If you are new to trading cryptocurrencies, want to investigate a new crypto exchange for you to trade on, or simply are looking to find an exchange to buy or sell your coin of choice, this table makes it easy for you. Simply click on the name of an exchange to find out which trading pairs the individual exchange has to offer. slots rtp have noticed that there is a significant difference in the trading volumes of the individual cryptocurrency exchanges, and for certain crypto coins this can make it easier or harder to buy or sell that coin depending on this volume.
About Cryptocurrency Exchanges:
Not all crypto exchanges are created equal. While there are many featuring direct fiat on and off ramps, many if not most still do not have this feature. This is of course in part due to the still relatively uncertain and unregulated nature of the cryptocurrency market as a whole, but also in part due to the technical and financial difficulties in implementing a fiat system. This is one of the main reasons for the growing trend in exchanges housing pegged coins (or stable coins as they are more commonly but inaccurately referred to as). As time goes on however we do expect to see more and more fiat enabled exchanges with Binance (the current market leading exchange) for example working tirelessly on their regulatory compliance, banking stability and technical implementation of fiat on and off ramps for various fiat currencies across their platform.
Enter Wall Street stage right:
As 2018 draws to a close we are about to embark on a new and exciting chapter in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, with (among others) a number of Wall Street banks, hedge funds and exchanges waiting to enter the cryptocurrency exchange fray. This massive institutional adoption is of course reliant on some more regulatory clarity and one can argue that now the cat is out of the bag that the likes of Bakkt, Nasdaq, Fidelity, SIX et al have been building their crypto exchanges and secure digital asset warehousing since late 2016 – early 2017, that they have played a huge role in the great crypto crash of 2018. The influence these big players have over the governments, regulators and mass media should not be underestimated. It is always worth noting what these institutions are actually doing rather than listening to what they are saying via public forums and the major news outlets they own.
The Growth of Cryptocurrency Custody Solutions
Over the past few months, there has been a subsequent growth in crypto startups providing support services for the industry. One such sector that has witnessed significant growth is the cryptocurrency custody solutions.
Cryptocurrency custody solutions are primarily needed in the crypto ecosystem to provide a safe storage platform for digital currencies and consequently prevent theft through hacking of crypto wallets and exchange platforms. With custodial solutions in place, crypto traders and investors are provided with a piece of mind appreciating that their digital currencies are not only secured but also insured by a trusted third party verified by a central authority.
This piece will look at cryptocurrency custodial solutions, how they have transformed the crypto space by lowering the cases of digital currency loss.
Cryptocurrency Custody Solutions Defined
Cryptocurrency custody solution refers to institutions that safeguard or hold onto assets on behalf of an investor. Unlike traditional banking solutions, custody solutions cannot lend out digital assets to borrowers. They only allow investors to deposit their digital assets on the platform and will secure it on their behalf.
Additionally, several crypto custodial solutions also facilitate crypto trading for institutions and individuals. These solutions can also be leveraged by businesses to streamline the management and storage of digital assets while still ensuring their security and privacy.
In some ways, crypto custody solutions are related to crypto wallets and exchanges. That’s because they also provide storage solutions as well as allow users to make purchases and trade with digital assets. However, these solutions offer several additional features that make them superior over exchanges and wallets.
A crucial feature of cryptocurrency custody providers is that they typically insurer of digital assets safeguarding them from theft. This means that they are responsible for users’ assets, even when the assets are stolen or destroyed. Also, digital assets deposited to custody providers do not earn interest. The depositor is also required to pay custody fees to compensate for the provided insurance and security.
Growth of Cryptocurrency Custody Solutions
The crypto space has been marred with increased thefts and scams, which have surged by more than 400% and hit $1.7 billion from a report by U.S-based cybersecurity firm CipherTrace. From the report. $950 million involved thefts from cryptocurrency exchanges and support services such as wallets representing an increase of 260% up from $266 million in 2017. $725 million represented scams such as exit scams, phony exchange hacks, Ponzi schemes, and fraudulent initial coin offerings. With such an increase in the recorded theft cases, the only solution lies with the cryptocurrency custody solution.
Cryptocurrency is still an underexplored territory, and therefore, there is a need to caution investors from the risk that comes with investing in the sector. While cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets provide some sense of security through the use of private keys as well as other security protocols to safeguard an individual’s digital asset, this security mechanism is quite cumbersome and is also susceptible to hacking.
