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The biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S. just set up its core principles for its institutional financial products. Three months after Coinbase introduced its suite of institutional products in May, the startup has unveiled a series of “fundamental beliefs” about how the company will operate and develop its institutional investor-focused business lines. According to an August 20 blog post written by Adam White, Coinbase’s vice president and general manager, the leading cryptocurrency exchange has set up five core principles. These include the operation of “fair and orderly” markets, enforcing transparent market rules, offering “fair access to all market participants,” disclosing listing practices and market rules publicly, and safeguarding clients “with institutional-grade infrastructure and processes.” As White explained: “This set of fundamental beliefs will act as our North Star as we design, develop, and operate our products. Ultimately, we intend for these core...

New research from Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. suggests that revenue generated by cryptocurrency exchanges could more than double to hit $4 billion in 2018, Bloomberg reports August 17. The report, titled “Crypto Trading — the Next Big Thing is Here?,” argues that the protracted crypto bear market is unlikely to impact the burgeoning revenue generated by exchanges. Moreover, “as the crypto-asset class seasons and institutional demand builds,” traditional financial sector firms — including custodians and asset managers — will find “a plethora of opportunities,” the analysts suggest. Bernstein found that in 2017, the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies generated $1.8 billion in transaction fees alone — equivalent to eight percent of the revenue of traditional exchanges. On the basis of the analysts’ findings, Bloomberg notes that “in terms of segments, only the global cash equities business surpassed crypto trading.” How cryptocurrencies’ average daily traded volume over 3...

Ethereum classic (ETC) is reporting double-digit gains on the heels of an anticipated listing on the Coinbase exchange as of 17:00 PST (00:00 UTC) on Thursday. At time of writing, ETC is trading across exchanges at an average price of $14.04  – a 15.72 percent gain in the last 24 hours – and is currently the biggest gainer among the top 15 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, according to CoinMarketCap data. This is not the first time that ETC is cheering its association with Coinbase – it   rose sharply earlier this month to a high of $21.25 as traders welcomed its listing on Coinbase Pro, the firm’s platform aimed at more experienced traders. However, things took turn for the worse in subsequent days courtesy of a broader market sell-off and  ETC fell to $10.25 on Aug. 14 – down 50 percent from its Aug. 7 high, as per Bitfinex. Although the markets generally are now showing signs of recovery, today’s above average bounce surely marks revived investor inte...

The Ex-COO of ‘Chinese Google’ Baidu and blockchain bull Qi Lu has joined Y Combinator (YC) to run the company’s new China-based division, according to a blog post August 14.   Y Combinator –– the major Silicon Valley-based entrepreneurial accelerator that funded such startups as Dropbox, Airbnb, Coinbase, Reddit, among others –– announced that is has officially entered the Chinese market, launching a new division of the company there. The company also announced that the new division will be launched and run by ex-Baidu exec Qi. In the announcement, YC president Sam Altman said he expected Qi to “build a long-term local organization that will combine the best of Silicon Valley and China and create a lot of innovation.” Altman added: “Qi embodies all of these values, and China has been an important missing piece of our puzzle — the entrepreneurial energy and talent there is an amazing force.” In an interview published today, August 15, in local media outlet 36Kr, Qi re...

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in an August 14 interview with Bloomberg that it was signing up 50,000 users per day in 2017. Speaking at the Bloomberg Players Technology Summit in San Francisco on Tuesday, Armstrong said that the “technology [ Bitcoin ] is going through a series of bubbles and corrections, and each time it does that, it’s at a new plateau.” He added that “people’s expectations are all over the map, but real-world adoption has been going up,” stating that he sees “real world adoption pretty steadily increasing each year.” When asked about his expectations for Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), Armstrong said that ICOs are “an important innovation in the world” as they provide an opportunity for people around the world to raise funds for new ventures without relying on personal networks of angel investors.  “It’s a huge breakthrough,” he said. While there are legal questions to consider, Armstrong said that he expects the ICO trend to...