The XRP/USD quanto product is set to go live on Feb. 5. The move coincides with the delisting of existing BitMEX UP and DOWN contracts. The last ones are expected to be settled by Jan. 31, with no new UP and DOWN contracts to be issued thereafter. The cryptocurrency exchange and derivatives trading platform said the affected contracts are XBT7D_U105 and XBT7D_D95.
BitMEX is releasing an XRP-U.S. dollar quanto swap targeted at crypto’s budding derivatives market.
A quanto swap is a cross-currency interest rate swap where one counterparty pays the other a foreign interest rate. When the contract expires, the notional amount gets settled in cash at a pre-defined exchange rate. These kind of swaps can be beneficial for speculators in search of liquidity and where they can post margin in their preferred currency.
BitMEX said in a release the contract details would be available on Testnet beginning Friday, with more information to follow.
A DOWN contract allows buyers of the contract to participate in the potential downside of the underlying instrument. An UP contract allows sellers of the contract to participate in the potential upside of the underlying instrument.
“We are also working on new products and features which will be rolled out gradually in the upcoming quarters”, BitMEX said.
Blockchain Firm Ripple Fuses xRapid, xVia and xCurrent into RippleNet
Ripple, the blockchain firm behind crypto asset XRP, fused three of its services into features of its RippleNet offering.
Industry news outlet CryptoNews reported the change in Ripple’s product offering on Oct. 9.
Little more than the names changed
Per the report, a company’s spokesperson explained that now, “instead of buying xCurrent or xVia, customers will connect to RippleNet – on-premises or through the cloud – and instead of buying xRapid, clients will use On-Demand Liquidity.” The Ripple representative also said:
“Other than the names of the product, very few things have changed and will not affect our customers.”
More than a software suite
The company reportedly believes that moving from a suite of services to offer a network to its customers is a natural evolution of its strategy due to the growth of its user base and development of its standard. He concluded:
“RippleNet is more than just a suite of software.”
As Cointelegraph reported yesterday, alluding to the spate of controversies that have beset the project, Ripple CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, argued that Ripple’s “transparency has opened us up to attack.” He said that there is a “bunch of misinformation” out there, but claimed that this is in part because Ripple is “ten or a hundred times more transparent than anyone in the crypto community.”
