MainBloq & TradingScreen partner to bring the next generation crypto trading and best execution to the buy-side
We are thrilled to announce a game changing collaboration for the digital currency markets. We have been heads down working with TradingScreen to create the best in class crypto trading execution systems for their new Markts.io platform. Our teams have been working together to solve the friction points and build features needed to enable crypto traders to trade smarter and more efficiently than ever.
TradingScreen (TS), the cloud-based multi-asset Order and Execution Management System (OEMS) provider, and digital asset trading platform Mainbloq, have announced a strategic partnership to integrate Mainbloq’s trading technology into TS’s leading OEMS solution, TradeSmart® Markts.io for crypto trader.
Driving the partnership is increasing demand among the buy-side to trade multi-asset classes via one centralized platform, enabling greater operational efficiencies and the seamless integration of workflows.
Mainbloq’s technology will be integrated directly into TradeSmart’s interface, providing TradeSmart users with access to Mainbloq’s cryptocurrency trading platform on one screen.
“Partnering with TradingScreen was one of our easier decisions,” said Ryan Kuiken, CEO of Mainbloq.
“The obstacles faced by institutional investors in crypto markets are shrinking. We believe in the future of crypto and TradingScreen’s commitment to the future has us truly excited,” he adds.
TradeSmart users will benefit from access to global cryptocurrency liquidity and best execution via Mainbloq Smart Order Routing (SOR) and a suite of algorithms including TWAP, VWAP, Iceberg, PEG, Percent of Volume, and Implementation Shortfall.
“At TS, we’re continuously striving to develop our offerings to provide additional value to our clients. Combining TS’s cutting-edge technology with Mainbloq’s cryptocurrency trading tools enables us to do exactly that,” said Alexandre Carteau, TradingScreen’s Head of Crypto.
“The listed crypto market is very fractured and it is challenging for clients to achieve best execution on the various venues available. Having a powerful SOR coupled with algos is paramount to achieve client satisfaction.”
Carteau adds: “Partnering with a market leader in the digital currency space ultimately means that TradeSmart users can continue to trade multi-asset classes, including crypto, all under one roof – the power of which cannot be understated.”
About Mainbloq
Mainbloq is a data, research, and technology company focusing on blockchain and digital assets. Mainbloq offers a suite of trading tools including smart order routering, trading algorithms, the ability for clients to integrate their own algorithms, and consulting services to help clients execute on their trading strategies. For more information visit https://mainbloq.io/
About TradingScreen
Operating in the cloud for nearly two decades, TradingScreen is a leading expert on SaaS trading technology. TradeSmart OEMS offers workflow efficiency, and seamless integration with the buy-side and connecting with markets globally and providing traders the access and information they need to optimize their trading performance. For more information visit www.tradingscreen.com
Bitcoin making the payments world better
Bitcoin is the digital currency which is created and held electronically and is the first successful digital coin that can be transferred over the web. Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer payment network which in simple words means that it can be transferred from a person to another directly over the internet, taking out middlemen such as banks and credit agencies
The crypto crash of 2019 considerably changed the dynamics in the crypto market and ensured a clean-up of the crypto market. Cryptocurrency price changes are no longer dramatic and the Bitcoin has become significantly stable. The new crypto market is being driven by institutional money in combination with the new wave of innovation and adoption which will come from security tokens combined with stable coins. The crypto market is also becoming more regulated, and therefore more accessible to the public and efficient. The New York Stock Exchange’s operator is to start working with Bitcoin futures in 2020, while Nasdaq will follow their lead a year later. Bitcoin has matured as an investment vehicle, primarily with the introduction of Bitcoin futures, allowing for adoption, as investors short Bitcoin and settle contracts in real money, as well as trade-off Bitcoin even when they do not own bitcoin.
