This week we feature a guest post from John Browning, founding partner of Hong Kong commodity and financial futures broker BANDS Financial. In reporting on the state of and statistics on the Chinese economy, Browning follows the development by the People's Bank of China (PBOC) of a so-called "digital yuan." We last wrote about it here. The PBOC's effort is gaining enough … [Read more...] about China’s Digital Currency and CME’s Bitcoin Micro Contract
Trading
The App-Fueled GameStop Trade
It would be difficult to follow financial news and miss this week's saga of the GameStop trade and the role played by the Robinhood trading app. The narrative threads include comparisons to the Occupy Wall Street populist movement and of course a conspiracy theory involving hedge funds. Variations on that story may land the founder of the Citadel Securities, the market maker … [Read more...] about The App-Fueled GameStop Trade
New Bitcoin Offerings and Volatility Reflect Challenges and Promise For Cryptocurrency
The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) launched its physically-settled bitcoin futures trading platform, Bakkt, on September 23. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has been doing futures trading in bitcoin for even longer -- since 2017 -- and is now making plans to expand that platform by early next year with a bitcoin options contract. It's a market with promise, but one … [Read more...] about New Bitcoin Offerings and Volatility Reflect Challenges and Promise For Cryptocurrency
Financial Stability and Investment in the Age of Bitcoin and Blockchain Technologies
An international body that monitors the global financial system suggests that decentralized financial technologies may not be all bad. The Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a report on the regulatory and governance implications of decentralized financial technologies, suggesting that "the application of decentralised financial technologies may reduce some of the … [Read more...] about Financial Stability and Investment in the Age of Bitcoin and Blockchain Technologies
Can Chicago Become a Crypto Capital?
David Carman and George Vukotich, co-founders of the FinTank incubator, are pursuing a vision of Chicago as a center of cryptoasset trading. More than 120 other FinTech professionals share that vision enough to have spent a couple of hours on Monday, Mar. 18 in the Loop discussing how to make the vision a reality. It was a positive atmosphere, and I’m glad I was … [Read more...] about Can Chicago Become a Crypto Capital?
Options Innovation
FINTECH ARTICLES OF THE WEEK 12/11/15 Trading begins today on the new American Financial Exchange (AFX), an overnight market for interbank loans. The startup exchange seeks to create a market in a new financial index, Ameribor. AFX hopes to establish its patented American Interbank Offering Rate as a commonly used benchmark interest rate for loans and trading products. The … [Read more...] about Options Innovation