Custody solutions are more secure and eliminate fears of losing one’s digital assets through hacking, theft of wallets, misplaced, or forgotten private keys, among others.
According to Coinbase, approximately $20 billion worth of cryptocurrency lies uninvested waiting for the establishment of custody services. A research conducted by the Bank of New York Mellon revealed that there is enormous demand in the provision of custody services for secure storage of cryptocurrencies. Custody services will promote the movement of institutional capital into the crypto space. With the growth in demand for cryptocurrency custody services, major banks and cryptocurrency exchanges are looking to test and start rolling out crypto custody solutions.
The significant growth of cryptocurrency custody service providers has further been enhanced by their adherence to set regulations. Depending on the country, there are various regulations that crypto custodians should adhere to when providing such services. For instance, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) necessitates that institutional investors who possess customer assets worth $150,000 to put their holdings under the control of an authorized custodian regulated by the SEC.
In Europe, crypto custodians ought to adhere to the Fourth Anti-money Laundering Directive. In Australia, crypto custodians are regulated by ASIC under the Corporations ACT 2001 and must have an Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) to operate.
In Canada, crypto custodians are required to register with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada. Crypto custodians in the U.K. are regulated by the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The fact that crypto custodians are regulated makes them legit and trustable by crypto investors who are looking to safeguard their digital assets.
Own your own keys and keep your crypto safe with trusted cryptocurrency custody:
“If you don’t own your own keys, you don’t own your cryptocurrency.”
“Keep your funds safe, keep them off exchanges.”
Examples of Crypto Custody Solution Provider
As mentioned above, the crypto custody sector is relatively new and quickly evolving frontier in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Crypto custodians are still developing their services and products to meet the largely dynamic market demand.
Additionally, crypto investors seeking crypto custodians are still not sure of the features they need most or rather don’t know how to evaluate custodians based on the features they offer. Luckily, the team at letemspin has assessed all the available custodians available in the crypto market right now. Below are some of the already established providers who offer crypto custody solutions you should consider:
1. Ledger hardware wallets
Ledger are the leading cryptocurrency hardware solution of choice.
Ledger Nano X – Keep your crypto secure, everywhere:
The Ledger Nano X is a Bluetooth® enabled secure device that stores your private keys. Make sure all your crypto assets are safe, wherever you go.
State-of-the-art security:
Leave your fear of hacks behind: your private keys are stored in a certified secure element and Bluetooth connection is encrypted.
Easy backup:
Your accounts can be restored on any Ledger device, using a confidential 24-word recovery phrase.
Multicurrency:
The Ledger Nano X supports an extensive list (1,100+) of crypto assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Litecoin and more.
2. Bakkt Custody
Bakkt got clearance from CFTC and launched a physically-delivered daily and monthly Bitcoin futures in partnership with ICE Futures U.S. and ICE Clear U.S. on 28th September 2019. Bakkt Warehouse also provides custody services for physically delivered futures. In addition to providing crypto custody services, Bakkt also facilitates trade and exchange of digital currencies in a regulated environment. Therefore, Bakkt institutional investors confidently exchange fiat and crypto liquidity without fear of going at a loss due to high volatility.
3. Coinbase Custody
Coinbase Custody provides crypto custody solutions and receives $200-400M per week in new crypto deposits from institutions. From there website, Coinbase Custody is a pioneering custodian in offering crypto staking allowing customers to passively earn from their digital assets placed under custody.
4. Gemini
Gemini is a cryptocurrency exchange that also offers cryptocurrency custody services since 2016. The platform like Coinbase Custody is regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYSDFS).
Gemini’s custody accounts come in two forms: A Segregated Custody Account, which is ideal for institutional customers, and Gemini Cold Storage System, where digital assets are separated using unique digital asset addresses. Gemini custody accounts are perfect for clients dealing in mutual funds, hedge funds, and exchange-traded funds which are required by law to secure their digital assets with a licensed custodian.
5. itBit
itBit also offers custody services regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services. itBit customers’ assets are safeguarded in cold storage and can be verified by the owners on a 24/7 basis. Customers are also provided with auditable and regular reports involving market performance evaluations concerning crypto assets or portfolios. Reports are released on a monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis. Apart from custody services, itBit also offers a variety of services, including exchange services, OTC trading, and consistent crypto market data.
