By Jacob Pouncey | Saxo Bank Analyst | Crypto Current Contributor
This week the entire crypto market cap fell by 11%, bringing the market cap to USD 320 bn. Ethereum and Bitcoin fell by 12% and 10% respectively. This comes after a parabolic rally in Bitcoin price in the second quarter of 2019. Mike Novogratz, believes that the Bitcoin price will consolidate in the USD 10k-14k range before moving higher.
Binance to launch futures One of the leading crypto exchanges Binance announced that it would roll out a futures exchange on its platform. The platform will allow up to 20x leverage. Binance is following the footsteps of similar exchanges such as Kraken in launching a futures exchange. This announcement by Binance comes on the heels of a recent commitment by the firm to introduce margin trading on 11 July. Expect more exchanges to launch futures and margin trading rather than exchange and service consolidation in the short term. Exchanges are looking to grab a piece of the highly anticipated, historically large volume.
BitMEX to launch fixed income product BitMEX, the world’s largest crypto derivative exchange by volume, announced that it would launch a fixed income product on its platform. The product would be a zero-coupon bond denominated in Bitcoin, which will be backed by blue-chip counterparties who are operating profitably in the industry. Depending on the volume and risk associated with these first-ever Bitcoin zero coupon bonds, it could lead to the creation Libor-like index for which traders and blockchain businesses can judge their return on crypto assets.
Goldman may create coin David Solomon, the Chairman, and CEO of Goldman Sachs stated to a French news source that the company could launch its blockchain based coin similar to its rival JP Morgan. The CEO continued to say that we can reasonably assume that all major financial institutions are looking at the potential of blockchain technology, including tokenization and stablecoins. His statements come after a recent change of heart from President of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Agustin Carstens, who statedthat the bank is working on supporting central banks in their efforts to research and develop central bank digital currencies. Carstens also said that the market for these digital currencies might grow sooner than expected. The announcement of Facebook’s Libra is excellent motivation for Central Banks that are behind the curve.
