The SBI Holdings statement refers to a research article by Sadakazu Osaki of the Nomura Research Institute indicating that under Japanese law XRP is a “cryptocurrency asset” and not a security.
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Author: Daniel Cawrey
The decentralized finance (DeFI) insurance project Cover Protocol was hacked earlier Monday in an infinite printing scheme, causing the price of the Cover token to plunge. Hours later, Grape.Finance, a so-called ‘white hacker’ claimed responsibility for the attack via its Twitter account, saying all funds had been returned. The exploiter has cashed out over $4 […]
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Author: Kevin Reynolds
How a VC working in China finally convinced her Dad to buy into Bitcoin. The winning argument: Protection against government seizure.
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Author: Dory DeGeneres
Crypto exchange Binance has listed European-style bitcoin options that would put the exchange in more direct competition against Deribit.
Binance already offers American-style bitcoin options. The new offering means traders will have more choices. The difference between the two styles is that American options can be exercised at any time before expiry, while European options can only be exercised at expiry, although they can be sold back on the market before expiry.
Binance said American-style options’ ability to be executed at any time often results in a higher premium, while European-style options’ pricing can be lower in comparison. Some users may find European-style options more suitable according to their needs and trading strategies, the exchange said.
The new options settle in Tether (USDT) and come at a time when both bitcoin and the bitcoin derivatives market are surging. Bitcoin is currently trading at around $27,250 levels. Binance said with the increasing institutional demand of bitcoin, there is a fast-growing need for hedging products such as options. “Users can both buy the options for hedging and trading, as well as write and sell options as an issuer,” said the exchange. Binance’s American-style options do not allow users to write the options themselves.
As for the surging bitcoin derivatives market, earlier this month, bitcoin options’ daily trading volume crossed the $1 billion mark for the first time. Crypto exchange Deribit currently leads the market with more than 75% share, followed by Bit.com and OKEx, according to tracker Skew. It remains to be seen whether Binance’s share increases with the new product.
© 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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Author: Yogita Khatri
The announcement comes after a holiday weekend in which the price of bitcoin hit a succession of new all-time highs.
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Author: Kevin Reynolds
Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Cover, which recently merged with Yearn.Finance, has just been exploited terribly.
One of the attackers was able to mint 40 quintillion COVER tokens (worth about $11,826 quintillion at the time of writing) due to a bug in the protocol’s smart contracts, according to The Block’s research analyst Igor Igamberdiev. There could be more exploits due to the bug, said Igamberdiev.
The attackers have sold at least $5 million worth of COVER tokens at the time of writing. It remains to be seen whether they are able to liquidate more. In other words, whether they are able to convert COVER tokens into, say, bitcoin (BTC) or ether (ETH).
The price of the COVER token has fallen sharply since the attacks and is currently trading down by about 67% at around $227, according to CoinGecko.
In light of the attack, crypto exchange Binance has suspended COVER deposits, as well as trading for all COVER trading pairs. COVER withdrawals remain open at the exchange.
This is a developing story and will be updated…
© 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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Author: Yogita Khatri
Quick Take
- The SEC has sued Ripple and two executives alleging that XRP is a security
- Since then, several exchanges, market makers, OTC desks and payment processors have announced their plans to either fully delist XRP or only limit activity to non-U.S. customers
- Some exchanges (FTX, OKEx, Liquid, Huobi) are way less reliant on XRP volume than others (Bitstamp, Bitbank, Bitso)
- More delistings are coming in the next few weeks
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Author: Larry Cermak
Swiss crypto asset manager 21Shares, formerly known as Amun, has removed XRP from its exchange-traded products (ETPs).
The affected products are 21Shares’ flagship HODL or Crypto Basket Index ETP, KEYS or Bitwise Select 10 ETP, and AXRP — a single-asset ETP tied to XRP.
The move comes as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a case against Ripple and its executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen. The regulator deems XRP as a security and says the executives have raised billions of dollars through unregistered securities sales of XRP.
But none of the 21Shares’ ETPs are listed on U.S. exchanges, then why remove XRP? CEO Hany Rashwan told The Block that the company’s index rules prohibit including “any token that is a security and any token that might have liquidity issues.”
“The risk on both sides is high, especially with a number of large over-the-counter (OTC) trading desks exiting the XRP market, specifically Jump Trading and Galaxy Digital,” said Rashwan.
Since the SEC lawsuit, several exchanges have removed the support of XRP, including Bitstamp, OSL, CrossTower, and Beaxy. Crypto asset manager Bitwise also liquidated the XRP position of its crypto index fund last week.
Meanwhile, 21Shares manages $250 million worth of assets across its products.
© 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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Author: Yogita Khatri
Looking back on the year in bitcoin and crypto, with rhymes.
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Author: Noelle Acheson
Quick Take
- ParaFi Capital is an investment firm focused on blockchain technology and decentralized finance markets
- The firm was one of the earliest investors and participants in DeFi protocols, in which it began to focus specifically on that sub-sector in 2018 strategically
- In total, the firm has deployed capital to at least 22 startups and protocols across nine verticals, which The Block has mapped out
This research piece is available to
members of The Block Genesis.
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Author: John Dantoni
