Institutions Are More Bullish On Bitcoin Than Retail Investor

A Wall Street Strategy Firm recently conducted a survey among retail investors and institutional investors revealing that the latter was more bullish than the former once they are interested with Bitcoins.

This was surprising as there is a general perception that retail investors are more susceptible to FOMO while institutional investors are more clear-headed about the prospects of the new asset class.

The Strategy firm conducted a six-question Twitter poll to gauge the sentiment among retail cryptocurrency investors and then asked the same at a private dinner held with institutional investors which revealed the surprising results.

What is more surprising about the result of the survey is the great divide when both investor class where ask to predict the best performing token in next 12 months.

Institutions go for Bitcoin while Retail investors go for XRP.

Countries Trying to Appeal To Crypto Businesses

It has been a little known fact that there is a growing competition between small European nations that are looking to boost their economies by drawing cryptocurrency and blockchain companies.

They are luring blockchain-related businesses in their shores by introducing regulation that is friendly that is favorable to the nascent industry.

Two of these nations are Gibraltar and Malta, in which Malta seems to be gaining the upper hand, has UK have opted-out of the European Union, making the former less appealing as companies who wants direct access to an entire market.

Although Malta presents one of the most favorable locations for blockchain projects, it presents its own set of challenges due to political concerns.

It is expected that the European Commission will be issuing formal binding demands on Malta’s financial regulator in order to reduce the amount of illicit activities that might be occurring in the country.

1 Million Euro Budget For FinTech and Crypto Supervision From EU Financial Regulator

According to a document that was published October 4, 2018 titled the [2019 Annual Work Program](https://www.esma.europa.eu/sites/default/files/library/esma20-95-933_2019_annual_work_programme.pdf, the European Securities and Market Authority (ESMA) has budgeted over 1 Million Euro for the monitoring of fintech and crypto assets.

ESMA was founded in 2011 in Paris and was mandated to develop a uniform rulebook for European Union (E.U.) financial markets.

They are also tasked supervisory roles.

The authority has established Technical Committees in various industrial fields, including information technology.

The program will achieve a coordinated approach to the regulation and supervisory treatment of new or innovative financial activities and provide sound advice to present to the E.U. institutions, market participants or consumers.

Earlier this year in the month of March ESMA has strengthen its requirements for CFDs due to the specific characteristics of cryptocurrencies and the said asset class will be strictly monitored.

Bithumb Will Release Own Decentralized Exchange

The sixth largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Bithumb has recently announced that it will be releasing its own decentralized exchange (DEX).

According to online news outlets, Bithumb has partnered with blockchain firm One Root Network (RNT) which is currently running its own DEX based on the Ethereum network.

Decentralized exchanges enables traders to trade peer-to-peer and does not store the clients crypto in their system, making it less vulnerable from hackers that target large exchanges.

However transactions in this type of exchange are generally slower compared to centralized exchanges.

It was revealed by Bithumb official that the partnership centers on technical support and the Bithumb DEX and will be operated by its overseas subsidiary.

The contact also emphasized that the company is working with RNT only in the decentralized exchange sector.

Soulja Boy Releases A Bitcoin Rap

A world-renowned, critically-acclaimed American artist, Soulja Boy has hopped on the Bitcoin bandwagon with a release of a tract about cryptocurrencies.

Taking the Twitter last Tuesday, the rapper releases “Young Drako” an album that he has been working on for some time now.

Many have initially assumed that the track was created to dish the nascent crypto market but this was not the case based on its lyrics where he describe an hypothetical scenario of making money off Bitcoins and owning Cryptocurrencies including litecoins.

It is not the first time an artist have shown interest with the burgeoning industry.

On August 30th, Eminem released an album in which one of the featured artist mentions Bitcoins.

This gives credence to the theory that cryptocurrencies have begun to infiltrate the pop culture of today.

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