Hodler's Digest: SEC May Make U-Turn on BTC ETF Rejections, While India and China Crack Down on Crypto Scammers

Police in China have arrested three "Highly experienced" hackers suspected of stealing up to 600 million yuan in crypto.

A review of payments received by the world's 17 largest crypto exchanges has shown that Bitcoin Cash use in commerce has gone down, according to data from blockchain analytics firm Chainanalysis.

The new group, dubbed "Virtual Commodity Association Working Group," aims to help large-scale investors get more comfortable with the crypto market, work on formulating industry standards, and "Be a precursor to the formation of a self-regulatory organization for digital commodities like Bitcoin and Ethereum."

While testing, the agency intends to establish standards of interaction between different blockchains in order to ensure that all firms and software will be easily connected to customs without the need for additional customization, as well as see how blockchain can enhance the verification of certificates of origin.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange and Insurance Asset Management Association of China have agreed to cooperate on improving the insurance and pension industries with the use of blockchain tech.

According to the press release, the SCC will provide "Fixed income lease financing-based products" through its regulated network, which will in turn provide NTS with regulatory-compliant blockchain finance products.

Blockchain marketing platform Atlas Protocol has concluded a seed investment round of several million dollars led by SoftBank China Venture Capital, with participation by Baidu Ventures, Danhua Capital, and Fenbushi Digital.

The crypto markets are slightly up this week after some recent lows, with Bitcoin trading around $6,706 and Ethereum at $275. Total market cap is around $215 billion.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has published a warning to "Men" about a type of Bitcoin blackmail scam that involves threatening the victims with exposure of an alleged affair unless a BTC ransom is paid.

The New York Times takes a look at crypto traders from America to South Korea that lost large amount of their savings in the recent crypto market slump, delving into whether they think the risk of investing was worth it.