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Bithumb crypto exchange launches digital assets OTC trading desk

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Bithumb, the largest Hong Kong exchange in terms of trading volume which majorly supports Bitcoin trading has recently launched Ortus’ backed over-the-counter exchanging desk. The platform is created on the idea of facilitating deep-pocketed investors to trade crypto off the books.

According to the press release made public on Feb. 7, Ortus’ backed OTC trading is regarded as the “service specifically for the institutional clients” by the exchange because of its assistance binding to the wealthy investors to perform large-volume trades, as it facilitates them to carry out direct trades that is opposite to the process done on the crypto exchange itself.

“Ortus will operate to allow institutions to buy and sell digital assets through a network of global liquidity providers and benefit from a competitive and best price execution service,” said by Rahul Khanna, the director of Bithumb.

Rahul Khanna further went on saying:

”Institutions trading digital assets need to open accounts at exchanges and OTC desks around the world; however, there is no real solution for an aggregated liquidity provider or a trusted interdealer where Institutions can trade these assets. To fill this market gap, Ortus will operate to allow institutions to buy and sell digital assets through a network of global liquidity providers and benefit from a competitive and best price execution service.”

To use the service; institutions first need to go through a strict on-boarding process which will be comprised of KYC (Know-Your-Customer) and AML (Anti-Money-Laundering) documentation provided by the applicants, the firm noted.

Although the firm has not announced about which crypto will be offered for OTC trading yet, but once all the required criteria for joining is met, customers will have the right to enjoy the exciting features provided by Ortus.

The ensured custody wallet, competitive pricing from the world’s largest OTC desks and liquidity providers, and a US-Based bank account are few of them.

More about OTC Desks

Ever since late 2017, when the reports about OTC market being noticeably larger than the cryptocurrency exchange market started to take place on the news realm, we have seen a significant number of exchanges having launched OTC desks over time.

Even Last year, TABB Group, international research and consulting firm focused primarily on capital markets, estimated the worth of OTC market of BTC to be 2-3 times higher than the exchange market.

To capitalize on the growing interests of institutions, many cryptocurrency exchanges worldwide have made moves into the over-the-counter (OTC) market ever since the report went public.

CoinBase, the leading crypto exchange and wallet provider from the US, had launched its OTC desks last year in November, for institutional customers. Poloniex also launched its over-the-counter trading desks for the wealthy investors, with a minimum order set to be of $250,000, the following month of December.

Last month of Jan has seen two notable digital exchanges Bittrex and Binance penetrating into the OTC market by introducing their own OTC desks.

Image courtesy of Pixabay.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

DISH becomes one of the earliest mainstream company to accept Bitcoin

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In the past, skeptics have disputed the fact that Bitcoin as a currency has no distinguished value, due to the fact that it hasn’t been widely accepted as a means of payments. Indeed, Bitcoin arrived at the international and financial scene when the world’s financial markets were witnessing a slump.

For many, Bitcoin is relevant and a game-changer for the financial industry. It is now seen as a store of value – somewhat a digital gold which also has the potentials of being a reserve currency. Even as Bitcoin’s use-cases increase and continue to go against all odds, one of the biggest pay-Tv provider, DISH, is making use of Bitcoin as a means of payment for subscribers.

Not only that, DISH is known to be the first pay-tv provider to offer cryptocurrency as a means of payment for subscriptions. However, DISH executive vice president and chief operating officer, Bernie Han had something to say:

“We always want to deliver the best and deliver choice and convenience for our customers and that includes the method they use to pay their bills. Bitcoin is becoming a preferred way for some people to transact and we want to accommodate those individuals.”

DISH Network Corporation offers more than 14 million pay-tv subscribers with the best technology and programs with a great value as of 2014. Subscribers on DISH are offered more than 200 channels with high-definition programs. The network also prides itself by supplying 110,000 hours of disaster relief in the form of broadband and TV-services.

Additionally, Coinbase has been the medium chosen by DISH to process BTC payments from subscribers who wish to pay their TV subscriptions from their BTC wallet. Bitcoin payments on DISH is being facilitated by Coinbase’s Instant Exchange™ to U.S dollars.

DISH subscribers are given the opportunity to choose between Bitcoin as a payment option or debit cards or bank account for their TV-subscription. These mediums are to provide an easy way for subscribers that want to make an instant payment online.

No doubt, cryptocurrencies are gradually becoming an important means of payments, thus, getting the same recognition as fiat currencies. Cryptocurrencies (like Bitcoin) reduces credit card fraud and they are inexpensive for merchants who want to make payments.

Bitcoin’s use-cases are significantly increasing and people are starting to pick up the notion that the digital asset is real and can make a huge change in the second and third-world countries dealing with hyperinflation.

Notable crypto-enthusiasts: Anthony Pompliano and James Anthony Williams have quoted the significance of Bitcoin’s use-cases and other cryptographic technologies. Also saying that Bitcoin will one day be some sort of a store of value very soon.

