‘The Unfair Advantage:’ Dune Actress Rebecca Ferguson Stars in Crypto-Centric TV Commercial

November 10, 2021 Bitcoin.com

UK’s Ex-Chancellor Philip Hammond to advise crypto firm Copper

October 11, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Hammond was a UK Conservative MP for 22 years until a Brexit-fuelled uprising left him and others omitted from the party two years ago.

Former Chancellor of the Exchequer in the United Kingdom, Lord Philip Hammond, has joined cryptocurrency custodial group Copper as a senior advisor with the ambition of “promoting the UK as a Global leader in digital asset technology.”

The London start-up firm, which provides custodial and infrastructure services in the digital asset sector, reportedly facilitates over $50 billion in transaction value per month for in excess of 400 institutional clients.

During his administration as chancellor between 2016 and 2019, Hammond was commended for expanding the nation's financial technology sector, as well as fostering a capitalistic environment for start-up businesses.

Speaking on his new role in crypto, Hammond expressed his vision for an interoperable future of blockchain in Britain:

“If we can bring together the best of Britain – entrepreneurs, industry, government, and regulators – to create and enable a blockchain-based ecosystem for financial services, we will secure the UK’s global leadership in this field for decades ahead.”

After a 22-year tenure as a Conservative Member of Parliament, or MP, Hammond retired from the political landscape in November 2019 following a public mutiny over his parties, and Boris Johnson’s handling of Brexit negotiations.

After voting against his party during in a bid to avoid a no-deal Brexit, Hammond was stripped of his whip — a title that designates members of the party to be responsible for enforcing legislative votes — and therefore, relinquished his parliamentary constitution of Runnymede and Weybridge.

Since this fallout, Hammond has taken up another advisory role to the Finance Minister of Saudi Arabia, with whom he has established positive relations with during his career.

In June of this year, Copper benefited from a $75 million funding raise which included a $12.5 million contribution from British billionaire hedge fund manager Alan Howard.

Chief executive of Copper, Dmitry Tokarev, commented on the company’s desire to expand their operations from their headquarters in London with the addition of their newly appointed esteemed political figure:

"With Lord Hammond’s expertise adding to the strength of our team, we look forward to growing Copper and further enhancing the UK’s digital asset technology offering.”

This isn’t the first time a British politician has joined forces with a cryptocurrency entity in an advisory role. Cointelegraph reported in October 2018 that Andrew Hammond (no relation to Philip), a member of the Treasury Select Committee, joined crypto exchange IronX to support regulatory developments.

In a similar light, the former UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care during the pandemic, Matt Hancock, endorsed blockchain technology during a London Blockchain Conference conference in April 2018, expressing that it will have a “monumental impact” on the lives of ordinary people.

FTX Integrates Copper Tool Eyeing Institutional Market

July 13, 2021 The Crypto Briefing

FTX crypto exchange integrates institutional trading tool ClearLoop

July 13, 2021 Coin Telegraph

ClearLoop

FTX has inked a deal with Copper that could enable access to crypto trading products for over 300 institutional asset managers via the ClearLoop settlement platform.

FTX has become the latest crypto exchange service to join ClearLoop — an instant trading settlement infrastructure from Brevan Howard-backed Copper.co.

As part of the integration, Copper’s over 300 institutional asset managers will be able to access FTX crypto offerings such as cryptocurrency futures, options, volatility markets, as well as tokenized stocks among others.

At over one million registered users and more than $600 billion in trading volume per month, FTX is the largest crypto exchange to join the ClearLoop platform, according to the Copper announcement on Tuesday.

With Deribit and Bitfinex also part of ClearLoop, Copper’s institutional clients can now move funds among the largest crypto options, spot and derivatives exchanges in the market.

According to Copper, ClearLoop offers secure crypto trading via an offline custody solution with asset managers able to trade fund balances on exchange platforms. Thus, Copper’s clients are able to hold on to their digital assets until a successful trade execution occurs, a feature the company says helps to minimize counterparty risk.

Back in July 2020, Copper integrated with Signet, the blockchain payment platform created by Signature Bank, enabling instant payment and settlement for its clients in U.S. dollars and other fiat currencies.

FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said that custody remains a major part of the conversation concerning institutional involvement in crypto. Indeed, the announcement quoted Bankman-Fried saying the collaboration with Copper will help FTX “stay ahead of the pack.”

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Copper received $25 million in an extension funding round led by Brevan Howard, the asset management firm co-founded by billionaire hedge fund manager Alan Howard.

