Data from Skew shows Bitcoin’s (BTC) spot volume on LMAX Digital, an exchange that mainly caters to institutions, has overtaken retail-oriented exchanges. This signals that institutional investors could be building up positions as they expect the price to move higher in the future. Along with spot purchases, institutional investors’ participation in the derivatives market has also increased. Data from Arcane Research shows that a record number of investors are taking delivery of Bitcoin from the Bakkt Bitcoin exchange. Another metric that can be useful for traders is volatility. Bitcoin options data shows that the implied volatility of at the money …

Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s cash-settled Bitcoin (BTC) futures trading products “contribute more to price discovery than its related spot markets,” according to findings in a new report by investment firm Wilshire Phoenix. The increasing volumes of crypto derivative products highlight greater participation from institutional investors and this will likely be positive for the entire crypto space. This is not unique to cryptocurrencies because even in most other asset classes, the derivatives markets lead the spot markets. In a separate attempt to determine the valuation of Bitcoin, several experts from JPMorgan Chase opined that Bitcoin’s price is overvalued compared to its intrinsic …

During the annual Swell conference, Ripple announced a contribution of $10 million to Mercy Corps to help it use digital assets in its work on developing financial inclusion in emerging markets. Mercy Corps is a nongovernmental, humanitarian aid organization that aims to create economic opportunities in countries where the financial system isn’t operating properly. The organization claims to have assisted over 220 million people survive various humanitarian conflicts. According to an announcement, Mercy Corps will partner with Ripple and its nonprofit RippleWorks to support solutions that include digital assets and cryptocurrencies. Speaking at the conference, Scott Onder, senior managing director …

A high-profile gamer is joining SBI Holdings’ gaming arm, signing a contract to receive his salary in major cryptocurrency XRP. Kengo “Ken” Suzuki, a professional player of crossover action fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, or SSBU, has signed a contract with SBI e-Sports, the gaming arm of Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings. Ken is also considered to be the world’s best Sonic player. According to an official announcement posted by SBI on Oct. 15, Ken will now be part of SBI e-Sports’ newly established SSBU division. The player will receive his annual salary in XRP instead of Japanese yen …

Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer, David Schwartz, has revealed that he and his wife decided to make a “derisking plan” for their crypto investments in 2012 — resulting in eight-figures worth of missed profit at current prices. In a series of tweets published on October 11, Schwartz revealed that he sold 40,000 Ether (ETH) for $1 each — a stash that would be worth more than $15.5 million at today’s prices. Schwartz mentioned the episode after revealing a derisking plan made in 2012, though the Ether sale occurred in a separate episode a few years later. The Ripple (XRP) executive also …

Ripple is considering relocating to Europe or Asia amid growing frustration at the lack of regulatory clarity in the United States. Speaking to Fortune Magazine’s Jeff John Roberts at the Oct. 6 LA Blockchain Summit, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen said the United States was “woefully behind” in preparing for the cryptocurrency-based next generation of a global financial system. Coupled with U.S. authorities’ policy on “regulation through enforcement” and Ripple may consider leaving the country behind entirely. “The message is blockchain and digital currencies are not welcome in the U.S.,” Larsen said. “You want to be in this business, you probably …

As tech giants like Google and Facebook announce plans to become carbon-neutral businesses by 2030, smaller companies are doing the same. The only difference is that innovative startups are taking clever approaches that seek to be more effective than those implemented by large, centralized companies. For example, Ripple — a fintech company that allows banks, payment providers and digital asset exchanges to send money using blockchain — has committed to becoming carbon net-zero by 2030. In order to meet this goal, Ripple has unveiled a set of initiatives driven largely by blockchain technology. Ken Weber, head of social impact at …

Several crypto assets are currently priced near their mid-2017 valuations, potentially offering a second chance to latecomers. One major caveat, however — these assets may never reach their highs again, or even rise at all from here. Buyers beware and do your own research. Litecoin (LTC) sat at a price of around $33 on June 11, 2017, according to a historical snapshot from CoinMarketCap. Its current press time price trades slightly higher, at around $46 — a dramatic difference from its all-time highs near $365. Ethereum (ETH) held a price of $340, just $2 away from its current press time …

Decentralized finance has seen impressive growth throughout 2020. To put this into perspective, a new report from Cointelegraph Consulting shows that the total value locked in DeFi jumped past $6 billion in August while in June, the TVL in DeFi was just over $1 billion, and ultimately stands at $9.4 billion at the time of writing. While impressive, the DeFi space is still in its infancy, and many hurdles must be overcome before it enters the mainstream crypto market. Many of the challenges currently faced by the DeFi sector revolve around the rise of questionable projects and issues resulting from …

The newly established XRP Ledger Foundation has raised $6.5 million from Ripple, Coil, and GateHub. This non-profit and open-organization was been set up with a goal to accelerate the development of the XRP ledger, the blockchain upon which the XRP token runs. All the three platforms that have put up the funds were built upon the XRP Ledger. According to reports, the foundation aims to improve and develop the XRPL infrastructure and promote scalable and sustainable practice on the platform. The foundation also seeks to create an objective list of checkboxes to evaluate validator performance and support the development of …

Tim Draper, the prominent venture capitalist and tech billionaire who purchased nearly 30,000 Bitcoins (BTC) that were seized from the Silk Road, has revealed his digital currency holdings span at least half a dozen different crypto assets. Speaking at a recent investment conference, Draper revealed that his holdings include Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ripple (XRP), Tezos (XTZ), and Aragon (ANT), adding: “I’m a believer. I think it’s happening – [adoption] it’s coming. It’s so important for the world, and I want the world to know it, and I want other people in the world to get on board.” Draper’s comments come …

The rapid popularity and investment growth observed in the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) sector has reflected heavily on the price charts with DeFi and yield-related tokens like Yearn.finance (YFI), Aave (LEND), and others rallying to their all-time highs in 2020. YFI alone has surged 10x since listing. In fact, most high-profile DeFi-related tokens have outperformed Bitcoin (BTC) and other altcoins by a long stretch. Even governance and infrastructure projects like Chainlink (LINK) and UMA, the latter of which became one of the largest DeFi protocols in September, were eclipsed by DeFi tokens. As so, with all eyes set on DeFi projects …