Category: Cryptocurrency news

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Someone paid 1,500 ETH for Jack Dorsey’s NFT – Compares it to the Mona Lisa

The auction for the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) that gives proof of authority over Jack Dorsey’s “Tweet Genesis” has concluded. Held on Valuables, a platform that allows its users to convert their Tweets into NFT.

Created by the Ethereum based service Cent, the tweet has been “authenticated” by Dorsey, CEO of the social network and payment company Square. Valuables told auction participants:

The tweet itself will continue to live on Twitter. What you are purchasing is a digital certificate of the tweet, unique because it has been signed and verified by the creator.

The auction winner was Bridge Oracle Protocol CEO Sina Estavi after bidding nearly $3 million in Ethereum (ETH). Outbidding Justin Sun, founder of Tron, who bid nearly $2 million. Stavi told Dorsey:

Hey Jack, thank you for accepting my offer, and I’m glad this money is being donated to charity…. Let’s Bridge to freedom.

Dorsey previously confirmed that the proceeds from the sale of his NFT would be immediately converted to Bitcoin. The funds in BTC will be sent to GiveDirectly, a non-profit organization that is responsible for sending cash transfers to low-income individuals.

The organization is involved in a campaign to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the continent. Dorsey used a fresh Ethereum address to conduct the transaction which was conducted via crypto exchange Kraken.

Via his Twitter handle Dorsey confirmed the money has been sent to the referred organization. Estavi responded in a separate tweet:

This is not just a tweet! I think years later people will realize the true value of this tweet, like the Mona Lisa painting

NFTs to fight climate change

Digital artist Mike “beeple” Winkelmann is also using the attention he has recently received for a good cause. Beeple is part of “The Carbon Drop” an NFT collection auctioned to aid solve climate change, created by The Social Alpha Foundation.

Beeple has celebrated the high participation the initiatives have been receiving. The digital artist believes solving climate change is crucial for NFT to have a future, the digital artist said:

we all know, this is absolutely something we MUST solve for NFT’s to realize their full potential. Luckily I know how amazing this community is so I have no doubt we will.

In a recent interview Beeple said the NFT crazed could be a bubble, but believe the technology will endure and have a used in people’s everyday life. The digital artist claimed:

I don’t think art is being devalued, I think in some cases a lot of value is being placed on the work. I think there is definitely, on some level, a bubble when you have NFT of toilet paper selling for $2,000. That seems kind of ridiculous.

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Ethereum with negative performance in the 24-hour chart. Source: ETHUSD Tradingview
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Why FED Chairman thinks Bitcoin is a substitute for gold

In the Bank of International Settlements Innovation Summit, the U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell referred to cryptocurrencies and their position next to the dollar.

For Powell, assets such as Bitcoin present very high fluctuations in their price and have no “underlying valued”, a position familiar to the official:

Crypto assets are highly volatile — see Bitcoin — and therefore not really useful as a store of value. They’re not backed by anything. They’re more of an asset for speculation.

This time he stated that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies could be a replacement for gold. For the first time, Powell seemed to hint at Bitcoin as a legitimate part of the global markets.

However, his main focus is fixed on stablecoin and the potential to create a new system with a better experience for the consumer. Powell said:

Stablecoins may have a role to play with appropriate regulation, but that role will not be to form the basis of a new global monetary system. A global currency governed by the incentives of a private company is something that will deserve and will receive the highest level of regulatory expectations.

All in place for more BTC price appreciation

Analyst Ben Lilly has published a report on key events that might set Bitcoin’s price outlook for the incoming days. The analyst believes that Powell’s intervention has taken into account the recent interest of institutions in the cryptocurrency.

Therefore he considers that the chances of Bitcoin being “banned” are decreasing. This favors the cryptocurrency in the long term, due to the loss of confidence people might have in the current global reserve currency and its ability to maintain its purchasing power.

I think bitcoin is the threat for policymakers in terms of where does capital go when government’s currency/financial system experience capital flight? Aka when people lose trust in your currency, where do they go? Bitcoin has properties that gold can’t compete with.

According to the analyst, the Fed chairman has two additional appearances during the week. Therefore, he expects subsequent announcements to continue to impact the performance of the traditional market and the Bitcoin price.

Reflecting on the macro outlook for Bitcoin, Ben Lilly believes the bull market still has room to grow. Citing data from Glassnode, the analyst has determined that the percentage of active Bitcoin supply over a year stands at 56%.

Comparing the current price action to previous bull markets, Ben Lily believes that BTC will top out when this metric stands between 47% and 48%. Setting October 2021 as a potential date for Bitcoin to reach its top, the analyst added:

That’s approximately where I think we currently are if this cycle were to be the same as the last bull cycle. Meaning this cycle has more room to push higher.