Bitcoin users can accept and send Bitcoin payments of any size from anywhere in the world in seconds instantly which allows users to minimize the amount of cash and plastic they need to carry around. People comfortable and conversant with bitcoin may travel solely with it as a means to an alternate source of income. An Australian beach town in Central Queensland became the first digital currency-friendly tourist town.
As bitcoin can be used to initiate global payments around the world at insignificant costs and in near real-time, it offers an opportunity for crowdfunding by anyone around the world to help support charities and any foundations. You can offer aid to any foundation from anywhere in the world to help a cause. You can also scan a QR code to make payment into a bitcoin wallet. This use of bitcoin is an initiate of Project 256.
If an woocommerce coupon company permits bitcoin to be used to complete purchases, it has advantages such as cutting out middlemen, cutting down transaction fees, increasing the speed of transaction and can boost trade in some developing countries. It is also very secure, and so can be used to encrypt keys of a digital wallet. Because Bitcoin is instantaneous, users have peace of mind that a transaction is completed for sure, and so reduces time where a payment remains pending for a period of time. The instantaneous nature of bitcoins, along with its security means that chargebacks are very unlikely to occur. You can accept Bitcoin through the use of payment buttons, invoices or custom integrations. Bitcoin is still very relatively new in the woocommerce smart coupons space, so if you are going to use it, ensure there are FAQs to guide the customer and make the UX as intuitive as possible.
Bitcoin may be used to integrate the unbanked. It can be used for digital micro-loans, on monetary exchanges and for cross border remittances.
As bitcoin is a digital asset, it can be moved automatically, allowing for programmable money and smart contracts. Escrow accounts are already used for transactions, such as real estate deals. Customers’ deposits can have held in the escrow accounts and only goes to the seller after what the buyer paid for has been delivered. In a digital age where trust can be crucial to people who want to transact with sellers or buyers they don’t know, this system can be used for varying amounts.
Researchers are working on ways to map bitcoin transactions in the ledger to IP addresses. Although this system is not perfect yet, this exploration into computer science, economics, and forensics will help nab criminals and can also serve as a guard against money laundering.
Bitcoins are not associated with a bank account or cash funds, and because they're only transferred electronically through blockchain ledger systems, they are likely to reduce fraud overall in the future.
National banks of countries that are subject to extreme conflict or financial mismanagement might begin supporting cryptocurrencies by supplementing the gold reserves with bitcoin as it is a trust-minimized cryptocurrency solution.
About the author:
Junaid Ali Qureshi is an ecommerce entrepreneur with a passion for emerging tech marketing and ecommerce development. Some of his current ventures include Progos Tech (an Woocommerce mix and match), Elabelz.com , Titan Tech and Smart Marketing.
Taxing Crypto: Currency or Commodity?
The world saw its first bona fide cryptocurrency in 2009 with the advent of Bitcoin. Since then, cryptos have taken the realm of fintech by storm. Its rise in popularity billowed so rapidly, in fact, that nations are unsure how to regulate it. The truth is, cryptocurrency is such a novel technology that we still don’t quite know how to handle it.
Should we consider cryptocurrencies commodities or actual currencies? The answer to this question is not so simple. In fact, tax regulations around the world differ on the interpretation.
Our current understanding of cryptocurrencies is that they can basically be either, depending on how they’re used.
Crypto as Currency
As the name itself implies, cryptocurrency can function much like fiat money. By that token, one may use them for the purchase of goods and services (in some countries, anyway). They may also be exchanged into other currencies, making them functionally the same.
So that settles it, right? After all, cryptos do everything money does, for the most part. Well, not quite. While they may operate like currency, and intuitively it makes sense, some traits make cryptos difficult to classify as currency.
For one, it is a decentralized currency. In other words, it is not tied to any third party authority (country, bank, etc.); there’s the sender and the receiver, nothing more. This stands in stark contrast to how traditional money has worked up until now.
Secondly, cryptos cannot be produced arbitrarily according to a country’s current economic state. It instead requires “mining,” and only a fixed amount of them exists. This makes cryptos more of an asset, like gold.
