This week, a consortium of major U.S. financial services firms, broker-dealers, market makers and venture capital firms announced the launch of a new digital asset exchange, EDX Markets (EDXM). According to a press release, "The new exchange will combine proven technology ... with best practices from traditional financial markets and tighter spreads enabled by greater liquidity, to support secure, fast and efficient cryptocurrency trading for U.S. retail and institutional investors."

In another recent press release, a cryptocurrency asset management company announced the launch of the first U.S.-based Bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) to be registered and regulated exclusively under the Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act). According to the press release, other existing Bitcoin futures ETFs are registered and regulated under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (Investment Company Act). And a third press release published this week announced that Securitize, a digital assets security firm, launched a new fund tokenizing a major health-care growth fund on the Avalanche blockchain.

Also this week, blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis released its 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index. Rather than rank countries by raw cryptocurrency transaction volume, the index aims to measure grassroots adoption of cryptocurrencies by studying where individual, nonprofessional investors are embracing digital assets. The report found that emerging markets are leading grassroot adoptions of cryptocurrency, with Vietnam, the Philippines and Ukraine in the top three spots. India and the United States rounded out the top five, and China, despite its ban on all cryptocurrency trading, was ranked 10th in grassroots adoption, suggesting ineffective or loose enforcement of the ban.

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