The fourth week of April has been exciting for the blockchain and cryptocurrency world. Perhaps the biggest news is that E*Trade Financial (NASDAQ: ETFC) plans to launch cryptocurrency trading on its platform soon. The New York-based online brokerage giant told Bloomberg that it will first allow customers to trade Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), before considering rolling out other major coins. With 5 million brokerage accounts, total assets over $65 billion, and a quality reputation in traditional finance, E*Trade would become a serious competitor to major American exchanges Coinbase, Gemini, and Kraken. The firm did not confirm the exact date of its crypto trading debut.
Here is the rest of the week in review:
The alleged that the Bitfinex exchange secretly borrowed money from Tether to cover up a loss of $850 million. Attorney general Letitia James said in a statement that the state government obtained a court order against iFinex, the parent company of Bitfinex and Tether. New York claims that $850 million of Bitfinex's customer funds were frozen at a payment processor named Crypto Capital and led to lengthy withdrawal delays. Crypto Capital told Bitfinex the funds were seized by the governments of the US, Portugal, and Poland. Then Tether agreed to lend Bitfinex $625 million. James believes that the two firms hid the problem and lied to investors. Though New York is not prosecuting iFinex, the news has rocked the exchange and stablecoin firm already plagued by past controversy.
Paxos will partner with Ontology's ONT token to issue up to 100 million of its regulated PAX stablecoins, pegged to and backed by the US dollar (USD). PAX is currently just an ERC-20 token running on the Ethereum blockchain, but the new $100 million issue will make PAX available on the Ontology blockchain as an OEP-4 token. The Singapore-based Ontology Foundation said that unlike Tether, Paxos conducts regular open audits and keeps all its US dollars safe in independent bank accounts insured by the FDIC. Paxos and Ontology believe the issue will help facilitate real business use cases for the stablecoin.
Crypto prices slipped slightly to $172 billion this week, largely due to the Bitfinex and Tether drama. For the majors, all except Bitcoin are red, with Stellar (XLM) and Monero (XMR) posting heavy losses. In the top 100, the biggest losers are MetaHash (MHC), down 30%, PIVX (PIVX), down 28%, and Lightning Bitcoin (LBTC), down 24%. The biggest gainers are CasinoCoin (CSC), up a whopping 191%, ILCoin (ILC), up 74%, and Energi (NRG), up 14%. Next week, traders will watch how the markets react to the Bitfinex and Tether aftermath.
The author owns a small amount of BTC.