Bitcoin price is still moving sideways with a negative 0.9% performance on the last day. Although in recent weeks the gains have not been significant, the cryptocurrency has been resilient and has managed to hold key support levels above $55,000.

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Bitcoin with side movement in the 24-hour chart. Source: BTCUSD Tradingview
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How Ethereum low supply on exchanges could drive up ETH price

Research firm Santiment has determined that Ethereum’s supply radius on exchange platforms is at a 28-month low. With 20.1% of ETH in its reserves, the last time the metric was at similar levels was in November 2018.

Ethereum ETH
Source: Santiment

Above is a look at the relationship between the increase in Ethereum supply on the exchanges and fluctuations in its price. ETH’s rally in recent months corresponds to a sustained decline in this metric.

Ethereum is trading at $1,808 with bearish performance in the 24-hour chart. However, in the last hour ETH is showing an uptrend with 0.3% gains, after a week of negative performance. If the cryptocurrency manages to stay above the current level it could gain more momentum and go after resistance at $1,850.

Ethereum breaking above $1,800. Source: ETHUSD Tradingview

Where is Ethereum’s demand coming from?

Two sectors are currently taking a big part of ETH’s supply. Data from DeFi Pulse register 9,4 million ETH locked in DeFi protocols. After registering a drop at the end of February, ETH inflows into decentralized finance protocols have absorbed 1.5 million ETH since March 8.

This trend is continuing and shows no signs of weakening, as more and more users join the sector for profits or to participate in the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) craze.

Ethereum ETH
Source: DeFi Pulse

MakerDAO, Compound y Sushiswap hold the biggest amount of ETH with 3 million and 1.4 million each, respectively. Uniswap, Aave, Alpha Homora, and Balancer follow, but only the decentralized exchange (DEX) holds over 1 million ETH.

On the other hand, Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract has also absorbed a lot of ETH supply. At the moment, it holds 3,559,362 ETH with an estimated value of $6 billion. According to Arcane Research, more institutional demand has come for ETH since late 2020:

the steady increase in ETH loans outstanding. After ending Q1 at 5.5%, the share of ETH loans outstanding grew 177% over the next three quarters, ending the year at 15.5%. Of course, some of this growth is attributable to ETH’s price inflation.

Sustained demand for ETH could positively impact its price and allow the rally to continue through 2021. According to ETH Gas Station, transactions fees on the blockchain are again at record levels with 161 Gwei for the cheapest.

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This is why digital artist Beeple thinks NFTs might be a bubble

In an interview for CNN’s First Move, digital artist Mike “beeple” Winkelmann talked about “the craziness” he has experienced with the sale of his NFT for $69 million. Acknowledging that the process has been “overwhelming,” beeple the consequences of the marriage of art and technology.

The digital artist has a career that spans 20 years. The work sold for millions as part of a “unique auction” at Christie’s and was created with images made over 13 years. Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT), Beeple said, has become “a real way” to connect with an audience. Beeple said:

To be quite honest, this is not something that I saw coming. It has just been overwhelming (…). Every part of me looks at this and says, “this is insane”. I always thoughted they will be some attention paid to it, I did not think it would be this quick or this much.

The digital artist considers himself a political critic of sorts and showed disbelief about the NFT market during the interview. Beeple believes that digital techniques and media have the opposite effect of devaluing artworks:

I don’t think art is being devalued, I think in some cases a lot of value is being placed on the work. I think there is definitely, on some level, a bubble when you have NFT of toilet paper selling for $2,000. That seems kind of ridiculous.

Comparing NFTs to the early days of the internet, Beeple said the technology is “exciting.” However, he highlighted how at that time “a lot of bubbles” were created, speculation, hype.

After that stage was over, the Internet reached its next level of development. Something similar, Beeple believes, will happen with NFTs. The digital artist stated:

There is gonna be a huge rush of people into this (saying), ‘ok, here is chapstick, let’s NFT it’. You already see that now. But I think people are going to pretty quickly get wise to that and all that stuff is going to fade away. The things that connect with people in an emotional level, or have a lot of utility, those are the things that are going to stick around.

Calvin Harris and Steve Aoki bid thousands on Beeple’s NFTs

Beeple believes that NFTs will be technologies that will be integrated into many use cases in people’s everyday lives. The digital artist is participating in “The Carbon Drop”. An initiative created by The Social Alpha Foundation.

Via Twitter, Beeple has celebrated participation in its NFT auction. Receiving millions of dollars in bids from Calvin Harris, Steve Aoki, and others, the proceeds will go to the Open Earth Foundation to:

(…) develop innovative open digital infrastructure for improved management of planet Earth —helping track transparently the global progress on the Paris Agreement to avoid the existential risk of climate change.

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ETH gaining momentum in the last hour. Source: ETHUSD Tradingview
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This is when Bitcoin’s bull-run will end, according to a big miner

Bitcoin price is losing bullish momentum. Although it has still managed to hold above support at $55,000, after a failed attempt to clear the $60,000 resistance, the trend has been down over the last week (-6.6%).

