Bakkt to the Futures

To view this email as a web page, go here.

Sponsored by   October 23, 2018 FUTURES LAUNCH: The Intercontinental Exchange's new cryptocurrency trading platform, Bakkt, has an official launch date: December 12. First announced earlier this year, the platform intends to offer physically-settled bitcoin futures contracts in less than two months. However, Bakkt is still waiting on regulator approval to actually list its product, so that December 12 launch date isn't 100 percent set in stone. If and when the Commodity Futures Trading Commission gives its approval, ICE Digital Asset Warehouse will store the bitcoins, which customers will receive upon cashing out each contract through another ICE-operated subsidiary. Full Story EXODUS ARRIVES: HTC's long-awaited blockchain phone is officially in the early-access phase. Developers and other members of the broader blockchain community can now pre-order the EXODUS 1 – notably, paying only with bitcoin and ethereum – for shipment later this year.  The Exodus aims to be the first smartphone designed specifically to hold cryptocurrencies. At launch, the phone will offer a secure storage system for a user's private cryptocurrency keys, kept isolated from the Android operating system. HTC said it is now looking for feedback from developers to improve this early product in future releases. Full Story TETHER TRICKLES: Bitfinex has sent roughly a quarter of the tether (USDT) stablecoin in circulation to the Tether treasury in the last week, after the token broke its dollar peg last Monday. The exchange has pulled 630 million USDT out of circulation since October 14. Bitfinex has not offered an explanation for the withdrawals, although a researcher known as Hasu and the CEO of Three Arrows Capital, Su Zhu, believe Tether Ltd. is redeeming its own tokens. Essentially, they argue, the token’s developer is buying USDT at a discount, turning its liabilities into assets in the process. Full Story CoinDesk Research tracks many different metrics in the crypto economy. Social interest is important in determining the engagement of various coin communities. We observed Reddit post volume on each cryptocurrency's unique subpage for Monday, October 22. Bitcoin's (BTC) had the highest share at 28 percent followed by Bitcoin Cash's (BCH) 23 percent. A peculiarity is that these rankings don't match those of market cap. Ether's (ETH) subpage comes in 8th while having the 2nd largest market cap. It's helpful to also consider the number of subscribers of each subpage. This helps indicate if the volume is underperforming or overperforming for its size. BTC's and BCH's volume are fairly similar but BCH only has 24 percent of the subscribers as BTC's page. For more research insights check out the CoinDesk Research section here. SPONSOR SECTION   Consensus: Invest is for institutional investors that are looking for an outlook on where the crypto asset market is headed in 2019.  We have leading speakers including Mark Casady from Vestigo Ventures, Glenn Hutchins from North Island & Silver Lake and Mark Yusko from Morgan Creek Capital Management.  We also have leading analysts including Spencer Bogart from Blockchain Capital, Ari Paul from BlockTower and Tuur Demeester from Adamant Capital. Don't miss this full day event on November 27th here in New York. Register Now   HOLDING STEADY: Trapped in a range of $6,360–$6,480, bitcoin is offering little directional guidance, and trading the range breakout seems like the best strategy. Altcoin traders need to observe caution as the ETH/BTC pair – the best risk barometer – is on the defensive below 0.031994. Full Story BEST OF THE BEST FORBES: A Forbes reporter has visited an abandoned nuclear bunker, located 60-feet below ground somewhere in England, that is now used as a data center to store cryptos worth billions of dollars. The company behind the crypto bunker – called Vo1t – said the facility is like a modern-day Swiss vault, used by some of the major fund managers and crypto exchanges in the world to keep their crypto assets safe.  A U.S. IRA and 401(k) provider called Equity Trust said it puts its crypto holdings in the vault, and pays some $33,000 annually for the custody service in addition to a one-off $33,000 setup charge. THE REST  BLOOMBERG: Bank of Canada, the country’s central bank, says it has successfully carried out a trial that cleared and settled stocks on a blockchain. The experiment was part of its ongoing research initiative, Project Jasper.  The participant tested a system where securities and fiat money were put on a blockchain platform via digital depository receipts by Canada's national securities depository. The experiment allowed the settlement of securities against central bank funds, while maintaining privacy for trial participants, the central bank said. REUTERS: Jeremy Allaire, CEO of crypto finance startup Circle, believes the G20 economies should agree on standardized regulation of cryptocurrencies, according to a piece in Reuters. Allaire welcomed recent moves by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to bring about a set of rules to guide nations in governing the crypto industry. However, he said new regulations should have wider scope to cover the issuance of private money via ICOs, and that more clarification is needed on token definitions.   We've launched our first-ever podcast, "Late Confirmation," a digest of top stories in the blockchain world, delivered daily from the team at CoinDesk. Listen to Latest Episode and Subscribe   WHO WON #CRYPTOTWITTER   ConsenSys Jobs Blockchain Jobs Circle Jobs BitGo Jobs Copyright © 2018 CoinDesk. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 250 Park Avenue South New York, NY, 10003, US Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list