2024-10-07 15:59

Tokarev helped found the digital-assets custody firm in 2018. Copper is interviewing candidates to replace CEO Dmitry Tokarev, who is stepping aside to assume a founder's role at the company. Last month, executives Boris Bohrer-Bilowitzki and Mike Milner left to join blockchain firm Concordium. The CEO of cryptocurrency custody firm Copper, Dmitry Tokarev, is planning to step back from the day-to-day running of the firm and to resign as CEO, according to two people familiar with the situation. The digital assets custodian, which counts the former U.K. Chancellor Philip Hammond as its chairman, is interviewing for a replacement, one of the people said. Tokarev, who helped found the company in 2018, will still be heavily involved in the business, the person said. He remains a significant shareholder. "We do not comment on market rumours or speculation," a Copper spokesperson said in emailed comments. There have been other executive departures of late. Last month, founding partner and chief commercial officer Boris Bohrer-Bilowitzki left to take on the role of CEO at blockchain firm Concordium. Mike Milner, the global head of revenue who had been with the company for five years, also left to join Concordium. Tokarev has been at the helm of Copper since the institution-focused digital asset storage firm’s inception. He graduated from Imperial College, London with a degree in Risk Management and Financial Engineering. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/10/07/crypto-custody-firm-coppers-ceo-dmitry-tokarev-plans-to-step-down/

2024-10-07 11:26

Bitcoin is struggling to gain upside traction as a hawkish rethink of Fed interest-rate policy raises Treasury yields and strengthens the dollar. Traders are pricing in less than 50 basis points of Fed interest-rate cuts by year-end, down from 75 bps early last week. Bitcoin's rally stalls as Treasury yields and the dollar index rise. Though crucial, Thursday's U.S. inflation data may not cause tectonic shifts in the market. About three weeks ago, the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) delivered an outsized 50 basis point interest-rate cut, interpreted by many analysts as signaling more easing ahead. The move triggered a wave of optimism across financial markets, with analysts predicting 75 bps of additional cuts and a $100,000 price for bitcoin (BTC), currently around $63,000, by year-end. That euphoria's taken a knock as last week's stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs and PMI services reports forced traders to reassess the supposedly bullish expectations for bigger and faster rate reductions. Traders are now pricing in less than 50 basis points of easing in November and December, according to data tracked by trading platform Pepperstone's senior research strategist, Michael Brown. The reading is consistent with the Fed's dot plot chart published in September, which showed quarter-point rate cuts or one half-point cut by the end of the year. Recall that the year began with traders expecting over 100 bps of rate cuts and a bitcoin rally that saw prices hit record highs above $73,000 on the back of optimism over the approval of spot BTC ETFs in the U.S. Later, markets trimmed the bets to three 25 bps rate cuts for the second half. The recent hawkish repricing of Fed rate expectations is also evident in Treasuries. Early Monday, the yield on the U.S. two-year note rose to 4%, the highest since Aug. 23, amounting to a cumulative gain of 50 basis points since Sept. 25. The 10-year Treasury note also tapped the 4% mark, data from charting platform TradingView show. Meanwhile, the dollar index (DXY), which gauges the greenback's exchange rate against major fiat currencies, including the euro, has risen over 1.5% to 102.62. Other things being equal, the hardening of Treasury yields and a stronger dollar often lead to financial tightening and reduced investor appetite for riskier investments like cryptocurrencies and technology stocks. After the Fed cut rates on Sept. 18, BTC picked up a strong bid, rising over 10% to $66,500 by Sept. 27, CoinDesk data show. Since then, the rally has stalled, with the cryptocurrency trading below $63,000 at press time. Focus on Thursday's CPI All eyes are now on Thursday's U.S. September consumer price index data, according to QCP Capital. "With the recent strong U.S. wage and jobs numbers, the market will be paying close attention to this [CPI] print for any signs of an uptick in inflation. Fed rate cut expectations have shifted from 50 bps to 25 bps in just a week and this week's data may determine if further cuts are priced out," the Singapore-based firm said in a market update. According to RBC Economics, the report is likely to show the cost of living decelerated to 2.2% year-on-year in September from 2.5% in August. Core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food components, likely edged down to 3.1% from 3.2%. Even so, the report may do little to stall or reverse the ongoing DXY recovery and hawkish repricing of U.S. rate cuts, meaning markets may favor defensive USD positioning ahead of the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, according to ING. "Again, 0.1% or 0.3% [CPI] should not trigger tectonic shifts in markets now that the focus is on the Fed's employment side of the mandate, but some dollar volatility should follow any out-of-consensus print," analysts at ING said in a market update. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/10/07/the-notion-of-aggressively-dovish-fed-fades-as-us-inflation-report-looms/

