Month: September 2017

Patrick Harker of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has said bitcoin has yet to be tested by a real catastrophe.

It might seem that lately, the world of high-finance want nothing more than to drop a proverbial load all over Bitcoin but CEO of leading global financial services firm Morgan Stanley, James Gorman, offered words to support the contrary on Wednesday. Speaking at a conference hosted by The Wall Street Journal, he said he considered Bitcoin … Continue reading Morgan Stanley CEO, James Gorman, Offers More Rational Words on Bitcoin

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The first stage of the PlusCoin has clearly been a success so far. Investment expectations have been surpassed, and the grassroots movement of everyday people behind the “People’s cryptocurrency” is in full swing. Cryptocurrency is getting more accessible for people all around the world. With fewer than five days left until the beginning of stage … Continue reading As Stage Two of PlusCoin ICO Approaches, DS Plus Expands Advisory Board, Announces New PlusCoin Bonuses

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According to public records, another company has filed with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission to create two bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) based on Bitcoin derivatives. ETF firm Proshares Capital Management aims to get its bitcoin-futures products listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with a proposed maximum aggregate offering price of $1M per ETF.

Also read: Ledger Holdings Generates $11.4 Million to Open U.S. Bitcoin Options Exchange

U.S. Firm Proshares Files for Two Bitcoin ETFs

Proshares is an ETF management firm that launched in 2006 and offers over 140 alternative funds that cover a broad spectrum of investments. The company has products listed on the NYSE, Chicago Board of Options Exchange (CBOE), Nasdaq, and other mainstream trading platforms. Now the Maryland-based business is creating its “Proshares Trust II” a bitcoin ETF that derives its Net Asset Value (NAV) from derivatives rather than holding the currency in reserves.

Proshares further states in its Form S-1 filing that the Bitcoin-based funds are not appropriate for all investors and investing in the shares involves significant “risks.”

“The funds are not appropriate for all investors and present many different risks than other types of funds, including risks relating to investing in bitcoin futures contracts, exposure to bitcoin, and, in the case of the Inverse Fund, risks associated with the use of leverage,” explains Proshares S-1. “The performance of the bitcoin futures contracts in which each fund invests, and therefore the performance of the funds, can be expected to be very different from the price of bitcoin.

The value of a fund’s investments in bitcoin futures contracts may not be correlated with the price of bitcoin and may go down when the price of bitcoin goes up (and vice versa).

Other Mainstream Bitcoin Investment Vehicles and Attempts

The Proshares ETF filing follows other companies trying to create these bitcoin-based mainstream investment vehicles. Just recently, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved the firm Ledger X’s Swap Execution Facility for bitcoin options. Additionally, the well-known CBOE Holdings Inc. plans to add bitcoin futures to their product list. However, financial management firm, CME Group, said it would stop its plans to list bitcoin futures. The recent filing also follows Grayscale Investments and Van Eck Associates withdrawing proposals for two U.S. based funds.  

Bitcoin Technology and Regulatory Guidelines Continue to Evolve

Proshares says it understands that bitcoin is a nascent technology and explains how different the bitcoin economy is throughout the entire S-1 filing. For instance, the firm says “bitcoin is a new technological innovation with a very limited operating history, and the price of bitcoin on the bitcoin exchange market is highly volatile, which could have a negative impact on the performance of Bitcoin Futures Contracts and the performance of the Funds.”

Bitcoin is available for trading 24-hours a day and, as such, the price of bitcoin may change dramatically when the market for bitcoin futures contracts is closed or when shares are not available for trading on the exchange.

In addition to emphasizing that bitcoin is still a very new technology, Proshares also notes that regulatory guidelines towards the decentralized asset are still in the gray area too.

“The global regulatory landscape for bitcoin and other digital assets has been inconsistent and continues to evolve,” Proshares concludes. The U.S. regulatory landscape may give Proshares some trouble with its filing submitted this past Wednesday due to the recent proposal withdrawals of other U.S. ETF attempts. According to Van Eck Associates, the SEC asked the firm in a formal letter to withdraw its trust amendment until bitcoin derivatives instruments exist.   

