Another week has passed on the foreign exchange (forex) and cryptocurrency markets. HKEX made a $39.6 billion bid for the LSE, and ATFX launched an institutional trading desk. All this and more in our latest edition of the best of the week segment.
Analysis: Van Eck’s ‘BTF’ flop, what does it mean for Bitcoin ETFs?
Starting off this best of the week edition is an analysis from Finance Magnates’ Rachel McIntosh, where she takes a look at the recent launch of VanEck and SolidX’ most recent investment product–which has been described as a “limited” Bitcoin ETF.
Many people in the crypto space believe that a Bitcoin ETF would be the regulatory and financial boom to Bitcoin that the cryptocurrency has been seeking for such a long time. However, if taking a look at Van Eck’s BTF flop, that might not actually be the case.
Take a look at the full analysis here to find out why.
Poland authority charges co-founder of BitMarket
This week, the District Prosecutor’s Office in Suwałki, a city in Poland, announced this week that it has charged Marcin A., the co-owner of BitMarket, for committing a crime, following an investigation into the exchange operating under the domain name BitMarket.pl.
As you may recall, the crypto exchange BitMarket closed down suddenly in July, citing “loss of liquidity.” It was then revealed that the exchange had then been hacked, which has led to the charges against Marcin A. Stay up to date with the developments here.
BTCC co-founder starts a new crypto venture
This week, Finance Magnates reported that BTCC co-founder Bobby Lee had started another crypto venture - Ballet. Through the company, it has launched a hardware wallet with support for multiple digital currencies.
The hardware wallet will initially support four Cryptocurrencies – Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and XRP – along with the dozens of ERC20 tokens.
FCA continues preparation for “hard Brexit”
With the October 31st deadline just around the corner, the FCA is continuing to ensure financial firms both within and outside of the UK are prepared for a hard Brexit, that is, if Britain leaves the EU without a deal.
Now, the regulator is promoting its Brexit webpages and has dedicated the telephone line (0800 048 4255) to help the financial sector accelerate its efforts to comply with rules that would come into force in the event of a no-deal divorce.
The FCA told firms operating from the UK that they will have 15 months to get their houses in order before the new rules take effect if the nation was crashed out of the bloc in October without a deal in place.
Interview: oneZero CEO “multi-asset will be the norm”
This week, we sat down with the CEO of oneZero, Andrew Ralich, to speak on the future of brokers in an ever-changing landscape. His opinion? Multi-asset brokers will be the norm in the future.
Furthermore, he also believes that equities trading is likely to become standard for retail brokers in the near future. Interested in learning more? Check out the full interview here.
HKEX Makes £32 Billion Offer for LSEG
This week, Finance Magnates broke the news that Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) is planning to acquire the London Stock Exchange Group. The Hong Kong exchange group has made an unsolicited offer of £32 billion ($39.6 million) for the company.
LSEG shares jumped by 15 percent – to just over £78 – after the news was made public, before falling back down to £72.
Coinbase considering to enter into the IEO arena
With initial exchange offerings (IEO) increasing in popularity, there appears to be another big player wanting to enter the space - leading crypto exchange Coinbase.
Speaking at the Coindesk’s Invest: Asia conference on Wednesday Kayvon Pirestani, the exchange’s head of institutional sales in Asia said the company is considering to launch a proprietary token to jump in the IEO arena.
As Finance Magnates reported, Coinbase is specifically exploring the idea of launching platforms for IEO and security token offerings (STOs).
Blockstack makes $23 Million in SEC-regulated token sale
The next story for our best of the week segment concerns Blockchain startup Blockstack. Specifically, the company managed to raise $23 million in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)-regulated token offering in the United States, along with a strategic investment round in Asia.
As Finance Magnates highlighted, with the fundraising round, the decentralized computing company became the first company to conduct a token offering in the US under the SEC Reg A+ compliance rules on September 9.
Tradefeedr onboards Goldman, XTX, and UBS
Tradefeedr, which provides a platform for companies to share foreign exchange (forex) trading data, announced this week that Goldman Sachs, UBS and XTX Markets have become the first market makers to join its platform.
Based in London, the firm has already worked with retail broker CMC Markets.
Libra might exclude Chinese yuan
This week there was another big development with Facebook’s stablecoin Libra. As Finance Magnates reported, Facebook and it’s Libra Association partners are planning to initially back Libra with fiats including US dollars, euro, yen, British pound, and Singapore dollar.
The social media giant revealed this in response to concerns raised by Senator Mark Warner (D-Virginia) for China’s attempts to push the Libra Association to include yuan in the basket of the currencies backing Libra.
Pepperstone Dubai subsidiary is incorporated in DIFC
The MENA region is becoming an increasingly popular destination for brokers, particularly the United Arab Emirates. This week, it was revealed that another broker is seeking a license from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) - Pepperstone, an Australian FX and CFD broker.
The license application follows on from the broker incorporating its new subsidiary, Pepperstone Financial Services (DIFC) Limited, in the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC). The DIFC’s website shows that the registration status of the new spin-off is ‘Active’ while its regulatory application is ‘Pending DFSA Authorization.’
ATFX is launching an institutional trading desk
This week ATFX exclusively revealed to Finance Magnates that it is launching a new institutional trading desk targeted at professional clients - ATFX Connect.
The broker will be providing a new set of technology to those prospective traders, with a new trading platform developed in conjunction with Celer Tech.
Brokers look for offshore destinations in Asia
Brokers have long been searching for promising new offshore destinations that offer more relaxed regulation and less competition. This offshore migration has only been helped by the product intervention measures implemented by ESMA.
This week, Finance Magnates examined two interesting and promising destinations of this area – Thailand and Vietnam – to see if and how FX/CFD and crypto businesses can succeed there. You can read the full report here.
