Friday, January 4, 2019

The OTC Battlefield 👊🏻

January 4, 2019

Circle's OTC Desk Saw $24 Billion in 2018

Topping 10,000 trades

Crypto platform Circle is prospering this year. In fact, in their year end blog post the leadership highlighted a handful of accomplishments including acquisitions, stablecoin development, and product introductions.

Most interesting though was that the post also unveiled its over-the-counter (OTC) desk performance - a metric that signals institutional adoption.

Here's how Circle's OTC did in a nutshell:

10,000+ trades executed
24 billion in volume
600 different counter parties

Securing the spot

Those numbers aren't too shabby for a service that has been around less than a year, however, the ever-growing battlefield for OTC services is getting intense.

In November, Coinbase followed Circle and quietly opened its institutional investment platform. Prior to that, Winklevoss-owned exchange Gemini also turned to institutional investors this year through its platform.

Outside of the known crypto juggernauts, traditional financial players are also sneaking in. Just recently VanEck subsidiary MV Index Solutions launched its own Bitcoin index based on OTC desk prices.

And these companies are just a tiny drop in the bucket of new liquidity providers.

TECH

BitTorrent to Launch its Own Crypto on the Tron Network

Tron's purchase of BitTorrent

In July of this year, Justin Sun and Tron acquired BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer file sharing software.

With more than 100 million users worldwide, the acquisition of BitTorrent made Tron the world's largest decentralized internet ecosystem.

It was reported that Sun's offer accepted by BitTorrent was around $120 million.

Birth of a new crypto

BitTorrent just announced its plans to launch a cryptocurrency that is developed by Tron and will run on the Tron network. The crypto will be known as the BitTorrent Token.

The token's intended use will be as a means of payment for sending and receiving files. Users will be able to pay more to receive faster download speeds.

More details surrounding the project are set to be revealed at Tron's summit later this month in San Francisco.

ADOPTION

Overstock Plans to Pay Some of its Taxes in Bitcoin

Overstock's transition into a blockchain company

Overstock has traditionally operated as an internet retailer selling discounted furniture, jewelry, and other products. As the retail segment of Overstock's business has struggled, the company's CEO Patrick Byrne has begun to shift his company to a blockchain-focused firm.

In 2014, Overstock created a venture capital arm called Medici Ventures. Recently, Overstock announced plans to sell off its retail business by February, which will only leave Medici Ventures and its blockchain portfolio.

Since 2014, Medici Ventures has invested more than $175 million in blockchain companies. Its most notable venture is tZero which is a security token offering exchange.

Paying the government in BTC

Last November, the state of Ohio announced that it would accept Bitcoin for tax payments. Now, Overstock has announced that it plans to pay a portion of its taxes in Bitcoin.

In addition to its blockchain VC arm, Overstock has been involved with crypto prior, accepting Bitcoin as payments for goods since 2014.

Overstock's CEO and founder Patrick Byrne commented on government adoption of cryptocurrency:

"We have long thought that thoughtful governmental adoption of emerging technologies such as cryptocurrencies (when accompanied by non-restrictive legislation over these technologies) is the best way to ensure the U.S. does not lose our place at the forefront of the ever-advancing global economy."

BITS

But wait, there's more...

✈️ Bitcoin ATM producer Lamassu has shipped off to Switzerland due to regulatory issues.
🚶‍♂️ A Coinbase executive has left the exchange for a stablecoin issuer.

MEME