The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced approval of LedgerX's registration as a designated contract market (DCM) under the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations. According to reports, LedgerX will allow consumers based in the U.S. or Singapore to trade on its bitcoin derivatives exchange starting in July. As a DCM, LedgerX will offer Bitcoin derivatives contracts, including options and futures, to retail clients of any size. Prior to approval, LedgerX was registered with the CFTC as a swap execution facility and derivatives clearing organization. Bitcoin derivatives exchanges are reportedly seeing record trading volumes in the market driven by institutional traders.

Also this week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published a rule change proposal that would allow Wilshire Phoenix Funds to list shares of an exchange-traded fund (ETF) backed by bitcoin and Treasury bills on the NYSE Arca exchange. According to reports, a fund manager will manage the trust and invest exclusively in bitcoin and short-term U.S. Treasury securities. The SEC is currently seeking public comments on the proposed rule change and has 45-90 days from official publication in the Federal Register to approve, disapprove or take other action on the proposed rule.

Bitcoin IRA, in partnership with BitGo Trust, reportedly launched the first self-directed cryptocurrency Individual Retirement Account on Tuesday. The retirement account claims to offer $100 million in insurance protection, a 30% percent reduction on wallet fees and 12 different digital assets for customers to diversify their holdings. According to Bitcoin IRA's CEO, the company exceeds regulators' requirements for asset capitalization and insurance.

BlockState, a Swiss-based security token firm, recently announced plans to issue six ERC20 tokens from Ethereum, one of the largest public blockchains, on the private R3 Corda blockchain. The tokens will be secured in a smart contract on Ethereum, and "mirrored" versions of the tokens will run on Corda – the process is reportedly similar to that of global depository receipts, where shares of a company are held in custody in one country and a certificate representing ownership of the shares are traded in another country. The transfer or move will take place on R3's network that is currently in development for the Swiss Digital Exchange (SDX), which is part of SIX, Switzerland's national stock exchange and the world's 13th-largest stock exchange.

Also this week, a Chicago-based financial services firm agreed to transfer its private equity asset blockchain platform to a US-based publicly traded corporate services firm. According to a press release, the corporate services firm will develop the platform as an industrywide private equity blockchain solution that provides data and analytics tools for the complex private equity lifecycle. The solution will be available to all private equity funds domiciled in Guernsey and Delaware.

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