Fidelity’s crypto arm Fidelity Digital Assets Services (FDAS) has reportedly applied for a license to operate as a trust in New York State. FDAS has filed an application with the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) for a trust license, crypto media outlet The Block reported on July 20, citing several unnamed sources familiar with the matter. If the license is approved, FDAS will officially be allowed to offer its crypto custodial services in the state of New York, operating as a Limited Purpose Trust Company, the report notes. In the report, lawyer Arthur Long said that the trust …

Former Wall Street executive and current blockchain researcher Tone Vays has expressed skepticism about the fact that crypto winter is over. Vays made his comments in an interview with Cointelegraph on June 10. Vays, a former financial analyst at United States’ banking giant JPMorgan, revealed that he does not trust the recent rally in the crypto markets, claiming that he has not observed “too much external money coming into the space.” The blockchain consultant argued that the recent reverse of a long-lasting bear market was supported by internal capital, stating that there is evidence of enough accumulation by those who …

Bitcoin (BTC) could inform investors worried about the United States-China trade war, an executive from financial planning and wealth advisory firm Bleakley Advisory Group told CNBC in an interview on June 4. On the back of stock market weakness over fears the trade war could escalate and the dollar weaken, Bleakley’s chief investment officer, Peter Boockvar, drew attention to bitcoin’s recent behavior and highlighted gold as a potential alternative. A well-known gold bug, Boockvar nonetheless said he did not advise buying bitcoin itself, but that it was a useful measure of market sentiment. “I watch bitcoin as a signal, as …

Michael Novogratz, founder and CEO of cryptocurrency merchant bank Galaxy Digital, has said that he expects bitcoin (BTC) to consolidate in the $7,000-$10,000 range, Bloomberg reports on May 30. Per the report, during a conference call discussing his company’s quarterly earnings, he noted that “on a go-forward basis, bitcoin probably consolidates somewhere between $7,000 and $10,000.” Novogratz also added: “If I’m wrong on that, I think I’m wrong to the upside, that there’s enough excitement and momentum that it could carry through.” Bloomberg reports that Novogratz credits this year’s rally to mainstream acceptance of cryptocurrencies, as well as attention towards …

Blockchain security and cryptocurrency custody firm BitGo has appointed a veteran Wall Street trader as its head of financial services, according to a press release published on May 9. The new hire, Nick Carmi, joins BitGo after a reported 25 years of experience as a financial executive. His most recent role was as Global Head of FICC Business at the high-frequency trading firm Tower Research Capital — founded by former Credit Suisse proprietary trader Mark Gorton. According to a statement from BitGo CEO Mike Belshe, the hire was spurred by an intent to forge a stronger connection between technologically innovative …

Last weekend, Bart Chilton, a former commissioner of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and early advocate for cryptocurrency regulation, died at the age of 58. Apart from his work for the regulator, he was best known as the host of RT (formerly Russia Today) America’s financial show “Boom Bust” — in which he often covered cryptocurrency news — and as the author of the book “Ponzimonium: How Scam Artists Are Ripping Off America.” The news about Chilton’s death was broken by RT, his latest employer, on April 27. According to the TV network, the Boom Bust host …

Facebook’s own cryptocurrency, if launched, could potentially generate $19 billion in additional revenue by 2021, CNBC reports on March 11. Barclays internet analyst Ross Sandler wrote in a client note that a cryptocurrency could establish a new revenue stream for Facebook, aiding its share price that tanked amid a series of high-profile scandals last year. In his forecast, Sandler pointed out that the crypto-based revenue option is something “sorely needed at this stage of the company’s narrative,” stressing that any advertising-free revenue streams are likely to be well-perceived by Facebook’s shareholders. Sandler said that his more conservative revenue estimate for …

Christopher Giancarlo, chairman of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (СFTC), has said that blockchain would have transformed regulators’ real-time responses to the the 2008 global financial crash, if it had been in use at the time. Giancarlo made his remarks during the 4th Annual DC Blockchain Summit in Washington D.C. on March 6. In his speech, Giancarlo drew on his personal experience as executive vice president at brokerage giant GFI Group — which, in 2008, as he noted, operated one of the world’s largest trading platforms for credit default swaps (CDS), “then the epicenter of systemic risk.” He …

Solidus Labs has raised $3 million to combat crypto market manipulation, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Feb. 20. Solidus Labs is a trade surveillance firm whose team includes former Goldman Sachs fintech engineers. The company reports to help both traditional and crypto-focused service providers foster compliance while trading digital assets. Through the recent funding round, led by Israeli venture capital firm Hanaco Ventures, the team plans to further develop its crypto-oriented market surveillance tools designed for financial institutions and exchanges interacting with crypto assets. By implementing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies, Solidus analyzes trading …

Crypto investors and miners are turning to derivatives such as options in an attempt to survive the protracted market downturn, a Bloomberg piece argues on Feb. 13. The article presents the increasing popularity of complex trading instruments as a means of pocketing cash short term as being symptomatic of just how difficult it has become to weather this bear market — the longest in industry history. Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of Alameda Research, a quantitative trading firm for digital assets in San Francisco, told Bloomberg: “Anyone sitting on a stockpile of tokens saw in the bear market of 2018 that their …

JPMorgan’s Global Market Strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou says that Bitcoin (BTC) could make a resurgence on Wall Street, according to an article published by CNBC on Feb 6. “The stability that we are seeing right now in the cryptocurrency market is setting the stage for more participation by institutional investors in the future,” said Panigirtzoglou, “The cryptocurrency market was a new market. It went through a bubble phase [and] the burst.” Panigirtzoglou predicts that firms will show a renewed interest in cryptocurrencies as stability in the market grows and as Bitcoin’s underlying blockchain technology grows more important. He added that a …

The Wall Street Blockchain Alliance (WSBA) has joined blockchain consortium R3 to develop applications and solutions on their Corda platform, a Feb. 5 press release reports. According to a statement made by the CEO of R3, David E. Rutter, the WSBA and R3 will collaborate in order to “advocate a strategic approach to collaborating with regulatory bodies so that financial markets, and beyond can gain the full benefits of blockchain’s capabilities.” The WSBA is a non-profit trade association that promotes the general adoption of blockchain technology and crypto assets across international markets. R3, an enterprise blockchain software firm with over …