Cryptocurrency News: 14th - 19th of May News (Coinbase, Vechain, France, Germany, Consensus, UPbit) Market situation: The market recorded slight losses this week. Week dissapointing considering people were expecting bull run due to Consensus event. Interestingly Ethereum is one of the few top cryptos that increased in value. Coinbase Suite of Institutional Products On 15th of May Coinbase the digital currency exchange based on San Francisco, California has annouced a series of Institutional Products Coinbase Custody which couples Coinbase’s cryptocurrency service with third-party auditing and financial reporting validation that operates at the high standard of an SEC-regulated, custodial broker-dealer. Coinbase Markets provides a centralized pool of liquidity for all Coinbase products will introduce new features in the future like low latency performance, institutional connectivity and access, and settlement and clearing services. Coinbase Prime, a new platform designed specifically to provide a suite of tools and services that institutional investors rely on when trading cryptocurrency. DNV GL buys stake in Vechain On 15th of May it was annouced that DNV GL, the risk management and quality assurance company, has bought a stake in VeChain. DNV GL has over 15 thousand employees on LinkedIn. Luca Crisciotti, CEO of DNV GL – Business Assurance, said, "VeChain has helped us realise our digital assurance ambitions through the launch of new revolutionary assurance products in the market. Using blockchain and other digital technologies, DNV GL worked with VeChain to develop its My Story digital assurance solution that tracks each stage of a product's manufacturing cycle. This is another impressive news for Vechain and another step in real life adoption. France becomes crypto friendly On 16th of May During a breakfast with entrepreneurs, including representatives of Blockchain Partner, the Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire revealed his plans for French blockchain and cryptocurrencies. He assured his ” total and determined support “. Among the themes mentioned: the banking difficulties of companies in the sector, the taxation of cryptocurrencies, their accounting treatment and the legal framework of the ICO In terms of the legislative calendar, the next big dates are July and September with the PACTE law and the PLF 2019 [Finance Bill 2019]. The French finance minister wants to discuss everything related to crypto by that time so all possible obstacles can be removed to ensure a fast and progressive development of the French "crypto" ecosystem. Consensus 2018 ended Between 14th and 16th of May Consensus 2018 took place at the New York Hilton Midtown. It was ran by Coindesk and featured 250+ speakers and 4,000+ attendees from startups, investors, financial institutions, enterprise tech leaders, and academic and policy groups. Many people considered this event to be a dissapointment due to lack of technical talk, too much centralisation and lack of real life application ideas. On top of that the tickets were super expensive as well. Many investors were expecting a nice bullrun from Consensus 2018 but it didn't happen probably becasue of that fat that the event was not that great. Germany’s Second Biggest Stock Exchange Launches Crypto Trading On 16th of May Börse Stuttgart, one of Europe’s biggest stock exchange and Germany’s second biggest, handling some $100 billion in trading volumes, have annouced crypto trading through a subsidiary. This will be done though Bison app which simplifies trading in digital currencies. It is the world’s first crypto app, behind which stands a traditional stock exchange. The prototype of the app already exists, the finished product supposed to go live by September They promise completely free trading which could get a lot of new German users on board. UPbit Not at Fault? On 15th of May it was revealed that a major accounting firm in South Korea has published results of an audit of UPbit’s cryptocurrency holdings, confirming that the exchange did not inflate its balance sheet and deceive investors. This is following the annoucement from from 11th of May where it was annouced that Korean prosecutors have conducted search and of UPbit, on charges of fraud. While the official investigation into UPbit by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KIU) and local police is still ongoing UPbit has been fully operational and continued to process trades for its users. Based on the audit report, it is highly likely that the government investigation into UPbit will end with a simple issue in liquidity and without any major consequences. As expected the market reacted badly. Follow me on social media: Telegram: https://t.me/crypto0coins Twitter: https://twitter.com/Crypto0Coins Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crypt0coins/ Steemit: https://steemit.com/@dmae Not a financial advice.