Today in Crypto: Blockchain Celo Debuts Stablecoin Linked to Brazil’s Real; SEC Nixes Fidelity’s Bitcoin ETF

Celo, a phone-focused blockchain, has rolled out cREAL, a stablecoin pegged to Brazil’s local currency, the real, a report from CoinDesk says.

As of Thursday, Jan. 27, cREAL will be available on Brazilian crypto exchanges including Ripio, FlowBTC and NovaDAX.

There will also be support from crypto wallets Bitfy and Coins.

Users will be able to spend cREAL with prepaid crypto cards from the exchange, and Bitfy customers will be able to use the coin throughout the Cielo network.

Also, the U.S. SEC has declined to approve a Fidelity spot bitcoin ETF, one among many recent rejections, CoinDesk reports.

The rejection comes a week after the SEC also rejected an ETF application filed by First Trust and hedge fund SkyBridge Capital. The SEC has usually preferred ETFs that track bitcoin futures instead, the report says.

“While we are disappointed by the outcome of the SEC’s deliberations resulting in today’s disapproval order, we reaffirm our belief in market readiness for a physical bitcoin exchange-traded product and look forward to continued constructive dialogue with the SEC,” said a spokesperson from Fidelity.

In addition, Apifiny Group, a digital asset trading network targeted at institutional investors, will go public via a reverse merger with Abri SPAC I, a report from CoinDesk says.

The transaction will close in the third quarter and Apifiny will list on the Nasdaq.

The pro forma enterprise value of the SPAC-combined company will be around $530 million, including around $57 million in Abri’s trust accounts in cash.

Apifiny’s services offer a trading network with global price discovery, automated market maker liquidity, and institutional-grade security and compliance.

Finally, cryptocurrencies were down on Thursday (Jan. 27) even as the Fed’s Wednesday Open Markets Committee had just given digital coins a boost, Yahoo wrote.

Bitcoin and ether had been up, seeming to decouple from the risk-sensitive stocks after weeks of falling. But the reversal has shown that the connection won’t end soon.

The Fed’s intention to hike interest rates by March will only compound things.