Listen to the audio:
What Moved Global Markets
– The United States and Japan flew nationals out of China’s coronavirus epicentre on Wednesday, as the number of deaths leapt to 133 and the World Health Organization said there was “deeply concerning” evidence of person-to-person transmission in other countries. The WHO said its Emergency Committee would reconvene on Thursday to decide whether the spread of the new virus from China now constitutes a global emergency.
– The European Parliament on Wednesday gave its final approval to Britain’s divorce deal from the bloc, paving the way for Brexit to take place on Friday.
– U.S. stock indexes rose on Wednesday, boosted by shares of Apple, Boeing and General Electric following their results, while investors assessed the economic damage of the fast-spreading coronavirus outbreak. European markets also closed higher.
Crypto Prices (from CoinMarketCap)
Bitcoin: Down 0.71% to $9,266.59
Total trading volume (24h): $29.65+ billion USD
Ethereum: Down 1.90% to $173.68
Total trading volume (24h): $10.50+ billion USD
3 biggest movers 24 hours
Biggest Mover 1: Wavesbet (WBET) is up 211.01% to $0.000007
Biggest Mover 2: Kahsh (KSH) is up 65.96% to $0.256917
Biggest Loser: TrustVerse (TRV) is down 31.15% to $0.010461
What moved Crypto Markets (i.e. digital assets)
– Bitcoin jumped over the mark of $9,300 again.
– Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)-owned Bakkt has seen a subdued performance of its recently launched bitcoin options. Last week, i.e., January 20-24, Bakkt saw zero trading volumes, according to data available on the ICE website. The last traded day for the options was January 17, when 20 lots got traded.
– Binance.US, the U.S. cryptocurrency trading platform of major crypto exchange Binance, will introduce stacking rewards in February. According to an announcement published by Binance.US on Jan. 29, staking rewards will be made available for Algorand and COSMOS starting next month. Furthermore, the exchange announced plans to add other Proof-of-Stake coins later.
– Google Shopping product leader Surojit Chatterjee is leaving Alphabet Inc for the chief product officer role at cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Inc, the San Francisco-based startup announced on Wednesday.
Other Specialties
Fintech: The municipality of Zermatt, Switzerland — home to the iconic Matterhorn — is now the second location in Switzerland where taxpayers are officially allowed to pay their taxes in Bitcoin. In order to unlock the new tax payment option, the authorities of the Zermatt have partnered with Switzerland’s major crypto financial services company Bitcoin Suisse, which will convert Bitcoins into Swiss Francs.
Healthtech: A number of Israeli startups, primarily in the health field, presented their technology and innovations to senior management representatives of the Israel professional cycling team which is set to compete for the very first time in the Tour De France as a new entrant in the World Tour this year. The cycling team will work alongside some of the startups on pilot projects, to merge their relevant technologies that are meant to help the cyclists better prepare, monitor and optimize performance based on advanced innovations that can track training load, nutrition, and sleep.
Al: AI-powered robot pickers are said to be the next big work revolution in warehouses. Such a robot itself doesn’t look that unusual, but what makes it special are its eyes and brain. With the help of a six-lens camera array and machine learning algorithms, it’s able to grab and pack items that would confound other bots. And thanks to a neural network it will one day share with its fellows in warehouses around the world, anything it learns, they’ll learn, too.
Smart cities: The Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation (LASAN) committed to transitioning to a zero-emissions fleet by 2035, a major goal for the country’s second-biggest city. The commitment makes Los Angeles the first major city to pledge a full transition of its refuse fleet to 100% electric, with all collection truck procurement set to be fully electric within the next two years.
NexChangeNOW Pick of the Day
IBM Wins Patent for ‘Self-Aware’ Token