The year 2019, for a short while, raised expectations that stablecoins would bring about mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. 2020, however, seems to be dousing those hopes with ever-tightening regulation that is putting pressure on investors and companies alike. The first complication came only 10 days into the year. In early January, the European Union’s landmark Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, or 5AMLD, was signed into law. The law is the latest evolution of the EU’s response to the Panama Papers scandal, in which a leak of over 11 million documents uncovered…
Day: January 25, 2020
Crypto Giant Binance Pledges $1.5m to Help Chinese Coronavirus Victims
Over the past few weeks, a virus in the coronavirus family (same family as the common cold, SARS, MERS, etc.) has started to circulate the globe. This novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) originated in China, specifically in the Chinese city of Wuhan and seemingly due to infected animals being sold at a local market. The virus has thus far infected 1,400 individuals, official numbers state, with cases existing mainly in China though starting to spread to the U.S., France, Malaysia, Singapore, and beyond. Although these numbers may seem small, reports indicate that…
Greatest Promise Is to Transform the Developing World
The biggest topic in the mobile industry over the last few years has been 5G. In an industry that has been starved for innovation in this interregnum between the launch of the iPhone and the full-scale integration of next-generation technologies like augmented reality, artificial intelligence and blockchain, the introduction of the 5G network has become a sort of catch-all for carriers and handset manufacturers to lean on as the promise of the future of innovation being just around the corner — a feature worth paying a premium for and upgrading…
Litecoin Creator Proposes Miners Voluntarily Donate 1% for Development
Litecoin (LTC) founder Charlie Lee proposed mining pool donations as a new funding method for cryptocurrency development. “I think a better way to fund development is mining pools voluntarily donate a portion of the block reward,” Lee said in a tweet on Jan. 24, adding: “How about Litecoin pools donate 1% (0.125 LTC) of block rewards to the @LTCFoundation? If every miner/pool does this, it amounts to about $1.5MM donation per year!” With 1% donated on a consistent basis, Lee’s suggested solution would provide enough funding for Litecoin permanently going…
CV Summit United Blockchain Leaders and Enthusiasts in Davos
If you wanted to go deep on blockchain at the World Economic Forum, you needed to attend the conference’s side events. Perhaps the largest of these crypto-friendly events was CV Summit, an all-day conference organized by CV Labs. The Switzerland-based organization (operated by CV VC) endeavors to offer crypto entrepreneurs whatever resources they need to succeed, from fundraising help to coworking space. On Thursday, January 23, that meant offering a full agenda of speakers and panel presentations to crypto-hungry Davos attendees. The docket was loaded with speeches by high-profile crypto…
Could Ethereum Hit $1 Trillion? Analyst Says Over 1,000% Rally Possible
While the cryptocurrency didn’t perform that well in 2019, Ethereum (ETH) is one of the best-performing digital assets of all time, rallying from an ICO price under a dollar to the $160 where it is today. Related Reading: This Eerie Fractal Shows Why Bitcoin’s Price Could Soon Crash By 20% Despite this jaw-dropping gain in and of itself, investors in the cryptocurrency believe it will go higher. So much higher than one analyst laid out a case for the cryptocurrency’s value to surge to $1 trillion, 13 digits. For some…
Leading Swiss Stock Exchange Offers 12 Crypto Exchange-Traded Products With One That Shorts Bitcoin
Switzerland’s principal stock exchange, SIX Swiss Exchange, now has 12 cryptocurrency exchange-traded products listed. The latest addition, the 21shares Short Bitcoin, allows investors to profit from falling prices of the digital currency. Other listed crypto products include those that track the price movements of BCH, BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, and tezos. Also read: Regulatory Roundup — New US Crypto Tax Bill, Central Banks Join Forces on Digital Currencies Newest Addition: An Inverse Product SIX Swiss Exchange has listed an inverse bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP) issued by fintech company Amun AG.…
Bitcoin ‘Needs More’ PR from People Like Peter Schiff: Binance CEO
Bitcoin (BTC) skeptic and gold bug Peter Schiff is unwittingly advertising the cryptocurrency’s virtues over other investments, says the CEO of exchange Binance. In a tweet on Jan. 25, Changpeng Zhao (known as “CZ” in crypto circles) argued Schiff was failing in sewing distrust of Bitcoin among social media followers and beyond. CZ: We need more “negative voices” “I think Peter is doing great to promote bitcoin. He probably does not realize that given his illogical reasoning, most people will do exactly opposite of what he says,” he wrote. CZ…
Bitcoin Risk-Return a ‘Different Beast’ Compared to Amazon: Analyst
Bitcoin’s (BTC) risk-return is a “different beast” compared to even the darling of the stock market of the 2000s, Amazon. That was the conclusion drawn by one of the cryptocurrency industry’s best-known analysts and the creator of a uniquely accurate Bitcoin price model. PlanB: Amazon “normal” compared to BTC Uploading a chart showing BTC risk-return versus Amazon stocks, U.S. bonds, gold and the S&P 500 on Jan. 24, PlanB showed Bitcoin behaved completely differently as an investment. Amazon’s significant losses in the year 2000, combined with its revered recovery ever…
Crypto and the Latency Arms Race: Market Microstructures
Max Boonen is the founder and CEO of crypto trading firm B2C2. This post is the third in a series of three that looks at the structure of crypto markets. Opinions expressed within are his own and do not reflect those of CoinDesk. In the two previous articles, I summarized the evolution of speed in modern finance and the balancing act between good and bad latency reductions. Let us now examine the venues where trading takes place and how they fare in this world of increasing speeds. To trade financial…