As Cointelegraph reported, Binance has released two separate versions of its futures trading platform for testing by users, and plans to reward those who test and correctly vote for the winner.
Bitcoin futures offerings from cryptocurrency exchange Binance have come in for criticism as a pre-release tester identifies major flaws.
In a series of tweets on Sept. 6, the account known as doublejump said both the options currently under consideration by Binance lacked basic features, which are essential for ease of use.
Rocky start for Binance PR move
Platform A came from Binance’s own development team, while Platform B stemmed from exchange JEX, which Binance recently bought.
According to doublejump, however, neither is currently fit for purpose.
“Platform A is unusable because of its contract size granularity, but does have a nice interface and decent specifications otherwise. Platform B is not documented well and has an unwieldy leverage system”, the account summarized.
Competition on the horizon
Further doubts focused on Binance’s choice of reference for Bitcoin exchange rates. Doublejump noted the sources include HitBTC, while others involve Huobi, Bittrex and Binance itself.
While it remains unknown when the futures platform will launch, competition is set to increase this month with the launch of Bakkt’s physically-traded futures.
This week, meanwhile, Binance found itself in hot water after it emerged its futures documentation was copied from an existing offering by derivatives giant BitMEX.
Bitcoin Hit Record Inverse Correlation to Chinese Yuan in Past Week
Bitcoin price has seen a record inverse correlation with the Chinese yuan (CNY) this week, according to an analysis from Bloomberg on Sept. 6. This suggests that investors are using the digital currency as a hedge against the yuan’s falling value.
Weakening yuan causes price premium on bitcoin in China
Further evidence that Bitcoin is being used as a hedge in China can be seen in the higher prices being paid in local exchanges when the yuan fell. According to London School of Economics researcher, Dr. Garrick Hileman:
“You can see it in the premium price paid sometimes for Bitcoin in exchanges like Huobi that primarily cater to Chinese.”
Factors such as the ongoing trade war with the United States and central bank monetary easing policy are contributing to a weaker CNY/USD. However, a court ruling in July that Bitcoin was a protected virtual asset and legal in China, has added to its lure as a hedge.
In addition, businesses in Hong Kong are also increasingly adopting Bitcoin as a form of protest.
Inverse correlation has increased as trade relations have deteriorated
The correlation first became more evident in April and May, amid rising tensions in the trade war between China and the U.S. The current magnitude of the inverse movement is similar to that of gold against Brent crude-oil futures. Gold prices also tend to rise when crude-oil futures are dropping.
