Bitcoin (BTC) reached a new all-time high on various exchanges on Nov. 30, but one record, in particular, hit the headlines for a different reason. Data from cryptocurrency exchange Kraken shows BTC/USD hit its highest ever price on its order book — then dove to $16,600 in seconds. Kraken BTC price dumps $3,000 The reason for the crash, which will have liquidated a large number of positions and caused considerable pain for many a speculator, was likely what is known as a "stop-loss run." Stop-loss runs involve large-volume traders who intentionally place large sell orders at a specific price point, …

The digital asset industry as a whole looks significantly different than it did three years ago. A Wild West-esque year, 2017 boasted astronomical asset price increases and booming fundraises amid underdeveloped regulation. Some elements of 2017, such as initial coin offerings, have largely died off. Other niches, such as derivatives trading, have since experienced watershed growth, as noted in a recent report from United States crypto exchange, Kraken. "Beginning with pioneers like Crypto Facilities, BitMEX, Deribit, BitVC (now HuobiDM), and OKEx, deriviatives trading in crypto markets really took hold in 2017, dovetailing the entrance of traditional incumbents like the CME …

Major U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has launched funding and crypto trading services in Japan, furthering its expansion into the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. On Oct. 22, the exchange announced it had launched spot trading of Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) for Japanese residents. Both crypto-to-crypto and JPY-denominated pairings are available. Customers are able to make deposits in the five crypto assets, with domestic JPY deposits and withdrawals also available via SBI Sumishin Net Bank. Kraken’s announcement claims it is the sole global crypto firm to “organically” enter the Japanese market “without an acquisition.” Ironically …

The Cryptowatch platform, a subsidiary of the Kraken exchange, announced on Tuesday the release of its desktop-based trading app. Cryptowatch is a trading terminal that aims to group most market data and exchanges under one roof. Traders using the platform are able to connect their accounts across many popular exchanges and place orders on all of them through a single interface. Up until now, the platform could only be accessed through a web browser. The launch of Cryptowatch Desktop, an application for Windows, MacOS and Linux, aims to provide a similar experience while benefiting from faster native performance. In a …

A report published by major U.S.-based crypto exchange Kraken has identified signs the correlation between Bitcoin (BTC), the greenback, and legacy markets, is continuing to weaken. Kraken’s September volatility report found Bitcoin (BTC) largely maintaining a negative correlation with the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) since May, despite a brief coalescence between the two markets in early September. The report attributes BTC’s dollar divergence to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s plan to maintain zero percent interest rates until at least 2023, in addition to declining growth rates. Meanwhile, Bitcoin has shown positive correlation with the Euro since May. The report notes that …

A federal judge has ruled that an employee who revealed the location of a major crypto exchange did not violate its trade secrets. According to court records filed Sept. 22, U.S. District Judge Maxine M. Chesney has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Payward Inc. — the owner of Kraken — against former employee Nathan Peter Runyon for misappropriating “trade secrets” by publicly disclosing the exchange’s physical address in San Francisco and accessing one of the company’s protected computers. The Judge ruled that Payward was not alleging Runyon used the address to gain an economic advantage, nor did the complaint include …

By way of disclaimer, today’s Law Decoded is going to be especially America-centric. Writing to you from the ghastly swamp that is Washington, D.C., I generally try to keep these newsletters more globally minded, displeased as I am with how often the news cycle acts like this town is the center of the solar system. Thematically, however, the relationship between the capital and the rest of the country is central to this week’s news. U.S. federalism is a critical feature of this remarkably frustrating country. The back-and-forth between federal and state power is one of the defining tensions of these …

San Francisco-based crypto exchange Kraken has become the first cryptocurrency business to receive a charter to operate as a bank in the United States. When seen as part of a larger-scale shift in regulatory attitudes that may help to bring crypto into the mainstream, the repercussions could be even more significant. Kraken Financial, the firm's new bank, is headquartered in Cheyenne and got the green light from Wyoming on Sept. 16 as a special-purpose depository institution (SPDI) — a bank that can both receive deposits and custody assets. "For Wyoming, this is an economic development initiative," founder and CEO of …

In its August 2020 volatility report, U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has predicted that September will bring excessively negative returns for Bitcoin (BTC). The report notes that historically, September is Bitcoin’s worst-performing month, with an average return of -7%. It points out that as Bitcoin has underperformed its average returns for most months of 2020, this month’s performance was likely to be even worse than usual. Despite the bearish outlook for the short-term, the report identifies some glimmers of hope, including that a record share of Bitcoin’s supply has not moved in more than 12 months — with Kraken noting that …

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, or EFF, is calling out Coinbase for its lack of transparency. At the same time, the group pointed to Coinbase's rival exchange, Kraken, as an example of responsible behavior. The EFF was founded in 1990 with the goal of promoting internet civil liberties. In today’s post, the EFF said that it has growing concerns about payment processors being forced to turn over user information to the law enforcement, while the public has no mechanisms available to audit those requests: “That’s why we are calling on Coinbase — one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the country …

Bitcoin is “at the beginning” of an extended bull run, and there are increasingly clear reasons to accept it. That is the opinion of Dan Held, head of growth at United States cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, who listed the latest evidence for bullish Bitcoin (BTC) on Aug. 24. Many commentators have argued that Bitcoin is just getting started when it comes to price rises. For Held, the contributing factors are both Bitcoin-specific and macro-related. In-profit UTXOs near 98% Over 97% of Bitcoin unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs) — or parts of a transaction that involve coins returned to the initiator — are …

Major United States-based crypto exchange Kraken has released a report predicting that Bitcoin (BTC) will rally by between 50% and 200% in the coming months. The report notes that Bitcoin posted a 21-month low for volatility on July 24 of just 23%, and stated that BTC’s 12 historic volatility lows (of between 15% and 30%) have typically been followed by a rally of 140% on average. With August usually the third-most volatile month for BTC price fluctuations, Kraken is predicting that upward momentum produced by Bitcoin at the end of July will continue for several months to come. Late-July Bitcoin …