Tag: Cryptocurrency

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Crypto Markets News

VanEck Subsidiary Launched Bitcoin (BTC) OTC Market Index

MV Index Solutions, a subsidiary of New York-based investment and financial analysis company, VanEck, announced on Tuesday the launch of an OTC (over-the-counter) Bitcoin (BTC) market index, using Circle Trade, Cumberland and Genesis Trading as the primary sources for its information.

According to the press release, this is the first index of Bitcoin (BTC) OTC index market. OTC trading involves the exchange of goods, commodities and any other investment asset outside the books of purchase and sale of a particular investment firm, with a broader portfolio that can handle different types of prices and more substantial investments.

“We are very happy to be the first provider to launch a Bitcoin (BTC) index based on OTC trading desk prices. This allows over-the-counter clients to use this index as a reliable benchmark for their transactions or possible investment products,” said Thomas Kettner, the General Manager at MV Index Solutions.

VanEck Subsidiary Launched Bitcoin (BTC) OTC Market Index

VanEck is a significant company in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Its Bitcoin (BTC) ETF application to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is still under evaluation by the authority, while the final decision on that is expected in March 2019.

Executives from Circle, Genesis, and Cumberland assured that with the creation of this Bitcoin (BTC) OTC index, the investors have access to an instrument that will be extremely useful for this type of over-the-counter investments. According to VanEck’s Chief Strategy Officer, Gabor Gurbacs, this may help new institutional investors enter the OTC Bitcoin (BTC) market.

Similar to the creation of this Bitcoin (BTC) OTC market index, other instruments and investment assets linked to cryptocurrencies would be gradually incorporated into the more conventional stock market. This week the Swiss stock exchange Six Exchange received authorization to trade one ETP (exchange product) of five cryptos in a basket that includes Bitcoin (BTC), XRP (XRP), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash ABC, and Litecoin (LTC).

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Crypto News

Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority Recommends Measuring Crypto Risk By 8 Times Its Value

A confidential letter from the Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority makes it clear that, in its view, cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin (BTC), are the highest risk category of digital assets. This was reported by the Swiss news portal SwissInfo.ch, which had access to the document.

The report indicates that Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority sent the letter to the association EXPERT-Suisse, which brings together Swiss auditors, trustees, and accountants. In the report, dated October 15th, the regulator issues an opinion in the face of growing consultations by banks and securities traders on the calculation of the short-term liquidity rate in the case of cryptocurrency.

The institution advises banks and other financial actors to adopt the upper limit in the risk weighting range for the management of cryptos, and, in this regard, pointed out that the banks should “assign a flat risk weighting of 800% to cover market and credit risks, regardless of whether the positions are maintained in the bank or in the trade book.”

Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority Recommends Measuring Crypto Risk By 8 Times Its Value

On the other hand, the Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority indicated that the activities of crypto trading should not exceed 4% of the total capital of a financial entity. In addition to that, it considers that banks should notify the supervisory body when startups reach this limit.

Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority pointed out that it has not yet established an official position on how to merge the cryptocurrency market with the Basel III capital requirements or liquidity indices. The Authority highlighted that it designed the guidelines contained in the document after consulting the Swiss financial sector, including the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA).

The Swiss Bitcoin Association pointed out that there are important developments there that will favour the development of such digital assets, despite restrictions on the recommended percentage of capital that financial institutions can devote to trading in crypto currencies. It is very encouraging that banks are no longer rejecting requests from clients for financial services involving cryptocurrencies. This is the first step of Swiss finance system to jump into the future where assets will not be a centralized custody point but in the blockchain.

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Crypto News

Ukraine Government Reveals Its Strategy To Adopt Friendly Cryptocurrency Regulations

The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine recently announced that the country is preparing to adopt “the concept” of cryptocurrency. The complete legalization of cryptos across Ukraine is scheduled by 2021. According to local news portals, the strategy of including the cryptocurrency ecosystem into the country’s legal framework will occur in two phases.

The first will focus on determining the legal status of digital assets and crypto exchange activities in Ukraine, while in the second phase, the Ministry of Economic Development will publish a draft of the provisions to be applied for the cryptocurrency regulation. In this way, Ukraine would finally turn crypto trading into a legal and regulated activity.

So far, in Ukraine, there is no clear legislation regarding cryptocurrency. However, the Ukrainian Parliament announced that in the last quarter of this year, or the first months of 2019, they would introduce a law recognizing cryptos as financial assets. This law has been in preparation since August 2018.

