemption voucher by the kiosk, which can be redeemed for BTC on Coinme’s website. Shout out to aspiring blockchain developers: try out Elemental Battles and start building blockchain applications. Elemental Battles is a tutorial-game which Block.one has created to inspire and on-board a new generation of blockchain developers by simplifying the learning curve for EOSIO beginners. It is a free, eight-lesson online tutorial for anyone with basic knowledge of C++ and JavaScript, building a game set in a fantasy world where players can harness the power of three elements – Wood, Water and Fire. Build this game and learn to create blockchain apps on the EOSIO platform by utilizing basic building blocks of the EOSIO codebase.
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