News Nuggets | 10 July: CNMV's New Warning; Recurring Payments by Praxis

Bitcoin to Reach $120,000 Next Year: Standard Chartered Predicts

Analysts from Standard Chartered have predicted that the price of Bitcoin could reach $50,000 before the end of the year, and $120,000 before the end of next year, due to Bitcoin miner activity.

According to analysts, Bitcoin miners were likely to sell less of their holdings due to the increased profitability of the top cryptocurrency, the banking giant stated, according to a report by Reuters. Since the start of the year, Bitcoin has risen around 80%.

BTIG Appoints Thomas Roh to Head of Debt Capital Advisory Group

The investment banking company, BTIG has appointed Thomas Roh as the Managing Director to head its Debt Capital Advisory Group. Roh has over 25 years of experience in the consumer and commercial capital markets as well as asset securitization.

"We are pleased to welcome Roh to our Debt Capital Advisory team," commented Scott Kovalik, the Co-Founder and CEO of BTIG. "We are confident that his acumen will support the group's focus on originating, executing, and closing transactions for corporate issuers and financial sponsors while offering them the highest level of client service and customized solutions."

ESMA Publishes Post-Trade Transparency Manual

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has released its manual on post-trade transparency. It provides market participants and national competent authorities (NCAs) with guidance on the consistent application of the relevant MiFIR obligations.

The manual serves as a tool for post-trade transparency and transparency calculations, clarifying which instruments and transactions are subject to post-trade transparency.

QB and Genesis Global Cooperate

Quantitative Brokers (QB) and Genesis Global have announced a strategic partnership to launch a new advanced algorithm performance monitoring solution to improve algo transparency and enhance trader productivity. The order monitoring system, developed in collaboration with Genesis, will enhance QB's real-time management and proactive support services for client orders globally.

"We are thrilled about our partnership with Genesis Global. This collaboration enables us to deliver a next-generation platform to our clients, enabling them to efficiently and effectively achieve their goals in today's rapidly evolving financial markets," Asset Tarabayev, the Chief Product Officer at QB, commented.

FMA Warns against PSLUS.COM

Investors are urged to exercise caution when dealing with the PSLUS.COM website, which offers investments but is not registered to provide financial services in New Zealand. PSLUS.COM fraudulently claims to be a registered company in New Zealand by using the Certificate of Incorporation of a legitimate New Zealand company, PSL Enterprises Limited.

PSL Enterprises Limited has confirmed that it has no association with this website. As such, potential investors should be wary of engaging with this entity.

FINRA Expels Monmouth Capital Management

FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, has announced the expulsion of Monmouth Capital Management for churning and excessively trading customer accounts. Moreover, the company failed to supervise its representatives, providing false and misleading disclosures to retail customers.

Between August 2020 and February 2023, Monmouth, through six representatives, excessively traded 110 accounts, 42 of which were also churned. This trading resulted in customers incurring approximately $3.9 million in commissions and trading costs, and suffering substantial losses.

NayaOne Incorporates Bitpanda Tech

NayaOne has integrated Bitpanda Technology Solutions into its marketplace. The NayaOne Tech Marketplace connects financial institutions to hundreds of curated APIs, SaaS products, and business services.

The partnership with Bitpanda provides NayaOne users with access to Bitpanda's exchange services, a built-in wallet for securely storing digital assets, a trading platform with advanced charting tools, and a professional-grade API for developers. Additional services, such as Bitpanda Savings and Bitpanda Staking, allow users to earn interest on their digital assets.

Spain Regulator Warns against Illegal Platforms

Spain's financial market regulator, the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), has added fifteen websites to its warning list that illegally offer services within its jurisdictions. Most of these websites are operating without any license or are outright fraudsters.

"According to CNMV records, these institutions are not registered in the corresponding registry of this Commission and, therefore, are not authorized to provide investment services or other activities subject to the CNMV's supervision," the regulator noted.

These websites primarily offer risky trading instruments like margin forex and contracts for differences (CFDs).

New Zealand Flags a Financial Imposter

New Zealand's Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has flagged PSLUS.COM, calling it an imposter website of a legitimate company. The fraudulent website offers trading services with stocks, indices, and other instruments.

"Its website offers investments but is not registered to provide financial services here in New Zealand," the FMA stated. "It purports to be a registered company in New Zealand by using the Certificate of Incorporation of a legitimate New Zealand company, PSL Enterprises Limited. The director of PSL Enterprises Limited confirms it has no association with this website."

iFOREX Enhances Educational Tools

iFOREX has enhanced its service by introducing some customer-centric services, including personalized guidance from experts. The motive of the broker looks to educate novice traders who are its potential customers.

"We're thrilled to expand our educational offerings to fit the needs of our traders in Latin America. Our Spanish language support brings our clients even more options for improving their trading skills and knowledge," said Vasilis Katsikadis, a Marketing Manager at iFOREX. "Our commitment to education and support is at the heart of our mission, and we believe that providing access to top trading tools in multiple languages is an important part of that."

B3 and NASDAQ Tie to Develop Clearing Platform

B3 and Nasdaq announced their partnership to develop a new clearing platform for the Brazilian stock exchange. The upcoming platform will provide clearing, settlement, and management of counterparty risk associated with financial market transactions.

"We are working diligently to ensure that our clients have access to the best solutions available in the market, always aiming at improving our services, increasing capacity and availability, and offering better time to market," said Mario Palhares, the Chief Operating Officer of Electronic Trading and CCP at B3.

Praxis Tech Launches Recurring Payments

Praxis Tech, a payments technology company, has broadened its offerings with the latest addition of recurring payment features. Merchants using the Praxis software will have advanced customization options with the new feature.

The company further highlighted that it brought recurring payments to capture the share in a market growing at a CAGR of 16.10 percent. On top of that, it pointed out that the subscription/recurring billing management market is expected to reach $22.77 billion by 2030.

"While accommodating our existing clients remains our top priority, we look into bringing our payments orchestration platform to new verticals. Recurring/subscription payments have been one of the strongest trends in online payments, and tapping into this consumer behavior on a bigger scale opens further potential for Praxis and our clients," said Praxis' CTO, Guy Karsenti.