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Algo Hedge Funds Join Cast of Suspects Seen Behind Bitcoin Surge – Bloomberg
“Add algorithmic hedge funds to the list of suspects behind Tuesday’s sudden surge in Bitcoin that had the true believers in the digital asset world heralding a renaissance in the most-popular cryptocurrency.”
tags: CryptoAssets AlgoTrading
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European Union Launches International Association of Trusted Blockchain Applications
“The European Union announced the launch of the International Association of Trusted Blockchain Applications (INATBA) on its official website on April 3.”
tags: FinTech Blockchain
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Over 40 Central Banks Are Considering Blockchain Currencies: Davos Report – CoinDesk
More than 40 central banks worldwide are experimenting with blockchain technology, including central bank digital currencies, says a new report by the World Economic Forum.
tags: CryptoAssets Blockchain CBDC
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The SEC Just Released Its Long-Awaited Crypto Token Guidance – CoinDesk
The U.S. SEC has published fresh regulatory guidance for token issuers, outlining how and when these crypto-assets may fall under a securities classification.
tags: CryptoAssets ICOs STOs Regulation
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“Dai may also be poised to become the stablecoin of choice for ETH users, for a variety of reasons. An upcoming Coinbase listing, the potential for ICOs denominated in Dai, payroll sent in Dai, and dApps like Augur using Dai, all point to the need for Dai or something similar in the future.”
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Venture capitalists are still throwing hundreds of millions at blockchains – MIT Technology Review
VCs continue to invest large sums in blockchain companies. According to PitchBook VCs have invested around $334 million in blockchain projects in the first three months of this year.
tags: FinTech Blockchain Blog
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Jamaica Stock Exchange to Pilot Bitcoin and Ether Trading
“The Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) is soon to trial bitcoin and ether trades with help from Canadian fintech firm Blockstation. The two firms jointly announced Wednesday that they have entered into an agreement to enable live trading of digital assets including security tokens in a “regulated and secured” environment.”
tags: CryptoAssets Bitcoin Ethereum Liquidity Tokenization Blog
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Are New Repo Participants Gaining Ground? Liberty Street Economics
Regulations introduced following the 2007-09 financial crisis made it more expensive for bank holding companies (BHC) to enter into repurchase agreements (repo). As a consequence, banks and securities dealers associated with BHCs, which dominate the repo market, were predicted to pull back. Our bloggers find that although new participants have entered and made gains, they remain a small part of the overall repo market.
tags: Regulation Repo
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FRTB: Singapore’s banks eye internal models for forex desks
Singapore’s largest lenders are looking at using their own models to calculate capital for foreign exchange trading desks, after recent changes to market risk rules alleviated concerns among Asia’s banks over the uncertain capital impact of the new regime. However, adoption of the internal models approach, or IMA, will not be straightforward, banks warn.
tags: Derivatives FX FRTB
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Will the Nasdaq default spur CVA for CCPs?
Matthias Arnsdorf, global head of the counterparty credit risk quantitative research team at JP Morgan, demonstrates a model for computing CVA exposure for a CCP using the limited information that is available to a bank facing it as a clearing member.
tags: Derivatives CVA
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As China bonds go global, dealers size up demand for swaps
The inclusion of onshore China bonds in global fixed income indexes is expected to provide a boost to the country’s still embryonic interest rate swap market.
tags: Swaps
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FSB says fallbacks should kick in if Libor no longer accurate
Regulators have publicly called on the International Swaps and Derivatives Association to consider adding another trigger to Libor-based derivatives contracts that would automatically switch them on to an alternative reference rate: namely, in the event Libor is deemed no longer representative of underlying funding markets.
tags: LIBOR
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FXOptions Cleared Volumes Up in Q1 2019
FX Options clearing volumes data show a marked jump in Q1 2019 – quadrupling cleared notional outstanding from the end of 2018, unlike IR Swaptions and CDX Swaptions, which show little traction. In this article I will look into the detail of this jump in FX Option volumes.
tags: FX Derivatives
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QR Codes Are Out, Soon You’ll Only Need to Show Your Face to Pay in China
While Sweden is trialling inserting microchips into its citizens as a new way to pay, China is opting for a less invasive method — your face.