Jiang Zhuoer is the CEO of BTC.Top mining pool, he claimed things might continue to go south during the year. In a recent interview with Wu Blockchain citing “study models”, Zhuoer predicted a change in crypto market dynamics.

Bitcoin’s price has seen gains of 824.4% in one year, but Zhuoer believes that between September 2021 and June 2021, the market could move “from a bull to a bear market.”

BTC.Top is one of the largest mining pools in the sector. Data from Statista indicates that this pool owned 0.75% of Bitcoin’s total hashrate as of mid-February. Wu has interviewed other representatives of the blockchain industry in China and received similar predictions. The idea behind this reasoning is:

they believed that this autumn might start to turn into a bear. The reason was the economic recovery after the popularization of the vaccine and the beginning of a shift in US monetary policy. (…) after Tesla purchased 1.5 billion U.S. dollars in Bitcoin and Meitu purchased 90 million U.S. dollars in Bitcoin and Ethereum, there are no other large listed companies in North America and Asia to follow up.

A Bitcoin ETF approval in the U.S. or another company like Tesla adopting BTC could return the upside momentum. On this possibility, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor said:

If you go back to March 2020, it was only the rare institution involved. In the 12 months that followed, there’s been an avalanche of institutional involvement. MicroStrategy is the first publicly traded company that made a material investment, but Square followed. And Tesla followed. But they’re the tip of the iceberg.

Where could Bitcoin’s price go in the coming days?

In the short term, newsBTC crypto market strategist Aayush Jindal sees a chance for a fresh increase in BTC if support along the $57,000 level is held. Currently, Bitcoin trades for $57,488 with 3.3% of losses in the 24-hour chart.

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Bitcoin with bearish performance over the past week. Source: BTCUSD Tradingview

Trader Bitcoin Jack is cautious about Bitcoin price action and believes there are “many reasons” for the cryptocurrency to continue to pull back. The trader believes BTC could all the way down to $45,000, he added:

Looks pretty weak to me, bias neutral to bearish. Will be looking for locations to hedge on bounces until this turns bright again. Maybe I’m wrong but to be bullish I wanted to see 57.5 hold and push ath’s. I think price wants to test demand at high 40’s / low 50’s

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Brazil approves Bitcoin ETF – SkyBridge files for its own

Brazil Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) approved Latin America’s first Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). Requested by firm QR Asset Management, their Bitcoin ETF will trade under the ticker QBTC11 on exchange B3.

This platform is the world second to launch a ETF backed by the cryptocurrency, after Canada greenlighted one in February.

The QBTC11 will track Bitcoin’s price performance and will use Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s Bitcoin futures index and CF Benchmarks price as a reference. Upon the approval, QR Capital stated:

QBTC11 places Brazil at the epicenter of state-of-the-art financial regulation. In addition to being the first 100% Bitcoin ETF in Latin America, QBTC11 is the fourth in the world and comes a few weeks after the launch of the three Canadian ETFs.

The Brazil Securities and Exchange Commission and the Securities Exchange Comission (SEC) are member of the The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). Therefore, CVM’s decision could positively influence a similar action by the U.S. regulator. QR Capital claimed:

This is important because the clearance of QBTC11, like the first three Canadian Bitcoin ETFs, can and should serve as substance for ETF orders in the United States.

This common move between regulatory authorities is referred to as the Benchmark Regulation.

More institutions file for a Bitcoin ETFs

In the United States, Bitcoin ETF petitions are piling up. SkyBridge Capital, founded by Anthony Scaramucci, and First Trust Advisors are the latest firms to introduce an S-1 for this financial product with the regulator. The “First Trust SkyBridge Bitcoin ETF Trust” would offer shares traded on the exchange NYSE Arca.

Meanwhile, SEC Commissioner Hester Pierce recently called for a more “ positive” look at cryptocurrencies. For Pierce, the SEC has waited too long to approve such a financial product. The Commissioner said:

(Institucions) want access to crypto trough a regulated market. It makes sense for us to consider how to do that (…). We’ve dug ourselves into a little bit of a hole. A lot of people are looking for a way to access the asset class.

Currently, Bitcoin is trading at $59,125 with side movement (-0,8%) in the past day.

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BTC with side movement in the 24-hour chart. Source: BTCUSDT Tradingview
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How the CFTC fine on Coinbase could affect future crypto company listing

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has imposed a $6.5 million fine on Coinbase. The regulator is accusing the Exchange of false or misleading reporting and wash trading, per an official statement.

Between 2015 and 2018, according to the CFTC order, a former Coinbase employee engaged in the referenced misconduct on the GDAX platform. The exchange has received an order to cease “further violations”. According to the official release:

Coinbase recklessly delivered false, misleading, or inaccurate reports concerning transactions in digital assets, including Bitcoin, on the GDAX electronic trading platform it operated.

