Although crypto currencies may yield many surprising benefits, one of the oldest rules of commerce still applies to investing and trading in digital assets — if it seems to be too good to be true, it might be. That is the essence of a guidance, “Investor Alert: Watch Out for Fraudulent Digital Asset and ‘Crypto’… Read More >>
Volatility to Rock Timid Markets in 2019: Report
Global financial services markets are entering a “post-credit crisis” era marked by the fact that easy-money policies are ending, interest rates are heading up while markets are swinging down and a new volatility will rock this timid new world in 2019, according to predictions from Greenwich Associates. In its new report, the market research firm… Read More >>
‘Fidelity Digital Assets’ Launches to Service Crypto-Assets
Asset management giant Fidelity Investment is jumping into the crypto-asset fray with the launch of Fidelity Digital Asset Services, which will offer custody and trade execution services for crypto-currency-based instruments managed by institutional investors such as hedge funds, family offices and market intermediaries. “Fidelity believes that distributed ledger technologies [DLTs] can enable entirely new business… Read More >>
Crypto-Assets Have Big Ops & IT Risks: FSB
The Financial Stability Board (FSB), a regulatory and policy go-between for national financial authorities and standard-setting bodies, has published a risk assessment of “crypto-assets and their markets,” and, among other factors, has identified key IT, operational and cyber-security pitfalls. In a new report on the subject, “Crypto-asset markets: Potential channels for future financial stability implications,”… Read More >>
Time for a Crypto Cop?
Many people have been wondering when the controversial crypto currency phenomenon will get the regulatory oversight needed to provide safeguards for investors and other participants. In the U.S., the SEC and CFTC are pursuing guidelines and enforcement actions as the crypto efforts move full speed ahead. I’m certain that the regulators would appreciate additional help… Read More >>
Firms Want Scalability via Cloud-Based Ops: Q&A
(Some financial services firms are still reluctant to hand over control of key aspects of back-office operations, says Al Castillo, senior director, solutions management at SS&C Advent, in his recent interview with FTF News. However, the scalability that the cloud provides usually wins them over. Castillo is responsible for the North American cloud delivery and… Read More >>
Pondering the Disruptions of 2018
Suddenly, we’re heading into the Fourth of July holiday. Independence Day marks the end of the first half of a year that has been marked by ongoing technology disruptions, volatile markets, dramatic geopolitical situations, a flurry of mergers and acquisitions, a crypto currency craze, and a strong sense that while new regulation has not ceased,… Read More >>
BIS Makes a Case Against Crypto Currencies
The rush to embrace crypto currencies and distributed ledger technology (DLT) is problematic and “is no substitute for tried and trusted central banks,” say key officials of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in the group’s Annual Economic Report 2018. In the abstract of the fifth chapter of the AER, Hyun Song Shin, economic adviser… Read More >>
Are You Ready to Trade Security Tokens?
The crypto currency phenomenon is almost moving too fast for anyone to sort out and yet remarkable things are happening. For instance, tZERO and BOX Digital Markets have just created a joint venture to lay the groundwork for “the world’s first regulated exchange for trading security tokens,” which are electronic tokens defined as securities under… Read More >>
Blockchain Budgets and Staffs Are Growing: Report
Financial services firms are bolstering their staffs and increasing their budgets to get on the blockchain bus, but the development process has been harder than expected, according to a new report from market research firm Greenwich Associates. “The financial services industry is spending about $1.7 billion per year on blockchain, as banks and other firms… Read More >>
