Blockchain Bites: OCC's Stablecoin Guidance, EU's Digital Euro Plans, Chamath's Bitcoin

The OCC published guidance clarifying that federally-regulated banks can work with stablecoin issuers, the ECB thinks stablecoin is a "Misleading" term and a group of banking veterans has spun up a new crypto fund.

Their new crypto fund, Liquibit Capital, will manage assets worth $50 million and will arbitrage a portfolio of bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ether, litecoin and eos, custodied with Fireblocks, with an eye to expand into derivatives trading.

Elsewhere, tech legend and part-owner of the Golden State Warriors, Chamath Palihapitiya's Social Capital invested in bitcoin in 2013, when it was trading around $10. Palihapitiya disclosed the holdings in an investment call as he mulls taking the fund public.

The exact amount of bitcoin Social Capital has bought and sold is unknown.

MicroStrategy effectComing on the heels of publicly-traded MicroStrategy's multi-million dollar investment into BTC, financial services firm Unchained Capital has released an "Advanced business account" for firms that want to hold bitcoin and handle their own private keys.

"We have companies that you wouldn't expect, like your local bakery or your local liquor store that hold bitcoin in treasury," Parker Lewis, Unchained's head of business development, told CoinDesk.

Wright's move?The District Court for the Southern District of Florida has denied Craig Wright's request for summary judgment in a case that involves claims over ownership of about 1.1 million bitcoin.

According to an order issued by the Florida court on Sept. 4, the trial involving Wright's bitcoin fortune has now been moved to Jan. 4, 2021.

The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday published official guidance clarifying national banks can provide services to stablecoin issuers in the U.S.This is the first instance of federal clarity around stablecoins, referring specifically to tokens backed on a one-to-one basis by fiat currencies rather than their algorithmically derived counterparts, CoinDesk regulatory reporter Nikhilesh De said.

Rather than as a replacement for cash, a digital euro would "Complement" traditional money and provide an alternative to "Private digital currencies" for EU citizens.