What do you think about Protoshares filing for two new bitcoin-based ETFs? Let us know in the comments below.

Images via Shutterstock, Proshares, and the SEC S-1 filing. 

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China’s ICO ban won’t be the end of ICOs, nor will it doom FinTech. Here’s why.

With the prevalence of two-step authentication systems that use phone numbers to access email and virtual money accounts, phone hijacking is on the rise as a way to siphon funds from online cryptocurrency wallets.

The SEC charged two companies and a businessman with anti-fraud violations after he allegedly launched ICO campaigns backed by nonexistent assets.

Cryptocurrencies and their potential for growing use shouldn’t be ignored, according to IMF chief Christine Lagarde.

Don’t miss the latest price overview and trading suggestions.

Japan’s largest1 Bitcoin and blockchain company, bitFlyer, Inc. (“bitFlyer”, HQ: Minatoku, Tokyo; CEO: Yuzo Kano), announced its official recognition by the Japan Financial Services Agency (FSA) as a registered virtual currency exchange2 3. bitFlyer was founded in January 2014 and launched its virtual currency exchange services in April of the same year. In just four years, … Continue reading bitFlyer, Inc.: Notification of Virtual Currency Exchange Registration

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Russia and the United States are not on friendly terms much of the time. There has historically been a lot of political tension between both superpowers, and that situation may not change anytime soon. However, both countries are now collaborating to build the moon’s first space station. It’s an interesting idea, even though it remains to be seen how feasible such a venture truly is in the long run. Building a lunar space station is not something one can expect to complete overnight either.

Russia and the US Bury the Hatchet for now

Over the past few years, there have been multiple incidents involving the US and Russia. Ranging from “hacking” elections to another political tug-of-war, the relationship between both nations has seemingly soured quite a bit of late. Not everything is doom and gloom where Russia and the US are concerned, though, as both nations agree on certain things as well. Building a lunar space station, for example, is one thing both countries would like to achieve in the very near future.

To that end, both nations plan to collaborate on this project, which will be led by NASA. Building a lunar space station requires collaboration, as no nation on Earth can successfully do so on its own as of right now. If such a venture can bring the US and Russia together in a constructive manner, it is definitely worth paying attention to. According to The Guardian, the goal is to build a crew-tended spaceport and put it in lunar orbit. From this spaceport, the wider exploration of space can commence.

It has to be said that NASA has been pretty vocal about its space exploration ambitions over the past few years. According to the administration, sending humans to Mars by 2030 is still a very realistic goal. Colonizing Mars is also near the top of its priority list, although a lot more research is needed before that goal can be achieved. Returning to the moon is the first step along the way, as it has proven to be rather difficult to do so. After all, no human has set foot on the moon for quite some time now.

Interestingly, some of these plans are the direct result of Barack Obama’s presidency. While he ditched plans to return to the moon by 2020, Obama shifted the focus to visiting Mars by 2030. It is evident the moon and Mars are two important frontiers when it comes to space exploration. Establishing a lunar station will be of great help in this regard, as it could eventually be used to explore Mars and potentially other planets in the future as well.

However, it seems the Donald Trump administration will prioritize the moon over Mars once again. It is pretty interesting to see different politicians coming up with different plans of action in this regard. A spaceport orbiting the moon sounds like a more logical choice, all things considered, although we shouldn’t give up on the concept of exploring and potentially colonizing Mars either.

Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, recently announced that a cooperation agreement with NASA had been signed. Developing international technical standards will be one of the first priorities of this joint venture. Once those standards are in place, construction of the space station can begin. The future station’s docking unit will be built according to Russian designs, according to our sources. That is a pretty interesting development, but it makes sense given Russia’s extensive experience in the development of such hardware.