Cold Storage Trading Launched
Just days after Cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia was hacked, a Palo Alto-based security company has revealed that they have developed a platform that enables traders to buy and sell digital assets right from a cold storage wallet.
The company, BitGo will team up with SEC and FINRA-regulated OTC trading platform Genesis Global Trading to establish the necessary infrastructure, liquidity, and compliance.
The new platform will support Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Ethereum Classsic, Litecoin, Ripple and Zcash.
It was designed to accommodate what institutional investors are looking for an institutional-grade custody solution for crypto trading.
According to BitGo’s CEO Michael Moro, The Asset will never leave cold-storage since Genesis, its trading partner uses the cold wallet of BitGo.
BitGo is backed by both cryptocurrency and traditional financial heavy weights.
Back in October 2018 the company was able to close a series B funding round which has brought around $58.5 million fresh investments from Galaxy Digital Ventures and Goldman Sachs.
South Africa Not Inclined To Band Cryptos
It has been reported that the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has recently released a consultation paper revealing the pros and cons of the emerging asset class of cryptocurrencies.
The paper was released last January 16, 2019 which was jointly developed by representatives of the different agencies of the government.
These agencies include Financial Intelligence Centre, Financial Sector Conduct Authority, National Treasury, South African Revenue Service and SARB.
The paper is not yet final and is still open for public feedback until Feb. 15, 2019.
According to the paper titled “Consultation Paper on Policy Proposals for Crypto Assets” states that the government has no intentions of banning cryptocurrency trading or cryptocurrency payment at the moment.
It touched upon new regulations the government will be implementing to make the space more secure for investors and mitigate risk of fraud and money laundering.
According to the paper all crypto-related business will have to comply with Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing requirements of the Financial Intelligence Centre act.
It is a recently established government entity that is geared towards fostering FinTech innovation while maintaining order of the financial markets.
Coin-Counting Machines Now Offers Bitcoin Purchases
It has been revealed that a new project will enable users who usually convert their spare change using a money dispensing machine to buy Bitcoin.
This was made possible through a partnership between Coinme and Coinstar.
The former is a Seattle-based Bitcoin ATM company while the other is a coin-cashing kiosks company which operates in the United Kingdon, United States of America, Canada and Ireland, Coinstar.
Coinstar operates their machines in over 20,000 locations across the world.
Most of these machines are located at grocery stores, drug stores and other retail locations in the above mentioned jurisdiction.
Shoppers usually use this machines to convert their lose change into bills.
However, with this new partnership with Coinme, the first-licensed Bitcoin ATM company in the U.S, the machines will also be able to dispense bitcoin codes that are redeemable in Coineme’s website.
Bitcoin ETF Application Heating Up
According to news reports, the Bitcoin ETF application race is heating up as another Wall Street financial institution has filed another application on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The new application came from an investment management agency located in New York, Wilshire Phoenix.
The new ETF will consist of U.S. Treasury Bills, U.S. Dollars and Bitcoin.
The amalgamation of the assets is intended to provide enhanced stability to the financial product.
As the company is hoping with this approach, it will be able to dilute the volatility associated with capital allocations towards cryto assets.
According to Wilshire Phoenix, they plan to supply investors with substantially lower volatility than a direct investment in BTC and without uncertainty and complexity that usually comes with purchasing BTC or holding it.
The company is joining a growing list of reputable financial institutions who are bidding to secure a SEC approval for Bitcoin-related ETFs.
It seems that getting SEC to approve a Bitcoin ETF is a major pain point for many proponents in the crypto industry.
It seems that SEC is not in a hurry to approve an ETF soon despite many improvements in the space in terms of security and liquidity.
Investors Not Taking The Plunge To Crypto Space
One of the partners of Winklevoss capital, Strerling Witzke has recently revealed that 2019 might not be the year when we see institutional investors begin pouring into cryptocurrency space.
She made this remark during an interview at the Crypto Finance Conference in St. Moritz Switzerland last January 17, 2019.
She adds that the astronomical rise of bitcoin price in 2017 might have skewed perception of what it takes for traditional capital to embrace innovation.
According to her it takes time before institutional money becomes comfortable with new markets.
She thinks that many investors have thoughtfully dipped their toes into crypto but have not taken really a plunge into it.
She sites two factors that are still stopping traditional financial institutions to fully embrace cryptocurrencies: Regulatory Clarity and Security.
She is not the only one that feels the same.
Many proponents and pundits in the crypto space have long been saying that regulatory clarity will spur mass adoption.
Security has always been of great concern in the crypto community and developers have been scrambling to develop means and ways on how to be able to provide security that is at least at par with existing traditional financial sector.
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