| August 20, 2021 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
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John Lothian News | |
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$53,406/$300,000 (17.8%)
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Buy the Sharks, Sell the Bait
John Lothian - John Lothian News
In January of 2014, after hearing CBOE executives crow at an annual Chicago press lunch about how great their publicly traded company and its products performed in 2013, I wrote a commentary titled "The CME Should Buy the CBOE Soon." There have been many on and off discussions about just that for many years. And yesterday for just a short period of time it seemed like it was happening, as the Financial Times reported that CME Group had approached Cboe to acquire it in a $16 billion deal that CME Group later strongly denied.
The premise of my 2014 story was that the premium in the CBOE's stock at the time reflected a takeover premium. The CBOE had a new, inexperienced CEO (hello Ed!) running the company who could easily be moved aside by a deal. However, I warned that the CME had better act fast so that the CEO could get his feet wet and lead the CBOE to become a shark rather than bait.
Well, Ed Tilly and Cboe Global Markets have become sharks. And he has a school of aggressive, flesh-eating, highly-competitive colleagues working behind him at Cboe on his staff. And they keep adding to that team and depth of bench and brainpower with each new deal they close.
Read more HERE.
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
CFTC Commissioner Brian D. Quintenz yesterday announced he is leaving the commission as of August 31, 2021, ending his term after not seeking re-nomination. His term actually ended in April 2020, but he stayed until a successor was confirmed. He issued a statement yesterday that was the epitome of CFTC politeness in thanking everyone, from the TAC Committee, which he led and I serve on, to the CFTC staff and his fellow commissioners and chairmen.
Thank you to Commissioner Quintenz for your service. It has been a privilege and honor to work with you on the CFTC's Technology Advisory Committee. I wish you well in your future endeavors.
The CME this week has communicated to its employees the option to work from home or from the office in Chicago. And at least one bank-related FCM in Chicago that had returned to the office this week reversed course and moved back to a work-from-home policy because of the increase in COVID-19 cases.
The New York Post is reporting that Anthony Scaramucci's SALT conference is suffering low ticket sales. The networking event has sold about 1,000 tickets this year, down from the usual 2,000, the Post reported. Tickets cost from $1,000 to $7,500, and there are also virtual options.
This year speakers include Mets owner Steve Cohen, Bridgewate's Ray Dalio, and crypto executive Sam Bankman-Fried. Also, Coindesk's Michael J. Casey, Thomas P. Gallagher, chairman & CEO of Miami International Holdings, Inc. and Caitlin Long, founder & CEO of Avanti Bank & Trust, are speakers. Additional speakers are Gillian Tett from the Financial Times and Cathie Wood of ARK Investment Management. The complete list of speakers is very impressive.
SALT is scheduled for September 13-15, 2021 at the Javits Center Expansion in New York. In-person attendance at SALT New York is conditioned upon providing adequate proof of vaccination via a paper form, a digital application or through an application like New York State's Excelsior Pass at or prior to the event.
You can register for SALT HERE.
The Treasury roll at the CME Group has started and Quantitative Brokers has a tool to show you its progress. You can see the QB Roll Tracker HERE.
Topstep's CEO Jay Rudman was named an Outstanding Tech CEO Award finalist at the 1871 Momentum Awards 2021. You can vote for Jay HERE.
When I was in high school I played on the basketball team in my freshman year and made the team in my sophomore year. However, I decided during my sophomore year that I was not going to college with a basketball in my hand, but rather a book, and so I stepped down from the team. That team won the Central Suburban League championship that year. Of the 11 team members remaining after I left, three have since passed away. One of them, Tim Englund, just passed away at the age of 59. He left Illinois in his junior year and moved to Texas. After high school Englund attended San Jacinto JR college and was their number one pitcher that year. Number two was Norm Charlton (Cincinnati Reds) and number three was Roger Clemens. Englund was drafted into baseball several times and played in the minor leagues, but never made the majors.
There were no new donations to the JLN MarketsWiki Education GoFundMe campaign yesterday.
Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality and justice.~JJL
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Eurex announces launch of Bitcoin ETN futures
Eurex
First regulated market in Bitcoin-related derivatives in Europe; Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs) backed by Bitcoins serve as underlying; Future traded and cleared on Eurex's proven infrastructure
Eurex, the leading European derivatives exchange, announced today the launch of Bitcoin ETN futures. With the new contract, Deutsche Börse Group's derivatives arm offers clients access to the price of Bitcoin in a regulated on-exchange and centrally cleared environment. This offering will be the first regulated market in Bitcoin-related derivatives in Europe.
