2024-07-23 11:31

The Wall Street bank increased its price target on the crypto exchange’s shares to $345 from $260. Citi upgraded Coinbase to buy from neutral and raised its price target to $345 from $260. The crypto exchange could benefit from an improving regulatory regime in the U.S., the report said. Coinbase could also profit from a U.S. crypto catchup, the bank said. Crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) is likely to benefit from an improving regulatory regime in the U.S. after the presidential election in November and the Supreme Court’s overturning of the Chevron precedent, Citi (C) said in a research report on Tuesday upgrading the shares. Citi raised Coinbase to buy from neutral and increased its price target to $345 from $260. The shares were little changed in the premarket, trading at around $266 at publication time. The bank said the stock could respond positively to an improving regulatory environment as a result of the U.S. election and increased confidence in its legal strategy following the overturning of the Chevron Deference Doctrine. “Notwithstanding the increased turbulence in the upcoming U.S. elections, we believe the risk/reward setup for Coinbase, particularly as to its defense against the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) lawsuit, has improved markedly in the past few weeks,” analysts led by Peter Christiansen wrote. The launch of spot ether {{ETH}} exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S. later Tuesday could also be a tailwind. Their introduction suggests the potential for more crypto ETFs to come to market, increased adoption of cryptocurrencies more generally and a larger custody revenue opportunity for the crypto exchange, the report said. While the stock has already risen 52% year-to-date, Citi notes that the upside opportunity from a more benign regulatory backdrop could be too large to ignore, “potentially unlocking sidelined institutional capital, investment, and increased crypto-native and traditional finance collaboration.” Coinbase could also benefit from a “U.S. crypto catchup” versus higher on-chain activity and liquidity that has developed abroad, the report added. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/07/23/coinbase-upgraded-to-buy-from-neutral-on-improving-regulatory-risk-citi/

2024-07-23 08:00

The project, spun out of Polygon in 2023, has raised $75 million of funding and claims unique technologies as a provider of "data availability," or DA – the speciality of storing reams of transactional data produced by Ethereum layer-2 networks. Avail, a blockchain "data availability" project spun out of Polygon in early 2023 that has raised $75 million of funding, is finally launching. The project's main network was set to go live on Tuesday, along with a native token, AVAIL, according to a press release. Data availability, or DA for short, is the specialty of cheaply and efficiently storing reams of transactional data produced by blockchains, such as layer-2 networks atop Ethereum. Avail joins a growing field of projects, including first-mover Celestia, that aim to capitalize on increasing demand for the service as blockchain networks grow. "The launch of Avail DA marks the first step in Avail’s mission to give developers the tools they need to boost blockchain scalability, enhance liquidity and provide seamless usability across any blockchain ecosystem," according to a press release. The highly anticipated project, co-led by Polygon co-founder Anurag Arjun, has raised a total of $75 million of funding, from investors including Founders Fund, Dragonfly and Cyber Fund. Avail announced last December that it had reached an agreement with the Ethereum layer-2 developer StarkWare to serve as a DA provider to new applications chains. Earlier this year, the project disclosed plans for integrations with top networks Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon and ZKsync. And in February, Arjun laid out an expanded "vision" for Avail as a "unification layer" helping to connect the myriad blockchains and layer-2 ecosystems, with DA as the "base" along with the additional projects Nexus, described as a "permissionless coordination hub," and Fusion, "addressing the growing need for shared security." But there is already much competition in the DA arena. Celestia, seen as the pioneer in the space, went live last October, along with an airdrop of its native TIA token. NEAR Protocol, an alternative layer-1 smart-contracts blockchain, spun out a DA project last month called Nuffle Labs, with $13 million of funding. EigenLayer, currently seen as the top restaking project on Ethereum despite lacking functionality pitched as crucial to the entire setup, has its own solution, known as EigenDA. In March, developers rolled out the Ethereum blockchain's native solution for storing layer-2 transactional data at a lower cost, known as proto-danksharding. Avail claims it's "the only chain-agnostic DA layer combining KZG commitments with data-availability sampling," citing two technologies that are cast as differentiators. "This marks a significant milestone for the blockchain community as it enables rollups to enjoy the features and benefits of Ethereum’s danksharding roadmap today," according to a press release. Avail's network uses a decentralized validator set, aiming to support 1,000 validators initially, with the potential to grow to 10,000, according to the release. The AVAIL token will be used to pay for DA fees and secure the network through staking, the project said. https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2024/07/23/avail-long-awaited-blockchain-project-for-data-availability-launches-main-network/