Bitcoin can be used a means of payment; in making donations, tips and so on. This, however, has opened doors to its numerous use-cases nowadays and it keeps spreading day-by-day.

Undeniably, Bitcoin’s utility as a means of exchange keeps increasing despite its price swings and volatility. The cryptocurrency still has more potency to bring a positive change to every economy; it will become apparent as new use-cases become prevalent and widely known.

Image courtesy of Pixabay.

Is Tron (TRX) the new member in Robinhood’s merry band?

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As the year keeps nearing its end with all the bad news it gave to the cryptocurrency market, a few coins keep gathering good news despite the general environment. Tron is one of those projects. This time it comes from Robinhood. It’s a popular crypto trading app which doesn’t charge for commissions, and it recently flirted with the idea of including Tron as a listed digital asset.

Robinhood answered to a tweet in which it implied an interest to support a few new coins in the app. As a Robinhood user (which is still not available in all states) you can trade in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Dogecoin (DOGE) and Ethereum Classic (ETC). But they want to add some more, and Tron could be at the top of the list.

Here’s the tweet (alongside the answer) at the root of all the speculation:

Robinhood’s tweet is really not that informative. They didn’t say which coins they’re considering seriously, let alone any kind of timelines. But, it seems clear that it is quite serious about expanding the app’s ability to deal with several other assets.

Robinhood is a very young company that got started only this year, and it’s become quite popular among retail investors. This is no small feat as retail investors dominate the crypto markets since institutional money has been reluctant to come into crypto.

The platform is trying hard not to follow in Coinbase’s steps, which is often criticized because of the limited choice it offers to users, so it’s been trying to include more assets as quickly as possible. And people in the Australian region use more Swyftx as compared to Coinbase for buying and selling Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron, and other cryptos.

It started in just a few states in the US but it’s been opening up to new investors steadily so it’s now available in several states: Alaska, Arkansas, California, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, South Dakota, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Virginia, and Wyoming.

As we write this, coinmarketcap.com reports a trading price of USD 0.013425 for Tronix, and it’s trading in small red numbers. But you shouldn’t let those red numbers fool you. TRX is already the tenth coin by market capitalization (it was 12th only a few days ago) which means the market is interested and making it grow, even in the current bearish climate.

Tron has an incredibly supportive community and a leadership that has delivered on every promise timely, always. It’s very ambitious, and the token’s price has remained very cheap because it’s usually paired against Bitcoin (as opposed to local fiat currencies) which has held it back.

We, as many observers in crypto, are quite confident about Tron as a project and as a digital asset that will bring about a new generation of successful investors in a future that is not very far away from the present. It seems Robinhood shares our views in this regard.

Image courtesy of Pixabay.

Watching Institutions Set Their Ambush For Bitcoin

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Thinking bitcoin will not go exponentially higher is betting a $44 billion empire will fail.

For the last eight months of this crypto nuclear winter, I’ve watched this dance of the red candles on the chart and just grimly smiled.

Instead of continuing to build the $USD value of my portfolio, I’ve realized that’s not the important number. The portfolio value in bitcoin (BTC) is the key and that is still strong — this is a long war, be patient.

This was reinforced a month ago reading about Mr. Sprecher, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

He went from buying his first exchange for $1 or $1,000 — he says he doesn’t remember which. He used his house as collateral, and built that into a $44 billion empire.

I’ve read the article five times.

A lot of people talk about winning, but few get in the arena. He’s not building Bakkt because he needs more money, he’s building it because he likes the challenge — the thrill of the win.

It’s a feeling that once you’ve experienced it, almost makes the rest of life means less without it. I get it.

Fortune article on NYSE Owner — bitcoin exchange startup

I then circled November 1st on the calendar, which is when the Bakkt exchange goes live with futures contract being physically backed with BTC.

The Fortune article was a call to arms, telling the other institutions they have three months to get into position.

Once Bakkt is live, betting BTC won’t go exponentially higher is betting a $44 billion empire that owns the NYSE and has been a silent partner with Coinbase since 2015, is going to fail at launching a crypto exchange aimed at institutional clients.

Doubt it.

Think about Bakkt having been a silent partner with Coinbase since 2015.

I thought I was brave the first time I hit send on a $10,000 buy order and vaporized money from my bank account into the matrix to buy bitcoin.

But nope, turns out I wasn’t that cool, cause here’s Mr. Sprecher, just quietly in the back of Coinbase xeroxing their entire operation and building Bakkt a year ahead of me in 2015. Just absolute respect for that move.

There are patterns to everything. Ian Fleming said it first – twice is a coincidence, three times is enemy action.

I started looking for other data points, to see if they lined up and if a pattern would start to form.

I didn’t have to wait long.

