Despite Bitwise Managing Director Matt Hougan’s sunshine optimism that the market was “closer than ever” to a Bitcoin ETF, last night the SEC announced it had rejected their application on the grounds that it had failed to show how it would “prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices.”

Bitcoin’s price has increased against all expectations. In a sudden surge, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap briefly reached $8,700 yesterday, subsequently stabilizing around the $8,500 price level.

Republic is an investment platform that enables anyone to invest in startups: accredited or otherwise. The company has today announced the expansion of its Note reward token program. Five companies have already raised equity to the tune of $1 million each.

In an effort to boost network growth and stability, Reddcoin announced the rollout of a New Enhanced Proof of Stake Velocity Protocol, or Enhanced PoSV v2.

The latest revision of the protocol is set to go live in late October at block three million of the RDD blockchain. It is designed to provide enhanced network growth stability, strengthened staking incentives, funding support for development teams, and protection of user funds from loss and theft.  

The new Chair of the CFTC – Commodity Futures Trading Commission – has declared today that Ether (ETH) is a commodity – leaving the door open to a plethora of newly regulated derivatives products on platforms like the Cboe.

“It is my view as chairman of the CFTC that ether is a commodity,” said CFTC Chairman Heath Tarbert at Yahoo Finance’s All Markets Summit today in New York.

• Binance Coin (BNB) remains bearish over the short and the medium-term horizon
• The four-hour time shows that a bullish breakout has occurred from an ascending triangle pattern
• A bearish death-cross is still underway on the daily time frame

Binance Coin is on the rise, after the cryptocurrency staged a powerful double-digit rally alongside the recent recovery in the broader cryptocurrency market.

An international education initiative, designed to train the next generation of blockchain developers, has announced that TRON and the Stellar Development Foundation are among the inaugural thirteen companies who will work collectively to provide skills and expertise for the benefit of the industry.

Once upon a time, financial services didn’t need to offer much more than low fees and basic features. But now, most credit card issuers are enticing their customers with the promise that they’ll get a bit of money back.

Today, it’s hard to find a card without rewards (assuming the bank will take you as a customer) and it’s also getting easier to find services that offer crypto rewards.

Financial inclusion has always been one of the benefits of cryptocurrencies, promising to serve the unbanked and underbanked, those ignored by legacy institutions in both the west and in the developing world.

Cryptocurrency wallets have developed highly sophisticated KYC procedures that, aided by advanced software, are fast outpacing banks in terms of their ability to identify customers and onboard people quickly. 

Altcoins are back in style. As the price for one bitcoin has increased to trade around the $8,450 level, several top altcoins are posting double-digit gains against a generally-green backdrop, while Ethereum is on a roll – gaining almost 6% over the last 24 hours.