CME Group has become the world’s largest Bitcoin (BTC) futures market following a surge in open interest over the past month, industry data shows. In a Friday tweet, Arcane Research announced that CME had overtaken OKEx as the world’s largest Bitcoin futures market. Citing data from Skew, a market intelligence firm, Arcane said open interest in CME’s Bitcoin futures contract has reached $1.16 billion. OKEx, meanwhile, registered $1.07 billion. “Institutional investors are here,” Arcane said. CME’s Bitcoin futures market has more than doubled over the past month, with more traders seeking exposure to the flagship cryptocurrency as it surged to …

After a five-week-long suspension of all user withdrawals, cryptocurrency exchange OKEx resumed normal services at 8:00 am UTC on Nov. 26. Having announced the re-opening last week, OKEx then indicated it would be launching a compensation and rewards program to express its gratitude to customers for holding out during the disruption. These programs include commission rebate cards denominated in Tether (USDT), a one-time compensation payment based on users’ asset and transaction histories, and a doubling of the asset weight calculation for holders of the exchange’s native token, OKB. Despite these efforts, today’s data shows that the programs have not been …

Major cryptocurrency exchange OKEx is finally resuming withdrawals of customer assets after weeks of waiting. The exchange first suspended withdrawals on Oct. 16, a decision that subsequently rocked crypto markets. According to today’s announcement, full customer withdrawals will resume on or before Nov. 27. OKEx will conduct security checks to resume hot wallet operations and ensure that user funds are safe. OKEx claims that user funds are covered by 100% reserves and therefore “can be withdrawn without any restrictions after withdrawals are reopened.” Resumed withdrawals will coincide with a user loyalty reward program as a way for the exchange to …

Proposed regulations targeting Hong Kong’s blockchain industry could have far-reaching consequences for the crypto derivatives market, according to new research from Messari.io. In a report published on Wednesday, researcher Mira Christanto said the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, which happens to be the dominant market for crypto futures trading, could be clamping down on unregulated exchanges as part of a broader push for more governance. The researcher cited a recent proposal from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, or SFC, that would require all crypto businesses to fall under anti-money laundering rules. This is a significant departure from …

As the crypto market continues to soar to new heights on a nearly daily basis — with Bitcoin (BTC) currently resting around the $16,100 threshold — the murkiness surrounding cryptocurrency exchange OKEx has continued to linger. OKEx initiated a crypto withdrawal suspension on Oct. 16, citing the unusual reason that one of the company’s private-key holders had been cooperating with local security agencies, and thus, it was in the best interest of its customers that any crypto movement emanating from the exchange be halted for the time being. Furthermore, the OKEx team has failed to provide any sort of clarity …

The mood of fear, uncertainty and doubt, otherwise known as FUD, that has gripped some of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges since October heightened last week — and it had nothing to do with the United States presidential election. “Weird Binance fud Friday and weird huobi arrest fud today,” tweeted MyCrypto CEO Taylor Monahan, referring to an Oct. 29 Forbes report that Binance had set up its U.S. unit, Binance.US, as a regulatory decoy and referencing separate rumors that Chinese authorities had detained a senior executive at Huobi. FUD, which has long dogged the cryptoverse, is commonly defined as misinformation intentionally …

After closing digital asset withdrawals in mid-October, Malta-based crypto exchange OKEx still remains tight-lipped about an unspecified on-going investigation. OKEx claims detainment chatter as simply rumors, although customers are still left without withdrawal access on the exchange, even after three weeks, hearing no palatable details around the scene. "Claims that a concerned party related to OKEx is under criminal detention have been refuted — we can confirm that these are rumors," OKEx said in a public update today. Cointelegraph reached out to OKEx for additional details, but received no response as of the time of publication. This article will be …

Simplex, a crypto-to-fiat payments provider, is adding another fiat offramp to enable its partner exchanges like Binance and Huob to sell major stablecoin Tether (USDT) to the euro. According to an Oct. 29 announcement, Simplex has rolled out new Tether (USDT) offramps across its partner network including major exchanges like Binance, OKEx and Huobi. A Simplex representative told Cointelegraph that the latest development marks the first time when the sell option is enabled for Tether on Simplex, stating: “USDT has been available to purchase through our partner network for a while but ‘cashing out’ and selling directly in this currency …

The recent KuCoin exchange hack and ongoing OKEx incident, during which withdrawals have been frozen, have raised questions as to how blockchain projects with coins traded on exchanges should act when said exchanges are hacked or funds are stuck. When it comes to projects such as Tron, which replaced tokens that were held by OKEx, such actions are to be expected because their work is based on a central governance model. However, are projects able to pause smart contracts or freeze tokens if they are truly decentralized? Was all this legal? Choosing a strategy to save users’ funds in a …

Crypto exchange OKEx announced that both its fiat-crypto purchase capabilities and peer-to-peer outlet have reopened. Withdrawals still remain closed, however. "The OKEx P2P platform will resume trading on Oct. 21, 12:00 pm (UTC) for CNY, INR and VND fiat pairs, and the Buy Crypto fiat gateway will also be reactivated at the same time," OKEx said Wednesday in an announcement, adding: "Please note that cryptocurrency withdrawals are still temporarily suspended and the 'Sell Crypto' option is not available." The exchange noted that "other functions are up and running," in a tweet Friday following its suspension of withdrawals. Based on the …

For nearly a week, uncertainty as to why OKEx suddenly suspended its cryptocurrency withdrawals on Oct. 16 has lingered on. The ongoing suspension has been puzzling to many, but the exchange’s representatives maintain that the move was solely because one of the company’s private key holders has been cooperating with a Chinese public security bureau. With one of OKEx’s three keyholders now in question, the exchange’s multisignature authorization process cannot be fulfilled, thus locking up its withdrawal function. Following reports of OKEx founder Mingxing Xu being under investigation by Chinese authorities, the price of Bitcoin subsequently dropped by around 3% …

DragonEx crypto exchange suspended deposits and withdrawals of all digital currencies on its platform due to issues triggered by OKEx’s ongoing withdrawal freeze. In an official announcement on Oct. 21, DragonEx said that the OKEx freeze triggered a “crisis of trust” in centralized exchanges among its customers, which in turn fueled a run on funds and deteriorated the platform's service. DragonEx is now working on a restructuring plan in order to resume deposits and withdrawals on the platform. The company’s representatives said that the exchange will have to shut down if they don't manage to successfully reorganize by Nov. 2, …