/bit.ly/3j2zaqC
***** Eurex is getting into the bitcoin game with a variation. Great to trade, not so great for HODLers who want the bitcoin in their wallets.~JJL
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HKEX to Launch Derivatives Product on New MSCI China A 50 Connect Index
HKEX
Key step in HKEX's plans to build offshore Mainland China equities derivatives suite in Hong Kong;HKEX signs licensing agreement with MSCI to launch futures contract based on MSCI China A 50 Connect Index, tracking performance of 50 Shanghai and Shenzhen stocks available via Stock Connect; The offshore sector-balanced China A-share index futures product to be launched on 18 October 2021
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) is today (Friday) pleased to announce the launch of its first A-share derivatives product. This new contract will provide international investors with a new and effective risk management tool to manage their portfolios of Stock Connect eligible A-shares, reflecting the increasing global reliance on Stock Connect to access Mainland China's burgeoning equity markets.
/bit.ly/2UxiK02
***** There is a lot going on in Hong Kong, including the new MSCI China A Connect Index derivatives to trade.~JJL
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Ohio man pleads guilty to running $300 million bitcoin money laundering service
James Leggate - FOX
An Ohio man who operated a service to help launder hundreds of millions of dollars through the darknet pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a money laundering conspiracy charge, authorities announced. Larry Dean Harmon, 38, ran the service Helix from 2014 to 2017, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. Helix served as a bitcoin "mixer" or "tumbler," helping those involved in transactions conceal the owner of the bitcoin.
/yhoo.it/2Wd1yxR
***** If there are multiple terms for this type of activity, how prevalent is it?~JJL
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Thursday's Top Three
Our top story Thursday was JLN's CME Group Flatly Denies It's In Talks With Cboe Global Markets. Second was a LinkedIn video in which Citadel Founder and CEO Ken Griffin shares his advice to interns. And third was CME/Cboe: logical exchange consolidation but the timing might be tardy, from The Financial Times.
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MarketsWiki Stats
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| Lead Stories | CFTC Commissioner Quintenz to Step Down; Departure will leave Democrats with a 2-1 majority on the commission
Paul Kiernan - WSJ
Democrats are set to gain control over the nation's derivatives-market regulator after one of the two Republicans on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission departs at the end of this month.
/on.wsj.com/3y6twbr
Hong Kong Bourse to Start Offering China A Share Index Futures
Bloomberg News
Hong Kong's exchange was cleared to start offering long awaited A share index futures contracts, giving global investors a new tool to hedge China risk. Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. said on Friday it had signed an agreement with MSCI Inc. to launch futures contract based on the MSCI China A 50 Connect Index, tracking performance of 50 Shanghai and Shenzhen stocks available via Stock Connect. The product will be launched on Oct. 18, according to a statement.
/bloom.bg/3AWSzzp
'Goldfinger' 2021 plot twist could be villainous for banks; Not all gold assets will be considered equal under Basel III rules
Izabella Kaminska - FT
In the plot to the 1964 James Bond classic, international gold smuggler Auric Goldfinger hatches a dastardly plan to enrich himself and his outsized gold holdings by setting off a Chinese-made atomic bomb at Fort Knox, the home of the US gold reserve. Goldfinger's rationale is that the nuclear fallout will render the US bullion unusable for many decades, impeding its mobility through the international financial system, and in so doing lift the value of his own unaffected supplies, thus making him the richest man in the world. It's a crazy plan by anyone's standards. And yet, the bifurcation at its heart may have more relevance to 2021 than many appreciate. Why? Under the new Basel III banking framework, which came into force for all bullion centres other than London in June, not all gold assets will be considered equal.
/on.ft.com/3CZ7Y4l
MSCI Signs License Agreement with HKEX to Launch MSCI China A 50 Connect Index Futures
MSCI Inc
MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MSCI), a leading provider of critical decision support
tools and services for the global investment community, announced today that it has signed a license agreement with Hong Kong Futures Exchange Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited ("HKEX"), to allow HKEX to launch an index futures contract based on the new MSCI China A 50 Connect Index, subject to regulatory approvals.
/bit.ly/37Zsd3t
Wall Street has reason to worry about working from home; Legal and regulatory hazards mean bank bosses are itching to get a better view of the action
Gary Silverman - FT
The big bankers on Wall Street like to play it cool in public. As we say in New York, it's their shtick — the technique they employ to win the trust of other participants in the financial markets. So it has been discombobulating in recent months to see so many masters of the universe — JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon, David Solomon of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley's James Gorman — fretting so openly about the need for their employees to return to the office.
/on.ft.com/3kevi5z
A quality theory of Treasuries; To value US sovereign debt, think about what it buys
Brendan Greeley - FT
In testimony to Congress almost exactly 30 years ago, ?Jay Powell produced a chart. At the time an assistant secretary at the Department of the Treasury, Powell showed that as the federal government had increased bond sales almost every year between 1980 and 1990, the yield on 30-year bonds had continued to drop. That chart still hasn't changed.
