Bitcoin Daily: Amazon Makes Big Blockchain Move For AWS, HTC Unveils Crypto Phone

A Russian bank has become a backer of Venezuela’s “petro” cryptocurrency, RT reported. Evrofinance Mosnarbank is the first international backer after the U.S. warned investors about the risks associated with the digital currency. After registering with the Venezeulan government and downloading the software for the cryptocurrency, investors can buy the digital currency by wiring at least €1,000 to an account at Evrofinance.

In other news, Coinbase is at work on tools to attract institutional investors, Bloomberg reported. The company is looking to have custodial services and margin trading, for example. Through a service called Coinbase Prime, institutional clients will reportedly have access to margin financing and lending along with over-the-counter trading.

And the Feds are mulling regulations that could take away the unregulated status and anonymity of cryptocurrencies, the New York Post reported. Concerns that cryptocurrencies could be funding activities such as money laundering are behind the Justice Department’s push to have trading platforms find out who is exchanging crypto.

“One of our major concerns is that we don’t know who has access to these virtual currencies, and who is using them,” Sujit Raman, an assistant deputy attorney general at the Justice Department, said at an event on Tuesday (May 15).

In other news, Amazon’s cloud computing division is making big moves in the blockchain space, CNBC reported: It is partnering with Kaleido to give AWS customers access to the blockchain.

“They can focus on their scenario and they don’t have to become PhDs in cryptography, we give them a simple platform to build their company on blockchain,” Steve Cerveny, a Kaleido founder, told CNBC.

And HTC has unveiled a new smartphone that is designed for crypto, TheNextWeb reported: The company’s Exodus phone will come with a universal wallet – along with features such as a hardware enclave.

“Through Exodus, we are excited to be supporting underlying protocols such as Bitcoin, Lightning Networks, Ethereum, Dfinity, and more,” HTC’s Phil Chen told TNW.  “We would like to support the entire blockchain ecosystem, and in the next few months we’ll be announcing many more exciting partnerships together.”