Here’s what happened this week in Bitcoin in 99 seconds.
The unexpected price drop in Bitcoin last week likely resulted from a failed margin call on a massive position on Hong Kong’s OKEx exchange. A highly-leveraged position, representing about $416 million, had to be liquidated by the exchange once it started losing. However, the unidentified trader behind the position did not have the funds to cover it and neither did the exchange. Other trader’s profits, worth about 1,200 BTC in total, were used to cover the shortfall.
ICE, the operator of the world’s largest stock exchange, the NYSE, will be launching a new Bitcoin futures market. Different from the 2 existing US future markets, this new market will be physically-settled, meaning that actual bitcoins will trade hands at the expiry of each contract. This explains the new market’s name – Bakkt [“Backed”] as it is backed by real coins. Provided it gets approved by regulators, the market is scheduled to begin operations in November. Some major companies such as Microsoft and Starbucks are partners in this exchange project.
Bitcoin mining ASIC manufacturer, Canaan announced a TV set which doubles as a Bitcoin miner. The 43 inch TV apparently mines at 2.8 Terahash per second and features voice control and AI. It can also display mining data and pay for media content or gifts through Canaan’s software platform.
That’s what happened this week in Bitcoin. See you next week.
