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First Cryptocurrency ETP Trades in Switzerland, Shows Notable Volume Despite Low PricesDecember 12 – The cryptocurrency exchange traded product (ETP) on Switzerland’s Zurich-based SIX Exchange that began trading last month, the Amun Crypto Basket Index (SIX:HODL), hasn’t gone unnoticed by traders. Despite the dip in cryptocurrency prices this month, notable volume has been present on the exchange. The Amun Crypto Basket Index (SIX:HODL) offers exposure to the four cryptocurrencies, which include bitcoin, ether, ripple, and litecoin. Alex Mashinsky, the CEO of the blockchain-based payment network Celsius, believes that institutions world-wide and family business offices that are looking to add digital currencies to their portfolios could benefit from exchange traded products on regulated exchanges. “Many do not know how to buy and hold such assets or don’t want to touch the underlying asset. Because of this, many ETF, ETN and ETP products have been launched over the past three years. Each jurisdiction has its own rules and regulations. As well, many new funds have not yet been approved and are pending before regulators. As such, there is more demand than supply for such products. There is also a shortage of regulated custodians these institutions can use to buy and hold such assets, which creates even more demand for such derivatives”. Read the full article here. |
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Canada Could be Well-Positioned for the World’s Digital Asset TransformationDecember 12 – Canada is known for a strong history of innovation, and over the next few decades, digital assets could transform the global economy. Large multinational companies have begun developing blockchain and digital assets, and Canada could run the risk of falling behind. Financial institutions such as Fidelity and VanEck are starting to invest more in cryptocurrency projects. On top of financial institutions, large enterprises such as Delta Airlines and FedEx are developing blockchain to improve many aspects of their operations. Even social media companies such as Facebook now have several blockchain job openings. The fundamentals for blockchain and digital assets are compelling for investors and developers. In addition to investable projects, people from countries such as Canada could be well-positioned to take part in the blockchain development industry. Ethereum, a Canadian-made project co-founded by Vitalik Buterin, a Toronto-native, has approximately 200,000 developers building on its native computing language. Just two years ago, the total cryptoasset market had just a combined value of around $13 billion USD. In Q3 2018, Ethereum had a market capitalization around $24 billion USD. Read the full article here. |
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World-first ERC-20 to Bitcoin “Atomic Swap” Takes Place on Lightning NetworkDecember 12 – On December 7 at the TenX Summit, a team of developers announced that they had successfully conducted an industry-first atomic swap over the Lightning Network with a non-native asset, which was TenX’s PAY token and the native asset which was the cryptocurrency bitcoin. Non-native refers to a digital asset that is not the “base” currency; for example, Ethereum’s native asset is ether. CoBloX, which is TenX’s research and development lab, was the team behind the atomic swap. The team demonstrated their work to audience members at the summit by using the Lightning Network and their own software, COMIT, to atomic swap 10 PAY for 71,240 satoshis. This swap was not as simple as the world-first ether to bitcoin atomic swap using the Lightning Network which the team had successfully conducted earlier this year. This time, the hashed time lock contract (HTLC) only required a “single use” smart contract, but the PAY to bitcoin swap took an extra step. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t figure out how to combine these two steps. The ERC20 transfer function uses msg.sender for authentication. However, calling transfer from a contract deployment sets msg.sender to the address of the yet-to-be-deployed contract which obviously has no tokens”. Read the full article here. |
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SEC Official Notes Some Flexibility on ICOsDecember 14 – Some ICO projects may be allowed to bypass U.S. securities registration requirements by obtaining “no-action letters” directly from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to the SEC Official Valerie A. Szczepanik. On December 13, at a gathering in New York hosted by the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance (WSBA), the SEC official Valerie A. Szczepanik noted letters such as these, while uncommon, still are granted in certain circumstances. Usually, token issuers have just three options if they wish to conduct an initial coin offering. According to Szczepanik, they can register it as a securities offering, apply for an exemption from the SEC, or “make sure they’re not a security”. “I think that’s a way forward for a lot of people who want to implement some of these things that may not exactly fit in the format of the rules that we want,” said Szczepanik. Read the full article here. |
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Germany’s Second-Largest Exchange Operator to Launch Cryptocurrency ExchangeDecember 12 – Germany’s second-largest stock exchange operator, the Boerse Stuttgart Group, plans to launch a cryptocurrency exchange sometime in early 2019. On December 12, the exchange operator announced that it has partnered with the German fintech company solarisBank to build the infrastructure to allow digital assets trading. solarisBank operates with a banking license in Germany and be providing Boerse with banking services for the venture. At launch, only bitcoin and ether trading will be possible, and new token listings may arrive sometime in the future. All market participants will be able to trade on Boerse Stuttgart’s cryptocurrency exchange platform during the launch. Benefits of this exchange could be the presence of deep and open order books and security through proper compliance and adherence to regional laws. “With its combination of technology and banking expertise, solarisBank is a great partner for us to offer central services along the value chain for digital assets,” said Alexander Hoptner, the CEO of Boerse Stuttgart. Read the full article here. |
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3iQ Global Cryptoasset Fund: Price as at December 14, 20183iQ is the first regulator approved multi-cryptoasset portfolio manager in Canada, providing accredited investors with exposure to bitcoin, ether, and litecoin through its 3iQ Global Cryptoasset Fund |
