This week was quite dramatic for the forex and cryptocurrency industries. So let’s take a moment to see what the most interesting stories of the past week were, in our latest best of the week analysis.
IG Group’s American Comeback
After almost eight years, IG Group is re-entering the United States. In an announcement made on Friday, the London based broker launched its American subsidiary: IG US.
IG left the heavily regulated and overburdened US market in 2011, along with a few other leading brokers. The major competitors of IG Group’s new subsidiary will be the last standing giants GAIN Capital and OANDA.
Commenting on the company’s forex foray into the US, the CEO of IG Group, June Felix said: “We see this initiative as a significant growth opportunity and we’re excited about IG’s future in the US.”
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B2C2 to Launch Crypto-Backed CFDs
B2C2 announced on Thursday that its subsidiary, B2C2 OTC, has received a regulatory license from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to deal in contracts for difference (CFDs).
The cryptocurrency liquidity provider will, however, will be confined to a leverage cap of 2:1, due to the product intervention measures introduced by the European Securities and Markets Authority in August of last year.
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Japanese Brokers’ Mini-SNB Moment
The trauma of the SNB crisis is still fresh in the memories of brokers across the world. 2019 started with a mini crisis of its own: During the early hours of 3rd of January before the Tokyo market opened, a massive flash crash across JPY currency pairs affected Japanese yen traders dramatically.
Just like after the SNB many brokers couldn’t chase their clients for the losses on their books, the January flash crash event ultimately affected the companies too.
While the magnitude of this damage was not clear, Finance Magnates Intelligence Department managed to get her hands on the real numbers and to estimate the loss. .
TRON Official: We Must Prove There’s Method to the Madness
In an interview to Finance Magnates, Cliff Edwards, TRON’s Communications Director, talked about the company’s long-term vision and plans.
“There’s so many possibilities,” said Edwards. “For developers, it means massively reducing the 30 percent fee that you get charged by the big app stores. Tokenisation also allows you as a user to engage more. For instance, if you are playing a game, you could sell a rare item for Tron tokens and cash them out for fiat currency. That’s also appealing for developers as it allows you to create a more immersive experience.”
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Brokers’ Professional Clients Classification Under ESMA Scrutiny?
The European Securities Markets Authority (ESMA) announced on Thursday it is extending the validity of its CFDs restrictions.
Beyond that, the pan-European regulator hinted that it will also examine one of brokers’ most valuable practices in times of suffocating leverage restrictions – the professional clients classification.
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Will China Issue Its Own National Stablecoin?
Just like in the case of WeChat vs. WhatsApp, Alibaba vs. eBay and Baidu vs. Google – The Chinese know that if you can’t control them – be them! China has a love-hate relationship with crypto (see the infographic in the article). But recently, more and more signs indicate that it’s about to issue its own national cryptocurrency.
It’s not a secret by any means that the country has been developing and testing a national cryptocurrency for some time.
In fact, reports that China was the first country in the world to create its own stablecoin appeared in the media as far back as June of 2017.
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