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FUTURES MOVE: Crypto exchange Kraken has officially acquired regulated futures trading startup Crypto Facilities in a deal valued at at least $100 million.
Announced Monday, the "nine-figure" acquisition – the largest seen in the industry thus far in 2019 – will enable Kraken customers to trade spot and open positions offering exposure to the future price movements of cryptocurrencies, all through a unified trading interface.
Kraken CEO Jesse Powell framed the merger as one that would "massively accelerate" his company's roadmap, enabling the San Francisco-based startup to sidestep years of effort in order to obtain the licenses and approvals necessary to offer a competitive service in Europe.
Founded in 2014, Crypto Facilities is registered with the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority and the deal was approved by the regulator, the parties involved said.
In addition to offering cash-settled futures trading for bitcoin, bitcoin cash, XRP, litecoin and ether trading pairs, Crypto Facilities notably provides data to the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate, an index created in collaboration with CME Group and that powers that entity's U.S. futures offering, a relationship that will continue following the acquisition.
Powell told CoinDesk: "The deal brings our total developer team to over 100, and will accelerate Crypto Facilities by enabling us to add more assets. We plan to launch more contracts in the medium-term and Kraken also has plans to launch more assets." Full Story
LONG-TERM THINKING: Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange Binance has an ambitious mandate for its 400 employees in 2019: leverage industry partnerships to diversify the brand beyond its primary trading platform.
Trust Wallet, which Binance acquired last summer, recently joined the Foundation for Interwallet Operability (FIO), CoinDesk has learned. The coalition includes the exchange ShapeShift, and wallet startups BRD and MyCrypto, among many others. The coalition plans to build a protocol to standardize crypto wallet addresses across currencies and platforms.
Boosters say this protocol could eventually introduce new features to the broader fintech ecosystem, such as giving e-commerce platforms the ability to refund crypto purchases directly to a personal wallet and users the ability to send payment requests using someone’s email, comparable to apps like Venmo.
Since the protocol has a native token for processing fees, scheduled for beta testing later this year, FIO founder David Gold told CoinDesk that the value proposition for participating exchanges is clear: “They get income from being a block-producing node on the network.”
Although it would probably take years for FIO to potentially offer Binance a significant revenue stream, Lin said the exchange’s bear market strategy is to focus on projects with long-term payoffs.
"It will ultimately come down to impact," Lin said. "What else can we do to remove the roadblocks?" Full Story
SEEKING DATA: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seeking a tool to provide a Big Data view across major blockchains.
In a solicitation notice published Thursday, the regulator said it is looking for both small and large businesses who can provide data for the “most widely used” blockchain ledgers based on transaction volume, in order to “monitor risk and improve compliance” related to cryptocurrencies.
The SEC said it requires the data in an “easily reviewable” format, along with an overview of how the information is extracted and converted to ensure “there is no loss in data completeness and accuracy due to the data transformation tools and processes applied.” Notably, the agency is seeking to identify transaction details among “the universe of available information.”
Interested vendors should respond to the SEC by Feb. 14, according to the announcement. Full Story
SIM-SWAP CHARGES: A 20-year-old man has been formally charged in a New York Supreme Court indictment over SIM-swapping identity and crypto theft.
The Manhattan District Attorney's Office said Friday that Dawson Bakies, a resident of Ohio, is charged with stealing identities and the cryptocurrency holdings of over 50 victims across the U.S. from October to December last year via SIM-swapping attacks. The indictment lists 52 counts of “identity theft, grand larceny, computer tampering, and scheme to defraud” among other charges.
“The indictment represents the first prosecution for SIM swapping by authorities in New York," the Attorney's Office said.
It’s alleged that Bakies fraudulently linked victims' cellphone numbers to his own iPhones, using them to bypass two-factor authentication (2FA) security measures to access victims’ online accounts, including cryptocurrency platforms. Among the victims, he managed to access 18 online accounts belonging to three Manhattan-based individuals and stole about $10,000 in cryptos. He also attempted to extort one of the victims by demanding a bitcoin ransom, according to the Attorney's Office.
