The European Union (EU) recently reached a political agreement on new bank-capital regulations, including those related to crypto assets. The key focus lies in establishing “prohibitive” rules aimed at keeping unbacked crypto out of the traditional financial system. This agreement, announced by the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee after a meeting among EU representatives, still has to be voted on and passed by EU member states to become legislation, which might take several months.
In other news, cryptocurrency custody technology provider Fireblocks embraces a broader range of businesses by offering support for cloud service providers Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform, Alibaba Cloud, Thales, and Securosus. This expansion allows Fireblocks to serve banks whose IT infrastructure relies on both on-premise and cloud-based solutions. With these new additions, Fireblocks now covers a significant portion of the cloud industry’s market share.
Furthermore, OKX, a cryptocurrency exchange, launched “Nitro Spreads,” a novel feature for its over-the-counter (OTC) institutional liquid marketplace. This feature allows users to engage in complex basis trades using a one-click mechanism. Basis trading captures the profit potential from the difference between an asset’s price on two separate markets, such as spot vs. futures markets. The introduction of Nitro Spread streamlines this process, catering to the need for precision, flawless execution, and increased efficiency.
Complementing this progress is the recent surge of inflows into digital asset investment products, with the largest single weekly inflows experienced in a year. Following nine consecutive weeks of outflows, this shift is primarily driven by bitcoin-related products that account for $188 million or 94% of the total inflows. However, short-bitcoin products saw a total outflow of $4.9 million, marking their ninth consecutive week of net exits. The increased inflows are connected with the rally in bitcoin prices, along with a series of high-profile traditional financial institutions filing for a spot bitcoin ETF.
While these advancements in the crypto market highlight the industry’s robust response to evolving demands, it is crucial to remember that upcoming changes in regulations, both in the EU and other jurisdictions, could have a significant impact on the sector’s growth, innovation, and operation.
Source: Coindesk
