End of the bear market, Chinese government-back blockchain fund, Samsung making ASIC chips.

The News

• A Chinese, government-backed, $1.6 billion blockchain fund has launched in Hangzhou. coindesk
• Venrock, the Rockefeller family VC firm partnered with Coinfund, a cryptocurrency investor group. fortune
• The Japanese Financial Services Agency released cryptocurrency exchange statistics indicating the country has 3.5 million crypto traders. coindesk
• Europol arrested 11 in Spain suspected of using cryptocurrencies to launder money. europol
• The European Commission want to create a single digital market and will invest $370 million in blockchain technologies. europa

Capital

• Basecoin, a cryptocurrency designed to have a stable value raised $125M in an ICO according to forms submitted to the SEC. sec

Adoption

• Samsung have announced they are going to make ASIC chips (application specific integrated circuit) to be used in cryptocurrency miners. techcrunch
• Santander have launch a blockchain application to allow international money transfers in real time. finextra
• Salesforce announced they are working on a blockchain product. techcrunch
• Chile’s Energy Minister announced the country will use the ethereum blockchain to record energy sector data to ensure integrity. coindesk

Market:

• Prices across the board have surged over the last few days, indicating the bear market might be over. Overall the cryptocurrency market is up 30% and currently sitting at $325 billion. Bitcoin gained 19% this week including a $1000 climb in under an hour on Thursday. Currently the bitcoin global average is $8,114 USD. Ethereum rose 36% finishing the week at $517 USD.