2024-03-06 18:14

The world's largest crypto has risen about 60% in just the two months since the opening of the spot bitcoin ETFs. Bitcoin's latest all-time high on Tuesday morning was accelerated by the launch of the spot bitcoin ETFs, experts said. The cryptocurrency started its rally in earnest in the fall of 2023 as it became clearer that the funds would soon be approved. Experts said that it would've reached a new all-time high nevertheless, but the ETFs have been an important tailwind. Bitcoin (BTC) reached a highly anticipated new all-time high above $69,000 on Tuesday only two months after the approval and launch of the ten spot bitcoin ETFs. The fast timeline has left people wondering: would the new high have happened so soon if the ETFs hadn’t launched? No, according to Seth Ginns, managing partner and head of liquid investments at CoinFund. “The new all-time high would have happened without the ETFs, but we’ve likely accelerated this cycle with the ETF flows,” he said. Even with Grayscale's GBTC losing more than 200,000 from its bitcoin holdings since the ETF launches in January, the spot funds on a net basis have accumulated just shy of 163,000 tokens, according to data from BitMEX. BlackRock's IBIT and Fidelity's FBTC alone hold more than 196,000 bitcoins. “I definitely think the introduction of the ETF was a significant tailwind and, without it, we wouldn’t be at all time highs,” said Jim Iuorio, managing director of TJM Institutional Services and a veteran futures and options trader. Iuorio believes that the recent rally is not just ETF-driven, but rooted just as much in the current political landscape, including anticipation that the U.S. Federal Reserve’s will lower benchmark interest rates in the coming months, as well as the end of the Bank Term Funding Program – an emergency platform put in place by the Fed in 2023 to stem what threatened to turn into a banking crisis. “The bid in all of crypto is a “no confidence” vote for the stewardship of fiat currencies and the potential for the Fed to restart quantitative easing and accommodative policy to assist in a pinch,” said Iuorio. In addition to the roughly 50% rally in bitcoin since the ETFs came online in January, much of the token's near-tripling in price in 2023 came after BlackRock in June indicated its intention to open a spot fund and Grayscale was victorious in its court case challenging the SEC's rejection of its spot ETF hopes. “While there are likely multiple factors driving the price of bitcoin right now, there is no question ETFs are playing a starring role,” said Nate Geraci, president of the ETF Store. “The convenience of the ETF wrapper has unlocked a significant new source of demand in the form of retail investors, advisors, and institutional investors who didn’t want to hassle with buying bitcoin directly from crypto exchanges.” https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/03/06/bitcoin-record-high-wouldve-happened-without-etfs-just-much-later/

2024-03-06 17:49

Campaign giving from industry sources has factored heavily in several races, aiding some likely future members of Congress, though November will see the major test. Crypto political action committees contributed to congressional candidates who won their primaries on Tuesday, including in Texas, North Carolina and Alabama. The bulk of their giving went to tank U.S. Rep. Katie Porter in her bid for a California Senate seat. Focused campaign spending from the crypto industry hit paydirt in Super Tuesday elections across the U.S., with several key congressional races going the way the industry had hoped. Crypto interests had focused special attention on ensuring U.S. Rep. Katie Porter failed to secure a Senate seat in California, based on fears that she'd emulate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) as a digital assets antagonist. In California's top-two primary contest, initial results show Porter coming in a distant third, which not only leaves the prominent progressive out of the running for the Senate but also out of a job next year in the House of Representatives. "From the White House to the Senate to the House, make no mistake: The crypto voter is here," said Josh Vlasto, a spokesman for Fairshake and other political action committees (PACs) established by crypto businesses and investors. "The crypto voter cares whose side a candidate is on, and the crypto voter will play a pivotal role in the 2024 elections." Read More: Crypto Seeks to Make Mark on U.S. Elections During 'Super Tuesday' Porter was the industry’s top target, and while crypto’s role in her defeat can't necessarily be quantified, industry cash arrived as she was neck-and-neck with the top Republican, Steve Garvey, who eventually surpassed her. If she'd reached second place, Porter still may not have been able to defeat U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) in the November general election. He'll now battle Garvey for the Senate seat. In total, the crypto PAC, including Fairshake and Protect Progress, spent more than $13 million on four congressional races, Vlasto reported. Of that amount, more than $10 million was devoted to defeating Porter. Crypto interests also steered $1.7 million to help Shomari Figures dominate a crowded field of Democrats for a House race in Alabama. Figures – a veteran of several government roles in Washington – once worked for Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who has so far been an impediment to crypto legislation progress as the chair of the Senate Banking Committee. But Figures indicated on his campaign website that he'd "embrace the new landscape around digital assets, like cryptocurrency, to stimulate innovation and technological advancement." In Texas, the industry PACs backed Julie Johnson with almost $1 million in another congressional race in which she'd so far secured more than half of the vote, despite facing nine other Democratic candidates. And in North Carolina, the crypto industry boosted Tim Moore for a congressional race there, devoting more than $500,000 to the Republican speaker of the North Carolina House. Moore secured that nomination on Tuesday, and his seat is considered key to a shift toward more Republicans in the state's congressional delegation. The outcomes in those races represent a preliminary win for crypto interests but whether Congress is friendlier to the sector next year will really turn on what happens in the November general elections. Most importantly, the president for the next four years will determine who is running the regulatory agencies and how they'll operate, and the majority parties in the Senate and House will control the agenda for crypto legislation. But whichever party ascends, progress in Congress will still require the two sides work together. "We believe crypto election spending could help in the next Congress if the industry's preferred candidates win in November," said Jaret Seiberg, an analyst at TD Cowen, in a research note on Wednesday. Yet it won't be decisive as enough crypto critics will remain to ensure whatever bill advances is a compromise." "Key critics remain in power, including Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown and Sen. Elizabeth Warren," Seiberg noted. https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/03/06/crypto-dollars-helped-lift-us-politicians-to-victory-in-congressional-primaries/

