Digital Marketplace Startup Completes $15 Million Token Sale
https://www.coindesk.com/digital-marketplace-startup-completes-15-million-token-sale/

Listia announced Wednesday it had raised $15 million in an ICO and will launch its decentralized marketplace Ink Protocol next month.

Bitcoin Exchange Hit By Armed Robbers in Thwarted Theft
https://www.coindesk.com/canadian-bitcoin-exchange-hit-armed-robbers-police-say/

Canadian police are looking for two armed robbery suspects, having arrested one after an attempted heist at cryptocurrency exchange Canadian Bitcoins.

Audit Giant DNV GL Partners With Blockchain Startup to Track Assets
https://www.coindesk.com/audit-giant-dnv-gl-partners-with-vechain-to-launch-data-tracker-blockchain/

DNV GL and VeChain are teaming up to develop a blockchain to track arack all shipments.

Ex-CFTC Commissioner Joins Crypto Exchange as Regulatory Adviser
https://www.coindesk.com/ex-cftc-commissioner-joins-crypto-exchange-as-regulatory-adviser/

Bart Chilton, the former CFTC commissioner, is now taking his regulatory expertise to decentralized cryptocurrency exchange Omega One.

Investors File Class Action Against BitConnect Following Abrupt Closure
https://www.coindesk.com/investors-file-class-action-against-bitconnect-following-abrupt-closure/

A class action suit has been filed against exchange and lending platform BitConnect, which recently closed following U.S. cease-and-desist orders.

Arsenal Football Club to Promote iGaming Firm ICO
https://www.coindesk.com/arsenal-football-club-signs-deal-to-promote-igaming-firms-ico/

iGaming platform provider CashBet has partnered with Arsenal Football Club in a deal that will promote the firm's new crypto token.

SEC, CFTC Chiefs Eye Closer Scrutiny of US Cryptocurrency Industry
https://www.coindesk.com/sec-cftc-chiefs-eye-closer-scrutiny-of-us-cryptocurrency-industry/

Two U.S. financial regulators are increasing their commitment to bringing closer scrutiny to the cryptocurrency industry, according to their chiefs.

Bitcoin Bull Reversal Sighted, But Momentum Proves Weak
https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-bull-reversal-sighted-momentum-proves-weak/

Bitcoin bulls seem to have gained an upper hand, but the cryptocurrency is still struggling to find follow-through buying today. On Wednesday, CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price index (BPI) closed (as per UTC) 5.15 percent higher at $11,399. The positive close above $11,000 adds credence to the solid defense of the $10,000 mark seen earlier this week. […]

Former Ripple Exec Invests $57.5 Million in Digital Money Platform Uphold
https://www.coindesk.com/former-ripple-exec-invests-57-5-million-in-digital-money-platform-uphold/

Digital money platform Uphold has received a $57.5 million investment from former Federal Reserve analyst and Ripple chief risk officer Greg Kidd.

Bitcoin Dev Jimmy Song Is Now at Blockchain Capital
https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-dev-jimmy-song-is-now-a-blockchain-capital-partner/

Blockchain Capital has announced that Jimmy Song, a bitcoin core developer, has joined the blockchain firm as a venture partner.

Why a $39 Million ICO Chose Stellar Over Ethereum
https://www.coindesk.com/why-a-39-million-ico-chose-stellar-over-ethereum/

Mobius Network has raised $39 million in its token sale, opting to use the Stellar network instead of the more popular ethereum.

Op-Ed: The Weiss Cryptocurrency Ratings Are Laughably Bad
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/op-ed-weiss-cryptocurrency-ratings-are-laughably-bad/

But no. Ethereum, Steem, Cardano, EOS and NEO were all rated higher than Bitcoin.The EOS rating is especially notable because the project hasn’t even launched yet.There was so much disagreement with Bitcoin’s initial rating in the Weiss Cryptocurrency Ratings that Weiss Ratings made a blog post explaining their reasoning behind the rating. While the post noted Bitcoin’s superb fundamentals, it also claimed that the world’s first cryptoasset is lacking in other areas.“Bitcoin falls short in two other important areas: Our Risk Index, reflecting extreme price volatility[,] and our Technology Index, reflecting Bitcoin’s weaknesses in governance, energy consumption and scalability,” said the blog post.In terms of the Risk Index, Bitcoin getting bad marks for price volatility is all well and good, but it’s still less volatile than the newer altcoins that haven’t been around for extended bear markets.The Technology Index is where they really lose me.Bitcoin has the strongest governance out of any cryptoasset network in existence today because it is the only one that has reached a level of adoption that makes it less vulnerable to a single entity having too much control over the system. The value proposition of a coin with “strong governance” is lower than a coin with no governance at all because the whole point of these systems is to be permissionless and resistant to censorship.
Remember that time people thought Vitalik was dead and the price crashed. https://t.co/0AUsJBx1UA— dark pill (@DanDarkPill) January 15, 2018 (https://twitter.com/DanDarkPill/status/953040193946312706?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)




