Integral Also Launches iOS App Foreign exchange (FX) technology vendor Integral is now offering market data support for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin via its trading platform, the Open Currency Exchange (OCX), officials say. The expanded market data coverage will include the top pairings of: BTC/USD; ETH/USD; BCH/USD; and LTC/USD. Over the coming weeks,… Read More >>
How Real is the Bitcoin Phenomenon?
As I’m writing this piece, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the price of bitcoin currency is hitting a new high: “The price of bitcoin crossed $13,000 on Wednesday afternoon, the latest milestone in the cryptocurrency’s massive rise.” We are having a moment with Bitcoin, which strangely follows the securities industry’s fascination with the… Read More >>
CFTC Wary of Futures Markets’ Embrace of Bitcoin-based Instruments
Bitcoins, the digital “crypto” currency that in 2017 became one of the world’s fastest growing assets, reaching a high of more than $11,000, an increase of more than 900 percent for the calendar year, may still have its detractors, who compare its sudden popularity to Dutch Tulip Mania in the 17th century, or to the… Read More >>
UBS Adds Six Banks to Crypto-Currency Settlement Push
The buzz around crypto-currency blockchain/distributed ledger technology (DLT) continues with UBS’s utility settlement coin (USC), adding six of the world’s largest banks — Barclays, HSBC, State Street, Credit Suisse, MUFG and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce — to its roster. The new members join UBS, Deutsche Bank, Santander, BNY Mellon and the financial services… Read More >>
Cryptocurrency Transactions & Operations Start to Emerge
Malta-based Exante, an online foreign exchange, futures, and stocks retail brokerage, has added five cryptocurrency assets onto its terminal -– Litecoin, Ethereum, Monero, Zcash, and Ripple. They join its Bitcoin instruments, which were the first regulated cryptocurrency to make their debut four years ago. The global market for cryptocurrency-based instruments is rapidly gaining ground as… Read More >>
Cobalt DL Wants to Take Ops Out of the Dark Ages
Financial technology vendor Cobalt DL has kick started the beta testing on its distributed ledger network, which it hopes will streamline post-trade processes and create a singular database for foreign-exchange (FX) transactions. Spearheaded by former Citi and Deutsche Bank executive Andy Coyne, the platform, which is backed by eight of the world’s largest players in… Read More >>
BNY, Deutsche Bank, ICAP Back UBS Digital Cash Push
BNY Mellon, Deutsche Bank, ICAP and Santander are throwing their support behind the Utility Settlement Coin (USC) concept from UBS and newcomer Clearmatics Technologies that could lead to digital cash-based payment and settlement operations that exploit distributed ledger technology (DLT). The USC effort is intended to result in “an asset-backed digital cash instrument implemented on… Read More >>
Barclays Pushes to Keep its Blockchain/DLT Edge
Although there have been a host of reports questioning the viability of blockchain, banks are still forging ahead, reviewing different ways to deploy cutting-edge, systems that exploit distributed ledger technology (DLT), if the recent Smart Contract Templates Summit is anything to go by. Barclays, for example, is striking partnerships with start-ups and testing its own… Read More >>
ESMA Explores Blockchain’s Risks and Promise
It was only a matter of time before regulators wanted to lift the lid on blockchain and look deeper into the potential opportunities and challenges in the financial services sphere. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), an EU financial services watchdog, is throwing down the gauntlet with its recent discussion paper for public consultation… Read More >>
CFTC Penalizes Bitfinex $75K for Illegal Transactions
The CFTC has ordered online bitcoin exchange Bitfinex to pay $75,000, settling charges that it offered illegal off-exchange financed retail commodity transactions in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and that it failed to register as a futures commission merchant (FCM). The bitcoin exchange says in its own statement that it “proactively contacted the CFTC in September… Read More >>
