By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 19th, 2024
In this digest, we will look at some of the major new developments amongst major crypto exchanges that were implemented in the past month.
During this uncertain time, many companies in the crypto industry are continuing to develop their technology further and implement more innovative features for their users. This crypto digest will guide you through the major stories of March 2020.
Shimmer on Rust
Also, this month crypto exchange Bitfinex announced the deployment of its proprietary market surveillance tool called “Shimmer.” Shimmer will be used to detect and combat possible manipulative behaviors and suspicious trading on the platform. The market alert and reporting tool will notify its market surveillance team of improper trading activity via email summaries. It utilizes the Rust programming language for the processing of trade and order data. The exchange expects that the integration of the tool will improve market integrity and visibility.
Compliance measures
New York-based crypto exchange Paxful is partnering with blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis to help improve its compliance. The exchange will utilize the firm’s “Know Your Transaction (KYT)” and “Reactor” compliance tools to identify and investigate high-risk crypto transactions.
While the former will aid in monitoring virtual currency transactions on the platform in real-time, the latter will investigate suspicious crypto transactions on the platform. And while Chainalysis has previously partnered up with crypto exchanges such as Binance, Bitfinex, Coinfield, and Bithumb, Paxful becomes the first P2P exchange to partner with the firm.
The P2P model represents a direct network between the parties involved in a trade and their wallets with no financial institution processing the trade. This makes for a truly decentralized form of exchange but also creates complications in the regulatory compliance front. This factor made Chainalysis assess their reputational risks, however, the company ended up agreeing to a partnership after seeing Paxful had taken actions to prioritize compliance for their company.
HitBTC and Its Demo Exchange Platform
Industry-leading crypto exchange HitBTC has introduced a demo version of the exchange platform. Demo HitBTC users will be able to utilize most of the trading features as well as test new features before they are implemented on the main platform.
It will offer its users access to all available markets, which will be updated with real-time information. This means that demo users will have largely the same information that active traders do. This version of HitBTC is designed to provide authentic hands-on trading experience and education before users are ready to venture into the world of real trading.
Binance’s New Partnerships
Crypto exchange Binance has announced that the Instant Buy with Visa feature is available in most countries and regions around the world. Users in countries where their fiat currency is not yet natively supported on Instant Buy can now purchase cryptocurrencies in seconds using USD, EUR or GBP with a Visa card. Binance has also already added VND, BRL, AUD, IDR, ZAR, HKD, and INR.
In other good news for the exchange, Brave has announced the implementation of a Binance widget into their privacy-oriented browser. This partnership will make the browser even more crypto-friendly adding support for BTC, ETH and BCH via integration with Binance.com and Binance.us in the US.
Crypto Funding in India
Currently, there are promising changes being made to Indian crypto regulation laws. More exchanges are opening their doors in response to the Supreme Court decision to lift the crypto ban initiated by the Bank of India almost 2 years ago.
On March 24, Mumbai-based exchange CoinCDX announced that it had received $3 million in a new funding round. The Series A round was led by Bain Capital Ventures, Polychain, and HDR Group. The exchange plans to further promote cryptocurrency adoption in India and boost product development and marketing, said the firm. Specifically, CoinDCX will introduce financial products and support algorithmic-based trading later this year.
Boost from Microsoft
Amongst a major global market crash, digital asset platform Bakkt has raked in $300 million in a Series B funding round. It featured Bakkt’s parent company, the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Microsoft’s venture capital arm M12, fintech firm PayU, Boston Consulting Group, and Goldfinch Partners. Prominent blockchain industry-related investors included CMT Digital and major crypto investor Pantera Capital, the announcement reads.
Besides being considered the most promising crypto-related initiative for its physically settled Bitcoin (BTC) futures, Bakkt is also focused on adoption. Recently the company announced a new payment integration with Starbucks, done by Bakkt president Adam White.