The exchange allegedly operated two “automated trading programs” called Hedger and Replicator. These bots generated trade orders that “matched with one another”. The exchange did not report to the CFTC that it operated multiple accounts, according to the order.

Coinbase was trading on GDAX, but failed to disclose that Coinbase was operating more than one trading program and trading through multiple accounts. In addition, the order finds that while Hedger and Replicator had independent purposes, in practice the programs matched orders with one another in certain trading pairs, resulting in trades between accounts owned by Coinbase.

The information generated by the trade between the bots was included on Coinbase’s website. Then, entities such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), NYSE Bitcoin Index, CoinMarketCap OpCo, took this data and replicate it on their own platforms. The order states:

transactional information of this type is used by market participants for price discovery related to trading or owning digital assets, and potentially resulted in a perceived volume and level of liquidity of digital assets, including Bitcoin, that was false, misleading, or inaccurate.

Fake liquidity in Bitcoin/Litecoin trading pair

Further evidence found by the CFTC indicates that between September and November 2016, the aforementioned former Coinbase employee manipulated Bitcoin/Litecoin trading pair. Thereby creating “false liquidity” reports. The employee’s name has not been disclosed by the regulator.

Acting Director of Enforcement for the CFTC, Vincent McGonagle, stated:

Reporting false, misleading, or inaccurate transaction information undermines the integrity of digital asset pricing. This enforcement action sends the message that the Commission will act to safeguard the integrity and transparency of such information.

A separate report by journalist Wu Blockchain states that there are several former Coinbase employees, executives, and other personnel cooperating with the CFTC investigation. Coinbase is in preparation to become a public company.

The ongoing prosecution by the CFTC may affect the entire industry, Wu Blockchain said:

Coinbase will postpone its listing until April.  Earlier, CFTC announced on Friday that it would impose a fine of $6.5 million. It may affect subsequent listings of cryptocurrency companies in the United States and Greater China.

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This FATF guidance could “wreak havoc” on Uniswap operators

International body Financial Action Task Fork (FATF) has issued new guidance for decentralized applications (DApps). Its implications could directly affect the DeFi sector and could have consequences for DApp “operators” such as Uniswap, Sushiswap, and others.

According to the agency’s definition and its standards, a DApp is software. However, the “entities involved” with the DApp can be Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP). The guidance claims:

(…) a person that conducts business development for a DApp may be a VASP when they engage as a business in facilitating or conducting the activities previously described on behalf of another natural or legal person. The decentralization of any individual element of operations does not eliminate VASP coverage if the elements of any part of the VASP definition remain.

Attorney Gabriel Shapiro addressed potential consequences for the blockchain industry if the recommendations are implemented. Shapiro said:

Writing & deploying a smart contract (=free speech) is different from running a business with that smart contract (regulated).

Claiming that FATF recommendations could “wreak havoc” in venture finance and the blockchain industry if adopted, Shapiro added:

“a one-time sale of a VA makes you a money services business” thing has never made a lick of sense and seems inconsistent with FinCEN’s 2019 guidance.

Although FATF can only make recommendations or suggestions, these are internationally adopted by many regulators. Therefore, Shapiro believes they can have a real effect on the blockchain industry if u operators, i.e. Uniswap, are blacklisted by the body. Shapiro added:

I love DeFi and I’m very anti-KYC etc. But “repeal these laws just for DeFi because it makes people more free by providing plausible deniability” is not going to be persuasive to a person who believes the laws in question are good ones.

Member countries can apply sanctions, prohibitions and take other measures if the FATF suggests that any entity has “lost control” over compliance and money laundering prevention. Legal expert Stephen Palley said:

as some of us have been saying since the dawn of time, muh decentralization is apparently not yet a persuasive strategy to avoid AML/KYC obligations.

UNI on a 30-day rally

Data from Tradingview indicates that UNI has made significant gains (51.6%) over the last month. Currently, UNI is trading at $32.71. Although its performance in the last 24 hours is negative with losses of 1.3%.

Uniswap UNI
UNI with significant gains in the past month. Source: UNIUSD Tradingview

The good performance can be attributed to the release of Uniswap’s third iteration. Without a fixed deployment date, Uniswap v3 has caused great hype among its users. Uniswap inventor Hayden Adams is expected to provide details on the upgrade soon.

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How the SEC “dug into a hole” by not approving a Bitcoin ETF

Pro crypto Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester Pierce talked about the U.S. current regulatory landscape on Bitcoin’s Association YouTube channel.

The Commissioner revealed that some progress has been made to change the approach the regular have on digital assets.

Pierce has chosen to focus on the innovations brought by digital assets and cryptocurrencies and their benefits to consumers. Her colleagues at the regulatory body have taken a largely opposite stance.

