NASDAQ Officially Launching Bitcoin Futures in Early 2019

The second largest stock exchange in the world, NASDAQ officially confirmed that indeed they are launching their very first bitcoin futures some time in 2019.

Joseph Christinat, VP NASDAQ’s media team confirmed this development in an interview with a UK-based news agency.

The exact date of the launch is not yet currently known but it was revealed that they are planning to launch it in the first half of 2019 and is still awaiting the approval of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The new project from one of the world’s financial platform comes a very positive news for the wider cryptocurrency community that has been looking for some positive news in the space that might serve as a catalyst to turn the tides to its favor.

The NASDAQ initiative has been brewing for some time now and it was initially slated for release mid-2018 but was put on hold amidst current persistent bearish sentiment in the market.

Christinat states that the company has put a lot of effort and significant investment to enable them to enter this emerging market.

Furthermore he reveals that they will for sure enter the market in 2019 whatever the case might be for the nascent industry.

However the interview did not indicated if the said Futures Contract offering by NASDAQ will be cash settled or Bitcoin Settled.

Quoine CEO Predicts New All-Time-High In 2019

Mike Kayamori, the CEO of Quoine, has recently release his prediction stating that the number one digital asset in the world by market cap, bitcoin, will hit a new ATH come 2019.

He further explains that bitcoin might be on the way of bottoming out and might see bullish correction in the first part of 2019.

According to the CEO there are a lot of catalyst that could influence a sustainable rally in the bitcoin market.

He states that Japanese regulators are now more open again and will start to approve new exchanges as well as approve new listings.

This comes at a time when there is growing compliance and an influx of institutional investments into the bitcoin space.

The executive also spent a significant time explaining how miners are discontinuing their bitcoin mining operations due to cost of operations is higher than what it earns.

He told Bloomberg in the interview that if enough miners are going out of business equilibrium is near.

Looking into the price movements of bitcoin according to Kayamori one could probably conclude that we are closer to the bottom.

New StableCoin Development Led By Chinese Billionaire

Li Xiaolai is spearheading a New Stablecoin Project in 2019.

This latest development is inline with current trend in the crypto space for stablecoins as it has become a more attractive alternative for those who are looking to integrate cryptocurrencies that does not involve price speculations.

The Chinese billionaire made this announcement months after he revealed that he is no longer investing in blockchain-based projects due to the lack of regulations and regular criminal activity associated with the new asset class.

The new stabelcoin would operate within the Hong Kong based blockchain fund Grandshores Technology.

It is interesting to note that the billionaire will have a hand in the development of the currency, including the launch of the coin.

It is not yet clear to what value the stablecoin will be pegged to but it has been reported in the past that Granshores Technology included the creation of three stablecoins that is pegged in Japanese Yen, The Hong Kong dollar and the Australian Dollar.

Although there are some regulatory concerns about stablecoins, it is not surprising that there is a renewed interest for such a digital asset given the current state of Bitcoin and altcoins prices and general downward trajectory for the crypto markets.

Economists have warned that there are no assurance that governments will continue to allow such an occurrence to happen.

Binance Releasing Its Own Blockchain Soon

In the coming months the cryptocurrency community will see the release of Binance’s own blockchain that would be a basis for creating new cryptocurrencies and Initial Coin Offering (ICO) tokens.

The plan was revealed during a recent private event in Singapore that was hosted by Forbes Asia.

Changpeng Zhao (CZ), speaking at the Decrypting Blockchain for Busines states that the new plans indicate an old vision of crypto to increase the adoption of crypto in a global scale.

According to CZ in order to reach a fundamental payment adoption increase the company should be pushing had into the space.

The announcement comes in the backdrop of dropping trading volume due to the declining market value of the whole cryptocurrency space.

Binance currently has around 10% trading volume they had in January 2018.

While there is significant drop in trading volume in recent months for Binance CZ assured everyone that his company’s business is still very stable and profitable.

He also added that in comparison to trading volumes two or three years ago, the business is still doing well.

Bitfinex Adding Four New Stablecoins

Bitfinex and its sister exchange Ethfinex has recently announced that they will be adding new stablecoins in their platforms.

With this announcement the total dollar-pegged tokens available in the platform will increase to six. This will provide a reassuring range of tether alternatives for traders.

The four new stablecoins includes Paxos, TrueUSD, Gemini Dollar and USD Coin.

Bitfinex decision to support other Stablecoin comes after Binance removes USDT as the reference stablecoinin place of a basket of stablecoins which included the aforementioned tethered coins.

The tether premium on USDT-based exchanges now stands at 2.64 percent down 1 percent from month ago, suggesting that readers now perceive less risk with exchanges with multiple stable coins.

According to Bitfinex Stablecoins present a fantastic opportunity for greater adoption of blockchain technologies through the stability and utility of fiat currencies.

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