Ukraine government paves the way to new initiatives related to cryptocurrency and blockchain technology

Also, since March of this year, the State Monitoring Service established that the country would adhere to the guidelines of the Financial Action Task Force against Money Laundering. The provisions of the before-mentioned entity differentiate between “virtual currencies” and “electronic money,” with virtual currencies being understood as a “digital representation of a value that can be traded digitally,” while electronic money is the “digital representation of a fiat currency.”

On the other hand, a month ago the National Bank of Ukraine proposed the creation of a digital version of the country’s fiat currency, using a decentralized blockchain. According to the banking authority, the so-called e-Grivna would be part of a strategy designed to reduce the circulation of cash.

In conclusion, the Ukrainian government is developing a strategy that paves the way to new initiatives related to cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, similar to the measures adopted by Malta.

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Crypto News

Canadian Bitcoin (BTC) Mining Community Expects The New Quebec Government To Raise Barriers For Miners

In Quebec, Canada, new expectations have been generated in the community of Bitcoin (BTC) miners about possible changes in the regulations of the electrical supply for this activity. That as a result of the elections held this October 1st in the Canadian province did not favor the governing coalition.

Throughout this year, the government of outgoing Prime Minister Philippe Couillard implemented a series of controversial measures that directly affected the Bitcoin (BTC) mining. However, since Monday’s electoral event resulted in the defeat of the ruling Liberal Party, the miners’ community hopes that the new authorities will correct the situation.

Francis Pouliot, CEO of Satoshi Portal and representative of Canadian Bitcoin (BTC) ecosystem, expressed his opinions with the election results on Twitter. In his view, there is “little hope” that the new government will reverse the “infamous regulations and taxes” applied to Bitcoin (BTC) mining.

The Liberal Party will be replaced by Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ), a conservative group created seven years ago, focused on job creation and private sector investment. However, CAQ representatives have not yet established an official position on crypto mining. In spite of this, some media reflect that the locals consider that this political platform, elected today, is, in general, the most friendly for the industry.

Controversies over electricity supply for Bitcoin (BTC) mining in Quebec, Canada

Quebec had earned a reputation as a “paradise” for crypto mining activity, thanks to its favorable electricity tariffs, the lowest in North America. Even at the end of last year, the government itself encouraged the installation of mining operations in the region.

However, the reaction of the authorities to the great demand generated by this expectation was to announce the suspension of the distribution of cheap energy to the Bitcoin (BTC) mining companies. In March, Quebec Prime Minister Philippe Couillard himself argued that Bitcoin (BTC) mining does not return any value to society, so his government was not interested in promoting such activity anymore.

In mid-2018, new measures implemented by the official electricity company Hydro-Quebec generated controversies among the Bitcoin (BTC) mining community, as some criteria were established for the distribution of cheap energy to certain companies. These criteria, based on the companies’ investment, were described as “discriminatory” against small Bitcoin (BTC) mining startups.

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Tether (USDT) Stablecoin Doesn’t Affect Bitcoin (BTC) Price, But Influences BTC Trading Volumes

The stable cryptocurrency Tether (USDT) has no impact on the price of Bitcoin (BTC), but it doesn’t affect its trading volume, according to the results of the latest academic research conducted by Professor Wang Chun Wei, of the School of Business at the University of Queensland, Australia.

Tether (USDT) has nothing to do with Bitcoin (BTC) price surges

According to the results of the study, which will be presented in the October 2018 edition of Economics Letters, there is no evidence to suggest that Tether (USDT) emissions cause Bitcoin (BTC) price surges.

The new study contradicts previous research that the stablecoin was manipulating the cryptocurrencies market, leading to the significant surge of Bitcoin (BTC) in December 2017.

Wei’s findings, focused mainly on market valuation and efficiency, used the vector autoregression (VAR) model, which serves to investigate whether or not there is a causal relationship between something in the past and something in the future.

The study was thus based both on the daily information on the commercial activity of USDT and BTC and on data from Omni Explorer, which lists all the addresses of new USDT issues.

Tether (USDT) is, however, influencing Bitcoin (BTC) trading volumes

“We found a positive relationship between Tether’s concessions and the increase in trading volumes the following day. Our VAR estimates show that both Bitcoin (BTC) and Tether (USDT) trade increases after Tether’s subsidies. However, these increases in trading volume do not lead directly to increases in Bitcoin (BTC). The effect is short-lived, and trading volumes return to normal in 5 days,” said Wang Chun Wei.

These findings largely coincide with a report published by Oleksandr Ivanov, a data scientist at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, who also found that there is no correlation between the growth in the volume of circulating Tether (USDT) and the price of Bitcoin (BTC).

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