Key Facts Of The Day 26.10.2018

Visa & Mastercard: Two Dinosaurs That Can’t Decide

Today, the CEO of Visa Alfred Kelly has shared his vision on a fast-evolving world of cryptocurrencies. Speaking to the CNBC host in “Mad Money,” Kelly said that crypto does not pose any big risks to the payment system in short or middle terms. In January this year, Kelly while speaking at the National Retail Federation conference, assured that his company won’t process cryptocurrency-based transactions, but as for now, it looks like the CEO has decided not to make fateful statements, promising that if crypto “start moving from being more of a commodity to actually really being a payment instrument," his company will even consider entering the cryptocurrency business.

Mastercard seems to play wiser. The same as Visa, while scolding the new type of payments the company prefers to benefit from DLT, but with the new patent Mastercard filed yesterday, the company is looking further and prefers to stay ready for the future. The new patent will apply the principles of fractional backup banking for the cryptocurrency. With this solution, the payment processor plans to allow merchants to interact with what it calls “blockchain currencies” using the new method of simultaneous storage of fiat and crypto.

Crypto IPO Rush: Bitfury Going Public?

A crypto-mining company Bitfury is considering several strategic options for further developing its business, including the possibility of an initial public offering (IPO), which may be the largest for the digital currencies industry in Europe, Bloomberg writes citing familiar sources.

Bitfury has established contacts with global investment banks and may place its securities in Amsterdam, London, or Hong Kong next year. The sources have asked not to give their names because the details have not yet been disclosed to the general public. If Bitfury wants to gain public status in the next 2 years, it can expect an evaluation from $3 up to $5 billion.

Expired: Quarterly Bitcoin Futures Come Void, How Will the Price React?

Trading in futures contracts of the current quarter began on July 30. The last day of trading these bitcoin contracts is today, October 26. CME Bitcoin futures trading ends at 4:00 pm London time. This information can be found on the frequently asked questions page on the CME website.

Many crypto experts say that whenever any contracts for bitcoin futures are soon to expire, market volatility usually changes a lot. It is worth noting that in the meantime the market responds calmly, and there are no sharp changes in the cost of the first cryptocurrency.

What Else:

Weak revenue forecast for Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) led to the dramatic decline of shares price, which slid about 20 percent.

As local media outlets report, Malta’s Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has cautioned against an online cryptocurrency trading platform called Primetradingbot.

Waves is set to open a massive fund of 1 million WAVES in order to recruit video game companies to build applications on their blockchain.

According to the case analysis of the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration, an arbitration body in China considers bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies should be legally protected as a property.

According to a recently published report of Recorded Future, U.S.-based security firm claims that the North Korean government has participated and even sponsored at least two scam coins.

At 20:10 (GMT+1) total cryptocurrency market capitalization stands at $208.8 billion

Electroneum (+38.90%) showed the best growth in the top-100

Market Dynamics

The trading volume of cryptocurrencies for 24 hours reached $9.50 billion (+0.05 billion per day)

Mining Profitability

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