Tag: USDT

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Blockchain News Cryptocurrency News

OKEx Releases Two New Decentralized Apps

OKEx

OKEx, a world-leading cryptocurrency spot and derivatives exchange, is delighted to announce that the team behind the open-source blockchain OKExChain has launched two decentralized applications, OKEx Swap and OKEx Farm, on the protocol. Both these new features, along with the opening of the OKT/USDT Farm Pool commenced today at 10:00 am UTC. 

OKT withdrawals also opened at the same time, giving OKT holders the ability to stake OKT along with USDT in Swap to earn OKT-USDT LP tokens. These can then be used to stake in the OKT-USDT Farm Pool for additional earnings, such as mining new OKT.

The OKEx Swap and Farm initiatives have been enabled by the initial stability testing of the OKExChain mainnet that generated tens of thousands of OKT block rewards (according to OKExChain’s block reward rules). These tokens have not yet been allocated, meaning that OKT holders can unlock significant rewards by mining OKT on-chain.

The size of the reward will be voted on by the OKT/USDT whitelist pool on Jan. 26 at 10:00 am UTC. If the vote is approved, a snapshot will be taken according to the blocks that voted in favor, and the accumulated OKT will be distributed according to the proportion of OKT-USDT LP tokens that they had staked in the OKExChain Farm pool when the proposal was approved.

The amount of OKT that users can mine is equal to the number of tokens staked divided by the total number of tokens in the Farm Pool, multiplied by the cumulative amount of OKT. After the cumulative OKT allocation is complete, users can continue to mine through the OKT-USDT Farm Pool. Staking starts as soon as the Farm function is launched. 

“The phased launch of OKExChain is moving along at a very encouraging pace. Already after completion of the initial stage, we have seen its native token, OKT, commanding an all-time high of $86.54 in its first days of trading on the OKEx platform. We’re thrilled that the team behind OKExChain has been able to provide OKT holders with even more benefits through the Swap and Farm initiatives and to see OKExChain expanding its utility,” commented OKEx CEO Jay Hao.

In addition to staking and mining rewards via OKEx Swap and Farm, OKT provides users with further immediate utility and benefits, including voting rights and transaction-fee payments for decentralized exchanges and other DeFi applications built on the network. OKT is currently available to trade on the OKEx platform with zero fees on all trading pairs for the first 30 days.

For further information on OKEx Swap and OKEx Farm DApps, please visit the OKEx Support Center here.

OKEx is a world-leading cryptocurrency spot and derivatives exchange, OKEx offers the most diverse marketplace where global crypto investors, miners and institutional traders come to manage crypto assets, enhance investment opportunities and hedge risks. OKEx provides spot and derivatives trading — including futures, perpetual swap and options — of major cryptocurrencies, offering investors flexibility in formulating their strategies to maximize gains and mitigate risks.

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Bitcoin News Cryptocurrency News

Huobi Global Reports Trading Volume Of $2.3 Trillion In 2020

Huobi Futures

Huobi futures has noted that in 2020 there has been an impressive $2.3 trillion traded with an average of 6.3 billion per day. Within two years since its launch, Huobi Futures is now the largest cryptocurrency derivatives exchange by trading volume.

The futures market on Huobi has proven to be a popular and robust trading platform at a time where this style of trading and investing in cryptocurrencies has become increasingly popular. Marching alongside a steadily increasing price in Bitcoin, and other altcoins, Huobi Futures has kept pace with the needs of the market.

According to the statistics of TokenInsight, BTC rose by 90% from September to October last year. The open interest of BTC/USD swaps has risen from $1.2 billion to $2.4 billion in the same period with a growth rate of 100%. 

Making the process better

Huobi Futures has looked to keep in touch with the wants and needs of traders in order to offer a service that is robust, flexible, and easy to use. This has seen a number of different products and trading innovations launched.

From Coin-margined swaps to USDT-quoted options and coin-margined bi-quarterly futures, Huobi Futures offered improved services that lead to a new all-time high in 24-hour volume of over $28 billion on Nov. 26th.

Coin-margined Futures was the first product of Huobi Futures. Launched in December 2018, its trading volume has sustainably ranked first in the derivative market in only eight months. At present, Huobi’s coin-margined futures trading has included 13 major crypto assets with a unilateral trading volume of $1.32 trillion in 2020.

