Crypto News: Ripple, Bancor, Icon, Credits, Fidelity, ETF (17h-23rd of September) SEC Delays Van Eck-Solid X Bitcoin ETF Decision On 20th of September the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has once again delayed its decision on VanEck/Solid X backed exchange-traded fund (ETF). The SEC has already delayed making a decision at the beginning of August, and can potentially delay making a final decision through February under existing regulations. The Commission has already received roughly 1,400 letters of comment regarding the Van Eck/Solid X Bitcoin ETF proposal but they said they are still seeking more input from the public before making the final decision. Surprisingly this news didn't affect the prive negatively. Fidelity Investments entering cryptocurrency? During the recent Boston Fintech Week the Fidelity Investments CEO Abigail Johnson hinted that they are working on blockchain and cryptocurrency products and that they are hoping for an annoucement by the end of the year. This follows a recent annoucement of BAKKT a project provided by Intercontinental Exchange global network enabling users to buy, sell, store and spend digital assets. Fidelity is said to have several working groups of scale preparing products and services within crypto that will compete directly with Bakkt which is great since competition in this sector should be beneficial. Ripple update Ripple team has announced some very significant news this week. Sagar Sarbhai, who heads Ripple’s regulatory relations in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions said that xRapid, could launch in as soon as a month. xRapid uses the public XRP cryptocurrency for settlement, which Ripple says enhances the speed off cross-border currency transfers. The aim of xRapid is to increase the speed and liquidity of cross-border transactions. More than 120 banks and financial institutions located worldwide are currently using the firm’s xCurrent product, which uses blockchain technology to decrease settlement time but does not make use of XRP. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has said that he expects banks will implement xRapid by the end of this year, and hopes dozens will be on board by the end of next year. This should increase remand for XRP significantly. Following the news XRP increased in value significantly and overtook Ethereum as the second largest cryptocurrency (it is now back to 3rd place) Bancor annoucement On 19th of September Bancor has annouced first cross-blockchain decentralized liquidity network Bancor has ported its public code to EOS in preparation for the launch of its decentralized cross-blockchain liquidity network supporting Ethereum and EOS Main Nets — BancorX. According to news Bancor has evolved into cross-chain liquidity protocol starting with added support for EOS. Bancor will allow users to perform instant EOS-based token conversions against its automated smart contracts, also known as Relays. The EOS-based tokens listed on Bancor will soon be instantly convertible to any Ethereum-based token through the Bancor Protocol. Bancor is the largest decentralized liquidity network and has processed over $1.5 billion in token conversions since launching on Ethereum. They have facilitated affordable and accessible liquidity for over 120 Ethereum-based token projects without listing fees. Icon Updates On 17th of September ICON MainNet Version 3.0 has been released. With this released ICON’s SCORE (Smart Contract on Reliable Environment), the implementation environment of ICON smart contracts, is now fully operational meaning Icon can now run decentralised applications. Along with the MainNet update, the ICON team has also opened TestNet, which allows developers to conduct tests before deploying their blockchain projects to the live MainNet. They also annouced they will will open DevNet, which supports local development environment for testing via the AWS (Amazon Web Services) Marketplace Additional changes include fee structure and ICONex/ICON Tracker updates which include adding tokens, viewing smart contracts as well as recording and verifying data on blockchain. Icon development goes well and the project isn't in the top 30 of cryptocurrencies which means it might be an interesting option. Credits Updates Credits had some major announcements this week mostly about partnerships where they partnered with 11 different projects. The main partnership is with LeewayHertz which is a blockchain development company concentrating on AI, IoT, and cloud services. The other partnerships include Incodium is an API-based smart contract solution that provides a risk management protocol. They will use decentralized applications based on Credits platform to enhance exchange security. The remaining partnerships include a variety of development, advertising and investment companies that will use Credits in their solutions hopefully meaning real life application of blockchain.