Other crypto custody providers include Aegis Custody, Anchorage, BitGo Custody, Fidelity Custody, and Kingdom Trust, among others.
6. PolySign (coming soon)
Institutional-grade custody for digital assets.
PolySign’s custody solution supports the full spectrum of digital assets and is designed to scale to trillions under management.
Custody: the biggest problem facing digital assets.
The cryptographic secret unlocks access to all funds. Once the secret is stolen or lost, funds can never be recovered.
PolySign’s digital asset custody platform is a step-function above other solutions.
Leading blockchain architects Arthur Britto and David Schwartz designed PolySign’s solution for securing digital assets.
PolySign was founded in 2017 by a team of world-class experts in both financial services and cryptocurrencies.
Bottom Line
Cryptocurrency custodial services are definitely the way to go if you need a long-lasting solution for your digital assets. Crypto custodians safeguard or hold onto assets on behalf of crypto investors and shield them from the risk of losing their assets through theft or loss of private keys.
In the past six months, there has been significant growth in the provision of third-party custodial services, which are currently in high demand in the crypto space, especially by institutional investors. Institutional capital is finding its way to the crypto sector.
From what you have seen above, it is safe to say that the custodial services has been the missing link in connecting crypto investors and fund managers. Through this array, experts predict an inflow of billions in the crypto sector, which is precisely what we need to drive crypto adoption to high heights.
WARNING: We have all heard about exchanges going belly under, Mt Gox of course, exchange owners allegedly dying and taking all private keys with him, exchanges exit scamming, Binance being “hacked”, other big exchange hacks, etc.
It is crucial you don’t leave all your cryptocurrencies on one exchange. Spreading your risk over multiple reputable and insured exchanges is one way to go, another way is by using custody services or by keeping your funds on your own hardware wallet (and keeping this well locked away and for god sake don’t buy a used or ‘pre installed’ one from ebay as your funds will be gone in a flash).
Cryptocurrency 24h Top 50 Winners & Losers
Want to know if your favourite crytpocurrency coin is in the list of the top losers in the last 24 hours? Want to check to see if a drop in price is restricted to a particular exchange or if it is all across the board (sometimes a coin will do a brief pump and dump on one specific exchange before the traders on the other exchanges have time to react)? Look no further than this up to the minute collection of the coins taking the biggest nosedive of the day! At slots rtp we cannot advise jumping in to any crypto, or panic selling a coin, that is pumping or dropping rapidly in price, more often than not these pumps and dumps are a result of market makers trying to grab the public attention to hit their scalps, so always #DYOR for any news about these coins and invest wisely.
A cryptocurrency with poor 24h performance is no indicator of future losses. In fact in a great deal of cases we are talking about so called “pump and dump” coins which are just as likely to quickly perform a complete reversal on their current price losses. Extreme caution should be taken with consistent pump and dump coins as you are potentially gambling away your money as if you were placing a bet on red or black at a cryptocurrency casino. Always do your due dilligency before making an investment in any cryptocurrencies and please make sure you are using a reputable crypto exchange. Very often the overal price trend for pump and dump coins is a downward zig zag with large gains being followed by even larger losses reversing past the initial price point and continuing downwards. There are numerous examples of this and there are many which will end up in a situation similar to that of the infamous Bitconnect.
A cryptocurrency with good 24h performance is no indicator of future gains. In fact in a great deal of cases we are talking about so called “pump and dump” coins which are just as likely to quickly perform a complete reversal on their current price gains. Extreme caution should be taken with consistent pump and dump coins and you are literaly gambling your money like you would do by placing a bet on red or black at a cryptocurrency casino. Always do your due dilligency before making an investment in any cryptocurrencies and please make sure you are using a reputable crypto exchange.
A great way of increasing the value of your portfolio is by investing in a successful start up (just imagine if you had bought shares in Netflix when it’s IPO was launched at $15 each, it currently trades at around $380). Just like investing in corporate stock flotations (for example Google, Apple, Facebook and the previously mentioned Netflix), many blockchains and their native cryptocurrencies can be purchased at low starting prices during the ICO (Initial Coin Offering) stage, and many have gone on to achieve huge gains (for example Ethereum currency Ether was available for purchase for approx. $0.35 at the ICO stage and currently trades at approx. $224). slots rtp cannot advise investing in the ICO stage due to many well publicised scams, but as this is a popular investment vehicle we have listed all ICO’s that are open to investors.