Following the introduction of their first flagship product coin-margined futures, coin-margined swaps launched on Mar. 27, 2020 and exceeded BitMEX, the largest coin-margined swaps exchange at that time, in 45 days. Its annual trading volume reached $785.5 billion in 2020 and it has covered 57 mainstream currencies, including a wealth of DeFi currencies for users to choose from.

In September last year, Huobi launched USDT-quoted options whereby users could trade without worrying about the risk of liquidation. 

The fourth product USDT-margined swaps. Launched in Oct. 26, 2020 its trading volume has grown rapidly with its cumulative trading amount exceeding $177.8 billion in just two months. 

What Has Huobi Futures Done In 2020?

Robust risk-control system and zero clawback

Huobi Futures is the first digital asset derivatives exchange in the industry that supports a three-phase liquidation protection mechanism and no transaction fees will be charged in partial liquidation. Moreover, the platform uses Exponential Moving Average (EMA) as a second reference for forced liquidation.

Due to its strong risk control system, the platform holds a record of zero clawback for 752 days since its launch in December of 2018. In version V6.3.0., the system has a throughput of 10W+, the response speed of placing and canceling orders is within 6ms, and the link delay is within 25ms.

Innovative functions

Huobi Futures supports multiple order types including Limit Order, Trigger Order, IOC and FOK. To improve the asset utilization and to reduce trading cost, Huobi introduced lots of innovative features like locked margin mechanism, take-profit and stop-loss, real-time settlement, Follow a Maker & Taker, etc. 

Huobi Futures also designed the “Switchable Leverage When Holding Positions” function for its coin-margined positions. With no need to close positions first, users can switch leverage with positions holding as long as there is no open order. All these exciting functions empower both institutional and retail traders to fetch out maximum benefits in derivatives trading. 

VIP level evaluations based on USD amount

Due to the fact that most crypto exchanges require at least hundreds of BTC to be traded per month to reach their VIP standard, many traders have been rejected by these platforms to get a VIP when the annual increase in Bitcoin price has risen by 400%. 

On Huobi Futures, as long as you have assets worth of 30,000 USDT in Huobi Futures account, you will be qualified for VIP. In addition to that, Huobi introduced an upgraded VIP Sharing Program, that is, VIPs of any other exchanges are considered as Huobi Futures VIP+1. Users could provide certificates of VIP level on other platforms to apply for a VIP+1 level on Huobi Futures for coin-margined swaps and coin-margined futures trading.

Conclusion

As we head into 2021, it appears there has been a further shift towards the digitalization of most things, including money. 

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Bitcoin News Blockchain News Cryptocurrency News Ripple News

Will Tether Quake The Crypto Market This Week?

Tether USDT

A Big Nothing Burger Or The Pin That Pops The Bubble?

If the events in the crypto market of December 2020 teach us anything, it’s that the actions of the financial regulators can cause quakes that have a tremendous impact on crypto prices.

Think back to late November and early December. There was an abundance of enthusiasm towards XRP with the (back then) forthcoming airdrop of Spark tokens. In late November, the price of XRP stood at 26 cents.

Airdrop Of Spark Tokens

With the interest in holding XRP tokens so as to benefit from the Spark airdrop, crypto investors were rushing into XRP, and drove its price above 70 cents.

The upward momentum in price was invigorating.

Even after the airdrop, the price of XRP was hovering around 60 cents as late as December 20.

Enter The SEC

Then the news hit.

The SEC had filed a lawsuit against Ripple. The price immediately crashed to 20 cents, wiping out more than 2/3rds of XRP’s value in a matter of days.

The moral of the story: actions taken by financial regulators can have an overwhelming effect on price.

Fast-forward to today. An important deadline has arrived in the case of Attorney General of the State of New York v. iFinex Inc. (the parent company of both Bitfinex and Tether).

Tether vs. New York State

Some history of this case:

Back in April 2019, the New York Attorney General (NYAG) accused stablecoin operator Tether of covering Bifinex’s $850 million losses by sourcing its USDT to cover the shortfall. Nevertheless, Tether replied calling this accusation in “bad faith” and “riddled with false assertions”. Note NYAG has filed charges against iFinex, the parent company of Bitfinex and Tether.