Crypto as Commodity
From a certain perspective, cryptos can also be considered a commodity. Granted, the line between currency and commodity is quite fine. The key difference between the two is that the former acts as a clear-cut facilitator for exchange which quantifies the value of an item or service.
That being said, a cryptocurrency does possess fungibility, i.e. the ability to be interchangeable with other commodities on the market. Beyond that, commodities can afford to be volatile, whereas currencies don’t have that luxury. Having in mind Bitcoin’s value history, it certainly fits the profile of a commodity.
This view certainly isn’t without legal precedent. In early 2019, Indonesia greenlit legislation that treats Bitcoin as a commodity for trade. Meanwhile, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) suggested the same ruling on the matter for other cryptos as well, rendering them subject to the Goods & Services Tax. Australia ultimately dubbed Bitcoin as money.
The main idea that stops cryptocurrencies from being pure commodities, however, is the idea of value. Commodities have intrinsic value, like crops, for example. Cryptos, on the other hand, hold only the value that current market expectations give them. It’s only worth what it can buy, and nothing else.
In the Eye of the Beholder…
As things currently stand, crypto seems to dip its toes in both ponds, performing as both commodity and currency. And until we reach a deeper understanding of crypto, regulation cannot consistently come to the same decision on the matter. Thus, for now, it’s up to each individual country to make up its mind about this conundrum. Until then, take a look at this insightful infographic below:
Erisx Launches Regulated Bitcoin Futures Market BTC $BTC
Crypto trading platform Erisx has launched a bitcoin futures market regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Its physically-settled bitcoin futures contracts trade alongside its spot market which supports four cryptocurrencies. Erisx has obtained a license from the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and is currently approved to operate in 44 states, with a plan to expand to 53 states and U.S. territories.
Article Published on Bitcoin.com
Physically Settled, Regulated Bitcoin Futures
Erisx announced on Tuesday the launch of its regulated bitcoin futures market. The platform’s physically-settled bitcoin futures contracts are offered alongside its spot market for “price transparency and collateral efficiency,” the company detailed. Initially, only monthly and quarterly contracts are offered.
Since the contracts are physically settled, “settlement will be made by the movement of the digital currency to the buyer of the futures contract and US dollars to the seller of the contract,” Erisx’s website describes. The current requirement to become a member of the platform is a minimum balance of $10,000.
Erisx’s current futures product.
Prior to Tuesday’s launch, the company ramped up its team and developed technology for its exchange’s matching engine (TME) and clearinghouse’s clearing system (TCS). The company also developed risk-mitigating functionality to enable efficient price discovery such as self-match prevention, price banding, and maximum order sizes. Its futures clearing platform was built from scratch. Currently, Erisx’s spot trading platform supports BTC, BCH, ETH, and LTC, which can be traded against the USD or BTC >> READ MORE
Announcing LiveView: Look into the top of book for any crypto currency pair across all of the major exchanges
Announcing LiveView by Mainbloq: your live view into the crypto markets. We built LiveView to demonstrate to our clients the power of our technology, now we're giving it to anyone with a web browser: www.mainbloq.io/liveview
We're always building new technology for our clients—you may have read about our Smart Order Router and Trading Algorithms in previous articles—but today we're releasing something for EVERYONE.
What's in LiveView:
- An insider's look into the top of book for any currency pair across all of the major exchanges and their liquidity pools.
- See total volume and liquidity for currency pairs across exchange in real-time.
- Identify price differences between exchanges to see where to get the best price.
- A real-time calculation of stable rates normalized to give the true best price.
So what can you do with LiveView? You can trade smarter. That's what we're all about at Mainbloq, we give you the tools to make better trading decisions.
The one thing that we see as most salient is if you are only executing on one exchange you are leaving money on the table. To make the most efficient trades you need to execute cross-exchange.
