Blackrock runs numbers on Bitcoin. Litecoin & Binance banks. Bancor suffers hack then freezes tokens. - Weekly Recap 16 July

_{$6tn asset manager Blackrock runs numbers on Bitcoin. Litecoin buys stake in German bank. Binance to launch community bank. Bancor suffers hack then freezes tokens.}

Blackrock, the asset management giant with over $6tn in funds under manager management, has begun exploring Bitcoin through the creation of an internal team focussed on cryptocurrencies.

The Litecoin foundation has acquired a 10% stake in a German Bank. Together with Tokenpay, a crypto to fiat payments firm, they hope to advance the banks plans to bring cryptocurrency payment solutions to customers.

Binance, one of the world’s largest crypto-to-crypto exchanges, has invested in project to launch a community owned cryptocurrency bank called Founders Bank. The bank will raise capital through a security token offering, where the tokens will be legally binding equity in the business.

Bancor, the “decentralized” exchange, suffered a hack and subsequently froze Bancor tokens in order to prevent further loss. The ability of a central entity to freeze tokens disproves any claim to being decentralized.

Research conducted by Boston College in Massachusetts found that only 44.2 percent of token projects are active into the fifth month or beyond, using their social footprint via Twitter as a barometer of health.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK has given access to 11 additional companies to it’s regulatory sandbox.

Coindesk has launched an ICO tracker which will keep tabs on the amount of money companies are raising through initial coin offerings. This could be a helpful indicator of the growth in this space. Recent numbers are inflated due to the massive size of EOS’s $4bn ICO.

Tether has hired an anti-money laundering analyst from Bank of Montreal to take the role of Chief Compliance Officer

Here’s a profile on Nick Szabo, one of the earliest Cypherpunks and creator of Bit Gold, the predecessor to Bitcoin. He’s also a likely candidate to be a contributor/influencer over Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin whitepaper.