Kaiko, a prominent player in the crypto data sector, has announced a strategic partnership with Gemini Foundation, the derivatives trading platform of the cryptocurrency exchange, Gemini. This collaboration will see Gemini Foundation utilizing Kaiko’s Benchmark Reference Rates to power its derivatives platform. The partnership aims to enhance the stability and security of Gemini’s platform by […]
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TRUMP Coin Taps All-Time High, Up Over 30% in 24 Hours Post-Convention
Following former President Donald Trump’s appearance at the Libertarian National Convention, the meme coin associated with his name, maga (TRUMP), has soared more than 30% in the past day. Current statistics show that the meme coin TRUMP is the top-performing cryptocurrency over the last 12 months, boasting a 98,352.40% increase. TRUMP Meme Coin Skyrockets Post-Libertarian […]
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Sony Bank Tests Yen-Pegged Stablecoin, Taps Polygon for Pilot Project
According to a regional report, Sony Bank of Japan is currently exploring the potential of a stablecoin tied to the yen that could be utilized by Sony Group along with its associated entities. Insiders revealed that this endeavor’s testing phase employs the Polygon blockchain, with the crypto firm Settlemint lending its support. Polygon and Settlemint […]
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Ethereum Taps $3,000 Barrier Amid ETF Speculation and Upcoming Dencun Upgrade
The value of ethereum, the crypto market’s second-largest asset by market cap, eclipsed the ,000 milestone on Tuesday, peaking at ,014 per unit in the morning trading hours. Over the last week, ether has seen a 13.1% climb against the U.S. dollar, and over the preceding two weeks, it has surged 28%. Ether Hits Two-Year […]
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Bitcoin Taps $44,000, Surpassing Meta and Berkshire Hathaway in Market Capitalization
On Tuesday, bitcoin’s price soared past the ,000 mark, peaking at ,011 per unit. In the last month, the leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization has seen a surge exceeding 24%, and 17% in just the past two weeks.
BTC Breaks Through K Barrier, Reaching Peak Levels Since Pre-Terra Crash
This week, bitcoin has been on a remarkable ascent, escalating 14% against the U.S. dollar. On December 5, Tuesday, BTC achieved a zenith of ,011 at 12:15 p.m. Eastern Time. Currently, BTC’s trading volume stands at .68 billion, a figure that is twice as high as the previous day’s. The trading range for bitcoin during the day fluctuated from ,453 to a little over ,000.
The value of BTC hasn’t reached these heights since April 6, 2022, before the Terra market collapse. Despite a trading volume of billion, BTC’s dominant trading pairs are USDT, FDUSD, USD, USDC, and KRW. Today’s top exchanges for global BTC trading volume include major platforms like Binance, Kraken, Coinbase, and Bitfinex.
BTC’s trading volume on Tuesday ranks second, trailing only behind the stablecoin tether (USDT). The recent surge in crypto prices has led to the liquidation of 0 million in shorts over the last 24 hours. Of these, approximately .34 million originated from bitcoin (BTC) short positions. The ascendancy of this crypto asset has propelled its market dominance to 51.3% amidst a combined value of over .65 trillion across more than 10,000 assets.
Moreover, bitcoin has eclipsed the market capitalization of Meta, following its overtaking of Berkshire Hathaway’s total valuation. This latest price increase positions BTC as the ninth-largest asset in terms of market valuation, a list that includes companies, precious metals, and exchange-traded funds.
What do you think about bitcoin tapping the K mark on Tuesday? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Grayscale’s GBTC Witnesses Historic Shrink in Discount to NAV as Metric Taps Single Digits
On Friday, data revealed a notable shift in Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust, commonly referred to as GBTC, as its discount to net asset value (NAV) contracted to single digits for the first time in 2023. The figures indicate that GBTC’s discount reached 8.06%, a level last observed two years ago.
GBTC Discount to NAV Reaches Single-Digit Territory
Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) is the largest bitcoin fund in the world and on November 24, 2023, the trust’s total assets under management (AUM) was approximately .50 billion. This year, GBTC suffered a significant discount to net asset value (NAV) and in September 2022, the discount widened by more than 35%. A discount or premium to net asset value (NAV) occurs when the market price of a fund’s shares is lower or higher, respectively than its NAV.
The NAV essentially represents the per-share value of the fund’s assets minus its liabilities, calculated daily. When a fund’s shares trade at a discount, it means they are selling for less than the fund’s per-share asset value. A significant discount like 35% to NAV is not favorable as it indicates that the fund’s shares are being traded at a significantly lower price than the actual value of the assets they represent.
