FCA Could Ban Crypto-Derivatives, and the End of BCH? – Best of the Week

Giant conglomerate buys oldest cryptocurrency exchange

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp was purchased by a Belgian investment firm called NXMH. NXMH is owned by a South Korean conglomerate called NXC.

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There is little information online about NXMH, but NXC is based in Jeju and produces online games and consumer electronics through its many subsidiaries worldwide.

Bitstamp is one of the world’s oldest continuously-running cryptocurrency exchanges. It was created in Slovenia in 2011, before moving to the UK, and then to Luxembourg, where it is currently based. CEO Nejc Kodrič will maintain a minority stake in the company and continue to run it as before.

The price of the deal was not disclosed.

UK watchdog may ban cryptocurrency derivatives

The Financial Conduct Authority, the UK’s financial regulator, received its first piece of advice from its new cryptocurrency task force – ban financial derivatives based on cryptocurrency.

This means contracts such as CFDs, futures, and options. These complicated contracts are often blamed for market crashes, because they encourage speculation on enormous sums of money that are not really backed up by anything of value.

The task force was created in March 2018. It consistd of staff from FCA, the Bank of England, and the Treasury.

Its report talked of “concerns identified around consumer protection and market integrity” and also suggested that the law limit the credit (leverage) which trading companies can offer to customers.

“The risk of trading losses can be exacerbated by product fees such as financing costs and spreads, as well as by a lack of transparency in the price formation of the underlying cryptoasset,” says the report.

The head of the self-regulatory organisation of cryptocurrency in the UK welcomed the report, expressing happiness that cryptocurrency is being included in British law.

Exclusive: Advanced Markets of US launches FCA-regulated UK company

Advanced Markets, a foreign exchange brokerage from North Carolina, opened an office in London. From this office will operate a new company called Advanced Markets UK.

The new operation has received a licence from the FCA and is tasked with providing services to big money clients in Europe.

Breaking: Capital.com receives licence from FCA 

Capital.com, an online trading company with offices in Gibraltar, Minsk, Limassol and London, received a licence from the FCA. The company is now permitted to offer new services to customers in the UK.

Prior to this, the firm was using its Cyprus licence to operate. The CEO of the company expressed that the FCA licence is a boon to the business because it comes with an amount of respectability.

A self-regulatory organisation for cryptocurrency announces code of behaviour

Global Digital Finance, a cryptocurrency industry body, has taken on new members and released its code of conduct.

The new members, which are being called ‘Founding Members’ (the organisation was founded in back in March), include the companies Circle, Coinbase, and ConsenSys.

The code of conduct was written after a public consultation lasting 60 days. Reportedly, approximately 200 countries and 100 individuals offered some advice. It consists of three sections: ‘overarching principles’, ‘principles for token sales’, and ‘principles for token platforms’.

Companies will be able to sign up to the code in the first quarter of 2019. The advantage of doing this is that the act of signing advertises to the world that a company is serious about being legitimate.

Interview with CEO of Amana Capital

Amana Capital is an online trading company based in Cyprus. It focuses mainly on the Middle East and Asia. It recently released a new service called AmanaPRO, which is aimed at very wealthy customers, in Shenzen.

Finance Magnates spoke to the CEO of the company, Ahmad Khatib, about his company and its new venture. Khatib talked about why Asia is an attractive market, why the market is not offering some services in the best possible way, and why his company’s services “can be interesting to the market.”

The end of Bitcoin Cash?

Bitcoin Cash, the Bitcoin spinoff that inspires almost religious devotion for some reason, is threatening to split in half. This is because of a disagreement regarding some upgrades to the network.

On one side there is Craig Wright, an Australian computer programmer who claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto. He came up with a new idea, called Bitcoin Satoshi Vision, in response to an upgrade of Bitcoin Cash that he does not agree with. For the record, people who work with Bitcoin Cash believe that Bitcoin Cash is actually Bitcoin (they call the actual Bitcoin ‘Bitcoin Core’).

On the other side are those that want to upgrade the Bitcoin Cash blockchain to make it more versatile.

The argument has already got rather personal. What will be the future of Bitcoin Cash? Read this analysis and find out.

Analysis: the foreign exchange job market in challenging times

The European financial market is still reeling from two big changes – an upgrade of financial law courtesy of the EU’s regulatory body ESMA, and the impending exit of Britain from the union.

The new laws, known colloquially as MiFID II, impose strict restrictions on financial companies, specifically, regarding how much credit they can offer to their customers to bet with and what kind of products they can sell. At the same time, the market is bracing for Brexit, is likely to have at least some effect because London is a major financial centre, and many companies are based there just so they can operate in the EU.

How are these factors affecting the job market in the financial sector? Are companies in London only hiring UK citizens? Which brokers are hiring the most people, which the least? In this analysis, Finance Magnates surveys industry people and finds out.