Bitcoin ETF Withdrawn
Cboe Global Markets, an American company that owns the Chicago Board Options Exchange and the stock exchange operator BATS Global Markets has pulled its application on Wednesday for a proposed rule change that, if approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), would have ushered in the first-ever Bitcoin ETF.
The withdrawal, which was filed on January 22 by SEC deputy secretary Eduardo Aleman states that the Cboe BZX Exchange has repealed its application for a proposed rule change for a Bitcoin ETF backed by VanEck-SolidX. A Bitcoin ETF allows investors to gain exposure to BTC without actually owning the asset.
In a recent interview, VanEck CEO Jan Van Eck said they were engaged in discussions with the SEC about the Bitcoin-related issues, custody, market manipulation, prices, and that had to stop. And so, instead of trying to slip through or something, they simply pulled the application and will re-file when the SEC gets going again.”
“We were engaged in discussions with the SEC about the Bitcoin-related issues, custody, market manipulation, prices, and that had to stop. And so, instead of trying to slip through or something, we just had the application pulled, and we will re-file when the SEC gets going again.”
The SEC was expected to make its final decision on the physically-backed Bitcoin ETF on February 27, following earlier delays on a decision. But due to the government shutdown, the final deadline will likely be affected.
VanEck’s director of digital asset strategy tweeted yesterday that the company is actively working with regulators and major market participants to build suitable market structure frameworks for a Bitcoin ETF and digital assets in general.
OKCoin In A 60 Million Deal
The founder of OKCoin and the world’s second-largest crypto exchange OKEx, Star Xu, has bought a controlling share in a Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed firm for around $60 million.
The deal was disclosed by the acquired firm, LEAP Holdings Group, a Caymans Island-incorporated construction engineering firm, which is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX).
The purchase was about 3.2 billion shares at 0.02 USD a piece, totaling to roughly 61.6 million dollars. OKC Holdings Corporation now owns 60.49 percent of Leap Holdings’ stock, with the same percentage of voting rights. Xu notably owns the majority stake in OKC Holdings, about 52.32 percent via his two wholly-owned firms, StarXu Capital and OKEM Services Company.
The style of acquisition used, allows a privately held company to purchase a publicly traded company — thereby bypassing at least some of the bureaucratic scrutiny involved in the process of going public, including regulatory issues and due diligence. Upon completion of the deal, the buyer gains automatic inclusion on the relevant stock exchange.
Furthermore, OKEx which launched a new crypto derivative product late last year called “Perpetual Swap,” which allows users to speculate on the future value of BTC/USD, has added seven new trading pairs for its perpetual swap contract, including Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple.
CEO of Ripple compares XRP and Bitcoin
The CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse compared XRP and Bitcoin at this week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
While discussing the future of cryptocurrencies, Garlinghouse said he thinks Bitcoin is a strong store of value, as he owns some Bitcoin and that he is not going to say that Bitcoin goes to zero. However, when it comes to making payments, he says XRP is extremely scalable when compared to Bitcoin. He also stated that XRP is notably low-cost and extremely fast relative to how Bitcoin works.
Garlinghouse went on to describe the Bitcoin’s scalability problems and proof of work as a model with some real significant limitations. And that since there are lots of people trying to improve it, maybe they’ll be successful or maybe they won’t.
“If you take Bitcoin as it exists today as a static thing, the scalability problems and proof of work as a model have some real significant limitations. There are lots of people trying to improve that. Maybe they’ll be successful. Maybe they won’t. I’m not prepared to say Bitcoin goes to zero. I still own Bitcoin partly because, as Glen describes, it may become just a store of value.
However, at Ripple, we build upon a technology called XRP because it’s extremely scalable as compared to Bitcoin. It’s extremely low-cost and extremely fast relative to how Bitcoin works.”
Garlinghous e says Ripple is working to transform the speed and cost of cross-border payments to transform the current financial landscape, and that about 200 banks have already signed up for the service.
“…You have about $10 trillion pre-funded to banks around the world in order to enable cross-border payments. If you could take advantage of crypto liquidity to fund real-time payments, you could actually take that $10 trillion and use it for other purposes, which is great for society. It’s great for banking. It’s great for the industry”.
And now, this week’s airdrops, Singh and POP Network.
Singh
Singh is a Democratic Content Creation Network, in the form of a mobile Application, where people all over the world can monetize their talent, by participating in special campaigns with a prize in real money, in the form of Singh Credits, which can be turned into Amazon Gift Cards or used to buy merchandise from the App’s Shop. Singh’s Airdrop is worth 720 SINGH tokens equivalence of $ 180. Token Estimated value1 SINGH = 0.25 USD.
How to join this airdrop:
- Go to the Singh Airdrop page
- Submit your email address
- Download and install the Singh app
- Submit your Ethereum wallet address
POP Network
The Pop Network will be a decentralized approach to monetized video distribution using direct micropayments and token incentives instead of relying on advertising and paid subscriptions. POP Network’s Airdrop is worth 4,000 POP tokens equivalence of $ 10. Token Price in ICO is 1 POP equaling 0.0025 USD.
How to join this airdrop:
- Go to the POP Network Airdrop page
- Scroll down to ”SOCIAL BOUNTY”
- Join them on Telegram
- Follow them on Twitter
- Follow them on Instagram
- Follow them on Medium
- Like them on Facebook
- Subscribe to their YouTube Channel
- Submit your Ethereum Wallet Address.
