NexChangeNOW Daily Briefing – Tuesday Dec 03, 2019

Listen to the audio:

What Moved Global Markets
– Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping today launched a historic Russia-China gas pipeline, called “Power of Siberia”. A 1,800-mile gas channel costs $55 billion and is set to begin delivering Russian natural gas to China effective today.
– Shares in major Asian markets rose on the first trading day of December, as a private survey of Chinese factory activity in November came in stronger than expected on Monday.
– All three major U.S. stock averages began the last month of the year in the red, pulling back from last week’s record highs. A report from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) showed U.S. manufacturing activity contracted in November for the fourth consecutive month, fuelling worries that the longest period of economic expansion in U.S. history could be growing short-winded.
– Cyber Monday shoppers have already spent $473 million online, as of 9 a.m. ET, according to data released by Adobe Analytics. Cyber Monday online sales are on track to hit $9.4 billion. Last year, Cyber Monday sales hit $7.9 billion.

Crypto Prices (from CoinMarketCap)
Bitcoin: Down 0.94% to $7.376.26
Total trading volume (24h): $17.28+ billion USD

Ethereum: Down 1.09% to $149.87
Total trading volume (24h): $6.71+ billion USD

3 biggest movers 24 hours
Biggest Mover 1: ROMToken is up 336.95% to $0.000346
Biggest Mover 2: Xtock is up 125.27% to $0.000540
Biggest Loser: Fortem Capital is down 45.71% to $0.358215

What moved Crypto Markets (i.e. digital assets)
– OK Group, the operator of cryptocurrency exchange OKCoin, is set to invest $140 million in China to facilitate blockchain adoption. The group will set up an “Asia Pacific Innovation Center” in the Hainan province of China with the investment. OK Group plans to work with the Hainan government to boost the blockchain ecosystem in China.
Huobi joins China telecom and finance giants to form state-backed blockchain alliance. The Chinese branch of cryptocurrency exchange Huobi is one of the first members of the Blockchain Services Network (BSN), an industry alliance initiated by the State Information Center (SIC).

Other Specialties
Fintech: Japanese holding company SoftBank has introduced a new debit card featuring a built-in cryptocurrency wallet. According to a press release on Dec. 1, SoftBank developed a debit card featuring a built-in blockchain wallet in collaboration with United States-based wallet card developer Dynamics. The new product is called SBC Wallet Cards and can be used as a traditional debit card or blockchain wallet.
Healthtech: Big Amazon reveal today: Amazon Web Services is tapping into its voice technology once again with the launch of the Amazon Transcribe Medical, an automated speech recognition service that will let developers add medical diction and documentation to their apps. The streaming API tool is designed to cater to medical and pharmacological terms, thereby allowing doctors, clinicians and researchers to dictate into it. It also has a natural speech feature, which can transcribe a doctor-patient visit.
Al: Amazon unveils DeepComposer, an AI-enabled piano keyboard. It’s a 32-key, two-octave keyboard designed for developers to try their hand at either pre-trained or custom AI models. BBC says it sounds terrible.
Smart cities: A Boston-based technology company has completed what it says is the largest 3D-printed building in the world in 21 days. 3D printing equipment manufacturer Apis Cor recently built a two-story administrative office building for a Dubai government agency using one mobile printer.

NexChangeNOW Pick of the Day
Chinese Crypto Exchange IDAX Goes on Lock Down After CEO Goes AWOL