The Commissioner highlighted the importance that flexibility and the ability to a point of view quickly have in this field. The Commissioner has repeatedly called for approval of a Bitcoin-based Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). Her requests have been ignored by the regulator. Pierce said:

What I would urge my fellow regulators and people at the Fed to think is to think not only to have the reaction of looking at where the negatives are but to really look for the positives (…). I would hope they won’t ruled out the positive things that could happen in the purely private sector as well (…). Don’t view this (crypto regulation) as a competition between the private and public sector.

Pierce asked his fellow commissioners to take a “more optimistic” stance. A regulator that becomes an obstacle to innovation, in the Commissioner’s view, will take lose-lose actions for all parties.

For Pierce, the crypto industry is in its infancy. Eventually, she believes that its use cases may be integrated into various areas to remove “single points of failure” and increase the “resilience” of the financial system. The Commissioner invited to see “the whole picture”.

The SEC has rejected the launch of a Bitcoin ETF. However, Pierce believes that the interest the cryptocurrency has recently received is changing how her fellow regulators view the asset. The approval of Gary Gensler as chairman of the SEC, she said, could bring a different vision to the institution.

The commissioner hopes Gensler will be open to the idea of creating a “safe harbor” program within the U.S. This program would provide more clarity in the industry and facilities a conversation between the U.S. regulators.

A “Safe Harbor” could be a more “productive” alternative than no action which is “what has been done so far”. On the possibility of a Bitcoin ETF being approved in the U.S., Pierce said:

(Institucions) want access to crypto trough a regulated market. It makes sense for us to consider how to do that (…). We’ve dug ourselves into a little bit of a hole. A lot of people are looking for a way to access the asset class. We waited a long time to approved this kind of product.

The Commissioner said she is not biased to a particulate network; her main interest is to provide clarity “early”.

Canada’s ETF hits $1 billion

Meanwhile, Senior ETF analyst for Bloomberg, Eric Balchunas, reported on the progress of Canada’s Bitcoin ETF. Approved early March, the financial product in that country has managed to break $1 billion. The expert said:

the Canada ETF market is 1/27th the size of US, so proportionally speaking this is like a US ETF hitting $27b within a month, which hasn’t ever even come close to happening.

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CBDCs to coexist with cash payments, according to FED Chairman Powell

The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures conference was held in Basel, Switzerland. One of the main guests was the Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell. Referring to a report created by the institution he chairs and other banking institutions, Powell said:

A recent report from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and a group of seven central banks, which includes the Fed, assessed the feasibility of CBDCs in helping central banks deliver their public policy objectives.

In 2020, the G-20 called on the Financial Stability Board to construct a roadmap to “improve cross-border payments”. Thus, Powell explained, the financial system can dismantle existing obstacles for users and become independent of outdated technologies.

Based on the report, Fed Chairman Powell believes that central bank digital currencies (CBDC) must be leveraged alongside traditional payment methods, like cash. Powell also asked to create a “flexible system” which enables said coexistence.

That way, institutions can meet the consumer demand for a digitized settlement system. He added:

The Covid crisis has brought into even sharper focus the need to address the limitations of our current arrangements for cross-border payments. And as this conference amply demonstrates, despite the challenges of this last year, we still have been able to make important progress.

CBDCs will reduce costs in traditional payment system

As a goal, the roadmap called for by the G-20 proposed to create a “low-cost, transparent and inclusive” ecosystem for cross-border payments. To improve the system, the FSB has outlined 19 key steps that will modify it, while assessing and implementing new technologies.

With a seamless operation, enhanced data security, and payment integrity, Powell expects the “FEDnow” system to be the backbone of such an ecosystem. Fed chairman revealed that the new system has a tentative launch date of late 2023 or 2024. Powell added:

The Fed is also doing its part to examine the role of new technologies. Experiments with central bank digital currencies are being conducted at the board of governors. As well as complementary efforts like the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston in collaboration with researchers at MIT.

The Federal Reserve Chairman emphasized the private sector’s ability to improve the “outreach” of consumers to the financial system. In emerging economy countries, Powell said, the digitization of financial services could be the key to including the unbanked. Powell concluded:

Improving the financial system is a collaborative effort.

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Pakistan to build Bitcoin mining farms in pilot program

According to a report by Reuters, the Pakistani government will launch a pilot program to build Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies mining farms. Power by two hydroelectric sources and based on the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the national program seeks to obtain revenues from the current rally in the crypto market.

The advisor to the provincial government on science and technology, Zia Ullah Bangash said:

People have already been approaching us for investment, and we want them to come to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, earn some money and have the province earn from that as well.