/on.ft.com/3AXrFYl
Investment lessons of a Scottish fishing disaster; For us, the tidal wave of inflation still presents the greatest danger
Merryn Somerset Webb - FT
In July 1881 a group of fishermen set out from Gloup, one of the most northerly villages on one of the UK's most northerly islands, in small six-oared sailing boats — deckless sixareens. It didn't go well. The number of fishing boats around the Shetland Islands had been steadily increasing — and, while a few decades earlier, all fishing took place within easy sight of land, the men now sometimes needed to head 40 miles out to get a good catch.
/on.ft.com/2W9V0ju
SEC Leans Hard on China IPOs to Explain Offshore Structures
Bloomberg News
Chinese companies applying to go public in the U.S. are facing increasingly detailed questions from the Securities and Exchange Commission about their offshore corporate structures, according to people familiar with the matter.
/yhoo.it/38exEMd
For bank regulators, tech giants are now too big to fail
Iain Withers and Huw Jones - Reuters
More than a decade on from the financial crisis, regulators are spooked once again that some companies at the heart of the financial system are too big to fail. But they're not banks.
/reut.rs/3j2pSLg
The structured, the nimble, and the delegator
Andrea Pirino - Ion Group
A tale of data from the BrokerTec migration to CME.
Measuring the size of the BrokerTec migration to CME Globex by either trading volumes, market participants, or lines of source code impacted, this was an industry-wide initiative with high stakes and thousands of actors involved.
/bit.ly/3z6l39p
Bitcoin's Technical Challenges Pile Up After 63% Jump
Akshay Chinchalkar - Bloomberg
Bitcoin's rally of about 63% from a July trough now faces a rare confluence of technical obstacles. An April low of about $47,000 is now acting as something of a barrier, as is a Fibonacci and Ichimoku cluster between $47,000 and $48,000, while the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement of the April to June downtrend -- at $51,000 -- could be an obstacle too. Edward Moya, senior market analyst for North America at Oanda Corp., expects Bitcoin to consolidate between $45,000 and $48,000.
/bloom.bg/3ghVOd8
Jay Clayton praises blockchain as he joins crypto platform Fireblocks; Former SEC chair is the latest former regulator to embrace the digital assets sector
Hannah Murphy and Gary Silverman - FT
Jay Clayton, the former US Securities and Exchange Commission chair, has said he believes both in the promise of blockchain technology and the need for more regulation for the crypto sector. "There's a US government interest in ensuring that, to the extent the world starts to digitise, US regulation continues to be as robust, continues to be the gold standard, but also facilitates the adoption of the technology," he told the Financial Times, as he joined the advisory board of digital asset infrastructure provider Fireblocks.
/on.ft.com/3gcr6BW
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | U.S. Covid Hospital Deaths Hit February Levels as ICUs Overflow
Jonathan Levin - Bloomberg
Alabama's need outstrips supply, and 4 states top 90% capacity; Fatalities dim hopes for a wave that would prove less lethal
Covid-19 patients are dying in U.S. hospitals at levels not seen since February, and the numbers could worsen as intensive-care units overflow in parts of the South. In Alabama, there are now more people in ICUs statewide than there are staffed beds available, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Florida, Mississippi, Georgia and Texas are all using more than 90% of their ICU capacity. Covid-19 patients take up about half of ICU beds in those states, an extraordinary amount for a single diagnosis.
/bloom.bg/3AS3BpE
Singapore Seeks to Expand Vaccinated Travel in Reopening Push
Kyunghee Park, Philip Heijmans, and Haslinda Amin - Bloomberg
Iswaran says city-state looking at which countries may be next; Quarantine-free travel soon available from Germany and Brunei
Singapore is seeking to add more countries to its vaccinated travel lane program in a signal to the world it's committed to reopening. After starting to allow vaccinated visitors from Germany and Brunei from next month, the city-state will "work from there to see which countries and how we can go about it," Minister of Transport S. Iswaran said in an interview with Bloomberg on Friday.
/bloom.bg/3mkqspJ
Why Covid regulations may be around longer than you think; Will all these certificates join passports and income tax as emergency measures that lasted?
Tim Harford - FT
Travel these days requires an awful lot of paperwork. On a recent trip to Italy, I needed to produce proof of vaccination, proof of three different negative lateral flow tests, proof of the booking of a PCR test, a passenger locator form for the EU and a passenger locator form for the UK. Some of the forms were badly designed. Websites had a habit of crashing. And certain rules called to mind sledgehammers and nuts.
/on.ft.com/3D5fMkQ
The CEO Wants His Staff Vaccinated. He Also Worries They Will Quit; As Delta variant spreads, Taylor Farms nudges 22,000 employees toward vaccination
Jesse Newman - WSJ
In a sprawling food processing plant on the outskirts of Nashville, Jon Matthews is expected to be everywhere. He oversees one million pounds of produce that flow into the plant daily to be sliced and separated into salads and sandwiches.
