Crypto newsletter: First crypto ETF to large investors

Summary:

• A joint venture of VanEck and SolidX may soon offer the first ETF-like product to large investors
• The US Congress has been urged to regulate crypto firms
• Bitcoin.com decides to open its own digital assets exchange

First crypto ETF

Since cryptocurrencies have gained popularity, many US institutions have been trying to create an ETF fund to allow investors to get exposure to this news segment. However, any steps taken to achieve this goal have been blocked by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as it has cited concerns about market manipulation. Despite this unfriendly environment two companies - VanEck Securities and SolidX Management - have found a way to circumvent this obstacle by using Rule 144A of the Securities Act of 1993 which it allows them to issue shares in the VanEck SolidX Bitcoin Trust, but only to qualified institutional buyers. Although retail investors will not be allowed to participate in this entrepreneurship, the two firms underlined that they would continue working so as to make this kind of instruments available for retailers as well. It is also worth noting that the shares will be quoted, starting this Thursday, on OTC Link ATS, a SEC-regulated alternative trading system. 

There is a possibility that buyers may run into an obstacle in the form of the 50% retracement. The strong support could be found nearby 9300 USD. Source: xStation5

US Congress urged to regulate crypto firms

The Financial Integrity Network (FIN), a Washington-based advisory firm, has recently urged the US Congress to regulate crypto companies’ activity under the Bank Secrecy Act. According to David Murray, a firm’s CEO, virtual asset service providers should be regulated based on the particular service or services they provide with emphasis on promoting system-wide governance, as Cointelegraph reports. He added that some companies in the US are using blockchain for criminal purposes, hence increased scrutiny would crack down on this practice. On the other hand, some might be skeptical of this idea given the fact that cryptocurrencies would lose its prime feature - anonymity. 

The chart is presenting cryptocurrencies’ capitalization. Source: coinmarketcup.com

Bitcoin.com opens crypto exchange

Bitcoin. Com, one of the most popular websites taking up cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, announced it would launch its own digital assets exchange. Its platform is to allow to trade digital coins like Litecoin, Ripple, Tron, ZCash, Stellar and EOS. In turn, markets offered by the company are to be denominated in base currencies like Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Core and Tether. The firm’s managing director, Danish Chaudhry, said that he “s hoping to compete against the bigger, more established exchanges, such as Coinbase and Binance by catering to its base.” In order to attract new users the company intends to offer a negative trading fee of -0.3% for the next three months. 

Ethereum and Ethereum Classic seem to be correlated (no causality has been checked though), hence the latest spike in the latter may foreshadow increased volatility in the former. Source: xStation5