Category: Exchanges

Crypto services startup Anchorage has launched a crypto platform for its institutional investors and acquired the data analysis firm Merkle Data. Announced Wednesday, the moves mark an expansion in offerings for a company originally focused on providing institutions custodial services, as it continues to bet that adding more features like trading will carry crypto further into mainstream. Merkle Data’s acquisition similarly expands Anchorage’s reach, according to the blog post. Framing the data team as a complement to its new trading service, Anchorage said Merkle Data will boost its quantitative analysis…

Blockstream’s Liquid sidechain is now integrated with BTCPay Server, the self-hosted bitcoin payment processor. Announced Wednesday at 20:15 UTC, BTCPay customers can now transact assets issued on the federated sidechain such as liquid bitcoin (L-BTC) or tether (L-USDT), according to a Blockstream blog post. Liquid’s confidential asset tech – a privacy protocol that blinds typical blockchain transaction information – is now part of the BTCPay suite of payment options thanks to the partnership, the team writes. Instead of operating on the bitcoin network, which, according to rule of thumb, requires…

Crypto tokens weren’t the only thing that saw a major pump yesterday. The total value locked in DeFi ascended to new heights. While part of this can be explained simply by the rise in ETH price, it also reflected traders turning to DeFi platforms as a way to get more exposure to the market action without selling their core assets.  For all the exciting price action, not everything is pointing in a positive direction. These market moves don’t seem to reflect new market participants, for example, and, anecdotally, times remain…

A crypto analytics startup will recommend the U.S. Congress call for more stringent anti-money laundering (AML) enforcement around exchanges facilitating the trade of privacy coins during a hearing on how cryptocurrency is being used in human trafficking. At a Wednesday hearing revisiting landmark legislation passed 20 years ago, the House of Representatives’ Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission will look at the impact of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, as well as analyze new, technology-enabled threats that need to be addressed. Liat Shetret, head of policy and research at London-based crypto…

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Crypto perpetuals exchange Blade will be introducing zero-fee trading next month in a bid to gain market share from rivals.  The Coinbase-backed exchange, which began operations in September, will also drop the $10 subscription fee it had planned to collect from traders on a monthly basis. Though based in San Francisco, Blade prohibits U.S. residents from opening accounts on its platform. Blade will be the first cryptocurrency exchange to offer fee-less trading in bitcoin perpetuals – no-expiry contracts which mimic a margin-based spot market and trade close to the underlying reference…

Crypto startup Kadena’s public blockchain launched Wednesday, adding interoperable smart contract support between the public chain and its private chain counterparts.  The Brooklyn-based offshoot of JPMorgan’s blockchain center announced the launch marks another step in its effort to develop scalable, secure proof-of-work alternatives to the current leading cryptocurrencies ethereum and bitcoin. As part of its efforts in interoperability, Kadena is also integrating its wallet Chainweaver with the Cosmos Network, allowing different blockchains to interact. The integration process is expected to be complete by March.  Using Kadena, individuals or businesses can…

Trading platform Uphold has added pound sterling support, meaning users can trade cryptocurrencies via payments from U.K. bank accounts. The new connectivity launched into beta Wednesday and is expected to become publicly available on Jan. 21. Near-instant transfers will soon also be enabled through the U.K.’s Faster Payments Service (FPS) in the coming weeks. After that, U.K. users will be able to make zero-fee deposits with bank cards, which can settle in seconds using FPS. They can also make deposits with eight supported cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ether and XRP. Using…

Digital banking infrastructure provider Banxa has raised $2 million in a Series A round. Led by blockchain investment firm NGC Ventures, the round also saw the ASX-listed Thorney Investment Group Australia participate, according to a press release on Wednesday. The firm offers a fiat currency to cryptocurrency gateway solution that was recently tapped by crypto exchange Binance for its addition of Australian dollar and euro payments. The new investment will be used to support the firm’s plans to expand in new markets including in Europe, Asia and Africa. “Banxa addresses…

This is part of a series of op-eds previewing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. CoinDesk will be on the ground in Davos from Jan. 20–24 chronicling all things crypto at the annual gathering of the world’s economic and political elite. Follow along by subscribing to our pop-up newsletter, CoinDesk Confidential: Davos. Jill Carlson is a Principal on the investing team at Slow Ventures. The opinions below are her own. “Transactions are slow and costly.” “What is it backed by?” “Can we conduct anti–money laundering compliance?” “There are serious security flaws.”…