Many have called the long-rumored rules an existential threat to peer-to-peer transactions. The Treasury has released its long-awaited proposal to restrict money services businesses, including U.S.-registered crypto exchanges, from dealing with self-hosted wallets. In a Friday evening announcement, the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, announced proposed rules requiring registered crypto exchanges to verify the “identity of their customers, if a counterparty uses an unhosted or otherwise covered wallet and the transaction is greater than $3,000.”  The rule is currently just a proposal. The Treasury has […]

A handful of altcoins look ready to move higher as Bitcoin price enters a short consolidation phase. Christopher Wood, the global head of equity strategy at Jefferies, has dumped five percent of their physical gold position in order to buy Bitcoin (BTC). This move shows that a growing number of institutional investors consider Bitcoin to be at par or a better store of value than gold. Wood also said that if Bitcoin were to have a big correction, he would buy more. The fact that institutional investors […]

Rumored upcoming crypto wallet regulation gains further opposition, this time from Cynthia Lummis, a recently elected Wyoming senator. As per recent rumors, United States Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, could drop a stringent piece of crypto-related legislation before his expected exit at 2020’s end. The ruling could potentially severely limit or ban self-custodied digital asset wallets — a key component of the entire industry. Cynthia Lummis, a U.S. Senator-elect hailing from the crypto-friendly state of Wyoming, finds the fuling harmful.  “I spoke with Secretary Mnuchin last […]

Bitcoin derivatives trading is on the rise; one platform is letting traders bet on a $100,000 BTC moonshot by Sept 2021. As of Thursday, Deribit users can bet on the flagship cryptocurrency reaching $100,000 via options contracts that expire on Sept. 24, 2021. The lofty strike price was established following a surge in daily trade volumes.  In options trading, a strike price is the value that a derivative contract can be bought or sold when it’s exercised.  Deribit processed 754,123 BTC options contracts in November, according to […]

Bitcoin options open interest reached a record-high $6.5 billion as investors continue to increase their optimistic long-term bets. The open interest on Bitcoin (BTC) options contracts has reached a new all-time high at $6.5 billion on Dec. 17. That figure represents a three-fold increase from 90 days ago and is proof that the market has grown significantly in the past 6-months.  Bitcoin options total open interest. Source: cryptorank.io Investors must keep in mind that even though a $6.5 billion open interest is an impressive number, it doesn’t […]