/on.wsj.com/3D2ucSK
Scientists question evidence behind U.S. COVID-19 booster shot drive
Deena Beasley and Ahmed Aboulenein - Reuters
The Biden administration's plan to provide COVID-19 vaccine boosters is based on concerns that a decrease in the vaccines' ability to protect against milder infections could also mean people will have less protection against severe illness, a premise that has yet to be proven, scientists said on Thursday.
/reut.rs/3z6l5Oy
England's COVID-19 prevalence drops to 1 in 80, ONS says
Reuters
The prevalence of COVID-19 infections in England was around 1 in 80 people in the week ending Aug. 14, Britain's Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Friday, slightly lower than the previous week's estimate of 1 in 75.
/reut.rs/3y1R1lV
UK approves Regeneron/Roche antibody cocktail for COVID-19
Reuters
The UK drug regulator has approved an antibody cocktail developed by Regeneron (REGN.O) and Roche (ROG.S) to prevent and treat COVID-19, it said on Friday, as the nation battles rising hospitalisations due to the more infectious Delta variant.
/reut.rs/3xY6Iux
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Analysts say CME-Cboe deal 'still possible' after proposal is denied; The options exchange altered its 'change in control' clauses in February to compensate executives in case of takeover
Philip Stafford in London and James Fontanella-Khan - FT
Analysts expect CME Group may still bid for Cboe Global Markets despite a statement that the exchange has not held talks with its fellow Chicago rival. The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that CME had approached Cboe about a potential $16bn takeover. CME later responded to the report saying it was not "in conversations" and had "not had any discussions". Cboe declined to comment.
/on.ft.com/3mhUlqM
Baton Systems Completes Connection to ICE Clear Europe: Allowing FCMs To Automate Collateral Movements Through Baton to One of the Largest CCPs Globally; With ICE integration complete by Baton, clearing firms will be able to automate collateral management across 5 Major CCPs, together comprising more than 73% of margin, placed by U.S. registered FCMs; Citi became first FCM to connect to ICE Clear Europe
Baton Systems
Baton Systems ("Baton"), the market solution transforming asset movements and settlements, today announced that it has completed connecting to Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading global provider of data, technology, and market infrastructure, making ICE Clear Europe the 5th major global CCP available on the Baton network. All FCMs using Baton will now be able to automate and optimise collateral holdings and expedite the movement of cash and securities with the CCPs of greatest strategic importance to their business. These firms include the world's largest financial institutions, responsible for managing 43% of the funds held by global CCPs.
/bit.ly/3j0bseX
HKEX expands MSCI index derivatives offering;The new MSCI China A 50 Connect index derivatives at HKEX will provide investors with a risk management tool for Stock Connect eligible A-shares.
Annabel Smith - The Trade
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) has confirmed plans to expand its MSCI index offering with the launch of its first A-share derivatives product. The exchange operator said it will launch futures based on the MSCI China A 50 Connect index, which tracks the performance of 50 key Shanghai and Shenzhen stocks available via Stock Connect, on 18 October.
/bit.ly/3y5xBwm
Derivatives on Exchange Traded Products: Introduction of Futures on BTCetc - ETC Group Physical Bitcoin
Eurex
The Management Board of Eurex Deutschland and the Executive Board of Eurex Frankfurt AG took the following decisions with effect from 13 September 2021: Introduction of Futures on BTCetc - ETC Group Physical Bitcoin pursuant to Attachment 1; To determine a position limit in Futures on BTCetc - ETC Group Physical Bitcoin of 5,000 contracts; To offer a Liquidity Provider Scheme for Futures on BTCetc - ETC Group Physical Bitcoin according to the Product Specific Supplement in Attachment 2
/bit.ly/37WXGmO
Cboe Global Markets Declares Increased Third-Quarter 2021 Dividend
Cboe Global Markets, Inc.
Quarterly cash dividend increased 14 percent to $0.48 per share;11th consecutive year Cboe has increased its dividend
Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE), a leading provider of global market infrastructure and tradable products, today announced its Board of Directors has declared an increased quarterly cash dividend of $0.48 per share of common stock for the third quarter of 2021, representing a 14 percent increase from the prior quarter's dividend of $0.42 per share.
/bit.ly/2UAca9h
Amendments to Payment Date of the Dutch TTF Natural Gas Futures-Style Margined Financial Calendar Month Option Contract - Payment Date to be Last Trade Date
CME Group
/bit.ly/3szQWop
SGX-ST Listings Disciplinary Committee reprimands Astaka Holdings Limited, its present Executive Director and former CEO Zamani Bin Kasim, and its former CFO Lee Shih Yi
SGX
Public Reprimand: Breaches of Listing Rules
1. The SGX-ST Listings Disciplinary Committee (the "LDC") reprimands Astaka Holdings Limited (the "Company") for breaching Catalist Rule 703(1)(a) by failing to promptly disclose its wholly-owned indirect subsidiary's receipt of a letter of demand dated 11 July 2019, a piece of material information known to the Company which was necessary to avoid the establishment of a false market in the Company's securities.
