[2016-09-22] Winklevoss exchange to launch daily bitcoin auction

[uncaer9]

 Gemini Trust Co, the U.S.-based bitcoin exchange founded by investors Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, announced on Wednesday it will launch the first-ever auction for the digital currency aimed at facilitating high trading volumes and providing better prices.

The auction will kick off later on Wednesday initially for the U.S. dollar/bitcoin currency pair, Gemini said, and will eventually open the mechanism to all other digital currency pairs in the coming weeks.

Daily auctions are a common occurrence at traditional exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, enhancing price transparency and discovery.

The auction's launch on the Gemini exchange represents one of multiple efforts by market players to push trading of bitcoin and other digital currencies into the mainstream investing world.

"If you were building a securities exchange today, an auction would be a core feature," said Tyler Winklevoss, chief executive officer at Gemini in New York.

"We've built this trading mechanism to further Gemini's mission of building a next-generation exchange that advances the future of bitcoin trading."

http://www.reuters.com/article/usa-bitcoin-winklevoss-idUSL2N1BX1HA

[TraderTimm]

This makes little sense to me.

Auctions - time-limited market activities in a given commodity or security are usually reserved for things that don't trade all that much, so there isn't any real demand for a "price fix" like you have with a continuously traded market.

For instance, Butter is a commodity that isn't traded all that much, but the major producers still need a "spot" fix to hedge prices. Before it became listed electronically, it was confined to a single narrow time period during the week. Participants were the major producers, and there would be only four or five people present to conduct the trades.

All this is telling me is that Gemini still isn't gaining volume, so they're resorting to popularizing an "auction" model that creates an artificial time restriction on a given trading activity. How this is supposed to bolster their continuous trading volumes is not clear -- if you only trade "sometimes", why bother hanging around to make prices on the continuous market?

In any case, just another wrinkle in the bizarro world of Bitcoin exchanges.

[OgNasty]

Seems like they're trying to prove the resiliency of the Bitcoin exchange rate.  Perhaps this is to gain approval for their ETF listing.

[Kprawn]

As I understand this, these auctions can be done, when markets are closed. So many traders can still trade or take part in this auction, even

thought the markets are closed. If this opens the door to fiat whales, I do not have a problem with this move. Most people I talked with, want

to trade in a regulated environment and welcome this initiative. 

[gentlemand]

As I understand this, these auctions can be done, when markets are closed.

Gemini is 24/7. It's clear this is a move to woo the SEC. The primary gold ETF sets its price in exactly the same way.

[richardsNY]

As I understand this, these auctions can be done, when markets are closed.

Gemini is 24/7. It's clear this is a move to woo the SEC. The primary gold ETF sets its price in exactly the same way.

It really doesn't matter what the Winklevoss twins are doing nowadays. People don't add value to their actions anymore. It's their own fault as they have been loud from the very beginning while everything they did either didn't go through, or failed miserably.

[gentlemand]

It really doesn't matter what the Winklevoss twins are doing nowadays. People don't add value to their actions anymore. It's their own fault as they have been loud from the very beginning while everything they did either didn't go through, or failed miserably.

Blimey. That's a bit harsh. We're operating on Bitcoin time, people like that operate on Establishment time which is somewhere around 20-100x more sluggish.

The world they move in plays the long game. They may still end up looking like geniuses rather than goats.