The blockchain/crypto week at a glance

Fidelity updates on digital assets platform

Fidelity’s cryptocurrency trading and custody platform is in the “final testing and process refinement periods”, the US financial services giant said in a Medium blog post.

Pantera Capital backs Staked

Pantera Capital has lead a seed funding round for crypto assets startup, Staked.

Financial services veteran joins Ripple

Stuart Alderoty has joined Ripple as General Counsel. He joins from financial institution, CIT, where he served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Prior to that, he was Executive Vice President and General Counsel for HSBC North America

How do you like them apples?

Crypto lending venture Genesis Global Trading processed $1.114 billion in borrows and lends last year, according to its Digital Asset Lending Snapshot for Q4 2018.

Bob Summerwill onboard with ETC Cooperative

Bob Summerwill, best known for his involvement in Ethereum, ConsenSys, CryptoChicks, is taking up the role of Executive Director of the ETC Cooperative.

Wikimedia Foundation makes crypto payments move

The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia, has partnered with BitPay to accept Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash donations. 

Fujitsu develops blockchain-based exchange system for electricity consumers

Fujitsu has tapped blockchain technology to develop a system for trading related to energy shortages and surpluses among electricity consumers, including factories and retail stores. 

Gemini makes SOC 2 review announcement

Gemini, the crypto exchange founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss has completed a SOC 2 Type 1 security compliance review, according to a Medium post.

SBI Holdings, R3 to establish JV in Japan

Japanese financial services company SBI Holdings has announced a joint venture with US blockchain consortium R3.

Blockchain browser Brave announces Cheddar tie up

Cheddar and Brave are partnering to provide free subscriptions to premium Cheddar content for users of the Brave browser.

CULedger snags funding for credit union-focused distributed ledger platform

US credit union service organisation CULedger has closed a $10 million Series A funding round.

QuadrigaCX goes offline, claims maintenance issues

Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX was down for maintenance this week, leading some on Reddit to speculate as to whether the venture had gone insolvent.

Deutsche Börse updates on blockchain project

Deutsche Börse and HQLAx are “making significant progress” on a blockchain-based securities lending platform.

Under fire Kik Interactive comes out swinging

Canadian social media startup Kik Interactive  is gearing up to fight an expected US SEC enforcement action over a 2017 ICO.

Fidelity moves forward with crypto project

Fidelity Investments is targeting a March launch date for its Bitcoin custody service, Bloomberg reports.

And finally…

79%  of attendees at crypto events are male, according to research by Bizzabo. And on that bombshell, we bid you all adieu.