2024-03-06 17:44

Uniswap's reward sharing mechanism, if approved, could inspire other DeFi protocols to follow suit. Uniswap's UNI gained 20% as a governance proposal to distribute protocol revenues among token holders gets overwhelming support in a temperature check before voting. The initiative, if approved, could pay out between $62 million and $156 million to UNI owners in annual dividends, one observer estimated. Uniswap's reward scheme could inspire other Defi protocols, but may attract regulatory scrutiny. Decentralized exchange Uniswap's governance token (UNI) defied the broader crypto correction and surged to a new 26-month high price on Wednesday as the proposal to reward token holders from protocol revenues was inching closer to become a reality. A so-called "temperature check" to gauge the community's sentiment about the governance upgrade shows virtually universal support for the proposal in a Snapshot voting concluded on Wednesday. Uniswap is led by a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), where UNI token holders vote on decisions with their holdings using blockchain. The temperature check is the last step before the on-chain vote about activating the proposal, scheduled to commence on March 8. UNI advanced over 20% in the past 24 hours, hitting $17 for the first time since Jan. 2022 before slightly retreating to $15.7. The token outperformed bitcoin's (BTC) 3% recovery after yesterday's plunge and the broad-market, altcoin-heavy CoinDesk 20 Index's (CD20) 1% decline during the same period. The rally is driven by investors revaluing UNI in light of the major governance overhaul initiative, which laid out a scheme to reward UNI holders who staked and delegated their tokens, distributing a part of the protocol's income earned from exchange fees. Based on Uniswap's protocol earnings, the upgrade could pay out between $62 million and $156 million to UNI owners in annual dividends, Colin Wu estimated. UNI skyrocketed 60% immediately after the proposal submission on Feb. 23, and has more than doubled in price since then, the CoinDesk Uniswap Price Index (UNX) shows. Uniswap's example could inspire other decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols to follow suit. Frax Finance already revealed plans to propose a revenue sharing mechanism similar to Uniswap's. Digital asset manager 21Shares, however, noted that token rewards schemes may attract scrutiny from regulators. "It could classify certain assets as a security due to potentially meeting the prongs of the Howey test," 21Shares analysts noted. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/03/06/uniswaps-uni-gains-20-as-token-reward-proposal-inches-closer-to-approval/

2024-03-06 13:46

IBIT’s total inflows surpassed the $9 billion mark as prices plunged following bitcoin taking out a record high above $69.000. The BlackRock iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) gobbled up over $778 million worth of bitcoin (BTC) on Tuesday as the fund's investors apparently bought the dip in the world's largest crypto. IBIT added 12,600 bitcoin, breaking previous daily highs of around 10,000. Data from Nasdaq show that the fund recorded trading volumes of more than 107 million shares, or over $3.6 billion price-weighted, surpassing the previous record high of $3.3 billion from last week. The big inflows came as bitcoin early Tuesday shot to a new all-time high of $69,000 only to sharply reverse within minutes. The price tumbled more than 10% at one point to below $60,000, before a modest recovery to the $63,000 area late in the U.S. trading day. The BlackRock ETF now holds more than 183,000 bitcoin, closing in on MicroStrategy's (MSTR) 193,000 stack. IBIT has remained the most popular bitcoin ETF since the products went live on Jan. 11. Its assets under management are now about $12 billion, the most among its counterparts, followed by Fidelity’s FBTC at $7.2 billion. Overall, ETF volumes broke the $10 billion mark yesterday, topping last week’s record. Bitcoin trades just under $66,000 as of U.S. morning hours on Wednesday, down nearly 3% in the past 24 hours. The CoinDesk 20 (CD20), a broad-based liquid index, lost 5.8% over the same period. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/03/06/blackrocks-bitcoin-etf-added-a-record-126k-btc-in-tuesdays-carnage/

