The Futures Industry Association, the main futures industry group, is sending a letter to the CFTC expressing concerns over bitcoin futures; the FT saw a draft of the letter and it states that they did not allow for proper public transparency and input; futures brokers are concerned over holding more risk and have expressed concerns to the FT that they will not immediately clear the products. Source.
In his weekly Forbes column, Ron Shevlin looks at the increase in trading volume of the major cryptocurrencies in 2020;...
I examine the rising relevance of Central Bank Digital Currencies. We look at the World Economic Forum policy guide to understand different versions of CBDCs and their relative systemic scale, and the ConsenSys technical architecture guide to understand how one could be implemented today. For context, we also dive into a very different topic -- Lithium ion batteries -- and show how a change in the cost of a fundamental component part (e.g, 85% cost reduction in energy, or financial infrastructure) opens up a massive creative space for entrepreneurs.
With the price of bitcoin increasing as of late there have been increasing amount of people coming out stating that it is a bubble; conversely there are enthusiasts who claim that people simply don't understand the cryptocurrency; the WSJ reflects on recent bitcoin news and shares the wide variety of perspectives from their readers. Source
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and Cyprus’s CySEC have issued warnings to retail traders on contracts for difference based on cryptocurrencies; CFD trading based on the digital currencies has started to become popular with the volatility in bitcoin; regulators are worried that retail investors will suffer significant losses and are looking to limit leverage as a result; this continues a worldwide trend by regulators as they get a handle on the growing crypto asset class. Source.
China's major bitcoin exchanges halted trading on Friday, January 13 and the platforms are updating their trading terms; some have yet to reopen and others are operating with trading restraints, reports CoinDesk; the changes follow discussions between Chinese bitcoin exchanges and regulator People's Bank of China. Source
Former Goldman Sachs trader and bitcoin enthusiast Mike Novogratz has teamed up with Bloomberg to launch the Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto...
As CoinDesk reports Chinese publication Caixin said that the PBOC did not hold a meeting on shutting down mining activities; the meeting was supposed to be held on January 3rd and meant to focus on banning mining; the news means that the Chinese government is taking a more agnostic approach to bitcoin mining, not endorsing it but at the same time not banning it; more concrete news should surface in the coming months, for now firms like Bixin and ViaBTC will keep operating. Source.
A consensus over the upcoming bitcoin split was not reached and the plan was cancelled; the hope was for a new version that could handle double the number of transactions; upon hearing the news bitcoin’s value shot up to over $7,800; the current version can only handle about five transactions per second and to compete with names like PayPal and Visa that will need to change at some point in the future. Source.
One former trader discusses his foray into bitcoin; in a Forbes article he shares how he was wrong to dismiss bitcoin initially and why bitcoin matters more than the blockchain. Source