San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken announced that it has acquired Circle’s over-the-counter (OTC) desk. In a Dec. 17 blog post, Kraken said that the company has bought “one of the most recognized OTC desks in crypto.” Circle co-founders Sean Neville and Jeremy Allaire confirmed the sale of the Circle Trade OTC business to Kraken, saying: “We have known and admired Jesse and his team at Kraken for many years, and we have every confidence and expectation that Circle Trade customers and partners will continue to find best-in-class OTC liquidity service and responsiveness through Kraken going forward. Circle Trade represents an …
In what is being considered a major step forward for Binance, CEO Changpeng Zhao (aka CZ) recently announced that his firm was all set to make its first strategic investment in China since leaving the Asian powerhouse back in 2017. At the time, the government had enforced a local crypto trading ban that resulted in a number of firms either shutting down completely or relocating to other, more hospitable destinations. In regard to this latest development, Binance — one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges — recently participated in a funding round estimated to be worth $200 million hosted by …
Two former executives at crypto finance firm Circle and former DRW executive jointly founded proprietary crypto trading firm CMS Holdings. The new venture Coindesk reported on Nov. 12 that the firm is the joint venture of former Circle executives Daniel Matuszewski — former head of the firm’s over-the-counter desk Circle Trade — and former technology executive Julien Collard-Seguin alongside a third partner. The third founder is the former head of trading at Cumberland (the crypto trading arm of brokerage DRW) Bobby Cho. According to the outlet, the three decided to pool over $10 million. The firm started trading last month. …
Stablecoins in the cryptocurrency market help provide USD pegged tokens within the volatile industry. In bull markets, the market capitalization of stablecoins tends to decrease as investors flock to more volatile assets and in bear markets, investors seek shelter in low volatility stablecoins thus increasing their market caps. On Jan. 26, the total market capitalization for stablecoins like Tether (USDT), USD Coin (USDC), Binance USD (BUSD) and Dai (DAI) is over $131 billion. Stablecoins are so crucial to the future of crypto, that Moody’s, a well-respected analytics agency, is planning to develop a scoring system. The scoring system may help …
For a country of 25 million people, Australia punches well above its weight both economically and in the world of blockchain. Australians have long been enthusiastic adopters of new technology, from cellphones to smart homes, so it’s little surprise they’ve embraced crypto too. Chainalysis ranks Australia 20th out of 154 countries surveyed this year for its "The 2020 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report," citing favorable regulation that legitimizes the technology as driving "steady growth in adoption." Australian crypto educator Alex Saunders, founder of Nuggets News, said the Australian crypto community encompasses everyone from hardcore Bitcoin (BTC) maximalists to well-known Ethereans and …