New crypto regulations in Pakistan

Pakistan will also review its policies towards cryptocurrencies. As of now, the country’s legal and regulatory framework for this market has been hostile towards digital currencies. Therefore they have created the “KP Crypto Advisory Committee” to come up with a “new crypto policy”. Bangash said:

It’s really just our government that is not participating right now, people all over Pakistan are already working on this, either mining or trading in cryptocurrencies and they are earning an income from It. We are hoping to bring this to a government level so things can be controlled, and online fraud or other scams can be prevented.

The committee held its first meeting on March 17, the government Official announced via Twitter. Alongside Bangash, the meeting was conducted under the direction of the Chief Minister for the province, Mahmood Khan. Bangash claimed:

We’re consulting with all stakeholders and experts for this initiative.

Two subcommittees were formed during the meeting, the Blockchain and Technical Committee and a Coordination Committee. They will have the task of “assist and provide technical support for the main committee”, per Bangash report.

The province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has favorable weather conditions for crypto mining activities. The government entity has called on crypto mining experts to weigh in on the subject by using a website enable by the committee. Bangash said:

Seminars on this subject would be organized soon to create awareness among people. Directed sub-committees set up to present their suggestions in next meeting. Directed technical committee to submit a detailed report on installation of hydropower including crypto mining farms.

On December 2, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly became the first province in Pakistan to passed a resolution to legalize cryptocurrencies and crypto mining. Waqar Zaka, Chairman for the Technology Movement Pakistan, said the organization was working to extend the initiative to the entire country.

In the region, India will soon ban all trading activities related to cryptocurrencies. However, as a new study shows, the government’s action has not affected overall interest in digital assets.

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a16z, Mark Cuban invest $23 million in NFT platform OpenSea

OpenSea’s CEO, Devin Finzer, announced a successful funding round. Led by investment first a16z, with participation from Mark Cuban, Naval Ravikant, Tim Ferris, 3LAU, Standard Crypto, and others, the Non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace raised $23 million.

The platform was founded in 2017 under the prospect of building a new internet economy. OpenSea has been at the core of the recent NFT’s craze. Therefore, the transaction volume on the platform has increased by 100x. Finzer said in the post:

At OpenSea, we are growing and shaping this economy by building the world’s best, largest, and most trusted marketplace for this new type of digital asset. Over the coming years, billions of people will be introduced to digital ownership, and we’ve built OpenSea as a trusted entrypoint into that world.

NFTs take over the world

The platform has welcomed all kinds of creators to launch their projects. Over 20 million NFTs are currently available on the marketplace, as Finzer claims, under full control of the users. Collections like Hashmasks, 3DPunks, CryptoPunks, and others have sold for thousands of ETH. OpenSea’s CEO said in his statement:

We’ve had the fortune to work with hundreds of projects and creators: from game companies to digital artists to musicians to professional athletes. The world is waking up to the power of this technology, and it’s happening quite suddenly.

Over the past months, there has been growing attention on this type of token. The high point of interest was reached when a digital artist known as Beeple sold an NFT for over $70 million on auction house Christie’s.

The sale is the first of its kind and. Via Twitter, Beeple thanked art specialist Noah Davis and spokeswoman for the auction house, Rebecca Riegelhaupt for the “groundbreaking” event:

(…) this unprecedent move took a lot of courage and conviction but true progress always does. the digital art community owes them a debt of gratitude for helping push the space forward and i firmly believe they will eventually be seen as visionaries in the broader art community.

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How Bitcoin is demonetizing gold, Skybridge Capital’s founder makes the case

Anthony Scaramucci predicted Bitcoin’s price will absorb some of the increase in dollar volume. In an interview for CNBC’s Squawk Box program, the Skybridge Capital founder said the stimulus package passed by the administration will be good for BTC holders.

Every time we do this, it’s very, very good for the people who own the assets. You get tremendous amounts of asset inflation. But the wages never catch up. That gap gets wider. And then the politics get angrier.

Scaramucci sees BTC as a long-term hedge against inflation. The security of the blockchain, BTC’s supply and demand dynamics, and limited supply make the cryptocurrency an attractive asset for institutions like Morgan Stanley in “a world printing money like this”.

Skybridge Capital founder’s said Bitcoin has outperformed gold after absorbing a percentage of investor’s capital. Therefore, Bitcoin has become a better asset to store value than gold. Scaramucci claimed:

In a lot of ways if you really study it, it’s better than gold. It’s easier to store. You can move it around more quickly (…). Money is a technology that allows us to transfer good and services to each other effectively. The technology around us will likely improved money. Bitcoin has done that.

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Bitcoin outperforming gold since 2012. Source: BTCUSD/XAUUSD Tradingview.com

Bitcoin in a transition period

As a store of value, Scaramucci thinks Bitcoin’s price will lose volatility as adoption increases. Making another prediction, he expects Bitcoin’s network to go from 125 million users today to 1 billion in the next five years.