Institutional interest in the crypto space remains unabated even with the recent price struggle for cryptocurrencies. Indeed, several reports suggest that big-money players are pursuing significant exposure to virtual currencies in the expectation of another bull run before the end of 2021.

Diversification into Bitcoin a ‘prudent move,’ says Bloomberg strategist

June 16, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin

The statement appeared as Bitcoin investors waited for fresh economic projections from the Federal Reserve and China pledged to release metal reserves amid concerns over commodity rally.

Bitcoin (BTC) price has retreated by more than 40% after topping out near $65,000 in mid-April. But that is not enough to derail the flagship cryptocurrency's long-term bull trend, especially as global markets grapple with declining national currencies and the prospect of a commodity market crash.

So believes Mike McGlone, the senior commodity strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, who said Wednesday that diversifying into store-of-value assets is a wise strategy against gloomy currency and commodity market outlooks.

"There's little risk of the dollar dropping in value vs. similarly depreciating currencies, which means that diversification into store-of-value assets like gold and Bitcoin is simply a prudent move, in our view," he tweeted Wednesday.

Money printer goes brrr

McGlone's bullish analogy took references from a recent spike in money injected into the U.S. and Eurozone economies. The U.S. Money Supply M2, a measure of the money supply that includes cash and checking deposits (M1) and near money, reached $20.256 trillion on May 3, 2021, from $15.384 trillion on Feb. 10, 2020.

A surplus liquidity injection into the U.S. economy left the dollar weaker against top foreign currencies. As a result, the U.S. dollar index (DXY) fell by almost 11.22% from its mid-March 2020 high of 101.947 to 90.5 as of June 16.

*U.S. recessions are shaded; the most recent end date is undecided. Source: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System*

Meanwhile, the Eurozone Money Supply M2, the money supply in the European Union area, surged from €5.6 trillion in February 2020 to over €14 trillion in March 2021

However, Euro rallied against the U.S. dollar despite its oversupplied status, with Jordan Rochester, a Group-of-10 foreign exchange analyst at Nomura International, noting that the European government's attuned response to the coronavirus pandemic drifted capital out of the U.S. markets to enter the eurozone economy.

On the other hand, Bitcoin logged supersonic price rallies against the dollar and euro on promises to shield investors from higher inflation. While the BTC/USD exchange rate jumped from $3,858 in March 2020 to a little over $40,000 in June 2021, the BTC/EUR exchange rate spiked from €3,363 to around €32,000 within the same period.

Recent consumer price index reports in the U.S. showed that the inflation rate reached 5% in May 2021, the highest since 1992. In Europe, the headline rate for price growth reached 2%, topping the European Central Bank's (ECB) target.

Meanwhile, ECB chief Christina Legarde said that they would continue purchasing bonds, fearing tapering of any kind would derail the eurozone recovery.

Federal Reserve officials also expect to sideline inflationary pressure as they conclude their two-day Federal Open Market Committee policy meeting on Wednesday. Earlier, the U.S. central bank said that higher CPI in April and May are "transitory in nature."

Many are worried the fed's current policies are setting us up for (and we are already seeing) high inflation. Inflation is bullish asset prices, b/c the dollar is worth less. Even if the asset is worth the same, the dollar it's being marked against is worth less. BTC number go up
— Jonny Moe (@JonnyMoeTrades) June 16, 2021

Commodity shock ahead?

Investors deeming hedging assets like Bitcoin as risky chose to stay hedged in relatively less volatile areas of markets such as commodities. Copper, the bellwether for macroeconomic health, surged 67% as investors looked for havens against falling currencies. Aluminum, zinc, among other metals also reported massive uptrends.

But China recently has come up with a plan to tame the booming commodity prices. The National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration said Wednesday that it would increase the supply of metals, including copper, aluminum, and zinc, to make them available to manufacturers.

Wow, more big moves from China to tamp down the commodity boom. Big change from earlier this year. https://t.co/7EKPZJU1AJ pic.twitter.com/5Z3RCArxLH
— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) June 16, 2021

McGlone hinted that a prospect of declining commodity prices would also mean great investment opportunities in the gold and Bitcoin markets.

Billionaire Alan Howard Invests in Crypto Startup Copper

June 11, 2021 The Crypto Briefing

‘Gold Is Clearly Being Replaced by Digital Gold’- Precious Metal Markets Spike, Strategist Mike McGlone Calls PM Action ‘Meh’

May 7, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Copper

Money printer goes brrr

Commodity shock ahead?

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