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As bitcoin raced towards highs rivaling levels from 2017 and early 2018, the market for futures and options tied to the digital currency also clocked in records, according to data compiled by The Block. 

At the time of writing, bitcoin was trading around the $17,500 price level after cresting $17,800 earlier in the day. The boost in the cryptocurrency’s price since the beginning of the month has swelled open interest across the bitcoin futures market with, aggregate OI hitting $6.29 billion on Monday.

CME Group saw open interest in its bitcoin futures product, which launched at the height of the 2017 bitcoin boom, hit $975.5 million on Monday — the highest level ever. 

To be sure, it should not come as a surprise that open interest has soared in line with bitcoin’s price, given the fact that the value of the contracts traded are directly tied to the price of the underlying commodity. 

The bitcoin options market has also clocked in new highs. Aggregate open interest across the bitcoin options markets hit $3.8 billion on Monday.

Deribit, which is the largest player in the bitcoin options market, saw open interest in its product clock in a new high with more than $3 billion in open interest, as of November 17. 

© 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.

President Donald Trump nominated Brian Brooks, who currently serves as the acting Comptroller of the Currency, to a full five-year term on Tuesday.

The nomination was included in a raft of nominations released by the White House. Brooks took over the Comptroller’s office in May after the departure of Joseph Otting. Otting first took office in November 2017.

To assume a five-year term, Brooks will have to receive approval in the U.S. Senate. Congress entered a lame-duck period following the presidential election earlier this month, and a new session of Congress begins on January 3.

Brooks, a former chief legal officer for Coinbase, has pursued a number of policy initiatives on the digital asset front since assuming office. Most notably, his office published guidance for national banks that allows them to hold custody of cryprocurrencies as well as funds for fiat-backed stablecoin issuers.

But Brooks’ work on digital issues has drawn some criticism. Earlier this month, a group of House Democrats issued a strongly-worded letter to Brooks in which they lambasted him and his office for not focusing more on issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

© 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.

Quick Take

• Uniswap’s liquidity mining program came to an end Monday night.
• Community members are scrambling to come up with a new proposal, highlighting the challenges of decentralized governance.

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Crypto exchange Bitstamp has submitted documents in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in a bid to subpoena Wall Street behemoths Citibank and Bank of America as part of a discovery process in an ongoing dispute with a payments processor. 

The European crypto exchange claimed in the filing that Danish firm CNG Processing failed to meet the original terms of its business arrangement as a payments process for the firm. Bitstamp hired CNG to facilitate domestic and international banking transfers on behalf of its clients. 

“CNG was significantly delayed in opening the United States bank accounts and, when it did open United States accounts, those accounts were hampered by deposit and withdrawal limits, and other limitations on transfer to, from, and between the relevant Citibank and Bank of America accounts,” the firm said in the court filing. “None of which were contemplated by the parties’ agreements.”

As a result, Bitstamp terminated the relationship between the two firms, demanding a security deposit of more than $1.7 million and customer deposits of around $1 million.

CNG is refusing to hand over those funds, according to Bitstamp’s lawyers. Per the court document, CNG claims it is unable to return the funds because the relevant accounts have been “frozen” by the aforementioned banks.

“CNG has offered no documents from either Bank of America or Citibank to support its claims regarding the status of these accounts,” the filing states, referring to recent testimonies from CNG in a Danish trial, which began in April.

The filing goes on to contend:

“Discovery that sheds light on the accuracy and veracity of CNG’s claims regarding relevant Citibank and Bank of America accounts is crucial to the ongoing controversy between CNG and Bitstamp in Danish Courts.”

The Block reached out to Bitstamp for comment but did not receive one by press time. In a tweet on Tuesday, Bitstamp said that “we’re unable to comment on ongoing legal proceedings, however we can categorically state that we are processing fiat withdrawals,” referring to the contention that the lawsuit had impacted the exchange’s ability to process withdrawals. 

Court documents can be found below:

Bitstamp Application by MichaelPatrickMcSweeney on Scribd

Memorandum by MichaelPatrickMcSweeney on Scribd

© 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.