BitMEX will airdrop the tokens to users through to February next year, with spot trading on the new BitMEX Spot Exchange expected early Q2 

On Tuesday, BitMEX announced the minting of its native token BMEX, scheduled for rollout by February 1, 2022. Via airdrops, both new and existing users would receive the token into their BitMEX.com wallets, an offering which the exchange termed a “token for true believers.”

BitMEX explained in a post that the token would have a maximum supply cap of 450 million, with a large portion of them mooted for investment into expanding the ecosystem. The P2P crypto-products trading platform further said the utility token’s whitepaper is due for publication at the end of January next year, and spot trading is expected in Q2 2022.  

“The large majority of BMEX will be spent to reward users and grow the BitMEX ecosystem. An allocation of 20% is reserved for BitMEX employees and another 25% for our long-term commitment to the token and ecosystem,” the post read.

Users would be able to receive the offerings in a few ways. To begin with, the first 50,000 users to sign up for a new account and complete KYC procedures would be eligible to receive 5 BMEX tokens and an additional 10 USDT. Referrals to three friends (signup and completion of KYC) would gift users 15 tokens, and customers would also be able to earn up to 25% of their monthly trading fees in BMEX for transactions on the exchange, at a cap of 50,000 BMEX per user each month.

A bit too late to launch the token?

Though the 2014-founded exchange has announced its native token BMEX, it has seemingly joined the party a bit too late. A flurry of other exchanges, including FTX (FTT), Crypto.com (CRO), Binance (BNB), KuCoin (KCS), and Huobi (HT), have already put out their tokens. These exchanges have enabled users to save on trading fees via their tokens, helping them snatch trading volumes from BitMEX.

BitMEX has additionally been a subject of conversation, mostly for its legal troubles in recent years. This has played a part in the loss of its competitive edge. In October last year, The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTFC) announced it was pursuing the crypto exchange alongside its co-founders Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed for violating several trading regulatory requirements.

The cryptocurrency exchange and derivative trading platform settled with the U.S regulators, incurring a penalty of $100 million in August this year. The co-founders are still due to face legal action for failure to establish measures against money laundering as required by the Bank Secrecy Act.

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Manasquan Bank will take part in Bakkt Holdings’ early adopter program expected in Q2 2022

Bakkt Holdings revealed via a press release on Tuesday that it has closed yet another partnership, this time with New Jersey’s Manasquan Bank. The community mutual bank would participate in Bakkt’s early adopter program slated for early Q2 next year. Once the program gets up and running, the bank’s retail clients would then be allowed to buy, hold, and sell Bitcoin and other altcoins.

The plans is to have the crypto services available via the bank’s mobile app. Sheela Zemlin, the chief revenue officer at Bakkt, lauded the initiative as one that would offer the bank’s customers an incredible opportunity to get into the world of crypto assets. She added that it was more so important as crypto is a critical component of the Web3 ecosystem and would, therefore, as an asset, offer value creation.

“Bakkt is proud to roll out new and innovative ways to this burgeoning economy, enabling a path to buy, sell and hold crypto as an extension of the consumer’s relationship with their trusted local bank,” she noted.

James Vaccaro, Chair and President of the bank, said the partnership fell in line with the banks’ ambition to offer opportunities to clients. Vaccaro specifically singled out those wishing to participate in the digital economy. He added that consumers would be able to explore crypto as an asset option without having to venture out of their trusted banking environment.

“We’re focused on driving growth and introducing new opportunities for our clients to participate in the digital economy,” Vaccaro said in a statement.

Bakkt is spreading its tentacles 

At the beginning of October, Bakkt teamed up with Google to expand its crypto payment options. Through the endeavor, the digital assets manager enhanced utility of its Visa Debit Card as users could now transact directly using digital assets at merchants and locations that accept Google Pay.

The idea was to enable seamless conversion of crypto to fiat as money is sent into a recipient’s wallet. Thanks to the collaboration, Bakkt also gained access to Google Cloud tools that enabled it to scale analytics and integrate AI & machine learning onto its platform.

Before the end of October, the Georgia-based investment holding company joined forces with MasterCard as the payment services firm announced entry into the digital assets’ space. The latter taps on Bakkt as the preferred provider to integrate the assets into its products. This was followed by a relevation that the digital asset company was going into business with Fiserv to enhance mainstream crypto adoption. Bakkt has also previously worked with Quiznos and Starbucks in other cryptocurrency-related campaigns.

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• Argo’s CEO Peter Wall says that mining was extremely profitable in 2021 and will likely continue to be even when more miners switch on their machines to increase hashrate in 2022.

• He also notes that miners understand the need to reduce the carbon footprint by moving away from fossil fuels to renewables.

Argo Blockchain CEO Peter Wall has said 2021 has been a good year for Bitcoin and that his firm saw record profits through the year even with the dip in crypto prices in May and over the last month or so.

Argo is a crypto-focused firm based in the UK and has emerged as one of the leading Bitcoin miners, an aspect Wall highlighted in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday.

According to the Argo CEO, the broader crypto market saw a remarkable year, and he doesn’t think it would be wise to bet against it despite the current bearish outlook, especially not for Bitcoin.

He noted that the benchmark cryptocurrency has “been knocked over” several times but it still does what it does- bouncing higher and proving its worth and its importance every time. He suggests that this remains the case.

It’s good to note that the cryptocurrency’s value has declined by almost 30% since mid-November, with the rot pushing prices from highs of $69,000 to lows of $44,000 before its current bounce to levels around $48,000.

Wall says the Bitcoin ecosystem has matured going into 2022 and that factors such as increased interest in the asset class as capital inflows surge, regulatory clarity and resilient mining industry will likely aid BTC price over the next year.

“We’re seeing everything mature so quickly you know, not just capital markets but regulators are taking the space more seriously,” he explained.

Argo’s near extreme end of profitability

Wall also spoke about Bitcoin mining and how the explosion in Bitcoin prices over the past one and half years has seen companies make massive profits on their investments.

Argo Blockchain’s returns from mining over 2021, he said, have been record margins and not just for the UK-based miner but for most other crypto mining businesses. Asked to comment at what price of Bitcoin the firm would be profitable, he said they are looking at $5,000-$10,000 and that this depends on the cost of power among other factors.

He notes that the firm is on the “extreme end of profitability right now” and that the outlook for 2022 remains positive. This, he noted, is the case even if profit margins decline given the expected increase in hashrate as more miners switch on their mining machines.

He added that China’s crackdown on mining pushed many miners offline, but with operations set up in other jurisdictions, more will come online.

Argo on use of renewable energy 

Wall also talked about Argo Blockchain’s move to address the question of Bitcoin’s energy consumption and impact on the environment. According to him, many miners are moving away from fossil fuels and Argo leads the way through an aggressive pursuit of renewable sources of energy, including the use of solar

He noted:

“I think miners understand ESG issues and they are looking for renewable power.”

Importantly, Bitcoin miners know about the need for companies to be carbon neutral or even carbon negative, he added.

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