2024-07-23 07:30

The defunct crypto exchange shuffled over $2.5 billion between wallets, some of which was sent to crypto exchange Bitstamp. Bitcoin (BTC) traded near $66,000 as defunct exchange Mt. Gox started to move its latest tranche of the asset to crypto exchange Bitstamp, which has previously led to sell-offs in the broader crypto market. Arkham data shows Mt. Gox transferred over $2.85 billion worth of BTC to a new wallet in the early Asian morning hours on Tuesday. It then sent over 5,000 BTC, worth $340 million at current prices to one wallet, and another 37,000 BTC, worth $2.5 billion, to another new wallet. Some $130 million worth of BTC from the 5,000 BTC wallet was then transferred to Bitstamp, data shows. Moving to exchanges usually signals an intention to sell holdings. The movements come a day after Mt. Gox moved small amounts to BTC to Bitstamp, likely as a test transaction. In early July, Mt. Gox began repaying creditors affected by a 2014 hack. Over $9 billion worth of BTC and $73 million of bitcoin cash (BCH) will be distributed to traders in the coming months. Bitcoin dropped below $67,000 earlier Tuesday as Mt. Gox started to move assets, denting market sentiment as U.S. investors look to start trading spot ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds for the first time later in the day. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/07/23/bitcoin-nears-66k-as-mt-gox-moves-130m-to-bitstamp/

2024-07-23 07:08

The budget is the first since Prime Minister Narendra Modi was elected for a third straight term. India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced an interim budget on Feb. 1, 2024, before the nation's elections between April and June. On Tuesday she revealed a full budget for 2024-2025. India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman kept crypto tax rules unchanged in her address announcing the nation's budget for 2024-2025 on Tuesday. This was expected, as CoinDesk reported on Monday. The primary demand from India's crypto industry was to reduce the controversial tax-deducted-at-source (TDS) policy on crypto transactions from 1% to 0.01%. It made its representations to government officials with evidence from several sources, including a think tank study that provided evidence to support a reduction in the TDS. The industry also asked the government to establish progressive taxes on gains instead of the flat 30% rate, and allowing losses to offset gains. They have also pushed for multi-agency regulation. "We were hoping for some relaxation to the taxation framework on VDAs (Virtual Digital Assets) in this budget, but the absence of any announcement is not particularly disheartening, given the Govt's overall negative stance towards the sector," said Dilip Chenoy, Chairperson, Bharat Web3 Association, adding that they would "continue to push for rationalization of the taxation framework." Notably, the government increased the long term capital gains tax from 10% to 12.5% and short term capital gains taxes from 15% to 20%. Whether this will have any impact on crypto trading is unclear. "The increase in Long Term Capital Gains Tax from 10% to 12.5% and Short Term Capital Gains Tax from 15% to 20% in Budget 2024 may incentivize retail investors to shift from traditional assets like securities to cryptocurrencies. While this shift is possible, it's important to note that crypto gains are taxed at a flat 30% rate, and unlike securities, losses in crypto cannot be set off against gains," said Rajat Mittal, a Supreme Court crypto tax counsel. "On the positive, abolishing the angel tax for all classes of investors will work towards bolstering the Indian startup ecosystem," Chenoy said. "We look forward to more Web3 startups setting base in India, given India's immense Web3 talent and potential." "CoinDCX welcomes the Finance Minister’s announcement in today’s budget regarding the abolition of the Angel tax for all classes of investors. We are confident that this will significantly bolster the Indian tech start-up ecosystem, especially in the Web3 sector," said Sumit Gupta, co-founder of Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX. The budget is the first since Prime Minister Narendra Modi was elected for a third straight term. Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) failed to secure a majority in this year's election, pushing them to form a coalition government, along with the limitations that come with it. Among other initiatives, the budget revealed financial support of Rs 26,000 crore ($3.1 billion) to go toward road projects in Bihar, one state where Modi's alliance partner is, and Rs 15,000 crore ($1.8 billion) for another partner's plans for the development of a state capital in Andhra Pradesh. This budget is being seen as a roadmap for his vision for the next five years, one that would consider the sentiment reflected in the unexpected election results. Read More: India Unlikely to See Crypto Tax Reduction in Tuesday's Budget https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/07/23/india-keeps-controversial-crypto-tax-rules-unchanged-finance-ministers-budget-speech/

