Hu Liang, former director at State Street Bank and Trust's Emerging Technologies Center, tells CoinDesk he is building "the first large-scale institutional infrastructure specifically targeted towards crypto assets"; the company will be an infrastructure platform to provide software and hardware to connect with institutional order and execution management systems; he is looking to eliminate large buyers of cryptocurrencies having to create on the fly technology solutions to make their orders; Liang tells CoinDesk, "I am building a traditional financial services application that can serve the needs of anybody looking to be involved in crypto assets, whether that's holding it for the long term, whether that's trading it for the short term, whether that's transforming it or using it for a rail for something else." Source
Until now little has been known about the hedge fund that invests in cryptocurrencies; it is backed by big names including Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Union Square Ventures, Founders Fund and Bessemer Venture Partners; the firm owns about a dozen cryptocurrencies, taking a value investing approach; Fortune shares more details about how the fund operates and the eye popping returns the fund has returned to date. Source
Fred Wilson is urging investors to diversify their bitcoin assets before the crash comes; while he does not offer a timeframe for when this might occur he does think diversification will protect those who are heavily invested; he is a believer in the crypto markets in general and thinks they add value to a portfolio. Source.
In a move that goes counter to the current regulatory trend the Taiwanese government has taken a positive approach to the new cryptocurrency market; "Just because China and South Korea are banning, doesn't mean that Taiwan should follow suit – there is a huge opportunity for growth in the future,” explained Wellington Koo, Chairman of Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission. 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.
The recent regulatory crackdown on cryptocurrency markets, specifically in China, has dropped the worldwide market cap to $98.95bn; as recently as two weeks ago the market cap was up around $180bn; while the size of the market continues to fluctuate, it remains to be seen where prices will head when regulatory crackdowns pass. Source.
According to UK research firm Autonomous NEXT there are now 68 crypto hedge funds which is a significant jump since the start of the year; while calling themselves hedge funds many of these new entities are not structured like a typical hedge fund and they don't have institutional backing; as the interest in cryptocurrencies grows, the market will continue seeing new entrants trying to capitalize on the rising value. Source.
Trading cryptocurrencies has shown itself to be quite a lucrative business, at the same time the exchanges where trading occurs underscores how risky trading might be; exchanges can lack basics controls on know your customer (KYC), fraud prevention and more; there have also been a number of significant thefts or hacks where millions were lost; while the risk is real it has now slowed the market's growth as total value of all digital currencies has soared to over $140bn. Source.
The challenger bank is working to add bitcoin, litecoin and ethereum; Revolut customers will also be able to transfer cryptocurrencies to others; what makes what they’re working on unique is allowing an instant conversion to happen within the app; typically users must have an account on a crypto exchange where funds are transferred between accounts; the firm is currently testing features with 3,000 customers. Source
There have been a lot of executives recently who have expressed their opinions about cryptocurrencies; while many people agree that the technology behind bitcoin has huge potential, there are a wide variety of opinions about cryptocurrencies; Lend Academy shares quotes from Jamie Dimon (JP Morgan), Larry Fink (Blackrock), Mike Novogratz (Galaxy Digital Assets Fund), James Gorman (Morgan Stanley),Axel Weber (UBS), Christine Lagarde (Head of the International Monetary Fund) and Lloyd Blankfein (Goldman Sachs). Source