2024-10-07 09:21

Anduro has developed the real-world assets (RWA) project Avant alongside tokenization platform Vertalo, and they will tokenize whiskey barrels in a pilot project. Marathon-incubated Anduro has developed a platform for issuing and investing in RWAs on Bitcoin. Like various use cases of blockchain technology, tokenization has been largely absent from Bitcoin. Marathon's incubation of Anduro may speak to a trend whereby mining companies are seeking to find more and more sources of transaction fee revenue in response to the block reward halving every four years. Multichain layer-2 network Anduro, incubated by mining firm Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA), has developed a platform for issuing and investing in real-world assets (RWAs) on Bitcoin. The platform Avant, developed alongside tokenization specialist Vertalo, is planning a pilot project to tokenize whiskey barrels, according to an announcement shared exclusively with CoinDesk. Tokenization refers to the issuance of digital representation of RWAs as tokens that can be traded on a blockchain. Tokenized Treasury notes traded on networks like Ethereum and Solana exceeded a market cap of $2 billion in August. "As traditional and decentralized finance continue to converge, we believe Vertalo’s work with Anduro will provide comfort to their partners that the durability of the Bitcoin blockchain extends beyond BTC and into real-world assets," said Dave Hendricks, co-founder of Vertalo. Like various other uses of blockchain technology, tokenization has been largely absent from Bitcoin. This has begun to change in recent years, however, through developments that have introduced smart contracts or facilitated the minting of tokens. Avant may pave the way for this to happen with RWAs as well, but with a certain Bitcoin spin on it, according to Anduro's product lead, Jullian Duran. Anduro wants to avoid taking a RWA play that exists on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains and simply cut and paste it to Bitcoin, but instead is looking to offer something that "a bitcoiner would understand," he said. "A bitcoiner who wants tokenized Treasury bills can easily access that via Ondo Finance. Why would we create an Ondo Finance competitor?" he said in an interview with CoinDesk. "We see the opportunity being in these traditional, hard industries that are immediately recognizable, such as American whiskey." Marathon's Bitcoin RWA Play Marathon's incubation of Anduro may speak to a trend whereby mining companies are seeking to find new sources of transaction fee revenue in response to the block reward halving every four years. Bitcoin miners compete to solve mathematical problems in order to add new blocks to the network and, in turn, are rewarded with new BTC. The amount received is halved every four years, last doing so in April this year, when the reward fell to 3.125 BTC. While this process helps to underpin bitcoin's strength as a store of value, it presents a challenge for the miners, given that their source of income is effectively cut by 50% every four years. "Specifically in the case of Marathon being a publicly listed miner whose stock price is highly correlated to the bitcoin price, we need to find new ways to drive up that price and drive forward adoption," Duran said. "A world in which more people use bitcoin is a world in which there are more transaction fees and a world where the entire ecosystem gets lifted up." Read More: Bitcoin Layer-2 Network Stacks Begins Nakamoto Upgrade https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/10/07/bitcoin-miner-marathons-anduro-unveils-tokenization-platform-starts-with-whiskey/

2024-10-07 08:47

Metaplanet bought around 108.8 BTC at an average price of just under 9.2 million yen per coin Metaplanet has purchased another 1 billion yen ($6.7 million) worth of bitcoin, pushing its holding to 639.5 BTC. With the purchase, Metaplanet has now bought just shy of 6 billion yen on bitcoin, purchasing them at an average price of 9.3 million yen apiece. Japanese investment adviser Metaplanet (3350) said it bought another 1 billion yen ($6.7 million) worth of bitcoin (BTC), pushing its holding to 639.5 BTC, worth approximately $40.6 million at current prices. The Tokyo-listed company purchased around 108.8 BTC at an average price of just under 9.2 million yen per coin, the company disclosed on Monday. It has now spent just shy of 6 billion yen on the largest cryptocurrency by market value, paying an average price of 9.3 million yen apiece. The company adopted bitcoin as a reserve asset in May as a hedge against volatility of Japan's native currency. It now has the second-largest bitcoin stash among Asia-listed companies, behind Hong Kong-based technology firm Meitu (1357), which holds around 941 BTC, according to Bitcoin Treasuries. Both companies trail behind Tysons Corner, Virginia-based MicroStrategy, which has more than 252,000 and is the largest publicly traded owner of the token. Metaplanet recently began selling bitcoin put options, in order to use the premiums to purchase more BTC. The sale of 223 contracts on Oct. 3 earned Metaplanet a premium of 23.972 BTC ($1.44 million). A put option gives the holder the right, but not the obligation, to sell the underlying asset at a predetermined price. Metaplanet's shares rose 7.9% to 988 yen and are over 500% higher year-to-date. Read More: MicroStrategy's Next Bitcoin Purchase Is Likely to Take Its Holdings Above Grayscale's GBTC https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/10/07/japans-metaplanet-buys-another-67m-worth-of-bitcoin/

