Well, where to start.

The events surrounding GameStop and a Reddit message board have been described as the realisation of Occupy Wall Street and will most definitely be the stuff of movies one day.

On Wednesday, Elon Musk waded into the battle between short sellers and retail traders with a one-word tweet (“Gamestonk!!”), which was seen as an endorsement of sorts and in the days that followed, helped send shares of the video game retailer to new highs.

Two days later, Bitcoin surged above $38,000 after the Musk added #Bitcoin in his Twitter profile.

The world’s richest man acknowledged his substantial sway over the markets just a few hours ago during his first ever Clubhouse session. When asked about his views on Bitcoin, his initial response was: “I gotta watch what I say, some of these things can really move the market!” He then went on to say that he is a supporter of Bitcoin, and that he thinks the cryptocurrency is on the verge of gaining broad acceptance.

Below is our weekly roundup of industry news. If you’d like to get in touch with us about any of our products or services, we look forward to hearing from you. Just send us a note.

This week's top stories

'Bitcoin won't escape our scrutiny': Bridgewater exploring an alt-cash fund in the face of money devaluation

The founder and chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund firm, has clarified his view on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Ray Dalio also reveals that he and his colleagues at Bridgewater “are intently focusing on alternative storehold of wealth assets.”

Emphasising the current need for “alternative gold-like assets,” Dalio asserted that “Because there aren’t many of these gold-like storehold of wealth assets that can be held in privacy and because the sizes of their markets are relatively small, there exists the possibility that Bitcoin and its competitors can fill that growing need.”

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Grayscale eyes DeFi space with new trust filings

Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest digital asset manager, has filed to register five new trusts for cryptocurrency assets, several being connected to the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. All filed on January 27, the Delaware corporate registry now lists trusts for Aave, Cosmos, Polkadot, as well as privacy coin Monero and Cardano.

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India plans to introduce law to ban Bitcoin, other private cryptocurrencies

On Friday, the Indian government announced a new proposal that would seek to “ban all private cryptocurrencies” in place of an official central bank digital currency (CBDC).

The Indian parliament members will discuss the bill during the budget session, which commenced on January 29 and ends on April 8 2021. According to the document: “The Bill also seeks to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India, however, it allows for certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses.”

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In case you missed it...

⚡️Coinbase announces move to go public via direct listing. Read more

⚡️Reddit inks scaling tech partnership with the Ethereum Foundation. Read more

⚡️Russian public officials banned from holding cryptocurrency. Read more

⚡️Bahrain central bank licenses Sharia-compliant crypto exchange. Read more

⚡️DeFi market registers 160% growth over last month.  Read more

⚡️Crypto firms to be regulated in the Philippines. Read more

⚡️‘Pomp’ launches crypto jobs board with Gemini, Coinbase and BlockFi. Read more

⚡️DeFi exchange startup dYdX raises $10m in Series B. Read more

⚡️Secure messaging app Signal reportedly toying with crypto payments. Read more

⚡️Google competitor Presearch launches decentralised search engine. Read more

⚡️Bittrex adds support For Gamestop, AMC, and other stocks delisted by Robinhood. Read more

⚡️Dogecoin becomes most mentioned crypto on Twitter ever as price soars. Read more

⚡️Mark Cuban’s DeFi portfolio snapshot reveals over $128,000 in staked AAVE. Read more

⚡️Co-founder of Bitmain resigns as CEO and Chairman. Read more

⚡️FTX Token (FTT) rallies 105% as interest in derivatives trading grows. Read more

⚡️Harvard, Yale, Brown endowments have been buying Bitcoin for at least a year. Read more

From Copper

Bit.com integrates with Copper ClearLoop

On Tuesday, Bit.com the secure and high-performance derivative exchange launched by Matrixport, announced the completion of its integration with ClearLoop to enable instant, off-exchange cryptocurrency settlements.

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The Gulf states making serious inroads in crypto through government-led initiatives

A global pandemic which has slashed oil prices and prompted unprecedented experiments in monetary policy has meant Gulf states are redoubling their efforts to diversify their economies and shift from being oil-powered to digitally-powered. Our latest article looks at the Gulf states making serious inroads in crypto through government-led initiatives.

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