While the dust settles on a busy week in the Forex and crypto industries, we take a look at the stories that dominated this week's news in our best of the week segment.
FINRA Fines Virtu Americas $250,000
Finance Magnates reported that Virtu Americas LLC agreed to pay $250,000 to settle against several violations brought by the US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
Allegations against Virtu Americas LLC (formerly KCG Americas LLC) were centered around executions and priorities on pending orders from 2009 to 2017. The industry-funded watchdog found a number of different violations, which were considered a disruption to market trading standards.
AxiCorp Appeals ASIC's Suspension of its AFS License
Dominating the Australian Forex scene was news that AxiCorp Financial Services Pty Ltd, has applied to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to review its Australian financial services (AFS) license suspension decision by ASIC.
The appeal means that AxiCorp can continue its operations until the Tribunal makes a final decision. However, it has refused the OTC derivative issuer's request for confidentiality orders.
AxiCorp provided an exclusive statement to Finance Magnates, which can be read here.
China Shuts Bitcoin Mining Farms
As the Coronavirus epidemic worsens, Chinese authorities are shutting down Bitcoin mining farms in a bid to contain the spread. Though the Chinese government banned the trading of digital currencies, the country is still leading Bitcoin mining, which is estimated at 65 percent of the total Hash Rate .
Jiang Zhuoer, the operator of mining pool BTC.Top, revealed that his mining facility and several others were shut down by the local police, citing the ongoing epidemic. Read more about the controversial actions here.
FXCM Ties with Paysafe Income Access
Retail FX broker FXCM is set to launch its global affiliate and partner program that will be managed by Paysafe Group's marketing provider, Income Access.
Finance Magnates covered the FXCM partnership with Income Access who was acquired by Paysafe three years ago in a $30.0 million cash deal.
Ripple Co-Founder Sells a Billion XRP
Finance Magnates reported on Jed McCaleb, a co-founder of Ripple, who sold a billion of his XRP holdings between 2014 and 2019 worth a total of $135 million. McCaleb was allocated 9.5 billion XRP but was forced to limit his monthly and annual sales for seven years.
Currently, in the seventh year of his agreement, McCaleb still holds another 4.7 billion XRP, totaling around 5 percent of the total token supply. Read here for more about the XRP sales, the details of the selling agreement, and what's next when the agreement finally ends.
The Top 5 Trends in Fintech
In a detailed and fascinating analysis, Finance Magnates dissected the whole FinTech scene in 2020. With the help and opinions of some of the industry's leading lights, we identified the Top 5 trends in FinTech this year.
Respected industry figures such as Anthony Macciola, Chief Innovation Officer at ABBYY, lan Grujic, CEO of All of Us Financial, and Maarten Verweij, Chief Executive of Origin X, all discuss what will be hot in the world of FinTech in 2020 and beyond.
