Tag: Exchanges

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily volume, tweeted today that the company has been “dedicated to providing the highest level of security, reliability and quality.”  It then linked to a Medium post that pointed out how the company has improved over time.

Since our inception, #Binance has been dedicated to providing the highest level of security, reliability and quality. Here are some of the ways we’ve evolved to cater to our growing user base.https://t.co/TAbWOs286Z

— Binance (@binance) November 9, 2018

The Medium post begins by explaining that Binance expects more institutional investors to enter the cryptocurrency market than ever, and that the company is taking necessary steps to ensure that it is ready for the influx of investors.

The post first praises the technological foundation for Binance, which has allowed the exchange to remain solid in terms of market activity. One could argue that Binance has a right to boast, considering that it has never been hacked to any meaningful extent. In fact, Binance has set aside a sizable sum – $10 million in crypto – for future bounty awards for Binance hacking attempts.

This is significant considering that there are other major exchanges that have been hacked for millions.  Specifically, Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck and Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinrail have been hacked for $500 million and $40 million, respectively.

Binance also has received a strategic investment from Vertex Ventures in order to built a fiat-crypto exchange in Singapore.  The company pointed out in the Medium post that this was another step in their journey to ensuring more institutional money flow.

July 2018 also saw the launch of tiered trading fee discount programs, offering greater awards for high-volume traders.

Kucoin, a Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange with tens of millions of dollars in daily volume, has decided to list the USDC token.  The USD coin was launched by cryptocurrency startup Circle, a company that has the distinction of being backed by both Goldman Sachs and bitcoin mining giant Bitmain, that many believe will help to serve as the bridge between institutional money and the cryptocurrency markets.

The timing is great for USDC, as it appears that many are losing faith in Tether and investing elsewhere.  USDT had accounted for the vast majority of stablecoin volume, although the USDC coin hopes to change that.  There also seems to be questions as to whether Tether is truly backed by enough fiat reserves at all, as well.  USDC Coin has appeared to build trust in the cryptocurrency community, and claims to be a stablecoin with a new level of transparency and accountability.

The USDC is pegged against the dollar and was announced back in May of this year.  There have been other stablecoins that have entered the space, as well, such as Paxos Trust Company’s and Gemini Trust Company’s stablecoins, both of which was recently approved by New York regulators.

Kucoin has also added other stablecoins, as well, and time will tell whether this will prove to be a smart move for the liquidity of the exchange, and help Kucoin gain market share. This is not the only new exchange that USDC has been listed on.  USDC was first listed on Poloniex, which was not surprising, considering that Circle acquired that exchange earlier this year.  Hong Kong-based exchange Okex also recently added four stablecoins, which many suspect is in response to the rumors that the bank that backs Tether is insolvent, as well.  USDC was also recently added to Bitpay, the global blockchain payment processor.

Victims of the 2014 Mt Gox hack can now start filing civil rehabilitation claims.

The hack, which saw almost $500 million dollars worth of Bitcoin stolen from the cryptocurrency exchange, eventually resulted in the company filing bankruptcy. After years of deliberation, it seems victims may finally be able to receive some compensation.  

Announced yesterday on its website, Mt Gox has now launched an online system where clients can file proofs for rehabilitation with respect to the return of cryptocurrency and money. The system works in accordance with the Civil Rehabilitation Act of Japan and is overseen by attorney-at-law and rehabilitation trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi.

Users who are unable to access the online method can also file necessary proofs via mail.

The commencement of the proceedings was prompted by a petition that the Tokyo District Court heard on June 22 this year, almost seven months after it was filed last year.

The civil rehabilitation proceedings overshadow the current Mt Gox bankruptcy proceedings which have been temporarily suspended as a result. As opposed to bankruptcy proceedings, civil rehabilitation claims don’t require that assets are converted into monetary claims. This means creditors can receive compensation in the form of Bitcoin (BTC) rather than fiat currency, meaning they stand to make a considerably larger sum.

Lawyers for Mt Gox have detailed a plan to pay out 160,000 BTC and 168,000 Bitcoin Cash (BCH), with any remaining payments made in other derivatives held by Mt Gox.

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One of the world’s most popular cryptocurrency exchanges, OKEx, has today announced that it will be joining Global Liquidity and Settlement System (GLASS) – a decentralized network of crypto trading platforms developed by San Francisco-based broker-dealer and alternative trading system (ATS), SharesPost.

For OKEx – who, according to cryptoasset research firm Diar’s most recent newsletter (V2.33/34), enjoyed a record monthly traded volume (USD) in July – joining the GLASS Network makes for a legally compliant way by which to expand into new foreign markets.

For the predominately Asian-oriented digital asset trading platform, this comes as welcome news with respect to tapping into the notoriously red-taped US digital securities market. Indeed, when GLASS becomes operational, OKEx will be able to enjoy access to US-based investors.

This is because the GLASS network promises to comprise multiple, globally dispersed licensed entities, meaning that security token transactions will be in adherence with local securities laws. Regarding the US, this access for GLASS members like Huobi Group, OKCoin, Stellar Decentralized Exchange, and now OKEx, comes by way of the SharesPost Marketplace, an extant ATS for digital and other unregistered securities.

