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Crypto Markets News

Bitcoin (BTC) Futures trades increased By 93% Over The Past Four Months, According To CME Group

Bitcoin (BTC) futures have experienced a significant 93% growth in daily volume over the last four months, according to CME Group, the market leader in this type of financial assets. According to information shared through Twitter, interest in contracts reached a rate of 2,400 contracts, an increase of 58% in future contracts over the previous four-month period of 2018.

Also, the CME Group issued a press release stating that it had reached a daily volume of 4.2 million futures contracts in the second quarter of 2018, nearly 13% more than the same period last year. Bitcoin (BTC) is part of the future contracts traded by this company, including metals and agricultural shares.

CME also manages the Bitcoin Reference Rate (BRR) and Bitcoin Real-Time Index (BRTI) indices, the former being a benchmark price averaged daily with global markets and the latter a real-time index for trading. The indices have been in operation since 2016, taking into account multiple cryptocurrency exchange platforms such as GDAX, Kraken, and Bitstamp.

It has been a semester of growth for CME Group’s Bitcoin (BTC) futures markets since they were launched in December last year

Another brokerage platform, which recently requested authorization from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to trade Bitcoin (BTC) futures was the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), which opened its offer of futures contracts before CME Group.

Thus, the SEC has received some comments regarding the approval of the Listed Investment Fund, and it is expected that, by August 16th, the decision will be made.

On the other hand, the current CBOE statistics maintain that Bitcoin (BTC) futures contract markets have a daily volume of 2,272 and 5,261 interest rate contracts, a 36% change concerning the previous four-month period.

In this way, the insertion of Bitcoin (BTC) in traditional financial dynamics is stimulated, on markets that are interested both in trading in cryptocurrencies and in knowing the benefits of distributed accounting technology, and as has been the case of dozens of companies that have launched investment funds in cryptocurrencies. In fact, the CME Group also filed a patent to create a private blockchain that can be modified for application in various industries.

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Crypto Markets News

Bitcoin (BTC) Is “Digital Gold” – VanEck’s Gabor Gurbacs Expect Gold Investors Move To BTC

Many times, Bitcoin (BTC) is matched with gold. Both BTC and gold are rare, valuable, and, as seen during the time, they both keep their value over time. But, as VanEck’s Gabor Gurbacs considers, Bitcoin (BTC) can triple its market cap in the case it’s conquering a part of the gold’s market share.

In the last years, since Bitcoin (BTC) “went to the Moon,” especially in December when it reached $20,000, many people and crypto enthusiasts compared BTC with gold. Both assets are valuable, but they’re very different. Gold is still the ideal asset to store value, while Bitcoin (BTC) is still facing high levels of volatility, as well as other issues.

VanEck’s Gabor Gurbacs goes bullish regarding Bitcoin (BTC)

Gabor Gurbacs considers that the things will recover for the leading cryptocurrency on the market, Bitcoin (BTC). According to him, investors in the precious metal will come to put money on the “digital gold” that is BTC. If that would happen, then the largest cryptocurrency by market cap will significantly benefit from this move.

However, since the beginning of the BTC surge, the Bitcoin (BTC) was a long-term investment asset such as gold. On the other hand, short-term prices fluctuations in the Bitcoin’s price are not at all critical in the long-term.

The gold’s market cap sums up approximately $7 trillion, while Bitcoin (BTC) records a market capitalization of about $130 billion.

Winning gold investors, Bitcoin (BTC) can surge considerably

Currently, Bitcoin (BTC) is showing a slight upturn. However, when comparing the current sentiment that surrounds the leading crypto of the market with the drop recorded at the beginning of the year, the recent surge might be considered bullish.

At the moment of this writing, Bitcoin (BTC) trades at $7,370, dropping a shallow 0.8% in the last 24 hours. However, the current quotation doesn’t mirror the right Bitcoin market. In fact, the BTC has vast potential, and its only issue is its volatility, and not the alleged liquidity, as many says.

But, as Gabor Gurbacs pointed out, the cryptocurrencies market, including BTC, needs to mature and become a real industry, something that is not the case right now. Also, as VanEck’s Gurbacs stated if gold investors would turn to Bitcoin (BTC), which is the “digital gold” whatsoever, the leading cryptocurrency of the market would “go to the Moon.”

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Crypto Markets News

Bitcoin (BTC) And Cryptocurrencies, In General, Criticized During The US Congress Session

On July 18th, the US Congress was the scene of several discussions on cryptocurrencies, in general, and Bitcoin (BTC), in special. Federal Reserve (FED) Chairman Jerome Powell and Democratic Senator Brad Sherman used their speeches in the Chamber to express their negative views on the issue.

Powell said that, despite their growth and the interest they have generated in the population, the cryptocurrencies are not yet large enough to compromise the country’s economic and financial well-being. The head of the FED expressed his displeasure with the issue, assuring that these tools are not among the priorities of the institution he heads. For him, they are assets for money laundering and pose significant risks to investors.

Also, he assured that the FED is not working on adopting its own cryptocurrency. For him, most crypto holders sell and pay in dollars, and he added that cryptocurrency is not a right way to preserve value because of its volatility.

