IEO WARNING: The SEC published a new warning against initial exchange offerings (IEOs) Tuesday, comparing the fundraising tactic to initial coin offerings (ICOs), which have garnered a number of investigations and enforcement actions. "IEOs are being touted as an innovation on ICOs because they are offered directly by online trading platforms on behalf of companies," the notice said, adding, "there is no such thing as an SEC-approved IEO." Full story
GOOD FOR CRYPTO? Heath Tarbert, chairman of the CFTC, believes regulated derivatives will instill market confidence in cryptocurrencies. His agency is developing a regulated futures market to assist "price discovery, hedging and risk management" for investors. Full story
ETF COIN: WisdomTree, an asset manager specializing in ETFs, is vying to become one of the first established U.S. financial firms to offer clients digital assets, including a stablecoin closely linked to the U.S. dollar. The firm said its regulated stablecoin could look similar in structure and purpose to an exchange traded fund backed by dollar-denominated assets like short-term U.S. Treasury bonds. Full story
LIVELY LAUNCH: Options on bitcoin futures from CME got off to a good start on Monday, seeing trading volume reach 55 contracts, with a notional volume of about $2.3 million, in the opening session. Full story
IN DEMAND: Blockchain is listed as the number one job skill for 2020 in a report compiled by LinkedIn. “A skill we weren’t even looking at a year ago – blockchain – tops the list of most in-demand hard skills for 2020," the firm said. Full story
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ONWARDS, UPWARDS: Bitcoin has jumped to two-month highs above $8,600 and looks set to extend gains toward the 200-day average near $9,100. The intraday chart is now reporting a flag breakout, a bullish continuation pattern that will remain valid as long as prices hold above a newly established higher low of $8,445. Full story
ROUNDUP AND RALLY: The latest Markets Daily reflects on today's biggest stories, including a 6 percent bitcoin price rally, reflections on the first day of CME's bitcoin options trading launch, and IBM blockchain's new use case: tracking olive oil provenance. Listen in
IEO = ICO