Bitcoin, ETH, Ripple, Interactive Brokers Record DARTs: Editor’s Pick

In another week dominated by events in the crypto sphere, here are the top news stories from the worlds of forex, crypto and fintech in our best of the week segment.

Is It Too Late to Buy Bitcoin? Here’s What the Experts Think

In a popular Finance Magnates analysis, we asked the opinions of leading names such as Rubix Chief Executive, Andrew Hamilton, Investor, Entrepreneur, and Author, Shanka Jayasinha, Brandon Mintz, Chief Executive of Bitcoin Depot and Borys Pikalov, Co-founder of Stobox.io.

No stone was left unturned in looking at the viability of buying Bitcoin now at its record price.

Read more on is it too late to buy Bitcoin here.

Anonymous Bitcoin User Transfers 9,156 BTC Just before the Crash

Bitcoin price crashed below $30,000 on Monday as the world’s largest cryptocurrency lost $50 billion in market cap within hours. One anonymous Bitcoin user transferred 9,156 BTC worth nearly $300 million just an hour before the crash started.

According to the details provided by Whale Alert, a blockchain tracker and analytics system, an unidentified crypto holder transferred 9,156 Bitcoin on Monday 4 Jan 2021 06:59:39 UTC, barely an hour before the recent dip in the cryptocurrency market which saw losses of up to 15%

Read more on the anonymous bitcoin transfer here

Coinbase Exchange Down Again as Bitcoin Volatility Heats Up

As Bitcoin recovered from a sharp correction, Coinbase reported its retail and professional-focused platforms were hit by ‘connectivity issues’, with users reporting difficulty trading and logging into their accounts.

According to a company update, Coinbase said the website and mobile apps are not loading, adding that it is “currently investigating the issue,” but no further comment was provided.

Read more on the Coinbase outage here.

Grayscale Sells XRP to Buy Bitcoin and Ethereum

Grayscale, the world’s largest crypto asset management firm, announced that it has removed XRP from its investment fund. The company added that it has used the new funds to buy other crypto assets including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash.

According to the official announcement, Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund (DLC Fund) decided to remove XRP in its quarterly review and mentioned that no other digital asset qualified for the inclusion. Additionally, the company outlined the current composition of the fund, which includes Bitcoin (81.6%), Ethereum (15.9%), Litecoin (1.4%) and Bitcoin Cash (1.1%).

Read more on the Grayscale XRP Sales here.

Ripple Has No Control over XRP Listing, Says Brad Garlinghouse

As Finance Magnates covered this week, Ripple CEO, Brad Garlinghouse released a statement in response to some of the uncertainties regarding the recent lawsuit filed by the SEC. He said that 95% of XRP trading is happening outside the US and the company cannot decide where to list the cryptocurrency.

According to a Twitter thread by Garlinghouse, Ripple tried to settle the issues with the SEC in the past but failed to reach a successful agreement. He also mentioned that the company will continue its efforts to settle the matter with the new administration to support the XRP community.

Read more on the Ripple statement here.

Why is the Price of ETH So High–And How Long Will It Last?

In a must-read Finance Magnates analysis, we delved deep into the burning questions of the week, What exactly is driving the price of ETH up? And will the rally last?

With expert insights from Will McCormick, Director of Communications at global cryptocurrency exchange, OKCoin, Maria Stankevich, Chief Business Development Officer at EXMO UK, Jamie Finn, President & Co-Founder of Securitize and Tim Sabanov, the Lead Technical Architect at Zumo, we broke down ETH, its rises and its future.

Read more on the ETH price rises here.

Exclusive: XTB Registers New Dubai Subsidiary, Awaits DFSA License

As Finance Magnates exclusively revealed this week, Polish FX brokerage, XTB is seeking a license from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) after it has incorporated its new subsidiary, XTB MENA Limited, in the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC).

The DIFC’s website shows that the registration status of the new spin-off is ‘Active’ while its regulatory application is ‘Pending DFSA Authorization.

Read more on the XTB Dubai License move here.

Interactive Brokers’ Fee-Generating Trades Set New Record in December

Interactive Brokers LLC (NASDAQ: IBKR) announced this week a new milestone growth, this time with the number of fee-generating trades exceeding 2.3 million in December amid a surge in activity from people stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic.

This is about three times the number of daily average revenue trades, or DARTS, reported in the same month a year ago.

The US-listed brokerage saw 2.29 million in DARTs last month, which was up 200 per cent year over year from 771,000 transactions in December 2019. This figure, which reflects one of widely followed industry metrics for customer activity, is also slightly higher from the previous record set back in November at 2.29 million transactions.

Read more on the Interactive Brokers DARTs record here.

Exclusive: IG South Africa Appeals FSCA Decision as ODP Licence Denied

In yet another Finance Magnates exclusive, we revealed intriguing new details on IG’s pursuit of expanding its regulatory footprint in South Africa.

Read more on the IG South Africa Appeal here.

IG Group Releases Brexit Update for EEA Clients

IG Group released a Brexit update this week for its European Economic Area (EEA) clients and asked them to transfer their accounts to IG Europe as the broker recently announced that its UK entity will no longer service clients from the EEA region due to Brexit.

According to the official announcement, the company stated that the process of transfer requires identity verification of clients before 8 January 2021. The broker mentioned that in case of failure of transfer or identity verification, the account will be closed.

Read more on the IG Group Brexit update here.