/bit.ly/2W5Sjz4
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Facebook unveils virtual office app Horizon Workrooms; Platform is designed to allow employees to collaborate in an imaginary workspace
Hannah Murphy - FT
This week, Facebook invited journalists into its vision of the future office. Instead of attending in person or dialling in via Zoom, reporters donned headsets and used digital avatars of themselves to attend the company's first media event exclusively in virtual reality. The gimmick marked the launch of Horizon Workrooms, a new free Facebook app designed to allow employees to work together in a shared, imaginary office
/on.ft.com/3gh62dw
Top 10 Fintech CEOs of 2021
Joanna England - Fintech Magazine
Fintechs straddle a wide range of services, from digital payment solutions to insurance, online banking, property (known as proptech), and more. One of the most popular investment sectors for venture capitalists, the space is expanding at an unprecedented rate.
Innovation, lean and agile thinking, creative uses of technology, and great leadership are all essential elements required to create a successful fintech.
/bit.ly/3AXKyKJ
Celebrating fintech's role at the heart of the new normal
Louisa Murray - Finextra
Innovate Finance has launched a new forum to explore the potential of fintech to create a more inclusive and sustainable world. What good timing - fintech has performed impressively amidst the pandemic and will have a crucial role to play as restrictions are lifted and we settle into our 'new normal'.
It's origins go back to the creation of peer-to-peer pioneer Zopa in 2005, but the bulk of UK fintech was founded from 2010 onwards. As such, commentators would often say that we need to see how it performs during its first true economic downturn. Well, it's fair to say that fintech has passed the COVID-19 test with flying colours.
/bit.ly/3AWGw5d
How fintech can drive the travel industry's recovery
Yahoo Finance
Frederic Lalonde, Hopper CEO and Co-Founder, joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the bounce back in travel, Hopper's booming growth, and ways travel fintech aids in bettering travel for customers.
/yhoo.it/3mkaSuC
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Interview: We spoke to NordVPN on the importance of International VPN Day
Tech Radar
"Virtual private network (VPN) was invented in 1993 and since then has become an essential cybersecurity tool for anyone who cares about their cybersecurity. In fact, at the moment, there are 142 million VPN users in the US alone and, according to Google Trends, the demand is growing constantly. In fact, over the past eight years, interest in VPNs has doubled. Naturally, we wanted to create an event for everyone to celebrate a product, which is becoming more and more mainstream among users and helps them stay private and safe on the internet.
/bit.ly/3glOPj9
Here are all the ways your boss can legally monitor you
Tatum Hunter - The Washington Post
The pandemic pushed many into work-from-home setups, and companies turned to employee data to keep tabs on their workforces. Your company can get access to almost everything you do electronically, and monitoring software makes that data easy to collect and analyze. As some employees see work-from-home time extended because of the delta variant spreading across the world, reliance on employee tracking is staying steady at lockdown-level highs, say executives at monitoring software firms.
/wapo.st/3miLMMp
China Takes Next Step in Taming Big Tech With Personal Data Law
Colum Murphy and Jing Li - Bloomberg
China has passed legislation setting out tougher rules for how companies handle user data, a move pushing forward its campaign to curb big tech's influence. The legislature of the Asian nation approved the Personal Information Protection Law, the China Central Television said in a report on Friday morning.
/bloom.bg/3syBnxb
Wanted: Disgruntled Employees to Deploy Ransomware
Brian Krebs - Krebs on Security
Criminal hackers will try almost anything to get inside a profitable enterprise and secure a million-dollar payday from a ransomware infection. Apparently now that includes emailing employees directly and asking them to unleash the malware inside their employer's network in exchange for a percentage of any ransom amount paid by the victim company.
/bit.ly/2UBD68A
New test regulations to protect the data privacy of car users
Daniel Kuhn - Illinois News Today
Businesses that collect and process vehicle data in China need to undergo a security assessment if they provide such data abroad for business needs, China Cyberspace The Administration (CAC) said on Friday.
/bit.ly/3D1wL7N
The State of Cybersecurity and the Cloud Today
California News Times
When cloud computing was first introduced, numerous questions were asked about the ability of cloud service providers to keep infrastructures and data secure. As more businesses and organizations began migrating to the cloud, it became evident that major cloud service providers were better equipped and more capable than many businesses and organizations when it comes to securing data and networks.
/bit.ly/3gjTiD4
New cyber executive order a 'necessary shock to the system,' NIST says
Nicole Ogrysko - Federal News Network
The timelines may be aggressive and the requirements might be detailed and lengthy, but the Biden administration said the president's latest cybersecurity executive order provides a "necessary shock to the system," to help agencies tackle the fundamentals of securing their networks.
/bit.ly/3AUpSDp
How to choose a cybersecurity firm?
