In 2016, few people had ever heard of Bitcoin or blockchain, initial coin offerings were non-existent, and US financial regulatory agencies had yet to react to the emergence of non-bank financial services providers. The FinTech industry has changed dramatically since then: Bitcoin has captured the public imagination and spawned new derivatives products, you can apply… Read More »
The U.S. regulatory framework for cryptocurrency (including federal securities compliance,[1] spot exchange registration,[2] and new derivative product listings[3]) continues to slowly evolve as government agencies increase their familiarity with the technology and dissect its associated risks.[4] Nevertheless, despite recent guidance statements issued by the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC); the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC);… Read More »
It’s been almost a month since I returned from my first ever blockchain/cryptocurrency conference and I am still trying to process what I witnessed. Calling Consensus 2018 a spectacle would be like calling Gary Busey different; 8,500 people – up from 2,700 the year before – crammed the Midtown Manhattan Hilton for three full days… Read More »
Courtesy of Lawrence Baxter, Ryan Clements, and John Lightbourne The buzz surrounding Blockchain, the distributed ledger infrastructure upon which Bitcoin operates, and how it will transform commerce while reducing transaction costs is at a crescendo. As John Oliver recently hilariously lampooned, many investors assign instant value to any firm with Blockchain in its name, mirroring… Read More »
The New Year has seen the Securities and Exchange Commission break out its best Dikembe Mutombo finger wag impersonation for those seeking to list a Bitcoin related exchange traded fund (ETF). According to the SEC’s EDGAR database, seven different Bitcoin ETF proposals were withdrawn just this week at the request of SEC staff. The SEC’s… Read More »
The rise of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) to finance the development of blockchain applications has captured the public imagination.[1] This method of obtaining startup capital raised over $3 Billion in 2017.[2] Naturally, as ICOs have generated more and more money for developers, they have come under increased regulatory scrutiny in the United States and abroad.[3]… Read More »
In a previous blog post, I criticized the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s decision to allow the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to self-certify Bitcoin futures contract. Self-certification allows designated contract markets (DCMs)[1] to list new futures contracts one day after submitting documentation to the CFTC that demonstrates the new… Read More »
Sunday evening marked the latest chapter in the Bitcoin bonanza when the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) began offering Bitcoin futures contracts. To the surprise of no one, the launch did not go smoothly. CBOE was forced to halt trading two and a half hours after trading opened when the futures price rose by 10%,… Read More »
Courtesy of Lee Reiners, Ryan Clements, and Sean Semmler In the late 1990s, it was widely understood that Beanie Babies – a line of miniature stuffed animals – were in the midst of a speculative bubble. At one point, Beanie Babies made up 10% of eBay’s sales and over 60% of American households owned at… Read More »
Courtesy of Lee Reiners, Ryan Clements, and Sean Semmler Predicting the future price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is a fool’s errand. If you believe otherwise, take a look at BitcoinObituaries.com, which provides a running list of articles from publications such as The Economist and The Wall Street Journal that proclaim the end of Bitcoin… Read More »
