📰 Cryptocurrency News Weekly: Nasdaq And VanEck Will Launch Crypto Derivatives, G20 Observes Digital Assets and More
Funds and companies that have cryptocurrencies in their portfolio lose profits and gain loses; regulators continue their work on intimidating market participants, but not always effectively; Tether changes some rules for crypto users.
Nasdaq And VanEck Will Launch "Crypto 2.0" Futures Contracts
Investment firm VanEck, widely known for its cryptocurrency initiatives, and the 2nd largest stock exchange in the world, Nasdaq, are launching the new financial product, namely «regulated crypto 2.0 futures-type contract». The announcement was made by Gabor Gurbacs, VanEck’s director of digital asset strategy.
“We believe that 2018 was the year of regulation and 2019 will be the year of implementation.”
Gabor Gurbacs, VanEck
He said that this new product will be some kind of update of the current regulatory standards on the bitcoin futures market. It sounds mysterious and hasn't been mentioned officially whether it will be a futures product or something else in essence. However, it is already known that this cryptocurrency derivative will be controlled by two new technologies/instruments: the SMARTS control system developed by Nasdaq and the VanEck MVIS index.
Regulation Of Cryptocurrency Is Now In G20's Focus
The G-20 Summit took place in Buenos Aires from November 30 to December 1. At the end of the forum, there was shown a new declaration, in which countries confirmed the need to reform the World Trade Organization (WTO). In addition, G-20 claimed that members will regulate digital assets and create a unified taxation system for cryptocurrencies.
Declaración de Líderes del #G20Argentina (inglés)
G20 Argentina 🇦🇷 (@g20org) December 1, 2018
-#G20 Leaders' Declaration https://t.co/UHzrbEL9jv#G20Summit2018
However, nothing new was said, apparently. Participants stated that they would regulate crypto assets as the part of combat against money laundering and terrorist financing in accordance with FATF standards. But these issues were also discussed and approved earlier. But, such a statement as united standards of taxation seems rather unexpected, given the deep difference between the economies of the largest countries.
CNBC: SEC Cracks Down On Initial Coin Offerings
SEC Chairman Jay Clayton shared his opinion on the attitude of SEC regarding the ICO market, arguing that Bitcoin does not have the properties of securities by regulator's opinion. Chairman mentioned the recent enforcement deals with ICOs Paragon and Airfox, when projects that initially did not position their products as securities were forced to pay a fine and issue their cryptocurrency as securities, as result.
“I think we’ve been clear that Bitcoin isn’t a security, but many of the ICOs that you see and talk about – they are securities,”
The official recommended once again not to have problems with his department. What is even more curious, Clayton suggested 2 correct ways to avoid SEC's investigation regarding token's status as security: ICO organizers should hold token sales abroad or hold a closed round of investment in which no more than 35 investors can participate.
Association For Digital Market Assets (ADAM): Who Are They?
Associations, units, clubs - this is the new part of the cryptocurrency area, which was initially both anonymous and decentralized. We recently heard about the so-called the Association for Digital Market Assets, or ADAM, created by one of the largest players on the digital market. As reported, Galaxy Digital, Genesis Global Trading, GSR, Hudson River Trading, Paxos, Symbiont, BitOoda Technologies, BTIG, Cumberland and XBTO will be the members of this association to develop “rules” for the crypto industry.
Formally, such a group can promote legislative initiatives or work based on common rules n in order to standardize financial processes. ADAM informed that it intends to standardize the recommended rules for working in such areas as trading, storage, clearing and financial processing overall. If these requirements are developed, then users of the products of these companies may experience some changes.
“Its members are all firms that are active in digital asset markets or seek to participate in those markets once rules are standardized.”
But, that seems not very attractive for the cryptographic market. When it comes to the classical (“ordinary”) financial industry, there are always some leaders who determine how the market can work. These are partly legal requirements, partly agreements, for example, Michelin restaurants and certain standards. However, the cryptocurrency market operates according to its own chaotic rules, therefore it does not accept standardization. The essence of such events is unclear: regulators develop their own standards.
50 British Cryptocurrency Companies Are Accused Of Operating Without A License
On November 26, .telegraph.co.uk announced that the Financial Conduct Authority of Great Britain (FCA) is investigating the activities of 50 cryptocurrency companies. Presumably, these companies operate without a special license. However, how did they work up to this moment?
It is likely that the fall in the cryptocurrency market has led investors (clients) to complain about companies that have been working with digital assets. Andrew Jacobs, a partner at Moore Stephens shared the same opinion:
“Now that prices have collapsed, fraud is likely to be exposed, with greater pressure coming to bear on the FCA to ensure that this market can operate transparently and fairly.”
The Wild West, which was previously designated by regulatory bodies as the lack of clear regulation in the cryptocurrency area, is likely to end with the absence of any companies in crypto, except the major players. It is possible that the enhanced regulation will forever close the doors to a new business that wants to work with crypto, and checks from the local FSA`s side confirm this.
Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital Lost $136 Million: Are You Still Listening To These Talking Heads?
No negative: if there were only winners in the world, and there were no losers, I would choose this world. But there are losers as well. Galaxy Digital, crypto bank founded by the famous investor Mike Novogratz suffered heavy losses as a result of the collapse on the cryptocurrency market. During the first nine months of 2018, the investment structure backed by Novogratz’s name lost more than 136 million dollars. Most of the portfolio consisted of the 3 largest assets, namely, Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP.
Novogratz is the media figure, however, is no different from his friends. He talked about everything: that Bitcoin will reach new highs, talked about the situation on the crypto market, tried to promise, predict, then forgot, you know. And now, when the year is coming to an end, and companies are counting the results of the quarter, the situation is becoming clearer. All year the trend was downward, almost damped wave. Is it necessary to be a great investor or expert to see it?
US Imposes Sanctions On Bitcoin Addresses For The First Time
For the first time, the US government imposed sanctions on two Bitcoin addresses belonging to Iranian citizens who allegedly helped spread some bad acting software (virus).
Sanctions were imposed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). According to the US government’s requirements, cryptocurrency communities should ban any activity related to these addresses and start investigating the connections of these addresses with others.
Same as for the real banking accounts, US citizens are prohibited from sending money to these addresses. Anyone who ignores this prohibition will be subject to 2nd level sanctions. This event is historical, however, it is clear that the measure of sanctions against cryptocurrency cannot be effective.
Rumours: Coinbase Has Added The Free Paypal Withdrawals
Coinbase, the largest crypto-exchange in the US, added PayPal as the method of crypto-to-fiat withdrawals. It is worth noting that working with the PayPal service has been a good user experience for a long time, including with cryptocurrency withdrawal (don’t know how it is going now). Using this option, users can withdraw cryptocurrency in US dollar, euro or British pound.
Coinbase mentioned this possibility earlier, for example, its FAQ contains information about the possible use of PayPal starting from November. The news source reports, however, that users from the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Canada received a letter sent by the exchange, promoting its new withdrawal method.
HBUS (Huobi) Called Themselves Homo Sapiens, Showing Coinbase As Homo Erectus
Earlier it was reported that the HBUS exchange, a strategic partner of Huobi, launched registration for users from the United States. Apparently, HBUS has already established itself on the market and launched an intensive advertising campaign, part of which is the billboard that you see in the picture.
The billboard slogan, “Evolved Crypto Trading,” presumably ridicules Coinbase and Wall Street (or the traders who work with them), demonstrating that they are less developed than HBUS. In this case, Wall Street is depicted as the primates, and Coinbase is showed as Homo erectus.
The team explains:
«We decided to launch this campaign, because no U.S.-based digital currency exchange has done a campaign like this before. The industry has seen its share of “online” gimmicks and we just wanted to get back to some of the basics of advertising that continue to play a major role in brand awareness and credibility. San Francisco is at the heart of the technological revolution and of technological “evolution”.»
Tether Enables Direct Usdt Redemption For USD On Platform
A rather difficult story with Tether and Bifinex has been haunting users for a year. Now, this option is available. As stated by Tether themselves, the direct conversion was temporarily suspended due to the growth of transactions that continued over the past year.
From the «Bitfinex announces Tether neutrality and launches new stablecoin»:
«from today Bitfinex users will be able to trade Tether-fiat directly on our platform through the addition of USDT/USD and EURT/EUR Tether trading pairs. This replaces the previous 1:1 conversion on deposits and withdrawals provided by Bitfinex, and reflects the increasing range of choice in the stablecoin market and demands from our consumers.»
From «Tether reopens account verification and direct redemption of fiat from its platform»:
«Now, thanks to stronger banking as a result of our new relationship with Deltec, Tether is able to return to its original vision of having a wallet for creating and redeeming directly on its own platform without having to rely on a third party. This update allows the immediate withdrawal of Tether to fiat (1:1), with the ability to acquire coming soon.»
Summarizing, users who want to bring USDT on Bitfinex will convert at market rates, without using the 1: 1 ratio. As we know, other steblecoins do not make such a condition. On the other hand, only customers will have to work with more than $ 100,000 can use Tether's withdrawals.
BitTrade Now Will Be Re-Launched As The Part Of Huobi Exchange
While BitTrade announced the closure of its trading platform and the upcoming restart as part of the Huobi Group, and Huobi themselves bought a controlling stake, the Japanese exchange will be launched with changes for customers.
Earlier, Huobi stopped working on the Japanese cryptocurrency market due to updated regulatory requirements. Now, probably, this will be one of the possible ways for companies to enter the foreign market. In order to trade on BitTrade, users need to re-register and pass verification requirements. Assets will not be transferred.