During the preliminary injunction in May 2019, Judge Joel Cohen extended the deadline to ninety more days. By August 2019, NYAG presented another proof and evidence in the case highlighting how Bitfinex and Tether were allegedly involved in covering up the $850 million losses. Later, the NYAG also called out iFinex’s motion “an improper attempt to impede a lawful investigation”.

The case took an interesting turn last year in September 2020 when Judge Cohen ruled that both Tether and Bitfinex should produce documents disclosing their financial relationship. In addition, he also passed an injunction barring Tether to issue loans to Bitfinex by ninety more days.

Deadline Extended

Last month, on December 9th, 2020, Attorney General Letitia James filed a document requesting Judge Cohen to extend the timeline to January 15. The Attorney General said that “the parties continue to cooperate on the production of documents in response to the 354 Order, and anticipate that the production might be finalized in the coming weeks.”

Two days ago, Friday, January 15, was the d-day for iFinex to produce necessary info and the documents so that NYAG is able to continue the investigation further. iFinex had to produce documents detailing the issuance and redemptions of Tether’s USDT stablecoins, and also disclose the trading activity on Bitfinex concerning Bitcoin and USDT.

We’re currently at the crossroads of the most crucial cases in the crypto space. Tether’s market cap has grown to $25 billion, and the token currently sits at #3 on coinmarketcap’s list of the largest cryptocurrencies in existence.

Will Tether Drag The Entire Crypto Market Lower?

Some market analysts believe that the issuance of Tether is being used to prop up the price of Bitcoin, and by extension the entire crypto market. Others, such as Ganesh Viswanath-Natraj, Assistant Professor of Finance at Warwick Business School, stated on a recent podcast, “Based on our evidence there, there’s no effect of tether issuance on crypto asset prices.”

While there were no new statements from the NY Supreme Court on deadline day, a statement is likely to be forthcoming this week.

If and when the statement unfolds, the BIG question for the entire crypto market is “Will it be a nothing-burger, or will it be the pin that pops the crypto bubble?”

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Bitcoin News Cryptocurrency News Ethereum News Litecoin News Ripple News

World’s Oldest Operating Crypto Exchange Forecasts Trends For 2021

2021 Crypto Trends

At the beginning of 2021, the world’s oldest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, has seen an all-time high of over $40,000 on 8 January 2021, which is not surprising, since institutional investors as well as high-net-worth individuals consider BTC as a hedge against extraordinary fiscal stimulus programs. Here is an AMA summary from Chief Research Officer, Dan at BTCC.

ETH Price Prediction in 2021

The world’s largest financial derivatives exchange, CME Group, announces its ETH derivative product will go live on February 2021, following the launch of Bitcoin derivative product. It means Ethereum will be considered as a financial product, and will be regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). We expect that the launch of ETH derivative product next year will bring more institutional funds into the market, thus the price of ETH is very likely to see a massive rise.

Growing Number of Institutional Players Entering the Crypto Market

The year of 2020 also has seen numerous examples of institutional investors turning their attention to the world’s most popular cryptocurrency. For example, one of the largest insurance firms, MassMutual, has purchased $100 million of Bitcoin on December 2020.

We expected to see the crypto market to rise from the end of 2020 to 2021. The difference between the bull run this year to the one in 2017 is that previous bull was driven by individual investors and some whales. However, the bull run this year is mainly driven by institutional investors pushing the price up.

Top 10 Cryptocurrencies to Look Out for in 2021

The major theme of crypto market next year will be around DeFi, Polkadot, and ETH 2.0, therefore we will expect ETH remain unchanged at the top 2. While XRP, BCH, LTC and EOS are not what the market needs for next year, we expect to see these coins fall out of their current ranking.

Here is a prediction of crypto ranking in 2021 by Dan: BTC, ETH, USDT, LTC, XRP, BNB, LINK, UNI, DOT, BCH.

BTCC currently offer 9 major cryptocurrency trading pairs including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), EOS (EOS), Ripple (XRP), Stellar (XLM), Dash (DASH), and Cardano (ADA). Users can trade Bitcoin with leverage.

About BTCC

Founded in 2011, BTCC is the world’s longest-running crypto exchange and currently headquartered in the UK. With nearly 10 years of operating history, BTCC is known for its safe and stable, top-end market depth, and as well as faster transaction speed.