2024-03-06 13:25

The crypto firm's boss, Barry Silbert, also filed a motion to dismiss the Attorney General’s accusation that he concealed losses at the firms and so cheated customers and investors. Digital Currency Group and its CEO Barry Silbert have filed motions to dismiss a lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The lawsuit alleges investors tied to the now-defunct Gemini Earn product and those with direct investments with DCG unit Genesis have been defrauded out of $3 billion. Rather than remove money from Genesis following the collapse of Three Arrows Capital and crypto exchange FTX, DCG contributed some $1.4 billion (at today's prices) into the stricken business, the DCG filing claims. Digital Currency Group (DCG), the owner of bankrupt cryptocurrency lending operation Genesis Global Capital, has filed a motion to dismiss New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit against the firms. DCG founder and CEO Barry Silbert also filed a motion on Wednesday to dismiss the Attorney General’s accusation that he concealed losses at the firms and therefore cheated customers and investors. The New York lawsuit, filed in October of last year and subsequently expanded last month, alleges investors tied to the now-defunct Gemini Earn product and those with direct investments with DCG unit Genesis had been defrauded out of $3 billion, due to DCG and others hiding losses incurred during the collapse of crypto firms such as Three Arrows Capital (3AC) and FTX. The crypto industry’s tangled mass of high-yield lending programs has mostly vanished, with the biggest and ugliest probably the partnership of Genesis and crypto exchange Gemini – owned by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss – which has itself given rise to an acrimonious legal battle. "Today, DCG and Barry Silbert filed motions to dismiss the meritless civil complaint filed by the New York Attorney General against Gemini, Genesis, and DCG. As we have stated from the beginning, the allegations are a thin web of baseless innuendo, blatant mischaracterizations, and unsupported conclusory statements," DCG said in a statement. The NYAG lawsuit alleges the companies knew loans between them were under-secured and highly concentrated with FTX’s sister company, Alameda Research, and that DCG and Silbert concealed a gaping hole in the finances by way of a promissory note between the parent company and Genesis. DCG's dismissal filing points to misinformation and speculation in the market, which held that following the collapse of 3AC in 2022, DCG took money out of Genesis. The opposite was true, DCG claims: In addition to the promissory note, which DCG says is a fully vetted, fully binding document the firm is committed to, some $1.4 billion of cash and other assets, at today's prices, were contributed to Genesis after 3AC went down, according to Wednesday's filing. "DCG transferred hundreds of millions of dollars and assets into Genesis at a time it had no obligation to do so," a DCG spokeswoman said via email. "In fact, at today's prices, this equates to ~$1.4 billion in cash and coins. This is in addition to the $1.1 billion promissory note that continues to be misunderstood. Together, DCG's contributions equate to ~30% of the current value of the Genesis estate." DCG also contests allegations that the firm took an 18,000 bitcoin loan from Genesis after 3AC collapsed in June of 2022. This in fact was an administrative repapering to consolidate prior loan agreements, DCG claims, and no new money left Genesis for DCG. "The allegations are inaccurate throughout the complaint and they are often outright false," the DCG spokeswoman said. Adding a further layer of complication, Genesis last month proposed a settlement deal with the New York attorney general's office, which parent company DCG later objected to, calling the proposal “a back-door attempt to circumvent U.S. bankruptcy law.” Correction (14:00 UTC, March 6, 2024): Updated to show combined values of DCG contributions equate to 30% of current value of Genesis estate. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/03/06/digital-currency-group-files-for-dismissal-of-new-york-attorney-generals-lawsuit/

2024-03-06 12:24

One of Solana's leading meme coins, dogwifhat (WIF), incresed by 48% on Wednesday. A token based on U.S. president Joe Biden rose by 830% on Wednesday morning on more than $23 million worth of trading volume. Several other meme coins based on celebrities and politicians have been issued on Solana. The emerging narrative comes as dogwifhat (WIF) surged by 48%. Meme coin speculators are hopping on a risky new wave of cartoonish tokens based on notable politicians and celebrities this week, with Solana-issued meme coins leading the market following cryptocurrency's volatile trading session on Tuesday. A token with the ticker BODEN, based on U.S. president Joe Biden, rose by 830% in a six-hour period on Wednesday morning as daily volume spiked to more than $23 million, according to CoinMarketCap. A series of similar tokens based on the likes of Elon Musk, Kanye West and Donald Trump have been issued as developers attempt to latch onto the hype. Newly issued meme coins are high risk assets as they often fall victim to rug pulls and exit scams. The emerging narrative comes as dogwifhat, Solana's most prominent meme coin, outperformed usual crowd favorites dogecoin (DOGE) and BONK with a 48% move to the upside. The wider crypto market remains in a state of shock after bitcoin set an all-time high of $69,325 on Tuesday before prices rapidly tumbled, unlike previous cycles, leading to $1 billion worth of liquidations. Meme coins were the hardest hit sector with PEPE and DOGE falling more than 30% due to a lack of liquidity, although the both assets have since recovered. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/03/06/biden-and-trump-themed-meme-coins-take-center-stage-on-solana/