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What Moved Global Markets
– Coronavirus update: On Thursday, South Korea reported its first death from the coronavirus. In China, China’s National Health Commission reported an additional 114 deaths and 394 new confirmed cases, which is a drastic drop in daily additional cases. Even though this pointed to a slowdown in the outbreak, the figures partly reflect a change in the diagnostic method, adding a degree of skepticism to whether the daily tallies accurately reflect the spread of the virus.
– U.S. stocks were little changed on Thursday as a rise in the number of coronavirus cases outside China raised more concerns about the global impact of the epidemic.
– London would be ready to host the 2020 Olympics if the outbreak of the coronavirus forced the Games to be moved from Tokyo. However, the statement was made by Shaun Bailey, the Conservative candidate for mayor of the British capital, who is not yet responsible for such decisions. The International Olympic Committee has said it had been advised by the World Health Organization that there is no case for contingency plans to cancel or relocate the Games.
– Shipping giant Maersk warned that the coronavirus outbreak would weigh on earnings this year, compounding the woes of a container shipping industry already hit by trade wars and an economic slowdown. The Danish company on Thursday reported a lower-than-expected fourth-quarter profit and forecast a weak start to the year because factories in China were closed for longer than usual after the Lunar New Year holiday.
– Air France-KLM warned of a 150 million to 200 million euro ($162 million to $216 million) hit to earnings by April as it contends with the epidemic’s “brutal” impact on the airline industry.
Crypto Prices (from CoinMarketCap)
Bitcoin: Up 0.95% to $9,682.74
Total trading volume (24h): $43.49+ billion USD
Ethereum: Up 0.05% to $261.37
Total trading volume (24h): $22.81+ billion USD
3 biggest movers 24 hours
Biggest Mover 1: Enzo (NZO) is up 558.58% to $0.052937
Biggest Mover 2: ChronoCoin (CRN) is up 508.07% to $0.009353
Biggest Loser: WhiteCoin (XWC) is down 78.69% to $0.016502
What moved Crypto Markets (i.e. digital assets)
– Bitcoin (BTC) took its biggest daily fall in three months on Wednesday.
– Former president of the People’s Bank of China said in his interview with China Daily that efforts to combat the coronavirus could accelerate the Chinese central bank’s plans to issue a digital currency. He noted that a digital currency’s efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and convenience make it especially desirable during an epidemic.
– Venture capitalist Tim Draper has bought 1 million ANT tokens, an amount worth approximately $823,000, to join the governance structure of Aragon. Aragon is an open-source software project for managing decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). According to a Wednesday press release, with a purchase of 1 million ANT tokens, Draper now holds control of around 2.5% of the total token supply.
– Australia’s primary stock exchange could soon have a new blockchain-based rival. National Stock Exchange of Australia owner NSX Ltd. and financial institution iSignthis (ISX), both publicly listed companies, announced Thursday they are forming a joint venture to offer a digital securities trading platform. Called ClearPay, the new entity will offer a platform based on distributed ledger technology (DLT) and provide same-day delivery versus payment (DVP) settlement. iSignthis will integrate its “know your customer’s customer” security and other solutions with the platform. The firms said they intend for ClearPay to compete with the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) – which is also building a DLT replacement for its outdated CHESS clearing system in partnership with blockchain firm Digital Asset.
Other Specialties
Fintech: Stablecoin issuer Paxos has officially ventured into the business of blockchain-based equity settlement. Announcing the news on Thursday, Paxos said Credit Suisse and Nomura’s Instinet are the first two firms to use its settlement service, which helps settle select U.S. listed equity trades. The service operates on a private and permissioned network. “It’s the first time that blockchain is being used in a live environment, the first time that U.S. equities are settling outside the DTC/NSCC [Depository Trust Company/ National Securities Clearing Corporation system],” a Paxos spokesperson told The Block. Societe Generale, which initially signed up for the service, will begin using it “soon,” said Paxos.
Healthtech: The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has intervened to raise concerns about Google’s plan to scoop up the health and activity data of millions of Fitbit users — at a time when the company is under intense scrutiny over how extensively it tracks people online and for antitrust concerns. Google confirmed its plan to acquire Fitbit last November, saying it would pay $7.35 per share for the wearable maker in an all-cash deal that valued Fitbit, and therefore the activity, health, sleep and location data it can hold on its more than 28M active users, at ~$2.1 billion. Regulators are in the process of considering whether to allow the tech giant to gobble up all this data.
AI: A Google artificial intelligence tool will no longer identify photos with gender descriptions such as “man” or “woman,” Business Insider reported. “Given that a person’s gender cannot be inferred by appearance, we have decided to remove these labels in order to align with the Artificial Intelligence Principles at Google,” the company said in an email to developers Thursday morning, according to Business Insider. Google’s Cloud Vision API is a service that allows developers to attach labels to photos identifying the contents. It can detect faces, brand logos and other images.
Smart cities: Japanese railway and Nokia collaborate on AI-based crossing trials. With testing underway at a railroad crossing in Machida City, Tokyo, Nokia’s scene analytics can detect abnormal events by applying machine-learning based artificial intelligence to available camera images. Trials will be conducted from February to March.
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