One thing you can't do from LiveView is trade. If you're looking to trade smarter in real-time contact us here: https://mainbloq.io/contact/
About Mainbloq
Mainbloq is a data, research, and technology company focusing on blockchain and digital assets. Mainbloq offers a cloud-based, modular platform including a smart order router, suite of trading algorithms, the ability for clients to integrate their own algorithms, and consulting services to help clients execute on their trading strategies. Mainbloq is building the best-in-class platform for researching and trading digital assets. For more information visit https://mainbloq.io/
Bitcoinexchangeguide.com: Crypto Analysis Company Mainbloq Launches New Algorithm To Automate Trading Activities
Carl T is a legend in cryptocurrency space for his long-storied experience, history and insights. He is a digital nomad who fell in love with bitcoin and its offspring for many years now and prides himself on delivering quality perspectives in the emerging world of crypto-assets and blockchain technology.Follow Bitcoin Exchange Guide on - Twitter | Facebook
Crypto Analysis Company Launches New Trading Algorithm To Automate Trading Activities
The cryptocurrency analysis company, Mainbloq, has decided to launch a new algorithm that aims at automating the trading process. Mainbloq informs that the algorithm can be used with its proprietary order management system. The information was released by the firm in a recent announcement. >> READ MORE
FinanceMagnets.com: Mainbloq Launches Algorithm Suite for Crypto Trading
The suite has 8 algorithms to offer.
| News ( CryptoCurrency ) |
The crypto analysis company has launched a suite of cryptocurrency trading algorithm to automate the trading process.
MainBloq has kept the suite versatile considering the wide spectrum of the crypto trading market. The company’s algorithm can be used within its proprietary order management system. It has also launched API support, which will enable the algorithm to be integrated into any third party OMS or EMS, detailed the April 4th announcement >> READ MORE
LGO Markets, the New Industry Standard for a Safe, Secure & Transparent Digital Asset Exchange
LGO Group announced Monday the launch of LGO Markets, a digital asset trading platform dedicated to institutional clients. Trading on LGO will start on March 11th, 2019.
Institutional investors have been waiting for a reliable and suitable infrastructure to enter the cryptocurrency market. With this in mind, LGO Markets has been specifically designed to remove the main hurdles faced by institutions: risk and lack of transparency.
FOLLOW LGO on Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter | Medium
The company is committed to providing a highly secure and trustworthy environment for its clients. Data and volume manipulation are prevented through the use of blockchain technology. Trading on LGO Markets also means no counterparty risk as clients hold their funds (non-custodial). LGO Markets aims to be fully compliant with regulations and is currently applying for a BitLicense and a FINRA broker-dealer license.
LGO Markets’ platform will initially offer a physically settled Bitcoin to USD spot market. Hugo Renaudin, CEO of LGO Markets added: “This could be considered as the simplest financial product, yet it does not exist in the cryptocurrency market. By bridging the processes of traditional financial exchanges and the benefits of blockchain transparency, LGO is built to be the reference venue for institutional digital asset trading .”
As for now, more than ten institutional clients have already joined the platform. They are mainly OTC trading desks, hedge funds, crypto businesses, and market makers.
The company is aspiring to bring innovative solutions to the financial markets, where all representations of value can be exchanged seamlessly, transparently and with less risk thanks to the blockchain technology. Frédéric Montagnon, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of LGO Markets, added: “This launch is only our first step towards achieving our long term mission. We see an opportunity to accompany the whole financial industry to transition to blockchain and distributed ledger technology. By rolling out our offer on the Bitcoin market, we position ourselves to become the leading exchange for blockchain-based assets - whether cryptocurrencies or tokenized traditional financial contracts .”
Why Every Portfolio On The Planet Should Be Holding Bitcoin
Editor’s Note: Art Jonak is an investment analyst with both a wide and deep synthesis approach to research data. His commentary threads on titans like Netflix, Amazon and Facebook are a minor legend for their insight, detail and clarity. He also navigates venture funding, and emerging sector data, in a narrative, often with striking visualization, that reveals trends in their formation long before they are visible. It should not need to be said for investment disclosure that Art is holding crypto assets himself. He is obviously making a case of why everyone should.
