From a peek behind the curtain of a massive crypto trading operation to a sharp rise in developer activity on the Ethereum network, here’s a look at some of the stories breaking in the world of crypto.
Bitcoin
The head of Alameda Capital is revealing the strategy behind the company’s lucrative crypto trading operation.
Two of the company’s crypto accounts are listed in the top 10 most successful of all-time on BitMEX, having earned more than $60 million each. CEO Sam Bankman-Fried tells Bloomberg the company now executes about $1 billion in trades every day largely by spotting arbitrage opportunities between crypto exchanges.
“One of the trades in his first year was taking advantage of the over 30% premium Litecoin was selling for on the exchange Coinbase. He would buy Litecoin elsewhere and sell it at the premium on the biggest U.S. digital exchange.”
Huge price disparities like that don’t exist anymore, and Bankman-Fried says the company now looks to average a profit of two basis points per trade.
He says he decided to become a known figure in the public this year to boost the company’s profile and expand its clientele.
Ethereum
The pace of development on the Ethereum network appears to be rising at a rapid rate.
According to new data from Santiment, the number of “events” happening on Ethereum’s GitHub has more than doubled in the last month.
An event can be a comment, Wiki edit, press release or the sheer number of projects on a GibHub repository.
Ripple and XRP
Ripple’s global hiring spree continues.
The company says it’s now looking for a business analyst based in London who will help monitor the company’s payment network, RippleNet. Ripple currently has 56 open positions.