Bitcoin Daily: Bitcoin Price Passes $4K Post-JPM Coin; Bitmain Loses $500M In Q3 2018

Coinbase announced that it has acquired Neutrino, a blockchain intelligence platform.

“Blockchain intelligence is increasingly important in the crypto ecosystem and is necessary to achieve our mission of bringing the open financial system to the world,” wrote Varun Srinivasan, engineering director at Coinbase, in a blog post. “By analyzing data on public blockchains, Neutrino will help us prevent theft of funds from peoples’ accounts, investigate ransomware attacks and identify bad actors. It will also help us bring more cryptocurrencies and features to more people, while helping ensure compliance with local laws and regulations.”

In other news, new information has shown that Bitmain lost about $500 million in the third quarter of 2018. According to CoinDesk, Bitmain revealed the information when it gave updated financial results to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which is looking at the firm’s application for an initial public offering (IPO).

The results have not been made public, but a source reported that Bitmain earned around $500 million in the first nine months of 2018, on slightly over $3 billion of revenues. The company previously disclosed that it had generated $1 billion in the first half of 2018, which would mean it was left with a net loss of around $500 million for the third quarter.

BitGo announced it is offering insurance protection for cryptocurrencies and digital assets held in the company’s Business Wallet and Custody offerings. Custodial assets held by either BitGo or BitGo Trust Company are now insured for up to $100 million through Lloyds. Business Wallet clients can “purchase theft insurance and Lost Key Cover … for their assets through Digital Asset Services … BitGo also carries a comprehensive set of corporate insurance policies, including D&O, E&O and Cyber Theft,” according to a press release.

“This is the most complete insurance offering in the industry. It is not always easy for some clients to understand under what circumstances their investments are insured, and to what extent their loss would be covered. We are changing that by being more transparent than any other company about the terms of our coverage. Transparency and accuracy is essential for building trust in the market,” said BitGo CEO Mike Belshe in the press release.

Bitcoin is approaching $4,000 for the first time since the beginning of the year. The boost came after recent news that JPMorgan Chase was launching the first cryptocurrency on offer from a major bank based in the United States, the JPM Coin.

“What some people have pointed to is that because they’re using distributed ledger technology and they’re calling it a cryptocurrency, that could have a positive effect on the industry,” said Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro in Tel Aviv, according to Bloomberg.