Here is Art’s 2019 message thread for investing in Bitcoin, in particular. In our eyes, it slams the case for why every single portfolio on the planet should be holding Bitcoin, and treated as a portfolio asset class.
Here's one case for why some should consider adding Bitcoin to their investment portfolio:
* Bitcoin is a non-correlated asset — This is the holy grail of any portfolio. Bitcoin’s current 180 day correlation to the S&P 500 is 0 and the correlation to the dollar index is near zero as well. Investing in non-correlated assets should reduce the risk and increase the returns of a portfolio according to modern portfolio theory.
* Bitcoin has an asymmetric return profile — There is much more upside than downside in owning the asset. The downside (loss of capital) is capped at the total amount of capital invested, yet the upside is ~100X+ (if Bitcoin only becomes gold equivalent).
The modern portfolio theory argument for investing in Bitcoin is quite strong. But how has theory played out in practice?
Bitcoin has been the best performing asset over the last 10 years. It has experienced a 1,300,000X+ increase in value from $0.003 to ~$4,000 today. It has beat the S&P 500 for the last 10 years, the last 5 years, and the last 2 years. As a fixed supply asset, I believe Bitcoin will continue to outperform traditional assets in the future as demand continues to increase too.
Although I believe in Bitcoin’s future outlook, most people should not put significant funds at risk in this investment opportunity. It is risky and speculative. They could lose 100% of the money that they invest. For that reason, each person needs to evaluate their current situation, their goals, and the amount of capital they would be willing to lose.
If the thesis plays out how many smart people anticipate though, an investment of 100 basis points or less would materially change the performance of your portfolio fund, which ultimately changes the quality of life you will live when you retire. Most institutions have permanent, long-term capital which allows them to stomach more volatility than most investors.
For example, an investment of 1% of assets at $4,000 BTC price would yield a 25% increase in your portfolio total assets if Bitcoin reached $100,000. If you decided to invest 0.1% of assets, the same price appreciation would increase total assets by 2.5%.
However, the exciting part is that many people believe Bitcoin will not only reach $100,000 one day, but rather be worth $1,000,000+. If that comes to fruition, a 0.1% investment today could lead to the same 25% increase in total assets for your portfolio. These types of trade-offs are the definition of an asymmetric return profile.
And still, most people's portfolios have 0% exposure to Bitcoin and crypto. Something to consider as we head into 2019.
Samsung Galaxy S10 includes storage for digital currency private keys
Samsung’s latest flagship phone will include a dedicated secure storage function designed for cryptocurrency private keys.
CoinDesk - Samsung Confirms Galaxy S10 Will Include Private Crypto Key Storage
CryptoNews - The Mystery of Samsung's Galaxy S10 Private Key Storage Remains
Forbes - Samsung Confirms Galaxy Fold And S10 Security Surprises
The news that Samsung added a private key storage to its new Galaxy S10 smartphone shook the crypto world, as many have taken it as a sign of endorsement from the South Korean tech giant. However, as details are scarce, many are wondering what “hardware storage” the company announced and why it wasn’t mentioned during keynote presentations.
Samsung announced in February that their newest phone, the Galaxy S10, will include secure storage for its users’ cryptocurrency private keys.
The company made a press release detailing the phone’s many features, notably including Samsung’s proprietary defense platform, Samsung Knox, which will feature secure private key storage that it claims is specifically “for blockchain-enabled mobile services.”
Baked-in support for cryptocurrencies in smartphone platforms is not completely unique to the space, although this initiative by Samsung represents a major step for the technology’s integration into mainstream products. As it stands, there are currently two smartphones that support crypto assets: HTC’s Exodus 1 and Sirin Labs’ Finney.
These two phones have seen much more limited adoption than any product Samsung could release for several reasons....