Energy consumption is irrelevant and has no place in a comparison of cryptoasset valuations. Perhaps Weiss Ratings could explain the relevance here in the future.Weiss Ratings’ knock on Bitcoin in terms of scalability is due to the 4 MB block weight limit. “It is encountering major network bottlenecks, causing delays and high transactions costs,” says an announcement from the ratings publication.In other words, Weiss Ratings thinks too many people are using Bitcoin to transact, so it should receive a lower grade. If only Bitcoin had fewer users!Every cryptocurrency network faces a tradeoff between centralization and transaction costs if enough people are using it. Building layers on top of the base blockchain is generally accepted as the best method of scaling these cryptocurrency networks further, and Bitcoin’s first stab at this scaling method, known as the lightning network, is already being played around with on mainnet.If Bitcoin is getting a knock in scalability, it’s likely that they haven’t accounted for the centralization tradeoffs — in terms of technical implementations and/or governance — that come with the other, “more scalable” networks.Electroneum and MoneroThe clearest indicators that the Weiss Cryptocurrency Ratings are complete hogwash are found when you compare some of the ratings on the list.For example, Zcash and SmartCash have the same rating. While Zcash introduced zero-knowledge proofs for better privacy on a cryptocurrency network for the first time, SmartCash appears to be a knockoff of Dash that has less than $1 million worth of trading volume over the past 24 hours. I don’t hold either of these coins, but at least Zcash is doing something interesting.The two most hilarious cryptocurrencies to compare from the Weiss Cryptocurrency Ratings are Monero and Electroneum. Monero is a C and Electroneum is a C-.Electroneum is literally a knockoff of Monero, which is perhaps the most-promising altcoin in terms of protecting user privacy, as evidenced by the fanfare it receives on the darknet markets.
They allegedly raised $40 million to fork Monero and change the decimal place.— Riccardo “fluffyblockchain” Spagni (@fluffypony) December 11, 2017 (https://twitter.com/fluffypony/status/940212654559383552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

Parts of the Electroneum paper are plagiarized from the original CryptoNote paper, on which Monero is based. The development team behind Electroneum is so inept that they did not know zero-fee transactions would be a bad idea.
But yes, this is a close call. Electroneum is clearly nipping at the heels of Monero.The issues with the Weiss Cryptocurrency Ratings should come as no surprise. After all, they’re new here. They don’t know what they don’t know. Their status as the expert cryptocurrency ratings agency is self-proclaimed, much like every other cryptocurrency expert that has popped up over the past few months.This is an opinion piece by Kyle Torpey. The views expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Media Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine (https://bitcoinmagazine.com/).

Security Firm Guardtime Unveils Crypto Asset Storage Product
https://www.coindesk.com/security-firm-guardtime-unveils-crypto-asset-storage-product/

Guardtime and Metaco launched yesterday, "SILO", a new cryptocurrency asset management solution for banks and financial institutions.

'Micro' Finance Giant Robinhood Makes Big Bet on Bitcoin Trading
https://www.coindesk.com/micro-finance-giant-robinhood-makes-big-bet-on-bitcoin-trading/

Mobile stock trading provider Robinhood is now providing bitcoin and ethereum trading alongside the traditional assets it offers.

Wyoming Lawmakers Want Exemptions for ICO Utility Tokens
https://www.coindesk.com/utility-token-exemption-sought-in-new-wyoming-blockchain-bill/

Lawmakers in Wyoming have filed a bill that, if approved, would exempt some creators and sellers of blockchain tokens from securities regulations.

Bitcoin Won't Cause Lehman-Style Meltdown, Says MAS Fintech Chief
https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-wont-cause-lehman-style-meltdown-says-mas-fintech-chief/

The fintech chief at the Monetary Authority of Singapore believes bitcoin won't cause a financial meltdown like the 2008 Lehman Brothers bankruptcy.

May, Lagarde, Mnuchin: World Leaders Are Talking Crypto at Davos
https://www.coindesk.com/may-lagarde-mnuching-davos-bitcoin-roundup/

World leaders have struck a cautionary tone on cryptocurrencies in statements made during the World Economic Forum event in Davos.

Lawmaker Says 'Tennessee Is Ready for Blockchain' at Bill Hearing
https://www.coindesk.com/tennessee-legislators-say-state-ready-blockchain/

Tennessee legislators say the state is "ready for the blockchain."