2024-07-23 06:12

BTC failed to take out key price resistance despite huge inflows into BlackRock's IBIT. BlackRock's IBIT registered the highest single-day inflow since March. BTC failed to break out of a key price resistance level. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), a Nasdaq-listed exchange-traded fund (ETF) closely tracking the cryptocurrency's spot price, drew in $526.7 million in investor funds on Monday, preliminary data published by Farside Investors show. That's the highest single-day tally since March, according to data source Coinglass. Since its inception on Jan. 11, BlackRock alone has drawn in nearly $19.5 billion in investor funds. On Monday, the remaining 10 U.S-listed ETFs fell out of investor favor, attracting a net inflow of just $6.9 million. Bitcoin (BTC) briefly topped the $68,000 mark on Monday, reaching its highest level in over a month. The bullish move happened amid a rumor that pro-crypto Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump would announce a bigger role for BTC in the financial system at the Nashville Bitcoin conference later this month. The buyers, however, failed to penetrate the trendline connecting March and April highs, paving the way for a renewed pullback. A similar failure to establish a foot hold above the resistance line in late May paved the way for a pull back to under $55,000. As of writing, the cryptocurrency changed hands at $$66,440, representing a 1.8% drop on a 24-hour basis. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/07/23/blackrocks-spot-bitcoin-etf-draws-526m-in-net-inflows/

2024-07-23 05:56

The plan administrator revealed that a significant transaction had been closed which would enable a near-term final distribution of 100% for all eligible claims. Bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi's plan administrator has asked a U.S. court for an order for the final distribution to make customers and unsecured creditors whole. "This transaction marks a final chapter in the wind-down and is the best possible outcome for customers of BlockFi," said Mohsin Y. Meghji, Plan Administrator of BlockFi Inc. The administrator of crypto lender BlockFi is seeking an order which would provide for final distribution to all eligible customers and unsecured creditors, it announced on Monday. The administrator filed a report to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. The report revealed that the administrator has closed a significant transaction, which allows them to monetize $874.5 million in claims against FTX at a substantial premium to their face value. "This transaction marks a final chapter in the wind-down and is the best possible outcome for customers of BlockFi," said Mohsin Y. Meghji, Plan Administrator of BlockFi Inc. and Managing Partner of M3 Partners. "These recoveries on customer claims, and the timeline those recoveries will be distributed on, were unimaginable when these cases were filed in November 2022. These results, achieved through tireless efforts by various parties, are remarkable. We intend to commence the Final Customer Distribution as quickly as reasonably practicable," Meghji concluded. BlockFi was among the first victims of the contagion caused by the collapse of crypto exchange FTX in early November 2022. The crypto lender filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Nov. 28, 2022, less than a month after halting withdrawals from the platform. BlockFi then began the process of asking the court to greenlight customer withdrawals that are locked up in the platform. Last week, BlockFi announced it would commence the first interim crypto distributions through Coinbase (COIN) in July 2024. Read More: BlockFi to Start Interim Crypto Distributions Through Coinbase This Month https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/07/23/blockfi-administrator-submits-plan-in-court-to-make-customers-whole/