With the end of the week quickly approaching, let’s take a look back at the most interesting news that affected the foreign exchange (forex) and cryptocurrency industries in our best of the week segment.
Ripple’s final attempt to dismiss securities lawsuit
There’s been an update to the ongoing XRP lawsuit, with the company claiming that even if XRP were a security, the investors that are in the process of suing Ripple for an alleged unregistered securities sale, brought their case too late.
As Finance Magnates reported, the filing is reportedly the company’s last effort to get the court to drop an amended class-action lawsuit that was filed in August before the scheduled hearing on January 15th, 2020.
Robinhood reaches 10 million users
Robinhood has been able to bring on nearly as many customers as TD Ameritrade, with the commission-free stock trading app announcing this week that the number of user accounts has hit 10 million.
The six-year-old startup has been growing at an explosive rate, and the number of brokerage accounts on its platform is double than it was a year ago.
Analysis: What will Russia’s future role in crypto be?
Russia is home to some of the industry's top talent--but does it have the legal infrastructure to be a hub?
Finance Magnates explored this topic this week, pointing out that it appears that with the right kind of legal environment, the prevalence of Russian talent in the crypto industry could point to Russia’s potential as a major tech hub for the crypto industry.
Fastmatch founder’s new FX platform goes live
The founder of Fastmatch, Dmitri Galinov's new venture - an over-the-counter platform, went live this week with its first product - FX non-deliverable forwards (NDFs). 24 Exchange is a multi-asset venue that claims to offer institutional market participants a more cost-effective way to trade FX NDFs through eliminating market data fees.
As Finance Magnates covered, the Bermuda-based platform initially trades NDFs, but other FX derivatives, including swaps, could follow.
Is clarity coming for crypto?
The SEC has tackled a number of high-profile ICO cases this year--but is crypto any closer to regulatory clarity? Finance Magnates’ Editor Rachel McIntosh posed this question.
Although many analysts and experts agree that token sale regulations are still unclear in the United States, the ways that the cases have continued to unfold in court have the potential to set important precedents for the future of token sale regulation.
TechFinancials closes DragonFinancials Trading Platform
Another trading platform has shut down due to tightening regulations. This week, TechFinancials, Inc announced this Monday that it has closed DragonFinancials, its business-to-consumer (B2C) trading platform focused on the Asia Pacific region.
According to the statement filed through the London Stock Exchange, DragonFinancials, of which the company owns 51 percent, has not been able to withstand the current regulatory environment and has been consistently incurring losses since 2018.
Low institutional demand forces crypto closures
Continuing on the theme of businesses closing down, as many as 70 crypto-focused hedge funds closed down this year as institutional turn out to the sector remains on the lower side.
Moreover, according to Crypto Fund Research, a San Francisco-based market Analytics firm, the number of new funds started in 2019 remains less than half of the new funds initiated the previous year.
Nomura CEO to step down
This week brought a big shakeup to Nomura - its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Koji Nagai, will be stepping down from his role after seven years at the helm.
Effective from the 1st of April 2020, Nagai will no longer be the CEO of the Nomura Group and will transition to the role of Chairman of the Board of Directors. Nagai is being replaced by Kentaro Okuda, who is currently the co-chief operating officer of the Japanese financial firm.
Australian police seize $1 million in crypto
The Western Australian Police Force seized AUD1.5 million (almost $1 million) worth of digital currency in a drug bust, which is believed to be the largest crypto seizer by the authorities.
Announced on Wednesday by the Australian Border Force (ABF), the authorities nabbed two people – a 27-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman – for attempted importation of MDMA. For more information on the events, read more here.
GO Markets heads to Europe
GO Markets, an Australian forex broker, is continuing its global expansion by heading to Europe with the acquisition of Cyprus-based financial services provider, Galactus Ltd.
As Finance Magnates reported, Galactus Ltd is an investment firm authorized by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) and holds license number 322/17.
