Must-reads for August 23, 2018

SEC rejects bitcoin ETFs (CNBC)
Crypto bros are used to getting a lot of rejections, especially on Tinder. Now it’s the Securities and Exchange Commission turn, rejecting seven bitcoin-based exchange-traded fund. Bitcoin prices remain above $6,000, perhaps because it was mostly priced in. Obviously, everyone read the Modern Consensus piece about why the SEC shouldn’t approve such ETFs in the first place.

A cryptocurrency is making huge inroads in Venezuela as inflation runs wild — and it’s not bitcoin or the petro (Business Insider)
Spoiler alert: The cryptocurrency they’re talking about is Dash. Hey, maybe one of the upsides to a regime marked by terror, failed financial planning, corruption, persecution of the press, imprisonment of opponents, and horrific economic conditions is that we now get to see cryptocurrency adopted in daily transactions. It’s a Redditor’s dream come true!

Bitcoin Technical Sign Suggests Selloff May Be Almost Over (Bloomberg)
Dear Bloomberg: Why are you posting this? Trading technicals on crypto is about as useful as dowsing. No. Just… No.

World Bank launches world-first blockchain bond (Reuters)
An Australian 2-year bond called the “Bondi” (for “Blockchain Operated New Debt Instrument”; get it? Clever!) was just priced at a yield of 2.251 percent. It’s not the first government bond done using blockchain technology but it’s the first one from a government not run by wealthy mobsters.

Regional Government Announces Opening of Large Crypto Mining Farm in Russia (Bitcoin.com)
Speaking of wealthy mobsters: 3,000 machines will be mining bitcoins in a giant mining farm in Russia. The farm is located on the site of a former nuclear power plant. Nothing in those two previous sentences sounds like a good idea. Also, Russia has an interesting history of mixing crypto mining and nukes.