Nevertheless, following Grayscale’s triumph over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), there has been a significant reduction in the discount. Bitcoin.com News reported in mid-October that this margin had decreased to 16.59%. Marking a milestone, GBTC reached the single-digit territory at 9.77% on November 22, 2023, as reported by ycharts.com, for the first time in two years.
Statistics for November 24, 2023, indicate the discount to NAV dipped down to 8.06% on Friday afternoon. Upon reaching the noteworthy single-digit record, both the cryptocurrency community and financial analysts turned their attention to this development.
“GBTC’s discount is in single digits for the first time in over two years, it had been flirting [with] this barrier for a while and finally broke through 10% [Wednesday] night and is [currently] 8.6%, likely prompted by their updated filings/SEC meeting reported [Wednesday],” the senior ETF analyst for Bloomberg Eric Balchunas said on the social media platform X. Another observer remarked that they could “smell a spot ETF in the air” in response to the achievement of the discount to NAV milestone.
On the same Friday afternoon, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart echoed insights akin to those of Balchunas. “Right now GBTC is trading at a record low discount for the last few years of about 8.6%. Its official closing discount was 9.7% on Wednesday,” Seyffart wrote. “Hasn’t been this close to parity since July 2021 — just months after the premium broke into discount,” the ETF strategist added.
What do you think about GBTC’s discount tightening? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Bitcoin Price Taps $28,000 On Grayscale Ruling, Soaring Stock Market
Bitcoin price has thus far made a 7% intraday move following news that a US court ruled in favor of Grayscale against the SEC. At the same time, the stock market is surging.
Could a perfect storm for the top cryptocurrency by market cap be building?
Back At ,000: Grayscale Court Ruling Causes BTC To Bounce
In an asset class as volatile as crypto, prices — and moods — can change in a flash. That’s exactly what we’ve witnessed on a small scale today, moments after news broke that a US court is forcing the SEC to reconsider Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF.
The news is significant because not only does it increase the chance Grayscale can move ahead with an ETF, but it also improves the likelihood of other ETFs like
BlackRock getting the green light.
Green is definitely the color of the day, with BTCUSD climbing back to ,000 per coin on the heels of the news.
Bitcoin Price Could Benefit From A New Stock Market High
It isn’t just crypto getting a major boost today. US stock indexes are also soaring today. The S&P 500 is up over 1.2%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq over 1.88%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average at 0.63%. The latest bounce in stocks puts traditional markets within striking distance of a new all-time high.
This is important because if Bitcoin price is already turning bullish in the wake of the Grayscale news, then a simultaneous stock market all-time high could cause crypto to go ballistic.
Cryptocurrencies have a ton of catching up to do relative to the stock market. Furthermore, back in 2020, after the S&P 500 made a new all-time high, Bitcoin price followed in the weeks to come and set a record of its own. Is this what we can expect if the stock market sets new record highs, and a slew of ETFs are approved?
Valkyrie Taps Into Ethereum Momentum With New ETF Filing
In a filing dated August 4, Valkyrie applied to add an Ethereum futures ETF to its Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BTF). However, it would seem this move was pushed back by the SEC as the asset manager has now filed a separate application to offer an Ether futures ETF.
Valkyrie Moves To Offer Ethereum Futures ETF
In an application dated August 16, Valkyrie seeks the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approval to offer an Ethereum futures exchange-traded fund (ETF).
If approved, the fund will not directly invest in Ether. Instead, it will focus on purchasing several ether futures contracts to match the total value of the ether underlying the futures contracts with the net assets of the fund.
While this fund is relatively similar to the Bitcoin futures ETF, which has existed since 2021, it differs from the Spot Bitcoin ETF, which prominent institutional firms have filed for. Spot ETFs track the crypto asset’s price, while futures ETFs focus on the asset’s future contracts.
Valkyrie categorically noted this fact as part of its application and stated that investors looking to invest in the price of ether directly should consider investments other than this particular fund.
The application also highlighted the risks involved in investing in this fund as, according to Valkyrie, “the Fund’s investments could decline rapidly, including to zero.” As such, investors should understand that they could lose their entire investment.
As is common with applications such as this, applicants must prove to the SEC that the underlying asset has a regulated market of significant size. And Valkyrie’s filing stated that its fund would be guided by the futures contracts traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).
No First Mover Advantage?
