Bitcoin Daily: Fed Chairman Thinks Cryptos Are Insignificant, Billionaire Marc Lasry Says Bitcoin Could Top $40k

Coinbase says that it hasn’t received approval from two U.S. watchdogs for three acquisitions, Cryptovest reported. The firm reportedly told Bloomberg that it had received approval from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). However, Coinbase VP of Communications Rachael Horwitz told Bloomberg that “Coinbase has discussed aspects of its proposed operations … on an informal basis with several members of SEC staff.”

In other news, three companies involved in bitcoin mining have risen to “unicorn” status, according to CoinDesk. On Wednesday (July 18), the Hurun Research Institute published its Q2 Unicorn Index, and bitcoin mining companies such as Bitmain, Canaan Creative and Ebang were on the list.

On another note, Kik launched a beta product for a wallet dubbed Kinit, reports said. The product allows users to earn, hold and spend Kin tokens. Kik’s VP of Communications Rod McLeod said in a post that Kinit is “a major step [toward] making crypto truly consumer-friendly through fun and engaging experiences, and we plan to learn and iterate based on real-world user behavior.”

Billionaire Marc Lasry believes that bitcoin could possibly hit the $40,000 level, CNBC reported. “As it gets more into the mainstream, and as more markets end up allowing it to trade where it’s freely tradable, to me, that’s more of the bet,” Lasry told CNBC. Last year, Lasry said he wished that he had purchased the popular cryptocurrency at the $300 level. The price of bitcoin was $7,325.90 as of 9:43 p.m. (July 18), according to CoinDesk.

In other news, cybercriminals are trading ransomware for cryptojacking, CoinDesk said. Skybox Security said that crypto miners make up almost one quarter — or 32 percent — of cyberattacks. By contrast, ransomware comprises only 8 percent of cyberattacks.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told a house committee that the U.S. central bank is not seeking to regulate the crypto market — and it is not large enough to be a threat, Bloomberg reported. Furthermore, Powell said that cryptos aren’t in The Fed’s jurisdiction.