Pennsylvania News Today
On the one hand, cybersecurity is a collection of measures in the form of laws, regulations and standards. Industry-specific solutions, hardware and software and, above all, qualified personnel. A company's cybersecurity encompasses many technologies, processes, and controls. This requires special attention in financing and risk assessment, as well as experienced and professional management.
/bit.ly/3j4unFg
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Hackers steal $97 million from Japan's Liquid crypto exchange
Saqib Shah - Engadget
Just days after a hacker pulled off an audacious crypto heist, another major public breach has occured. Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Liquid is the latest victim of a cyberattack that has seen hackers make off with an estimated $97 million in stolen assets. The funds include $45 million in Ethereum tokens, which the culprit is converting into Ether using decentralised exchanges to avoid them being frozen, according to Elliptic, a crypto tracking firm that is assisting Liquid in its investigation.
/yhoo.it/3meRhfb
Binance Requiring 'Intermediate Verification' for All Users
Nicholas Pongratz - BeInCrypto
To "further enhance user protection," in light of recent scrutiny, Binance will now require Intermediate Verification for all users. Intermediate Verification supports the company's Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) efforts, according to the Binance blog. These are part of the company's efforts "to further enhance user protection and risk management protocols." The statement described the policy change as part of a product and service review, "in light of evolving global compliance standards."
/yhoo.it/3mgxYSL
Binance.US to Close Funding Round With 'Reputable Investors'
Olga Kharif - Bloomberg
Binance.US is expecting to close a funding round shortly, Binance Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao said in a statement to Bloomberg. "There is significant interest from top-level investors, and they expect they will close a round shortly," Zhao said.
/bloom.bg/3gkMzZr
Coinbase to Add Over $500M in Crypto to Current Holdings
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted that the crypto exchange will also invest 10% of its profits in cryptocurrency.
James Rubin - Coindesk
Coinbase will be purchasing more than $500 million in cryptocurrency to add to its holdings, the exchange giant's CEO and co-founder Brian Armstrong tweeted on Thursday.
Armstrong wrote that the firm had "received board approval" to add these assets to its balance sheet. He also wrote that Coinbase would invest 10% "of all profit going forward in crypto."
/bit.ly/3sy7uNy
Crypto exchange Binance tightens money-laundering checks as regulatory pressure mounts
Krisztian Sandor and Tom Wilson - Reuters
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance said on Friday it would demand stricter background checks on customers to bolster efforts against money laundering, with immediate effect, a move that comes after weeks of pressure by regulators globally.
/yhoo.it/3mk19o4
Money Managers Race to Launch First U.S. Bitcoin ETF After SEC Signal; While the regulator has indicated being receptive to exchange-traded funds for bitcoin futures, there are risks for individual investors
Michael Wursthorn - WSJ
Asset managers are jockeying to create the first U.S. bitcoin exchange-traded fund after a top securities regulator signaled a path to approval. In the past two weeks, ProShares, Invesco Ltd., VanEck, Valkyrie Digital Assets and Galaxy Digital have all filed plans for bitcoin futures ETFs. If approved, the funds would make trading bets on bitcoin's future value akin to buying a stock.
/on.wsj.com/3giFSXW
Polygon to Form Decentralized Autonomous Organization
Jamie Crawley - Coindesk
Ethereum scaling solution Polygon said it will build a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) for the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector.
/yhoo.it/3z3mUMo
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | EXCLUSIVE FBI finds scant evidence U.S. Capitol attack was coordinated-sources
Mark Hosenball and Sarah N. Lynch - Reuters
The FBI has found scant evidence that the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was the result of an organized plot to overturn the presidential election result, according to four current and former law enforcement officials.
/reut.rs/3j1em2Q
The Quiet Rage of the Responsible
Paul Krugman - NY Times
Let's talk for a minute about Lollapalooza. After canceling in-person events last year, a few weeks ago Chicago once again hosted the long-running music festival, drawing more than 385,000 people. Many feared that the huge, raucous crowds could produce a coronavirus superspreader event. But the festival required proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for entry, and it introduced indoor mask requirements halfway through. And very few people appear to have been infected.
/nyti.ms/3z5UzFd
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | For more regulatory, visit MarketsReformWiki, our website focused on current market reform efforts. | Bitcoin Mixing CEO Harmon Pleads Guilty to US Money-Laundering Charge
Cheyenne Ligon and Danny Nelson - Coindesk
Larry Dean Harmon, the jailed former chief of darknet bitcoin mixing service Helix, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
/yhoo.it/3giyJqm
Former SEC chairman Clayton joins crypto platform Fireblocks as advisor; Jay Clayton joins Fireblocks, which allows institutional investors to transfer and issue digital assets across jurisdictions, an advisory board member.