Valkyrie failed to clarify the status of its initial filing in its most recent application. The asset manager had previously tried to add ETH futures contracts to its Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BTF) in a bid to gain a first-mover advantage over other applicants.
Several other asset managers, including Bitwise, ProShares, Grayscale, and Volatility Shares, have also applied to offer an Ethereum futures ETF. However, it remains uncertain in what order the SEC is likely to approve (if it does) these applications, especially with this recent development.
Just like Cathie Wood has suggested regarding the pending Spot Bitcoin ETF applications, the SEC can approve multiple applications at once, which will likely eliminate the first mover advantage, or it can decide to approve them in the order in which these applications came in.
Despite expectations that the regulator will approve an Ether ETF this year, the probability of the SEC approving any of these applications remains uncertain as optimism dwindles.
Ledger Taps Paypal for US Crypto Buys
Crypto security firm and hardware wallet manufacturer, Ledger, announced its integration of Paypal payments for U.S. customers. This will allow Ledger Live users to buy bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), bitcoin cash (BCH), and litecoin (LTC) within the app using Paypal.
Ledger Enables Paypal Payments for US Customers to Streamline Crypto Purchases Within App
On Wednesday, Ledger revealed Ledger Live users can now purchase BTC, ETH, BCH, and LTC using Paypal. The company believes this offers a “convenient, simple and secure way” to buy digital currencies through its companion application. Users can select Paypal as their payment method in the app’s “buy” section.
However, this is available only to users who have previously used Paypal to buy crypto assets. Ledger Live users new to Paypal for crypto “will be required to create a Paypal account or undergo a KYC verification,” according to Ledger. The company directed users to its Help Center for guidance on using Paypal for digital currency purchases.
“Both Paypal and Ledger are focused on creating secure, seamless, and fast transactions no matter where you are in the world. Paypal has remained at the forefront of the digital payment revolution for more than 20 years, and we are thrilled to come together in this next period of asset innovation with our integration,” said Pascal Gauthier, Ledger’s chairman and CEO.
This development comes after Paypal introduced its own stablecoin tied to the U.S. dollar, named PYUSD. Though announced, PYUSD hasn’t yet been made available to the general public. Over the past two years, Paypal expanded its crypto services. However, this week, the payment giant paused crypto purchases in the U.K., citing regulatory shifts. The company stated that crypto buying in the United Kingdom would resume in early 2024.
What do you think about Ledger incorporating Paypal payments in the app? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Litecoin Hashrate Taps New All-Time High, Will LTC Price Follow Suit?
The Litecoin hashrate has been going up steadily over the last year. This was mainly driven by the anticipation leading up to the Litecoin halving that was slated to take place in August. Now that the halving event has come and gone, the hashrate has risen to a new all-time high, but the question is, whether the price of LTC will follow suit.
Litecoin Hashrate Taps New ATH Of 1.03 PH/s
The steady rise in the Litecoin hashrate is a testament to the growing interest in the network. The hashrate points to the fact that there are more miners on the blockchain trying to guess the correct answers to each block. And this translates to better security overall for the Litecoin network.
Interestingly, this increase in hashrate has seen the network hit not only a new all-time high but a significant milestone. According to data from CoinWarz, the Litecoin hashrate rose as high as 1.03 pentahashes per second (PH/s) on August 4.
This means that for the first time, LTC’s hashrate has left the terahashes per second (TH/s) territory and crossed into the pentahashes per second (PH/s) territory. Although it is still a long way from Bitcoin’s exahashes per second (EH/s), it is a testament to how much the Litecoin network has grown.
The Litecoin hashrate has since retraced back into the TH/s territory, now sitting at 739.88 TH/s as of Monday, August 7. But a look over the last year’s hashrate chart shows that even this is a high level for the blockchain’s hashrate.
Will LTC’s Price Follow The Hashrate?
Since the Litecoin hashrate hit its new all-time high, the price of LTC has been more volatile than normal. This is not out of the ordinary though as the altcoin has been following the general market trend and LTC’s is a testament to that trend.
So far though, it doesn’t seem like LTC has made any effort to break out of this trend. If anything, it has suffered more declines than recoveries, even dipping to as low as $.65 on August 4. This decline shows that the new hashrate ATH has not moved investors to invest more in the coin.
For now, something that could lead to an uptrend for Litecoin’s price is if Bitcoin begins another rally and the crypto market starts to see improved sentiment. Otherwise, LTC will likely continue to toe the line for the better part of the week.
At the time of writing, LTC price is trading at .80, down 0.47% in the last day and 11.67% in the last week.