● Singapore’s DBS Bank Is Planning to Launch a Digital Asset Exchange
● J.P.Morgan Bank Launches New Stablecoin
● Euro under pressure as France lockdown fears emerge
As always, thanks for reading today’s edition of Overbit Weekly Round Up. We’d imagine that the recent surge in Bitcoin’s price has sent a lot of peoples’ heads spinning this week. With the price cooling-off right below $14,000 on Wednesday, we’d like to take this brief respite to focus on some of the broader evolving trends in cryptocurrency, and other markets.
Kicking off this week’s edition is a headline-making waves in Singapore, and around the whole world for that matter. According to recent reports, DBS Bank, a Singaporean multinational bank and financial corporation, is building out a trading platform for digital assets. DBS has since taken down the webpage announcing this change, but it doesn’t seem to have been a simple typo.
The webpage in question listed several assets which will be available to trade, such as BTC, ETH, ETC, and XRP, as well as security tokens. In addition, the webpage also stated that “DBS Digital Exchange will offer access to ‘an integrated ecosystem of solutions to tap the vast potential of private markets and digital currencies.’,” according to CoinDesk.
Since the publication of this article, CoinDesk received word from a DBS spokesperson that the so-called ‘Digital Exchange’ is still very much a work in progress, and that they have not received approval from regulators yet. Nevertheless, it seems clear that DBS, Southeast Asia’s largest bank by assets is close to throwing their hat into the cryptocurrency ring. Once again, we see yet another massive institutional player looking to adopt, rather than reject, the world of digital assets.
Following on with this trend of institutional adoption is a name many should find familiar at this point – J.P.Morgan. J.P.Morgan has been involved in the blockchain space for years now, in projects like the open-source HyperLedger project, for example. They even built out their own, permissioned version of Ethereum entitled Quorum which was acquired by ConsenSys back in August. Now, it seems, J.P.Morgan is working to further their blockchain efforts even more so. According to recent statements by the global head of wholesale payments Takis Georgakopoulos, JPM Coin, which is J.P.Morgan’s own stablecoin, will be used for the first time in commercial transactions this week.
The news doesn’t stop there, either. Georgakopoulos also announced J.P.Morgan’s new subsidiary, Onyx, which serves as a business for its blockchain project. The goal is to move years of J.P.Morgan’s R&D in the blockchain space into real, commercial products. Though neither of these initiatives is available for their retail customers, it’s self-evident that banks, the very institutions that Satoshi’s blockchain sought to eliminate, are finally coming to grips with the innovations it allows. Not only that, but they’re working to build and commercialize it themselves.
Diving into conventional Forex markets, eyes are back on the European Union and the Euro (EUR/USD). The Euro dropped against the US Dollar on Wednesday, after new reports emerged that the French government is trying to re-establish a national lockdown to quell emerging cases of CoronaVirus. Junichi Ishikawa, senior foreign exchange strategist at IG Securities in Tokyo, climbing infection rates “is certainly a concern for France and southern Europe, so the Euro’s upside is heavy”. Ishikawa, also stated that he believes that the US Dollar will not gain much against other currencies “because people have been overly complacent about how markets will react after the US election”.
Wrapping up with Europe’s other top Forex pair, the GBP/USD pair kept steady at $1.3035, backed by expectations for a last-minute trade agreement between Britain and the European Union. Overall, as the virus spreads in Europe, Britain, and the United States, traders are bracing for more uncertainty in Forex markets globally, fanning fears that economic growth will weaken once again. We are also expecting major uncertainty with the US election next week, leading to a very volatile market month in November. Rest assured, no matter the circumstances, Overbit.com will continue to keep you abreast of the news and information.