2024-05-28 12:07

Crypto ETFs could see over $100 billion of inflows in the next two years, the report said. The bitcoin and ether ETF markets are expected to grow to $450 billion in total, the report said. Bernstein said this suggests flows of more than $100 billion in the next two years into crypto ETFs. The U.S. approval of an ether spot ETF has positive implications for rival tokens like solana, the broker said. Bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds are expected to grow to a $450 billion market based on our crypto price forecasts, broker Bernstein said in a research report on Tuesday. “This would signify flows exceeding $100 billion over the next 18-24 months into crypto ETFs,” analysts Gautam Chhugani and Mahika Sapra wrote. The broker predicts a bitcoin cycle high of $150,000 in 2025, and has a year-end price target of $90,000. Ether gained about 26% last week after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved the 19b-4 filings of eight spot ETH ETF issuers. Once the S1 filings are approved ether ETF trading will go live on exchanges. Now that ether has been classified a commodity and not a security, the “biggest controversy” surrounding the cryptocurrency has been settled, the report said. Bernstein notes that ether is the first proof-of-stake based token to be approved as a spot ETF and its approval “paves the way for a blockchain asset to evolve from a token sale. ”This has positive implications for other blockchain tokens, as they may follow the same precedent, and solana (SOL) could benefit," the report added. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/05/28/bitcoin-and-ether-etf-markets-expected-to-grow-to-450b-bernstein/

2024-05-28 10:29

Dog-themed tokens tend to move after rallies in video game retailer Gamestop, a so-called “meme stock.” FLOKI AND WIF are up as much as 8% since the start of Asian trading hours. GameStop stock rallies have often preceded a rise in crypto meme coins. Several dog-themed tokens started to move higher Tuesday as stocks of video game retailer GameStop (NYSE: GME) surged over 19% in pre-market trading. Floki (FLOKI) and dogwifhat (WIF), two tokens on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains, were respectively up as much as 8% since the start of Asian trading hours. Dogecoin (DOGE) rose 2% in the past four hours, while Solana-based bonk (BONK) was up 5.5%. Meme tokens tend to mirror movements in stocks such as GameStop and cinema chain AMC Entertainment Holdings (NYSE: AME). Some investors perceive these movements as a sign of euphoria, which can lead to irrational trading around certain stocks and meme coins. In an earlier interview, Mog token developer Shisui told CoinDesk that much of the “Gamestop mania had spilled over to $DOGE and other meme coins” in 2021—an indication of a repeat on the cards if GME continues to gain favor among retail traders. Tokens such as DOGE and FLOKI had earlier jumped as much as 30% in the second week of May after a viral post by retail trader Keith Gill. Gill’s cult following contributed to the infamous GameStop short squeeze of 2021. Gill, who turned $58,000 into an estimated $50 million between 2019 and 2021 by buying GameStop (GME) options, sparked a run in the stock after posting from his @TheRoaringKitty X account for the first time in three years. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/05/28/dogecoin-floki-dogwifhat-start-to-surge-as-gamestop-jumps-19-in-pre-market/

2024-05-28 09:00

A Harris Poll glimpse of voters' crypto views – paid for by bitcoin ETF issuer Grayscale – shows increasing interest, and 77% think a U.S. presidential candidate should know crypto. A Harris Poll look at U.S. voters concluded interest in crypto is on the rise, and 33% said digital assets will figure into their support of candidates. Just about everybody knows what a bitcoin is, now, and a lot of people reportedly think cryptocurrencies will figure into their financial futures. One in three U.S. voters said they'll consider a political candidate's position on cryptocurrencies before making a voting decision, according to a new Harris Poll examination of likely U.S. voters. While those 33% are taking a keen interest, the online survey of more than 1,700 people – funded by bitcoin ETF issuer Grayscale – found 77% said a U.S. presidential candidate should at least have an "informed perspective" on crypto. And they're evenly split on which political party is the leader in digital assets issues. The new polling followed up on a similar round of questioning late last year, concluding people are increasingly likely to believe that crypto will eventually wind up in their investment portfolios (47%), which could further explain their political interest. "Likely American voters from across the political spectrum indicate a heightened interest in investing in crypto assets and in supporting candidates well-versed in the emerging technologies,” said Zach Pandl, Grayscale’s head of research, in a statement. Almost everybody – all but 2% – had at least heard of bitcoin (BTC). A wide segment of voters claimed they're also familiar with Ethereum's ether (ETH), with less than half (46%) saying they'd never heard of it. About 17% of voters say they've invested in bitcoin, putting that asset nearly as high as those who say they have bonds, and significantly higher than those who invest in exchange-traded funds (ETFs). In a point that could be especially interesting to the firms winning preliminary approvals last week on their efforts to build ETH ETFs, 24% in the survey said this new option would make them more open to investing. And 44% of the voters think to some degree that "crypto and blockchain technology are the future of finance" – up four percentage points from responses to the same question asked last year. But they want government oversight, with 52% of respondents saying they'd be more likely to put their money into digital assets if the field gets more regulation. This latest poll showed a larger segment of the voting population keenly interested in candidates' crypto views than another recent poll of swing-state voters, which had put that level at 21%. Read More: Poll: Most People Cringe About Crypto, But Enough Care to Warrant Politicians' Attention https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/05/28/one-third-of-us-voters-say-theyll-weigh-candidates-crypto-views-before-voting-poll/

