Execs flee Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital | | Are 0x relayers using ZRX? | Lending rate on Bitcoin Cash soars on Bitfinex
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Execs are fleeing Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital as the firm makes a big pivot towards Wall Street
‘It is treated like any other account:’ BitMEX CEO defends his firm’s secretive trading desk
“This is a bubble and there is a lot of froth. This is going to be the biggest bubble of our lifetimes.” — Mike Novogratz, founder and CEO Galaxy Digital Capital Management
The Big Block
Galaxy Digital, the merchant bank run by famed trader Mike Novogratz, announced on Friday evening that two major executives are stepping down from their positions as the firm shifts its focus to larger institutions from small ICOs. But no one noticed. “The Company is adapting to the regulatory framework and the opportunities it is currently seeing, and therefore repositioning its Advisory business from focusing on small ICO advisory and blockchain consulting to instead serve larger, more institutional clients in the space,” the firm said. Notably, the firm was known to operate an advisory business as well as one in trading and venture capital. As part of the shift, the firm is shutting its Vancouver office.
It is not clear why the shift led to a number of major executive departures. Still, The Block reached out to its sources to get a full picture of what’s going on. We discovered five execs have the left the firm in recent months
Read More on The Block (3 Minutes)
Around The Block
The lending rate of Bitcoin Cash soars on Bitfinex
Just three days prior to the hard fork, Bitcoin Cash currently has the highest flash return rate out of all supported currencies. Currently, Bitcoin Cash's flash return rate hovers around 0.54% while the maximum rate on Bitfinex of 0.75% has already been reached a few times over the weekend. The flash return rate is the average of all fixed-rate positions, of all terms, weighted by their amount. It is basically the average daily rate on funding that allows traders to adjust the rates automatically. — More
Are 0x relayers using ZRX? Yes and no
Coinbase recently started trading of 0x’s ZRX to the surprise of many. ZRX was Coinbase’s first ERC-20 token and is relatively new compared to other crypto assets in the space.
While 0x has established itself as part of the core infrastructure for building out Ethereum’s decentralized finance ecosystem, the utility of its native token ZRX is debatable. The 0x white paper outlined two core use cases of the ZRX token (1) governance and (2) transaction fees. The theory follows that because relayers built on ZRX have an interest in the development of the protocol, they will acquire ZRX to have some influence on its development. Relayers are middlemen who match buyers and sellers off the Ethereum blockchain, to avoid the costs and bloat associated with on-chain transactions. — More
‘It is treated like any other account:’ BitMEX CEO defends his firm’s secretive trading desk — More
IBM continues blockchain push with patent around ‘open scientific research’ — More
Bitcoin trader sentenced to 15 months in prison and fined $1.1 million — More
Bitfinex announces large fees for its high-frequency clients — More
Bitcoin Cash SV begins to close price gap against Bitcoin Cash ABC as Craig Wright affiliated pools gain over 51% of Bitcoin Cash’s hash rate — More
SEC puts decentralized exchanges on notice — More
Ethereum developers set January date for Constantinople upgrade — More
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