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Fraction of buy-side firms ready for uncleared margin rules – The TRADE
Only a fraction of buy-side firms are ready to comply with new collateral rules for uncleared derivatives, which will be extended to a wider range of firms from September.
tags: Derivatives
Month: April 2019
Kiffmeister’s Daily Fintech Digest 04/02/2019
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QuadrigaCX Crypto Exchange Could Soon Be Placed in Bankruptcy – CoinDesk
“Ernst and Young (EY), the court-appointed monitor for collapsed Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX, has proposed transitioning the company from a restructuring process to bankruptcy proceedings.”
tags: CryptoAssets Liquidity CyberRisk Canada Blog
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Crypto Lenders Push No-Tax Perk of Leveraging Bitcoin for Cash
Since crypto values plummeted last year, US lenders have been luring people with paper profits to leverage them into cash by borrowing against their hodlings. And because the IRS treats crypto money as a capital asset like stocks or property, not as a currency, there’s no tax bill on the transactions.
tags: CryptoAssets Taxation Blog
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Malta: Financial Regulator Approves First 14 Crypto Assets Agents
The Malta Financial Services Authority has approved its first 14 crypto assets agents that previously sought for a license, five months after the Virtual Financial Assets Act came into power.
tags: CryptoAssets Regulation Blog
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Pakistan Central Bank Eyes Digital Currency Launch by 2025
Pakistan’s central bank is considering the launch of a digital currency by 2025, in order to promote financial inclusion and reduce inefficiency and corruption. The central bank is also planning to make its services fully digitized and technology equipped by the year 2030.
tags: CryptoAssets CBDC Blog
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Mastercard Introduces Consumer-Centric Model for Digital ID
Restoring Trust in a Digital World introduces MasterCard’s vision for digital identity and presents a detailed framework of how it will work.
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XRP Exchange-Traded Product Goes Live on Swiss SIX Exchange – CoinDesk
“An exchange-traded product (ETP) tracking the price of the XRP cryptocurrency has gone live on Switzerland’s primary stock exchange SIX.”
tags: CryptoAssets Ripple ETFs Blog
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Bitcoin soars 20 percent, mystery buyer seen as catalyst
Bitcoin burst to its highest level in almost five months on Tuesday, soaring 20% and sending smaller cryptos up, with analysts ascribing the move to a major algorithmic order by an anonymous buyer that triggered a frenzy of computer-driven trading.
tags: Bitcoin Blog CryptoAssets
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Send money internationally for free via Coinbase
Coinbase customers can now transfer funds to any user with a Coinbase account around the world using XRP and USDCoin with no fee. The development enables users to send and receive money instantly, as well as convert them into local currency.
tags: CrossBorder Liquidity CryptoAssets Blog
Kiffmeister’s Daily Fintech Digest 04/01/2019
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A Solution to the Current LIBOR Mess – TabbFORUM
“A financial institution with skin in the game is the most likely source of a better LIBOR replacement. CME Group has the most to lose from failure of LIBOR’s replacement as well as the expertise to produce the best LIBOR alternative.”
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The War on Cashless Stores | AIER
” There are better options than bans on cashless stores. Rather than imposing banknote acceptance by force, why not work towards improving the product? If cash were better, then store owners and consumers might choose to deal in it of their own accord.”
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Prepaid debit cards. The other anonymous payments method
“When it comes to financial privacy, good old fashioned banknotes and privacy cryptocurrencies like Zcash & Monero get all the attention. But let’s not forget about prepaid debit cards.”
tags: CryptoAssets Fintech CBDC Blog
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Why security tokens are categorically and absolutely not crypto tokens | FT Alphaville
“If someone ever tries to tell you that an STO is just a fancy name for an ICO, or that security tokens have anything to do with crypto tokens, or that the real benefit of “cryptoassets” is that they allow you to skirt regulation, or that it’s strange to have 133 companies headquartered in a 2-up-2-down in Manchester, you just tell them to stop acting the fool.”
tags: CryptoAssets ICOs STOs Blog
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Interest-Paying Crypto Accounts Are This Year’s Leading Trend – Bitcoin News
“2019 has witnessed an explosion of crypto savings programs that promise annual interest simply for locking up digital assets.”
tags: CryptoAssets Custody Collateral Blog
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BlockFi and the Mystery of Finance – Zane Pocock
“In the last couple of weeks there has been an explosion of conversation about BlockFi centered around their new Crypto Interest Account product, which differs from their Crypto Backed Loans product.”
tags: CryptoAssets Custody Collateral Blog
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BBVA loan links interest rate to digital milestones
The first “D-Loan”, as BBVA has dubbed the product, has been signed by Singapore-based Olam International, one of the world’s leading food traders. The interest rate on the $350m revolving credit facility, provided by a consortium of seven banks led by BBVA, will decline if Olam hits a set of 32 digital targets.