2024-05-28 07:11

Over 77% of Solana governance participants voted in favor of giving validators the full priority fee amount per transaction. Solana validators will receive 100% of priority fees from transactions following a governance vote, aiming to improve network security and efficiency. The previous model split priority fees between burning and rewarding validators, which led to side deals with transaction submitters. Solana validators are set to get a little more SOL tokens after a governance proposal to give them 100% of priority fees was passed late Monday with 77% in favor, governance data shows. Validators are important participants in a blockchain network as they run software to confirm transactions and maintain security. Solana priority fees are additional fees users can pay to increase the likelihood of their transactions being processed more quickly by the network. In the previous model, half of the fees in a priority transaction were erased while the other half went to the validators. This created a situation where validators were said to be making “side deals” with transaction submitters to get more SOL, as per proposal creator tao-stones on the Solana governance forum. Giving all the priority fees to the validators would ensure that validators are more focused on keeping the network safe and running smoothly, tao-stones said. The proposal is part of Solana Improvement Document number 96 (SIMD-0096) and has now been put into action with a feature called "Reward full priority fee to validators #34731. SOL is up 1.6% in the past 24 hours, trading at $166 in Asian afternoon hours on Tuesday, as per CoinGecko. https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2024/05/28/solana-validators-to-get-more-sol-as-fee-proposal-passes-in-favor/

2024-05-28 07:00

Elwood is focusing on its existing portfolio management and risk management services and less on the trading side, one source said. Elwood is in talks to sell part of the business, focusing more on the portfolio management and risk management services and less on the trading side, according to sources. The current reorganization of hedge fund manager Alan Howard's portfolio of crypto investments has resulted in changes at Elwood, a source told CoinDesk. Elwood Technologies, the cryptocurrency-focused trade execution and risk management platform backed by billionaire hedge fund manager Alan Howard, is in talks to sell part of the business, according to four people with knowledge of the situation. Elwood has re-evaluated its road map and is focusing on its existing portfolio management and risk management software-as-a-service business and less on the trading side, one of the people said. London-based Elwood employs about 100 staff across offices in the U.K., U.S., Jersey and Singapore. Elwood comprises trade execution and portfolio management software, with risk management services such as exposure tracking and collateral monitoring added in May last year. The company made $11.5 million in revenue in 2023 but reported a loss of $16.9 million after paying its partners $23.3 million, according to a filing. A second person said Howard’s current reorganization of his portfolio of crypto investments has resulted in changes at Elwood. Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that Howard was looking to sell his stakes in crypto exchange Bitpanda and custody firm Copper to focus on Brevan Howard Digital. Elwood raised $70 million in Series A funding in early 2022 led by Goldman Sachs and Dawn Capital, with investors including Barclays, Commerzbank’s CommerzVentures and Galaxy Digital Ventures. Elwood declined to comment. Update (May 28, 11:09 UTC): Elwood is in discussions to divest its direct trading but remains focused on execution management services in addition to portfolio management services and risk management services. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/05/28/alan-howard-backed-elwood-technologies-in-talks-to-sell-part-of-the-business-sources/

2024-05-28 06:01

Nearly 107,000 bitcoin have been moved since early Asian hours on Tuesday, with bitcoin shedding 1.2% on expectations of selling pressure. Over 140,000 BTC, worth around $9 billion, were transferred from Mt. Gox wallets to an unknown address in thirteen transactions, possibly as part of a plan to repay creditors by October 31, 2024. The market reacted bearishly to these movements, with Bitcoin dropping by 1.4% to as low as $67,680 after reaching a high of over $70,000 on Monday. Wallets belonging to the defunct Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox transferred over 140,000 bitcoin (BTC), valued at around $9 billion, to an unknown address starting early Asian morning hours on Tuesday. Mt. Gox, once the largest bitcoin exchange in the world, closed in 2014 after it was revealed that it had lost hundreds of thousands of bitcoin in a hack. Creditors have since awaited the repayment of their holdings - one that is largely considered to add selling pressure to BTC markets. In a press release, rehabilitation trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi said that no sale of bitcoin or bitcoin cash (BCH) had taken place and that the group was "managing bitcoin and bitcoin cash in a secure manner." Wallet activity shows the movements were done over thirteen transactions. A likely test transaction worth $3 was made on May 20, and another smaller transaction of $160 was done early Tuesday. The remaining transactions ranged from $1.2 million to $2.2 billion worth of bitcoin. All of Mt.Gox's bitcoin has now effectively been moved to a single bitcoin wallet, Bitinfocharts data shows. This is the first movement of assets from Mt. Gox's cold wallets in over five years and is likely a part of a plan to distribute the assets back to creditors before October 31, 2024. All coins have been transferred to a new address “1JbezDVd9VsK9o1Ga9UqLydeuEvhKLAPs6,” CryptoQuant head of research Julio Moreno said in an X post. Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy, said in an X post that he expected most of the transferred bitcoin to be held by creditors, instead of being sold on the open market. Still, market participants appeared to turn bearish on the movements with bitcoin shedding 1.4% since the start of Asian trading hours. It dropped to as low as $67,680 after a Monday high of over $70,000. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/05/28/mtgox-moves-7b-bitcoin-as-part-of-repayment-plans-sparking-btc-price-plunge/