Scaramucci’s firm started a Bitcoin fund late in 2020 with a $25 million investment. His bet on the cryptocurrency comes at a “period of transition”. He compares Amazon’s stock price to BTC and argues that the cryptocurrency is going on a “less speculative” trajectory. The fund manager believes all “prudent investors should own some” BTC. He added:

Amazon now, 20 years later, is trading with more stability. It got a very big pop because of the pandemic, but just take a look at its long-term chart, and I think that will happen to bitcoin. Once it fully scales, … you’re going to be looking at that situation and saying, ‘OK, it’s way less speculative’.

Eventually, the fund manager expects the cryptocurrency to be a fully mature store of value. By becoming a decentralized alternative to the U.S. dollar, its adopter will own an uncorrelated asset with global politics. Skybridge Capital’s founder concluded:

Bitcoin got to a $1 trillion faster than all those companies, primarily because it’s decentralized, so now you’re taking all that C-suite drama and all the politics associated with it, away from it. It’s a fully scaling, monetary network and store of value and it’s going to get there over the next 15 years.

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Grayscale launches 5 new trust includes LINK, BAT, FIL

According to a press release, Grayscale Investments has added 5 new products to its Trusts offer. Expanding it to 14, Grayscale will have a Basic Attention Token, Chainlink, Decentraland, Filecoin, and Livepeer Trust.

Grayscale is one of the most important crypto investment firm. Eligible investors can now subscribe to the new trusts, they will operate as the firm’s other products with “periodic ongoing private placements”.

In the release, Grayscale claims their offer is among the first investment products based on the referred cryptocurrencies. The firm already offers trusts based on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Stellar Lumens, and other digital assets.

Cryptocurrencies reached an inflection point

The trusts have been added after “a robust process” of research and assessment of the potential for each cryptocurrency, as CEO Michael Sonnenshein told Bloomberg. The executive claim they have a list of over 30 to 40 products which they “want to bring to the market”.

The firm works to “reconcile” investors’ interest in a cryptocurrency and “compelling opportunities”. Sonnenshein said:

There are many Grayscale products that have historically been a little bit before their time, before they began to resonate with investors sufficiently.

As per their latest report, Grayscale has over $42,9 billion assets under management. The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) remains the most important with $36 billion. Grayscale CEO added:

Digital currencies have reached an inflection point. Investor demand has never been higher, and every day we’re seeing new entrants to what has surely become a bona fide asset class. Grayscale has long been the leader in creating novel pathways for investors to access the opportunities that digital currencies may offer, and this announcement carries on that tradition. We look forward to working with our global investor base, our growing team, and regulators to continue to move this industry forward.

Grayscale products have been of the recipients of investors looking for crypto exposure. Almost all of the cryptocurrencies recently included are showing good performance after the announcement.

LINK (13%) native token of the Ethereum-based oracle service Chainlink, FIL (35%) Filecoin’s token use to pay to store files, BAT (31.1%) a token that enables users to track their interest in properties store digitally, MANA (11.1%) Decentraland’s token utilized to acquire virtual land have been on the green zone in the last 24 hours.

However, Livepeer (LTP), a network for content delivery, has seen the biggest gains. With more than 183% in profits over the past day and 414.9% in the last two weeks.

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Visa to enable Bitcoin purchase, says CEO Al Kelly

In an interview for the Fortune’s Leadership Next podcast, Visa’s CEO Al Kelly reveals their efforts to integrate Bitcoin into their payment platform.

Their plans are for their millions of clients worldwide to be able to trade in BTC but also convert those funds into fiat. Kelly claimed:

We’re trying to do two things. One is to enable the purchase of Bitcoin on Visa credentials. And secondly, working with Bitcoin wallets to allow the Bitcoin to be translated into a fiat currency and therefore immediately be able to be used at any of the 70 million places around the world where Visa is accepted.

Visa’s long-term goal is to become a bridge between Bitcoin owners and more traditional payments methods. For that, Kelly believes stablecoins have a “strong potential”. He asserted:

(…) currencies that are fiat-backed, but we’re allowing this translation, if you will, into a fiat currency and in a wallet where there’s a Visa card, and again that Visa card can be used with the translated digital currency over to the fiat currency to purchase at any one of our 70 million locations.

Bitcoin on top of Visa’s network

Visa’s CEO revealed they are working with 35 partners in the crypto industry to materialize their objective. Amongst their partners is Circle, the company behind USD Coin (USDC), BlockFi, Fold, and others.

Kelly claimed BTC is still in its early stages so he is not certain cryptocurrencies “will take off and become a big deal”. However, Visa is planning to be at the center of the crypto industry to “help move that money”. At the same time, the executive outlined a possible future where “there are no winners and losers” between Visa’s or Bitcoin’s network.

The payment company’s executive sees Bitcoin as a solution for the businesses affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly the travel industry. With a declining usage of cash, Visa is looking to accelerate the “digitization of the economy”. In the next 3 years, Kelly said they will try to “digitized” 50 million small businesses.

