News Nuggets | 25 April: BDSwiss and XS.com Executives; Mauritius FSC Warning

Dormant Address Containing 1,000 BTC Rises after 12 Years

A dormant address containing 1,000 Bitcoin (BTC) has been activated after 12 years, Whale Alert, a renowned blockchain tracking and analytics platform, disclosed on Monday. At the current market price of $27,425.77 per BTC, according to CoinMarketCap data, 1,000 BTC is worth $27.4 million.

Anonymous BTC creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, disappeared from public view in 2010 after posting on the BitcoinTalk Forum for the last time on December 13th of that year. A year after this was the last time the newly activated BTC address was last active.

💤 💤 💤 A dormant address containing 1,000 #BTC (27,456,958 USD) has just been activated after 12.0 years!https://t.co/lHrgCNWpbY

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) April 24, 2023

Dukascopy Introduces Chart Migration to Trading Platforms

Dukascopy’s trading clients can now transfer chart objects created in JForex3, the older proprietary trading platform of the Geneva-based forex and CFDs broker to the newer JForex4 trading platform. The Swiss online trading and banking provider announced the new feature on Tuesday.

According to the broker, its clients can move drawings, retracement tools, patterns and indicators from the old to the new platforms. This can be achieved by saving each chart as a chart platform in the old platform and being opened in the new one.

The new feature comes three months after Dukascopy introduced two new indices, the Volatility Index (VOL.IDX) and the South Africa Top 40 Index (SOA.IDX), to its MetaTrader 4 users.

Super.com Wants to Become Financial Super App

Super.com, a comprehensive savings platform, has recently raised $85 million in debt and equity funding to expand its services and create a super app similar to WeChat. The Series C funding round includes $60 million in equity investment led by Inovia Capital, alongside several angels who have contributed to the funding at a 'significantly' higher valuation than the 2021 Series B. Additionally, the company has obtained a credit facility of $25 million.

"Super.com's diversified business model now drives savings across all facets of our customers' lives, from travel to fintech. It's great to see market excitement match our own as we rapidly build the first savings super app focused on everyday Americans," Hussein Fazal, the CEO of Super.com, said.

10 Brokers Face SFC Action for Scam

The SFC has taken action against a social media scam related to a HK-listed company. 10 brokers, including China Industrial Securities International Brokerage Limited and Quam Securities Limited, are prohibited from disposing or dealing with assets in 31 trading accounts without SFC's written consent until June 2022. The brokers cannot assist or counsel others to dispose of assets up to a certain amount.

In a social media ramp-and-dump scam, fraudsters manipulate stock prices by inflating them and inducing investors via social media channels to buy the shares artificially high before dumping them.

The full list of companies: China Industrial Securities International Brokerage Limited, Quam Securities Limited, Futu Securities International (Hong Kong) Limited, Imperium International Securities Limited, Lego Securities Limited, Phillip Securities (Hong Kong) Limited, Silverbricks Securities Company Limited, uSmart Securities Limited, Valuable Capital Limited and Webull Securities Limited

Gibraltar Court Hunts for Missing $43M from Globix

Several prominent cryptocurrency exchanges, including Bitstamp, Kraken, and Crypto.com, have been directed by a Gibraltar court to freeze accounts associated with bankrupt crypto trader Globix. The company's liquidators have obtained a court order to recover $43 million in missing funds.

Earlier, the same court had issued a similar order prohibiting Binance exchange from withdrawing or transferring digital assets from wallets linked to Globix.

Globix had offered automated trading strategies to investors, matching tokens to portfolios based on their risk profile. However, the decline in digital assets during last year's cryptocurrency winter resulted in the service's failure.

BDSwiss Onboards New Chief Market Strategist MENA

BDSwiss announced hiring Mazen Salhab as the broker's new Chief Market Strategist for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. He will prepare financial market analysis reports and keep clients updated on the latest market movements.

He is a forex and CFDs industry insider and previously worked with Swissquote and MultiBank Group.

"The experience he has gathered over the past decade is invaluable and will support our growth plans in the MENA region," said Abdulghani Khattab, BDSwiss' Head of Marketing MENA. "We have significant plans to rapidly expand globally but especially in the Middle East we're pleased that Mazen is on board to help us with this mission."

XS.com Names Global Head of PR and Branding

FX/CFDs broker XS.com expanded its team further with the latest onboarding of Despina Iapon as the new Head of PR and Branding. She joined the new role from FXPro and brought years of experience in her field.

"I am committed to leveraging my experience and expertise to develop and execute a comprehensive PR and branding strategy that will help us attract and retain traders, differentiate ourselves from competitors, and drive growth," Iapon said.

XS.com, based in Australia and Cyprus, also onboarded several other executives recently. It recently added Mohamad Ibrahim as the Group CEO, Ahmed Negm as the Head of Market Research for MENA, and Stephanie Michael as the Global Head of HR.

"Despina’s extensive experience and expertise in PR and branding will be invaluable as we continue to build our brand, engage with our traders and partners, and accelerate our growth," said Ibrahim. "Effective branding and PR will help us to continue to expand XS.com by attracting new investors, increasing customer loyalty, and building further on the already strong reputation we have developed in the market."

Mauritius Warns against Match CFD

Mauritius' regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) issued a warning against Match CFD for falsely claiming to hold an FSC-issued Full Broker Dealer License.

Match CFD offers trading services with CFDs instruments and mainly targets Arab-speaking traders: its website is only in Arabic.

"The FSC hereby informs the public that Match CFD and/or any other individuals or representatives or promoter groups operating under this name are not and have not, at any point in time, been licensed and regulated by the FSC," the Mauritius regulator stated.

"The FSC, therefore, urges members of the public to exercise caution in their dealings with Match CFD and any other individuals and/or entities allegedly claiming to be licensed/authorized/registered by the FSC."

Greengage Launches E-Money Service

UK-based digital merchant banking firm, Greengage, has launched e-money accounts service facilitating GBP and EUR payments and cards, targeted at SMEs, HNWs, and digital asset firms.

The company offers dedicated relationship management and a range of B2B lending partner providers, including traditional and digital funding sources.

"We’re delighted to launch our core e-money account service which provides a compelling proposition for innovative companies who struggle to find accounts or appropriate support from traditional banking services," said Greengage's CEO, Sean Kiernan.

"Greengage’s goal is to consistently be the best-in-class and we have exciting plans to add more advanced technology solutions for entrepreneurs and SMEs of all stripes, as well as to offer additional service innovation under a full banking licence in the coming years."

ETC Group Selects Wintermute for Crypto ETP Liquidity

ETC Group, a provider of digital asset-backed securities in Europe, selected Wintermute as the primary liquidity provider for its newest product, the MSCI Digital Assets Select 20 ETP (DA20).

The newly created ETP is aimed at institutional market participants and provides unique diversified exposure to digital assets. It is based on the MSCI index and will be physically backed, with Komainu as the primary custodian.

"This ETP presents an opportunity for investors to diversify their portfolio while familiarizing themselves with crypto as an asset class," said Evgeny Gaevoy, the CEO and Co-Founder of Wintermute. "Additionally, by leveraging our ability to offer competitive liquidity for high-volume crypto trades, investors will know that they are able to best take advantage of any market presented by the DA20."