2024-10-07 08:30

Elon Musk says prediction markets are more accurate than polls. Trump has widened his gap over Harris on Polymarket after an endorsement from Musk. However, he still trails in Nevada, one of the key states that have historically predicted the outcome. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is leading Democratic rival Kamala Harris by 2.5 percentage points in Polymarket's election contract after Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, endorsed him at a rally over the weekend. Trump still trails in one of the states that have, historically, 'called' the election. “As you can see, I am not just MAGA, I am Dark MAGA,” Musk said on stage at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the site of the first assassination attempt on Trump in July. “The other side wants to take away your freedom of speech. They want to take away your right to bear arms. They want to take away your right to vote." Musk also endorsed prediction markets, calling them more accurate than polls. While Trump leads in the national presidential election poll, he trails in a number of swing states. A Polymarket contract asking if Trump will win every swing state gives only a 19% chance of that happening. That said, a contract asking if Harris will do the same puts her chances at the same level. Critically for the Republicans, Trump trails in Nevada based on a Polymarket contract. According to data compiled by not-for-profit, nonpartisan civic initiative USAFacts, the state has been predictive of the overall election result in eight of the last nine contests. Data from Nate Silver's Silver Bulletin election aggregator shows that Democrats have strengthened their hold on Nevada over the last month. Nevada was one of the states where Robert F. Kennedy Jr polled highest, and a recent Wall Street Journal report profiled some of his supporters who are now voting for Trump, albeit reluctantly. But not all are marking their ballots for a Republican. A number of former RFK supporters profiled by the Journal are so dissatisfied with the major party options, particularly after Kennedy’s exit, that they’re considering abstaining from voting altogether. On the other hand, the historical elections data aggregated by USAFacts says that Ohio is another state that typically 'calls' the election. Republicans lead there with 90%, according to Polymarket, which suggests this race for the White House might be one of the most contested ones in history. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/10/07/trump-leads-harris-on-polymarket-after-musk-endorsement-but-trails-in-this-key-state/

2024-10-07 06:24

Polymarket bettors and the broader crypto community widely consider cryptographer Sassaman to be “revealed” as Bitcoin’s creator in an anticipated HBO documentary. The upcoming HBO documentary "Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery" has sparked significant interest and speculation in the cryptocurrency community about the identity of Bitcoin's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. In anticipation of the documentary, various memecoins themed around Len Sassaman and his cats, Sasha and ODIN, have emerged on Solana, Ethereum, and Bitcoin networks. The suspense around who will be revealed as Bitcoin's (BTC) apparent creator on an upcoming HBO document is making rounds in crypto circles, but some have found a way to make money with tokens amid the drama. Memecoins themed after cryptographer Len Sassaman – whom Polymarket bettors believe to be revealed as Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto – have started to populate the Solana, Ethereum and Bitcoin networks in the past week. LEN tokens on Solana and Ethereum were issued by opportunistic traders in the past week, running to a market capitalization of a few million before paring gains. Another LEN token issued over four months ago that claims to be the first be issued on Solana saw a price boost last week and sits at over $1.6 million as of Monday. Some even learned about Sassaman's cat Sasha and created memecoins around her. Others claim that another cat, ODIN, was Sassaman's first, as his wife Meredith L. Patterson tagged on her blog. SASHA tokens on Ethereum and Solana have reached market capitalizations of over $5 million in the past week. Crypto users have contacted Patterson on X asking about memecoins and receiving a Solana address for token donations in return. Memecoins are often created as a form of internet culture or to celebrate a meme. They leverage the power of community, where the shared humor or interest in a meme can create a strong, supportive base that drives value for the token. Anyone can call a smart contract and issue tokens on the BSC (or other blockchains) for a few cents, and the presence of decentralized exchanges means tokens can instantly be issued, supplied with liquidity and traded soon after. Some say that memecoin bets on tokens themed after Sassaman or his cats could be an underpriced market opportunity. "But I know if HBO releases a documenter and tells everyone that @lensassaman is satoshi, then every crypto mfers and every big media will say/write its name and talk about him,” said crypto X user @ariesyuangga. “If Len Sassaman is named as Satoshi Nakamoto this cat is going to fly,” said @dametime_tradez, another crypto X user. The HBO documentary" Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery" is currently scheduled to air on Oct. 8. Sassaman leads Polymarket odds at 35% as of Monday, with Hal Finney and Adam Back in the running. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/10/07/len-sassaman-gets-the-memecoin-treatment-ahead-of-hbo-bitcoin-creator-documentary/