Three days later on August 6th, Business Insider reported Goldman Sachs was looking at offering a custody solution for investors.

Goldman Sachs crypto custody

I immediately searched for other institutions looking to offer custody solutions and saw an article I had missed.

On July 31st, Bloomberg had written the 129 year old bank, Northern Trust, was testing proof of concept for crypto custody.

Northern Trust crypto custody

I find it hard to overstate the importance of Northern Trust coming into this asset class.

Northern Trust is a private wealth bank who has never, in 129 years, had even a whiff of impropriety. Their average private wealth client is worth $900 million. They serve 25% of the Forbes 400 wealthiest families in America.

Think about that, have $900 million in your accounts at Northern Trust? Half the clients there have more money than you.

And now they are announcing a bitcoin custody solution.

There’s just no hiding what that means. Institutions are coming, and they’re bringing trillions with them. Get set.

Northern Trust Private Investment statistics

Probably the most talked about ETF proposal in the space is the CBOE ETF. Not really going to say much about this other than the link below is a great breakdown of the proposal. It goes into detail on what makes the CBOE’s proposal vastly superior to the other offerings to date which the SEC has not approved.

CBOE ETF breakdown

On September 8th, Coinbase announced it was joining the crypto ETF arms race and seeking help from BlackRock.

To be fair, BlackRock in the past has said they have no interest in crypto, but we’re talking about a $6 trillion dollar asset manager. They aren’t going to tell anyone what they’re doing before it’s done.

For an example of scale, the entire gross domestic product produced by Germany, the powerhouse of the European Union, is 3.467 trillion (2016).

BlackRock manages almost twice that at $6.3 trillion.

Coinbase exploring ETF

On September 9th, Citigroup, one of the big four banks in the U.S. (JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Citigroup) announced it had developed an instrument it was calling a DAR (Digital Asset Receipt).

The DAR would work similar to the American Depositary Receipt (ADR) most institutions currently offer for investing in foreign markets.

Citigroup is currently one of the largest issuers of ADR’s in the world. They have a long established track record at this practice, issuing ADR’s since 1928.

As one of the big four banks in the U.S., Citigroup holds over 8% of total U.S. deposits by itself ($893 billion out of $10.7 trillion).

So essentially Citigroup is going to use a similar strategy for offering bitcoin and other digital assets to their customers in a product which will look and feel very similar to an ADR — which customers are already familiar with and has been used for the last 90 years.

Business Insider — Citigroup Digital Asset Receipts

On September 13th, Mike Novogratz called the bottom of this bear market. He took a screenshot of his Bloomberg terminal and showed the BGCI chart on twitter…don’t read the comments on his post unless you want to lose faith in humanity…People who have no idea the BGCI is proprietary to a Bloomberg terminal, which has a yearly subscription cost of $24,000 were throwing shade at Mr. Novogratz for no other reason than they were just emotionally bearish.

Most people don’t realize that Mr. Novogratz was one of the original backers of his friend from Princeton, Dan Morehead.

Mr. Morehead launched Pantera Capital in 2013, making the call to buy bitcoin at $103.

The Pantera Bitcoin Fund is up over 10,000% now.

Point being, these are data driven, very successful gentlemen who have built fortunes. So when someone of Mr. Novogratz’s stature is taking a screenshot of his Bloomberg terminal and publicly calling a bottom, that’s another data point lining up with the pattern.

Mike Novogratz calling the bottom on the 13th

Also on September 13th, Mr. Tom Lee, from Fundstrat, was speaking at the ETC Summit 2018.

I found their livestream on Youtube and watched Tom Lee’s presentation three times. It begins at 5:05:38.

Tom Lee’s callsign should be SteelRain — always on station with no emotion and accurate data on rapid fire.

He drew some very interesting comparisons against other recessions, showing the important metric was the 100% retracement of the last parabolic move up, not the timeframe it takes to retrace.

The fact that Mr. Lee and Mr. Novogratz were essentially saying the same thing, on the same day, half a world apart. Whoa, we’re danger close now.

Tom Lee’s presentation

So if you’re like me, been in the market for a couple years, great. The best thing I can think to do now is nothing. Keep getting some gains in the gym, and get out and live life. There’s a lot more to it than candles on a chart, and this is a long war.

If you bought BTC at $18k last winter, stay calm. Yeah you’ve been hurt, but you aren’t going to bleed out. November is around the corner. Be proud that you’ve waited out a longer bear market than the Baby Boomers did in 2008. You’re a veteran now.

And if you don’t own crypto yet, but see the value in it, and are waiting for a cheaper point to get in…may your wifi connection be fast, and your exchange not go offline.

You’re going to be in a crowded knife fight with everyone and their mother at $5,000 and below. Look at the PBV (Price by Volume) chart.

Just something to consider. None of this is financial advice.

I’m betting a $44 billion empire doesn’t lose. See you in 2019 — Radigan