Annabel Smith - The Trade
The former head of the US markets watchdog has taken up a new role in the digital assets space after joining crypto platform Fireblocks as an advisor. Jay Clayton, former chair of the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC), has joined Fireblocks as its newest advisory board member, the company confirmed via a statement.
/bit.ly/3y5cIld
SEC Enhances Access to Financial Disclosure Data
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced open data enhancements that provide public access to financial statements and other disclosures made by publicly traded companies on its Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system (EDGAR).
/bit.ly/381NcCS
2021 FINRA Virtual Diversity Leadership Summit
FINRA
FINRA's Diversity Leadership Summit provides a forum for diversity practitioners and business leaders in the industry to share innovative ideas and effective practices to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace.
/bit.ly/3heVeuc
Statement of Commissioner Brian D. Quintenz on the End of His Term and Future Plans
CFTC
I am deeply honored to have served as a Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over the last four years. My statutory term expired in April of 2020. At that point, I announced I would not seek re-nomination to another five-year term. I originally anticipated stepping down from my role by either October-end of last year or once my replacement had been confirmed. Without a successfully appointed replacement, I decided to remain in my role this year to ensure my voice was heard as important derivatives market and financial innovation issues were raised during the administration's transition.
/bit.ly/3z5Crv8
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | There Are More 401(k) and IRA Millionaires Than Ever; Hundreds of thousands of Baby Boomers watched their account balances tick over the $1 million mark in the past year.
Suzanne Woolley - Bloomberg
The ranks of 401(k) and IRA millionaires are exploding. The number of 401(k) accounts with balances of at least $1 million at Fidelity Investments grew 84% year over year to 412,000, while the number of seven-figure IRAs jumped more than 64% to 341,600 in the 12 months that ended in the second quarter, Fidelity said. Together, the number of accounts with $1 million or more grew 74.5% — though it isn't clear how many individuals that represents, because people can have multiple accounts.
/bloom.bg/3giaetD
Surging Lithium Demand Outstrips Forecast of Major Producer
James Attwood - Bloomberg
Global demand for lithium is accelerating at a faster clip than previously thought, according to the world's second-largest producer of the rechargeable battery ingredient.
/yhoo.it/2XIXVAb
How to Avoid Getting Burned by Wall Street's Hottest Money Machine; Billionaires, celebrities and hedge fund titans are all touting SPACs, or "blank-check" firms. Here's what you need to know about the rewards and risks.
Claire Ballentine - Bloomberg
At their peak, they looked like the A-list's hottest new accessories. Alex Rodriguez got one. So did Colin Kaepernick and Shaquille O'Neal. Jay-Z was a fan, as was Serena Williams. Special-purpose acquisition companies — better known as SPACs, or blank-check companies — made a splash during the Covid-era retail-trading surge. They are companies built with a single goal in mind: They raise money on the public markets by selling investors on a vision, and then buy a public company that fulfills that vision. SPACs let just about anyone with a wild idea, be it flying taxis or even space travel, and a bit of money raise hundreds of millions of dollars.
/bloom.bg/2W8i0iI
Robinhood Tumbles as Retail Slowdown Warning Hits Outlook
Bailey Lipschultz - Bloomberg
Shares fell 10% after second-quarter results, muddy view; 'Narrative is starting to unwind,' New Constructs CEO says
Robinhood Markets Inc. slumped after warning cryptocurrency-driven trading that fueled quarterly revenue may quickly fade. The online brokerage, which became a household name as cooped-up users bet on assets like cryptocurrency Dogecoin and meme stocks, fell 10% on Thursday. The company said seasonal issues and lower trading activity will impact third-quarter results.
/bloom.bg/3AU2TbB
Robinhood Is Running Out of Investment Manias to Ride
Avi Salzman - Barron's
Robinhood Markets has repeatedly said that its users are becoming the kind of prudent investors who buy and hold stocks. But so far the company's growth has been fueled by frenzies, with wild cryptocurrency trading dominating the second quarter results that the broker released on Wednesday. Options and crypto are a much more important part of Robinhood's business model than stocks, and it is not clear if that will change in the months ahead.
/bit.ly/3B0CZCP
First-Time Issuers Help Fuel Junk Bond Rally; Demand comes from investors seeking better fixed-income returns amid ultralow interest rates and record savings
Sebastian Pellejero and Julia-Ambra Verlaine - WSJ
Investors in search of better fixed-income returns are flocking to buy the lowest-rated junk debt from companies new to the high-yield market. Debut sales of junk bonds from companies including Michaels Stores Inc. and Square Inc. SQ -0.89% are on pace to set a 16-year record, with over $68 billion of debt sold as of Aug. 17, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence's LCD. The firm has been tracking the data since 2005.
/on.wsj.com/3mxoWkz
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Climate Change: Plugging Methane Leaks Key to Fight Global Warming ; Frackers in America's largest oil field are letting massive amounts of natural gas spill into the atmosphere. Scientists and activists are trying to find the leaks and get them plugged before they cook the planet further.