Commenting on the other major benefit for these member exchanges (i.e., being able to serve an expanded user base and supported asset types) was Jason Lau (VP of Business Development, OKEx), who stated in Wednesday’s announcement that:

There is a growing demand for a decentralized liquidity and settlement solution in the market. Combining SharesPost’s regulatory infrastructure and OKEx’s deep pool of digital asset liquidity, GLASS will offer exchanges the most efficient, lowest cost way to settle compliant security tokens trades.”

Already representing the world’s largest pool of token liquidity, the GLASS Network looks primed to benefit from network effects and economies of scale as it begins its quest toward enabling for a more streamlined and cost-efficient trading, certification, and custody of security tokens and tokenized assets. Such sentiment was echoed in SharesPost’s press release on Wednesday:

By joining GLASS, the world’s leading crypto exchanges are signalling their commitment to compliant trading of blockchain securities and their belief that GLASS will soon make that a reality.” – Greg Brogger (Founder and CEO, SharesPost)

DSTOQ – a security tokens exchange ‘stealth project’- has recently launched its MVP as “the first fully licensed stock exchange for trading security tokens and investing in real-world assets using cryptocurrencies”.

Fully integrated with Stellar’s Decentralised Exchange, users will be able access peer-to-peer trading of security tokens, with settlement times between two to five seconds, all while utilising the liquidity of Stellar’s inbuilt DEX. According to DSTOQ, the trade settlement times of Stellar’s protocol make it 100,000 times faster than a traditional stock exchange.

The tokenization of real-world assets is an important step towards bringing cryptocurrencies into mainstream financial markets and we are proud to be the first company to have achieved this on a fully licensed platform. We are excited to launch the DSTOQ Exchange in the coming months and to fulfil our mission of providing high growth opportunities to investors worldwide.” – Craig McGregor, CEO

According to Craig McGregor, CEO of DSTOQ, they are the first exchange of its kind granted the relevant financial licence. Having secured €1.7 million in funding, the company developed the exchange in stealth mode before launching their MVP this month. The exchange marks a significant milestone achievement and validation of cryptocurrency-backed exchanges, as well as demonstrating the potential technological advantages that utilising blockchain networks can bring. The launch of DSTOQ is also a glowing endorsement and vote of confidence in the Stellar Protocol.

The advantages and potential markets that DEX trading can create through the onboarding of traditional securities are many, with DSTOQ’s offering likely to attract the attention of further industry investment. Despite recent negative price movement for the cryptocurrency market as a whole, steady news stories of product and exchange development on the Stellar network show no signs of stopping, and look certain to build into Q3 and Q4.

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Today marks the official launch of Bitrue, a cryptocurrency exchange with ambitions of being the most intuitive and safest option for crypto-traders worldwide.

However, one feature makes the exchange particularly stand out: Bitrue will be listing XRP, the Ripple cryptocurrency, as a base currency on its platform.

McAfee security

Of first priority to the new exchange is keeping clients’ funds secure. Bitrue CEO Curtis Wang said that, “the safety of crypto trading has become the biggest concern for users,” and that any “responsible exchange must ensure the highest level of security.” To achieve this, Bitrue will be keeping “more than 90% of user assets in its system are stored in cold wallets and critical messages are located in distributed storage systems with multiple clusters.”

To test their systems Bitrue has staged a number of simulated hacks and penetration tests, and has brought in McAfee, the computer security firm founded by controversial crypto figure John McAfee, to advise on maintaining security.

Not just any ICO will be able to list its tokens on the exchange. Instead, Wang says that the platform will vet applicants to ensure only the “legitimate and promising tokens” make it to listing. This should make for “a healthy environment for trading.”

The Ripple Response

Currently XRP is available in trading pairs against Bitcoin, Tether and Ethereum. The response in the Ripple community has been cautiously positive, with users welcoming more liquidity but less confident that the listing will have much effect on global demand.

Reddit user BigFriendlyGaybro spoke for many when he said that this was a positive development as it “sets up the scaffolding for liquidity when things DO start to go into production.” Also, anything which brought more people into using XRP would mean a spreading realisation that “higher speed and cheaper transactions are possible” than with other cryptocurrencies.

Still, the main goal for the Ripple community remains being added to Coinbase. Unfortunately there are few signs that will happen anytime soon.

 Cardano has recently announced that it’s ADA crypto asset has been listed on cryptocurrency exchange platform OKEx.

Started in 2014 by the CEO of OKCoin, Star Xu, OKEx is one of the largest digital asset exchange platforms in the world and provides hundreds of token and futures trading pairs. Earlier this year OKEx announced its plans to expand into Malta.

Cardano is a blockchain created by Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK), a firm headed up by co-founder of Ethereum Charles Hoskinson. It’s a relatively complex proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain system that supports smart contracts, Dapps, side chains and multi-party computation.

Unlike traditional mining, Cardano uses a PoS algorithm called Ouroboros which generates consensus by vote based on investment. The Cardano blockchain has come leaps and bounds this year, being listed on a number of big exchanges and launching its KEVM testnet back in May.

Last month the popular trading and investment platform eToro announced it will be listing Cardano’s ADA cryptocurrency on its platform, making it available to over 10 million of its users.

The schedule to go live is as follows:

ADA deposits at 16:00 today (UTC +8)

ADA spot trading at 16:00 Jul 23 (UTC +8) (USDT, OKB, BTC, ETH Market)

ADA withdrawals at 18:00 Jul 24 (UTC +8)

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