Crypto News: Monero, Bakkt, HTC, Monaco, Vechain, China, Coinbase (22nd-28th of October) Chinese court confirms Bitcoin protected by law On 25th of October Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration ruled that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are legally protected as a property, in a case of equity transfer dispute. The arbitrator said: "There is no law or regulation that explicitly prohibits parties from holding bitcoin or private transactions in bitcoin" This ruling may pave way to the re-emergence of crypto trading in China and in turn should be viewed as a positive development for the crypto world. This means that only ICO's (accredited investors can still participate in them) and exchanges are banned but Chinese investors can still use foreign exchanges (even tho it's not easy) Crypto is still grey area in China but this is a good overall sign. Monero Major Update Following the successful execution of Monero’s hard fork on October 18, average transaction fees for XMR users have fallen a massive 97 percent from 60 cents to an average of just 2 cents according to information from CoinMetrics. The reduction comes in the wake of the platform's activation of a highly-anticipated new form of cryptography named "bulletproofs," a new technology that seeks to make the monero network's privacy features more scalable by restructuring how its confidential transactions are verified. The update contained other features intended to improve privacy on the platform, as well as new code to deter manufacturers from building specialized mining hardware for Monero. Monero price has been floating around $100 for a while and are currently on 10th place on CMC. USDC - Coinbase and Circle stablecoin On 23rd of October Coinbase has annouced a new USDC stablecoin which is fully collateralized by US dollars and supported by Coinbase and Circle (peer-to-peer payments technology company) as co-founding members of the CENTRE Consortium. It is built on the Ethereum network meaning it can be used in all ERC20 wallets. Coinbase customers in supported jurisdictions can buy, sell, send and receive the USD Coin stablecoin (USDC) at Coinbase.com and in the Coinbase iOS and Android apps. US customers outside New York state can buy and sell, and customers around the world can send and receive. More geographies will be available in the future. Each USDC is 100% collateralized by a corresponding USD held in accounts subject to regular public reporting of reserves. The token is already supported by OKEx, LATOKEN, Poloniex, CoimEx and Kucoin. The token is ranked 58th on cmc with mcap of $125M. Bakkt start annouced On 22nd of October Bakkt has announced the date it will turn on the lights and begin utilizing the ICE exchange family of networks to trade Bitcoin futures contracts. The date is set as December 12, 2018. As an initial component of the Bakkt offering, Intercontinental Exchange’s U.S.-based futures exchange and clearinghouse plan to launch a 1-day physically delivered Bitcoin contract along with physical warehousing. Long term Bakkt is designed to enable consumers and institutions to seamlessly buy, sell, store and spend digital assets. Formed with the purpose of bringing trust, efficiency, and commerce to digital assets, Bakkt seeks to develop open technology to connect existing market and merchant infrastructure to the blockchain. This is the biggest positive news in crypto in a while and the fact that it's facting so soon is definately bullish. HTC Blockchain Phone releasing Consumer tech giant HTC is officially releasing its first blockchain-enabled phone HTC Exodus 1. The phone is available as an early access edition for fans in 34 countries today, including the US, UK, Hong Kong and Singapore. The device can only be bought using bitcoin or ethereum, and will start shipping by December. The company also said it is looking for developers to participate in the early-access version. The EXODUS 1 includes "a secure enclave" on the device that will store a user's cryptocurrency keys and is kept protected from the Android operating system. Monaco and Vechain On 22nd the MCO Visa Cards started shipping to customers in Singapore. The MCO Visa Card is a prepaid card with no annual or monthly that allows users to use cryptocurrencies in real life. Card is connected and ordered using the mobile wallet app that also allows users to securely buy, sell, store, send, and track cryptocurrencies . The entire system is supported by the MCO token. During the event 'Street Superior' this week VeChain will be showcased with influential Singapore sneaker artist — SBTG (Short for SABOTAGE) in an initial limited edition collection of sneakers integrating smart chips and blockchain technology. This collaboration exhibits how the implemented solution can be applied to independently created authentic goods and collectibles.