Sending a warning to SIM swappers, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., said: "We know what you're doing, we know how to find you, and we will hold you criminally accountable, no matter where you are." Full Story |
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 Every quarter, CoinDesk Research surfaces the key data, trends, and events with its State of Blockchains reports. As our research efforts evolve and expand, we hope to provide amplification to perspectives within the crypto community. We reached out to analysts, builders, and lawyers to understand the industry from their unique vantage point. You can check out the full article, but here's a quick snapshot: “Q4 saw the price of bitcoin and other digital assets take new investors full circle from hilariously rich to predictably rekt.” - Zack Voell (@zackvoell) Messari (Analyst) “I expect to see impressive growth of the entrepreneurial portion of the community, thanks to an ever growing set of tools built specifically to empower new breeds of Bitcoin businesses.” - Vin Armani (@vinarmani) CoinText (Chief Technology Officer) “Expect more litigation and enforcement against exchanges of cryptoassets, ICO issuers, promoters, and persons acting without required licensure as broker dealers and syndicators of ICOs in the coming years.” - Andrew Hinkes (@propelforward) Athena Blockchain (General Counsel / Co-Founder) We want to hear your perspective too! Do you have thoughts on the crypto industry? Do you want to add to the conversation? Do you want to help shape the direction the ecosystem moves in? If the answer is yes to all three of those, please fill out our survey. We will be releasing this in the coming weeks with tons of insights provided by…none other than YOU! For more research insights, check out the CoinDesk Crypto-Economic Explorer here to see this table and more. |
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| POSITIVE PATTERN: Bitcoin’s slow drip sell-off seen over the last six weeks has resulted in the formation of a falling wedge – a bullish reversal pattern – on the daily chart. A break above $3,450 would confirm a wedge breakout and open the doors to the crucial resistance lined up at $3,658. Full Story |
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BEST OF THE BEST MARKETS INSIDER: Nvidia may be selling more graphics processing chips to crypto miners than it is letting on, according to a report from Markets Insider. The article quotes RBC Capital Markets analyst Mitch Steves as saying that, based on the combined hashrate of cryptocurrencies that are mined with GPUs, total crypto revenue from April 2017 to July 2018 should be around $2.75 billion. Of that, Nvidia has a 75 percent market share, and AMD the remaining 25 percent. While AMD’s stated crypto-based earnings of $234 million roughly match that breakdown, Nvidia’s do not. "We think NVDA generated $1.95 billion in total revenue related to crypto/blockchain," Steves said in a note published last Wednesday. "This compares to company's statement that it generated around $602 million over the same time period." The numbers can’t be confirmed however, he added. THE REST
FORBES: Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and payments processor Square, has again predicted that bitcoin will become the "native currency" of the internet. According to Forbes, Dorsey made the comment in a podcast interview with Joe Rogan on Feb. 2, saying: "I believe the internet will have a native currency and I don’t know if it’s bitcoin. I think it will be [bitcoin] given all the tests it has been through and the principles behind it, how it was created.” Square enabled bitcoin purchases in its Cash App because “we wanted to learn about the technology, and put ourselves out there and take some risks," he added. QUARTZ: The government panel currently drafting rules for India’s cryptocurrency ecosystem is concerned about possible impacts the tech could have on the Indian rupee, according to Quartz India. If digital currencies were permitted for use in payments, "whether it will end up destabilising the fiat currency is a major concern for them," said an unnamed representative from the cryptocurrency industry who recently met with the panel. “The overall impact on the financial ecosystem that it is likely to have is still unclear and it has been a challenge to convince them on this particular point,” they said. Rahul Raj, founder of the Koinex exchange, said in the piece that, with the low level of adoption of cryptos in payments currently, the concerns are "a bit premature." |
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Kraken's 9-figure buy