In mid-2020, Visa published their first report which directly mentioned BTC and revealed their efforts to “advanced” their approach to the digital currency. Ultimately, the payment company’s vision is for every transaction across multiple blockchains to be settled on top of Visa’s network.

We continue to think of Visa as a network of networks. […] Blockchain networks and stablecoins, like USDC, are just additional networks. So we think that there’s a significant value that Visa can provide to our clients, enabling them to access them and enabling them to spend at our merchants.

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Morgan Stanley to offer Bitcoin access to its clients via 3 funds

CNBC has learned that bank giant Morgan Stanley will offer its client access to Bitcoin. According to an internal memo by the banking institution, crypto firm Galaxy Digital and FS NYDIG will enable the product.

With over $4 trillion in assets under management, Morgan Stanley has become the first major U.S. bank to launch a product to grant its client exposure to the cryptocurrency. Sources quoted by CNBC claimed the decision was taken after Morgan Stanley receive pressure from its clients.

Access to Bitcoin, but not for everyone

However, only those individuals with over $5 million will be able to qualify for the funds. Morgan Stanley claims BTC is only suitable for those with “an aggressive risk tolerance”. Even those clients will be allowed to put 2.5% of their funds into the cryptocurrency.

Therefore, the minimum investments for the funds will be $25,000 for the Galaxy Bitcoin Fund LP and FS NYDIG Select Fund. The Galaxy Institutional Bitcoin Fund LP will require clients to invest $5 million, as a minimum. CEO of Galaxy Digital, Mike Novogratz, said:

Galaxy is thrilled to partner with Morgan Stanley, the first US bank to offer Wealth Management clients access to bitcoin funds.

In parallel, a report by Morgan Stanley claims Bitcoin is reaching the point of becoming an “investable asset class”. The report is careful about making a direct recommendation to clients looking to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency. However, it claims BTC could be at a critical point for adoption.

With cryptocurrency, we think that threshold is being reached. A firming regulatory framework, deepening liquidity, availability of products and growing investor interest—especially among institutional investors—have coalesced.

The report also suggests an “investment strategy” with a small (2.5%) position in BTC, hold in the form of publicly-traded products. In the U.S., investors have limited options to follow the report’s suggestion.

But just like Morgan Stanley’s client, regulators in that country have been receiving a lot of pressure from institutions looking to gain exposure to BTC. The report states:

Our initial modeling, replicated in spirit by a recently published CFA Institute study, suggests diversification benefits from the low correlation of cryptocurrency to other assets and that Sharpe ratio improvements can be achieved with positions no greater than 2.5%. It is important to keep in mind that we are only in the top of the first inning.

However, Bitcoin’s price has shown little reaction to the news. At the time of writing, BTC trades for $55,591 with gains side movement during the past day and a small gain of 1.4% in the last hour.

Bitcoin BTC
Bitcoin with minimum gains over Morgan Stanley’s funds. Source: BTCUSD Tradingview

Over the past year, BTC shows an increase of 1,007% driving by institutional adoption. Morgan Stanley’s funds are sure to continue to strengthen BTC’s place as a world-grade store of value.

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Robonomics expansion: XRT goes to BSC & PancakeSwap

Robonomics has announced the integration of XRT on the Binance Smart Chain ecosystem. Now, XRT is available for trading on PancakeSwap, the decentralized exchange on BSC with the biggest daily trading volume of $1 billion. Trading XRT on PancakeSwap started today.

Partnership with AnySwap for the development of a bridge of $XRT ERC-20 to BEP-20 has resulted in several for the XRT holders: 

  • XRT trading on the exchange with the highest liquidity;
  • an extension of the Robonomics DAO incentive program – 13 XRT are rewarded for each 1% of a liquidity pool owned by a staker on the combined LP of PancakeSwap & Uniswap. More details available here.

The preference for Binance Smart Chain by many projects was driven by specific issues within the Ethereum network. Particularly, the scaling problem followed by high transaction fees has become the impetus to look for a cheaper solution.

Who is who?

Robonomics is a decentralized Robotics & IoT platform built on top of Polkadot & Ethereum.

A team of scientists and blockchain evangelists has been developing the platform since 2015. Robonomics’ mission is to bring the economy of robots to the 4th industrial revolution.

XRT’s utilities are:

  • staking in Robonomics Parachain;
  • transaction fees execution for Robotics and IoT devices;
  • governance, i.e. ability to manage and implement changes into Robonomics platform.

Anyswap is a fully decentralized cross-chain swap protocol that enables swaps between any coins on any blockchain which uses ECDSA or EDDSA as a signature algorithm.

PancakeSwap is a decentralized exchange (DEX) that is most prominent for swapping BEP20 tokens on Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and providing the highest liquidity among all BSC DEXs.