Zachary R. Mider - Bloomberg
Five hundred miles above the Earth's surface, the Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor, a satellite about the size of a pickup truck, has been circling the planet for four years, taking pictures of the atmosphere below. The satellite's infrared sensor can see things humans can't, and in 2019, Yuzhong Zhang, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard, got a look at some of its first readings.
/bloom.bg/2Wd2PoD
West Africa's First Corporate Green Bond May Spark More Issuance
Antony Sguazzin - Bloomberg
Brokerage Hudson advising on 53 million CFA of green bonds; Energy companies, municipalities among those exploring sales
West Africa's first green corporate bond was sold this month and similar issuances are expected to follow as financial advisers and companies promote the asset class in a bid to attract more investment into the regional market.
/bloom.bg/3mfilel
The Costs of Climate Tipping Points Add Up; New research shows significant economic costs of climate risks.
Gernot Wagner - Bloomberg
Tell me if you've heard this one before: Climate change isn't about what we know, it's about what we don't. What we know is bad enough, what we don't is potentially much worse. Consider, also, the irreversible, large-scale events — tipping points, like the Amazon drying out, the West-Antarctic or the Greenland ice sheet disintegrating — and the costs start to add up
/bloom.bg/3glwu5N
Norway's $1.4 Trillion Wealth Fund Puts Oil Stocks on Notice
Lars Erik Taraldsen - Bloomberg
World's biggest wealth fund still holds several oil majors; Norway is reviewing the fund's mandate to look at climate risk
The sovereign wealth fund of Norway, which manages $1.4 trillion in assets, said there are oil companies in its portfolio that "absolutely" aren't doing enough to cut emissions, as the guidelines under which it operates are reviewed, potentially giving the investor more scope to act.
/bloom.bg/3k91tTQ
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Schwab Boosts Staff Pay by 5%, Delays Office Return to 2022
Annie Massa - Bloomberg via Yahoo
Charles Schwab Corp. said it will increase employee pay by 5% and push back its return-to-office plans to no sooner than January as the Covid-19 delta variant spreads across the U.S.
/yhoo.it/3mkd7hs
Bill Ackman Doesn't Want Your $4 Billion SPAC Money Anymore After getting sued, the billionaire hedge fund manager is giving up on SPACs but doubling down on his proposed SPARC.
Chris Bryant - Bloomberg
Well that escalated quickly. Just days after being sued by a disgruntled shareholder who alleged that Bill Ackman's special purpose acquisition company, Pershing Square Tontine Holdings Ltd., is an illegal investment company, the billionaire hedge fund manager is asking for a do-over.
/bloom.bg/3k7MVnj
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Exclusive-China eyes pushing U.S. IPO-bound firms to hand over data control-sources
Julie Zhu and Scott Murdoch - Reuters
Chinese regulators are considering pressing data-rich companies to hand over management and supervision of their data to third-party firms if they want U.S. stock listings, sources said, as part of Beijing's unprecedented scrutiny on private sector firms.
/yhoo.it/2W9h2Tv
Covid-19 Closure at China's Ningbo Port Is Latest Snarl in Global Supply Chains;Dozens of ships are anchored outside the giant port, which isn't expected to resume full operations for weeks
Costas Paris, Stella Yifan Xie - WSJ
A major container terminal at China's Ningbo-Zhoushan Port remained shut a week after operations were suspended from a single Covid-19 case, with dozens of ships lining up to load cargo for western markets ahead of the year-end shopping season.
/on.wsj.com/3AXuRTP
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | With a Frenzy of Deals, Fanatics Swoops In to Reorder the Trading-Card World; The sports-merchandise retailer's deals with players in baseball, basketball and football overturn decades-long arrangements with dominant icons like Topps Co.
Jared Diamond and Andrew Beaton - WSJ
In a sweeping reordering of the trading-card universe, unions representing players in Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Football League have struck exclusive agreements with a new company controlled by online sports-merchandise retailer Fanatics Inc., people familiar with the matter said
/on.wsj.com/3AU8ChB
The Pandemic Was a Severe Blow for World Hunger. The Recovery Needs to Start Soon.
Maximo Torero - Barron's
The number of hungry people in the world has increased the last six years in a row. It increased by 10 million in 2019, and nearly 60 million in the 5 years before that. New figures estimate that up to 811 million people around the world faced hunger in 2020, as many as 161 million people more than in 2019. It is evident that our agricultural and food systems are failing us.
/bit.ly/3D4kH5t
The Pandemic Showed Us How to Have Better Meetings
Priya Parker - NY Times
In a June email to his staff, Tim Cook, the chief executive of Apple, wrote: "Video conference calling has narrowed the distance between us, to be sure, but there are things it simply cannot replicate." He then announced plans for employees to return to the office three days a week in the fall.
/nyti.ms/2Wct7XO
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