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BackCrypto market news, questions about virtual IBANs, and more!
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Check out our weekly “This Week in Crypto” summary or watch the full video.
Crypto Market News Highlights
1) CME Bitcoin Futures Daily Trading Volume Hits 2020 Low – That’s a Bullish Sign
They are basing this on similar methods from analysing traditional market flows. Kevin doesn’t think this is a way to measure Bitcoin futures, considering that holding futures — of which many will be a synthetic — does it really have the same underlying weight to the underlying asset?
Kevin doesn’t think this is necessarily a bullish sign. Not bearish either, but it doesn’t point in any direction, it simply shows low volume.
2) Lawsuit Alleging Ripple’s XRP Is Unregistered Security Moves Forward
This is a private lawsuit by an XRP investor, not filed by a state or government. The investor is trying to say that something they bought into is an unregistered security.
This would carry significantly more weight if it was “the United States of America versus Ripple”.
It’s allowed to move forward, but Kevin wouldn’t put too much weight behind this. If there are some civil engorgement or penalties levied against Ripple, that would open the door for some type of SEC action. But at this point, that remains a big open question.
3) Report: Iranian General Advocates Crypto Use for Skirting Sanctions
This Iranian general probably doesn’t know much about crypto.
With privacy coins like Monero, or mixers, one can hide the transfer. In terms of laundering money, cash is much easier to launder. Cash has much less data points than crypto does. For crypto, even for someone with the best money laundering skills, there will be enough data at some point to give probable cause to the fact that money was linked to certain individuals. The data is public and can’t be erased.
So, skirting sanctions with crypto is a stupid idea.
Would you like to read about more market news? Check out our Medium post!
Live Questions
What’s the hold-up with more TraM managers?
We do have a few that are still earmarked. We also have a few private TraMs waiting to go public, but that’s up to them when they want to do that. Two of the companies are pending on their side. The TraM interface is also going to be getting some changes.
If you are a trader and want to open a TraM, get in touch with us!
Did you discuss the self-assessment framework with LHV?
Kevin mentioned it in the meeting, but didn’t ask for a timeline. They acknowledged it. But we’ll get through the second tier of the audit first.
When QNT liquidity?
We gave Quant the green light on their documentation as an institutional client. So they are now onboarded. It’s moving along.
QNTEUR is available for trading!
When are T-shirts launching?
Kevin just got some designs back. Will make some final adjustments. Sometime in April is likely.
What’s new regarding biz dev?
Not much on Kevin’s side right now. Expecting official greenlight in Montenegro shortly, which will open up some biz dev angles.
Next week we will internally focus on marketing.
Have you had the meeting with the SEC yet?
Not yet. Trying to schedule it before mid-March.
Have you finished negotiations with the CSD devs for them to start working with CoinMetro development?
Two of those devs have been working with CoinMetro for two weeks, as of today. Yes, it looks like we will move forward for 3 full time devs, plus a project lead. That may start next week, or the week after.
Will CoinMetro use facial recognition technology?
We already do. That’s why we ask you to take a selfie and upload your identity verification.
Have you found any marketing staff yet?
We have several possibilities, some of which are in the interview phase, others are out of the interview phase. We are trying to build this from the top down.
It doesn’t make sense to hire the lead last. The lead should have insight into who gets hired. He should know what he needs, based on the needs of the company.
Finding that lead is very important. We have good applications for the marketing team, but we are not ready to offer them anything before we have the lead.
Find CoinMetro’s job listings here and on LinkedIn!
What are the benefits of implementing virtual IBANs?
LHV has the ability to provide virtual IBANs. We would simply need to make some changes on how we communicate with the API. The biggest advantage of virtual IBANs is that it essentially is a bank account, in the client’s name. So you deposit and transfer in your name.
Third party payments are a big bonus. Unfortunately, we would not offer those without a Payment Institution License.
The main advantage there is that if you have a bank that doesn’t let you send/receive money from a crypto exchange, with the virtual IBANs, you would be sending to an account in your name, held in a financial institute.
Will virtual IBANs fall under the deposit insurance?
That’s a good question. It depends on how the bank structures it. There are two scenarios:
- All the virtual IBANs are ours, and we apply the names to the virtual IBANs through our system. That means the money remains in a pooled account, and is only virtually segmented. Then it would not apply.
- The other scenario is that the IBANs are issued directly to you, but that would require you to be onboarded by the bank. Kevin has not yet seen any API where they would automatically accept those who we have already onboarded.
Kevin’s guess is that no, deposit insurance in this instance would not apply.
However, with a Payment Institution License in the future and we are able to use additional providers for virtual IBANs that may not require a pooled account, then yes, there is the chance that it would apply.
When is GBP scheduled?
It’s also part of LHV. They do have it available. Right now we are focusing on the SEPA withdrawals. Once that is fixed, we will move to get GBP established within our system.
Is CoinMetro and FXPig collaboration still planned?
It’s still a possibility. The idea was simply to help both entities by having multi-asset trading on CoinMetro, and pull in liquidity for crypto into FXPig. Liquidity on crypto now for CFDs is pretty well established, so it’s not really needed anymore.
In terms of multi-asset trading on CoinMetro, we have ways to go to mature some of the platforms, and bring in third party platforms. Kevin is not seeing a lot of requests for that right now.
It is still up in the air, it is still possible. When we see something that makes a lot of sense, we will look to do it.
Any updates regarding SWIFT transfers?
Unfortunately, our provider’s correspondent bank decided that crypto is not something they want to deal with, and they shut off SWIFT transfers. They are waiting to get some additional providers, and sometime hopefully in March, they should have 3-4 new correspondent banks.
We are also looking for alternatives, and Kevin has personally been in touch with some alternatives to decide which of these make sense to use.
Any CSD developments?
CSD has officially filed its application. We have also met with a bank, and applications are being filed with the bank. CoinMetro has also filed the rest of the application that we were asked to file.
We now have a very unique issuer that we are in talks with. It might be an unregulated product, essentially tokenized claims against the government. It would be quite unique, and offering this cross-border outside of the issuing country would definitely be unique.
Green light expected within the next two weeks.
“Kevin Explains Crypto” Term: Vault
Everybody has heard of addresses and wallets. Some people confuse them. A wallet is a piece of software or hardware where you store addresses. Addresses are where your cryptocurrency balances sit.
A vault is essentially a wallet that is air gapped, and not directly connected to the internet.
For example, if you have a Ledger that isn’t always connected to your computer, it’s a vault. You can also consider a paper wallet a vault, but not the safest of vaults.
Interested in learning more? Have a look at the video where Kevin explains “vault”:
Listen to Last Week’s TWiC on the Go
Get the complete scoop by tuning in to our audio version of last week’s TWiC on SoundCloud. Happy listening!
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That’s a wrap for this week’s AMA with CoinMetro Founder Kevin Murcko! Please join us next week on CoinMetro’s Facebook and YouTube Channel at 1 PM (UTC) for another round and make sure you submit your questions to the CoinMetro subReddit!
As always, we’re available to answer any questions you may have on our Telegram Group 24/7. You can also find CoinMetro on other channels: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Medium, Reddit, LinkedIn, and YouTube.