Sheena Shah, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, and her team studied the probable central bank use of cryptocurrencies. In their report, the analysts mentioned that cryptocurrencies backed by the government could be used to implement deeper negative interest rates in the face of another financial crisis – this would protect consumers and financial institutions.
The report may be studied closely by the central banks of Switzerland and Japan where negative interest rate prevails. Sheena has pointed out that fiat currencies, which are basically in the form of paper notes and coins, limit a central bank’s ability to push the interest rates deeper into negative territory. This is not the case with government-backed digital assets, which will not circulate freely.
HSBC, in the meanwhile, has completed the world’s first commercial trade finance transaction using blockchain technology. HSBC issued an L/C (letter of credit) for US agricultural firm Cargill. The transaction involved a shipment of soybeans from Argentina to Malaysia. The L/C was received by Dutch bank ING.
In the middle-east, the Kingdom of Bahrain has announced plans to use blockchain technology to reduce the cost associated with the maintenance of vehicle records. The General Directorate of Traffic has invited suitable partners who can provide both design and technical expertise.
Amber Baldet, who led JP Morgan’s Blockchain Centre of Excellence, has announced the details of her startup project Clovyr. The new company will offer an app store for decentralized applications. The store will be built on the Ethereum blockchain. The company was co-founded by Patrick Nielsen, who guided the development of open-source blockchain projects during his stint at JP Morgan.
Finally, the blockchain technology conference Consensus 2018 began in New York on Monday. Three Lamborghinis were lined up at the entrance to make a strategic statement “if you buy crypto, you can soon buy a Lambo.”
Now, let us look at the important news related to top cryptocurrencies:
Bitcoin (BTC)
DX will be the first cryptocurrency exchange to use the technology that powers Nasdaq, the world’s second-largest stock exchange. The cryptocurrency exchange will open next month, but will not accept US clients for the time being. The exchange will not charge any fees and will offer Bitcoin (BTC) and three more cryptocurrencies to begin with.
Ethereum (ETH)
As blockchain technology gains popularity, the demand for cryptocurrency-related products is also on the rise. The CME Group, which began offering Bitcoin futures in December 2017, will begin offering real-time Ethereum price listing from June 4. The price listing will be done in partnership with London-based Crypto Facilities, which will gather price data from Kraken and Bitstamp exchange.
Ripple (XRP)
The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU), MUFG’s banking arm and the third-largest bank in the world and largest bank in Japan, has announced Monday that it is joining Ripple’s Global Payments Steering Group (GPSG). It is the first Japanese bank to join GPSG.
MUFG will join Santander, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Westpac Banking Corporation, Standard Chartered, CIBC, and Royal Bank of Canada in overseeing the maintenance and enhancement of payment transaction rules and formalized standards for commercial use of Ripple’s network. Read more here.
Our Forex Trading Plan
Ethereum. Despite the weakness in the cryptocurrency market, Ethereum (ETH) is showing signs of consolidation. The ETHUSD pair is trading above its 50-day moving average. Furthermore, the MACD indicator has turned positive. Therefore, we are expecting the ETHUSD to move up in the short-term.
To gain from the underlying bullishness, we are planning to open a long position in the ETHUSD pair near 675, with an aim to book profit near 950. To mitigate risk, a stop-loss order would be certainly placed below 550 levels.
Our Binary Options Trading Plan
Litecoin. Litecoin, which remains in the shadow of Bitcoin, is our choice of an asset to go short at this point in time. The cryptocurrency is moving within a descending channel, as shown in the image below. Furthermore, the oscillator of the moving average is having a negative reading. Therefore, a continuation of the downtrend is expected.
We are planning to purchase a put option contract using one of our binary trading accounts. At the time of investing, we would make sure the price of Litecoin is about $135 in the cryptocurrency market. Furthermore, we would select a date around May 24th as the contract expiry date.
Disclaimer: Any financial trading analysis offered here is our opinion and is not intended as advice or direction for investors. We cannot guarantee the success of any trades made as a consequence of this article, and we encourage traders to incorporate a strong money management strategy to limit losses when they enter the markets. Please use this article as part of your own research before formulating strategies prior to trading.