Despite the negative US Congress views on cryptocurrencies, the US SEC might approve Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs trading

But despite pointing out the criminal uses of cryptocurrencies, Powell’s position was not as openly negative as that of Brad Sherman, a congressman and member of the California House of Financial Services. For him, the federal government must ban U.S. citizens from investing in cryptocurrency.

In the United States, authorities are watching out for illegal activities with cryptos as well as their legal status. A House subcommittee recently held a hearing to address the anonymity of cryptos transactions, raising concerns about the possible use of these assets for illicit purposes.

For its part, the Department of Justice, in conjunction with the U.S. Futures Trading Commission, could be on the trail of possible illegal practices that could influence the bitcoin market, especially regarding trading activities.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) received more than 60 comments, mostly in favor of Cboe Global Markets’ request for approval of Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs, an issue that has been on the company’s agenda and has been taken up again by the company. Most commentators highlight the benefits that investors in that country would obtain from the acceptance of Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs trades.

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Crypto Markets News

SBI Holdings Officially Opened Its VCTRADE Crypto Exchange To The Public

After announcing its launch in June and after months of delays, Japanese financial services corporation SBI Holdings finally opened its crypto exchange platform to the public. With the implementation of the project, the financial institution becomes the first bank to offer this type of service.

Named VCTRADE, the crypto exchange platform began operating on Tuesday, July 17th, according to a statement issued by the company through its website, which reports that the institution launched the process for receiving applications and opening new accounts.

Starting accepting applications to open new accounts with our virtual currency exchange service (VCTRADE) today. Account opening is available for people aged 20 to 70 living in Japan. Applications to establish corporate client accounts are not currently accepted.

SBI Holdings

SBI Holdings put its system into operation last June. However, the procedures were only available to those users who signed up in October, when the call was made.

SBI Holdings VCTRADE cryptocurrency exchange allows XRP (XRP), Bitcoin (BTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) trades against the Yen

In total, more than 20,000 customers answered the call and began trading with XRP (XRP), formerly known as Ripple (XRP), in exchange for Yen, the official currency unit of Japan. Although the company initially offered only transactions with XRP, it later added support for Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

As you may recall, the company issued a press release in June of this year informing that it had completed the requirements and paid all the fees required by Japanese law to start operations. In 2016, SBI Holdings laid out a practical route for the creation of its crypto exchange platform. Almost two years ago, they created SBI Virtual Currencies as a first step to launching the new platform on Tuesday.

Other projects such as SBI Crypto, SBI Wirex Asia, SBI Capital Base, BCause, and Digital Asset Exchange were also announced by the bank last year. Each of these initiatives seeks to cover the entire spectrum of cryptocurrency.

SBI Holdings movements in the world of cryptocurrency have also included the purchase, in March, of 40% of CoolBitX, a Taiwanese company dedicated to cold wallets. Another of the corporation’s announcements consists of the one made in April of this year when it was announced that SBI’s Russian subsidiary, known as SBI Bank LLC, established a working alliance with the R3CEV consortium with the intention of using blockchain Corda for its operations.

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Crypto Markets News

BlackRock, The World’s Leading ETF Provider, Aims At Bitcoin (BTC) Futures

The world’s largest exchange-traded fund (ETF) provider BlackRock has announced the creation of a working group to investigate a possible entry into Bitcoin (BTC) futures trading, Financial News (FN) reported today, July 16th.

The move would be a 180-degree turn for BlackRock, as the company had spoken out against cryptocurrencies in the past. Following the example of competitor Goldman Sachs, the cross-industry working group led by BlackRock is to investigate, among other things, whether the company should invest in Bitcoin (BTC) futures, reports FN.

In a general commentary to FN, a spokeswoman for BlackRock announced that the company had been “looking at Blockchain for several years.” Cryptocurrencies were not mentioned.

On the other hand, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein is said to have told the media that Bitcoin (BTC) “is not for him” before he suddenly announced that a dedicated research team was investigating how Goldman could offer a range of crypto-related services to meet customers demands.

BlackRock exchange-traded fund (ETF) provider follows Goldman Sachs steps and explores Bitcoin (BTC) futures trading advantages

BlackRock seems to match the actions made by Goldman Sachs, despite the fact that managing director Larry Fink described Bitcoin (BTC), shortly before the currency’s all-time high last year, as “an instrument for money laundering.”

In February 2018, the company announced that it was investigating cryptocurrency solutions and was considering a “broader” application in the future.

BlackRock recorded revenues of almost $6.3 billion in 2017.

The bottom line of the news is that institutional funds seem to be waiting for an ideal entry point, as many commentators on the scene describe it. Over the weekend, CNBC’s trade advisor Ran Neuner suggested that a future influx of institutional money in 2017 will make it look like a warm-up.

BTC surged by 4 percent in just 2 hours this morning, apparently due to the bullish news that BlackRock aims Bitcoin (BTC) futures. At the time of this article, BTC trades at $6,622 appreciating by about 4% in the last 24 hours.

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