There have been a number of huge developments in the cryptocurrency and foreign exchange (Forex ) sectors this week.
In case you missed some of the top and most interesting stories, take a look at our best of the week overview so that you can stay up to date.
Dukascopy launches stable coin
Facebook may be taking all the headlines in the crypto-sphere at the moment, but the move towards stable coins is still going strong.
This week retail broker Dukascopy announced that it is launching Dukascash, three separate stable coins linked to the Swiss franc, US dollar, and euro.
The broker has already launched its own cryptocurrency, Dukascoin, that has seen impressive uptake since going live earlier this year.
A good economy, a declining FX market
Poland is an amazing country in Eastern Europe that often stands strong against the overreach of the European Union.
But the same can’t be said of its retail trading market.
In fact, Finance Magnates own research has found that the number of traders in the country has been steadily declining over the past five years.
And with ESMA also putting pressure on brokers, one leading industry executive thinks the country’s trading market is likely to see consolidation.
From Berlin to Barcelona
Poland may be down, but TRADE.com is on the up.
After announcing the opening of a new office in Berlin a couple of months ago, the retail broker is now heading to Spain.
Along with a new office in Barcelona, the broker is going to providing Spanish educational courses and other services tailored to clients in the country.
Global FX Code gets the FCA’s approval
After a long wait, the Financial Conduct Authority has decided to adopt the FX Global Code of Conduct.
First launched in May 2017, the code is a set of best-practices attempting to govern unregulated activity in the FX trading industry.
Though many institutions have been happy to sign up to it, many in the retail trading space have been slow to do the same.
But with regulatory approval, that could be about to change.
“I’m rich, I can do whatever I want”
In what may be the greatest interview ever published on the Finance Magnates website, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson discussed Facebook and the reason he gets up in the morning to do his work.
The cryptocurrency veteran, who had been on a five day fast prior to the interview, said that the social media giant is unlikely to beat his firm in emerging markets and that he has big plans for Georgia.
oneZero goes institutional
It’s a tough world for technology providers to the retail trading space these days, what with ESMA regulations killing the market.
But oneZero, which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary, continues to go from strength to strength.
The technology provider announced this week that it has received substantial investment from private equity firm Lovell Minnick Partners and Phil Weisberg, the former CEO of FXall.
Flush with cash, the firm plans on tackling the institutional market and continuing to expand its set of services in the retail market.
Follow the Libra
Regulators across the globe have, for the most part, been ignoring cryptocurrency for close to a decade now.
But after surveillance and advertising social media company, Facebook announced its intention to launch Libra, regulators have been squawking about the need to regulate the nascent digital assets market.
Will they be able to catch up? Probably not but they’ll likely manage to spoil the fun anyway.
Regulation is coming
The Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental organization that combats money-laundering, finalized a set of recommended regulations for virtual asset service providers last week.
Cryptocurrency exchanges will be included in the regulatory changes, which could affect 37 countries, and firms will be forced to share much more information about who their customers are and the transactions they are making.
Go phish
Members of the Israeli Defence Force’s 8200 unit are famous for launching start-ups, founding cybersecurity firms and hacking into Iranian nuclear facilities.
Last week, a veteran of the unit was found to have done something impressive but, sadly, illegal.
Eli Gigi, who is thought to have been in 8200, and his brother Asaf, who wasn’t, allegedly hacked into Bitfinex and stole $100 million in 2016.
Israeli police arrested the pair in Jerusalem after a lengthy investigation by the cybercrime division.
