It’s that time of the week when we look back at the news stories that have dominated the worlds of forex, fintech, and cryptocurrency, in our top section of the week.
XRP Whale moves 20 million coins to Bitso exchange
The trading week started with news of a big deal with XRP. On Monday, Finance Magnates reported a single $20.3 million transaction that involved moving 20 million XRP to crypto exchange Bitso.
In a separate transfer, the XRP Millionaire Wallet executed a $10.2 million transaction on October 1, 2021
Read more about XRP whales here.
Jay Greenberg is one of 26 named in Israel FX / Crypto Raid
What caused an uproar Wednesday morning was the news that the FBI and the Israeli police had raided a Tel Aviv-based company and arrested 26 Israelis on suspicion of involvement in organized financial fraud. They were suspected of being part of a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment scheme.
The raids began on Tuesday evening and continued until early Wednesday morning. Details of the raid on the company and the detainees were unknown in the initial reports. However, a day later, two of the arrested suspects appeared – Guy Greenberg and Snir Moshe Hananya.
Read more about Israeli arrests here.
The US Department of Justice announces the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Thursday that it has created a National Crypto Enforcement Team (NCET) to deal with crypto crime.
Under the direction of the Assistant Attorney General, General Kenneth A.
NCET will provide support in tracking down and recovering crypto assets lost due to fraud and extortion, including digital payments to ransomware groups.
Read more about NCET here.
Global Capital enters South Africa, acquiring Maru Financial
KIG BV, the Dutch subsidiary of Global Capital Group (GKG), has acquired South African financial services provider Maru Asset Managers, which is licensed by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA).
With this acquisition announced on Monday, the brokerage group entered the lucrative South African market, Africa’s second largest economy.
Read more about the Maru acquisition here.
OANDA Europe 2020 revenue jumps 148% and generates profit of £4.6m
OANDA Europe Limited, the UK arm of the global brokerage group, has revealed its financial results for the financial year 2020, which ended on December 31. The FCA-regulated operation saw a huge jump in annual revenue and ended the year with a profit.
According to the most recent Companies House filing, the brokerage operator’s revenue from UK business was £29.2 million, nearly 148 per cent higher than the previous year’s figure of £11.8 million.
Despite higher administrative expenses combined with higher revenue, the British company made £5.6 million in operating profit, compared to a loss of £3.5 million in the previous year. The company’s net profit was £4.56 million for 12 months.
Read more about OANDA Europe’s revenue jump here.
Plus500 raises FY21 revenue forecast amid Q3 performance
Plus500, the London-listed forex and CFD broker, provided a trading update on Monday, noting that it had “further provided positive momentum” to performance in the third quarter of 2021. Consequently, the company now expects an uptick in fiscal 2021 revenue and earnings before Interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization are from current aggregate analyst forecasts.
Suggested Articles
TeleTrade: Markets want a multibillion dollar package, not just an increase in the debt ceiling. Skip to article >>
According to current consensus forecasts, the broker is expected to generate $555.8 million for the entirety of fiscal year 21, along with an EBITDA of $277.9 million and an EBITDA margin of 50 percent.
Read more about Plus500’s revenue forecast here.
Gary Gensler Says Banning Cryptocurrency Will Be Up to Congress
Gary Gensler, Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), this week expressed his views on bitcoin and other crypto assets in a discussion with the House Committee on Financial Services.
Gensler said that the United States would not follow China’s lead in banning cryptocurrencies entirely. He added that any decision on banning cryptocurrency will be up to Congress. “Our approach is really quite different,” Gensler said in the last discussion.
We are already working with the authority that they (Congress) have given us. I have said this before, and I believe that many of these tokens actually meet the test of being investment contracts, notes, or some other form of security,” added the SEC Chairman.
Read more about Gary Gensler’s Bitcoin views here.
PrimeXM trading volume for September 2021 reached $1.23 trillion
PrimeXM released its trading volume report for September 2021 on Monday, highlighting that it has hit a new level in monthly trading volume. The forex technology provider has traded $1.23 trillion for the period across its four major data centers.
The record represents a 31% year-over-year increase, and has surpassed the previous peak reached in March 2020. In addition, the average daily volume (ADV) for September was $44.78 billion, the month when PrimeXM hit its highest levels. Absolutely. High daily trading volume on September 28 with a trading volume of $85.25 billion. The total number of deals for the period was 30.37 million, which is a 12% increase month over month.
Read more about PrimeXM volumes here.
Binance trading volumes soared in September despite regulatory wrangling
Binance has reported an increase in its trading volumes despite the global crackdown by regulators against the company in a number of jurisdictions.
Binance’s spot crypto trading volume reached $789 billion in September, up from $454 billion in July. Moreover, derivatives volumes jumped by about 25% to reach the $1.7 trillion threshold
Read more about Binance trading volumes here.
CMC Markets forecasts £126m in operating income for the first half of FY22
CMC Markets plc (LSE: CMCX) has published a pre-closing trading update for the first six months, April through September, of the 2022 financial year. The brokerage expects to generate a net operating income of approximately £126 million.
It came just a month after the London-based global brokerage cut its full-year revenue forecast, taking it between £250m and £280m, well below the previous forecast level of more than £330m. sterling. .
Total client leveraged income in the six-month period is expected to be around £127 million, compared to £174 million in the same period last year.
Read more about the CMC Markets trading update here.