Coinbase announced last week that it is joining the government blockchain analytics partnership by pursuing procurement deals with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Internal Revenue Service for a cryptocurrency investigations tool called "Coinbase Analytics." Coinbase Analytics has close ties with Coinbase's entire product ecosystem, as its Senior Product Manager collaborates with Coinbase Consumer, Coinbase Pro, and Coinbase Custody as well as its payments and crypto division. With the move, Coinbase joins a crowded field of cryptocurrency analyticds firms competing for a piece of the federal pie. A recent IRS notice notes Coinbase Analytics has "enhanced law enforcement sensitive capabilities that are not currently found in other tools on the market." The DEA is interested in Coinbase Analytics' pinpoint accuracy. But Coinbase argued its Analytics product does not and has never used any internal customer data.

Here is the rest of the week in review:

Japan's 3 largest banks are major players participating in a study group developing a digital payment system to address concerns about cryptocurrencies. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MSBHY  ), Mizuho Financial Group (MFG  ), and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, institutions that control more than $6.6 trillion in assets, will join a study group to determine the feasibility of a Japanese national digital payments solution. Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DeCurret, which is hosting the study group, said its members would "examine and discuss challenges and solutions concerning digital currencies and digital settlement infrastructure, to find a consensus toward their realization." The announcement added the study group will discuss how a proposed digital payment system shared by banks, businesses, and regulators would operate and what its potential use cases would be both in Japan and globally.

Bloomberg analysts hopped onto the bullish Bitcoin bandwagon (BTC), expecting its price to revisit its record high in 2020. Their bold prediction of $20,000 this year is mostly based on the theory that price action from the last 2.5 years looks similar to the patterns over the 2.5 years after the largest coin's explosion to record highs in December 2013. The analysts pointed out that after crypto's 60% decline in 2014, the sector matched its 2013 peak by the end of 2016. They argue that 4 years later, it seems the pattern is repeating. After topping at a record high of $20,000 in December 2017, Bitcoin cratered 75% in 2018. But the coin clocked highs above $10,000 in early May this year. The Bloomberg analysts wrote: "Something needs to go really wrong for bitcoin to not appreciate," striking a note of optimism.

Crypto prices eked up to $270 billion this week. For the majors, prices were largely unchanged, but Ripple (XRP) and Bitcoin SV (BSV) slipped the most while Cardano (ADA) climbed. In the top 100, the biggest losers were Matic Network (MATIC), down 14%, Ren (REN), down 11%, and Status (SNT), down 10%. The biggest gainers were Divi (DIVI), up a whopping 83%, Loopring (LRC), up 80%, and WAX (WAXP), up 54%. Next week traders will watch which direction crypto goes after a relatively steady period.

The author owns a small amount of BTC.