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Bitcoin Nears All-Time High Price After the Launch of Its First US Exchange-Traded Fund
Bitcoin on Tuesday jumped to a high of $64,476 USD, according to CoinDesk, nearly reaching its all-time high price of $64,888 USD. The coin’s rise was tied to the release of the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (exchange-traded fund), launched on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BITO. The ETF does not allow people to invest in Bitcoin directly but rather allows people that are hesitant about the unregulated nature of cryptocurrency to trade based on predicting its price fluctuations. Michael Sapir, CEO of ProShares, told the New York Times that the move gives people “convenient access to Bitcoin in a wrapper that has market integrity.” Douglas Yones, the NYSE’s head of exchange-traded products, told the outlet that he foresees crypto-linked NFTs gaining...
Celsius responds to NYAG crackdown on crypto lending platforms
Crypto lending firm Celsius Network has confirmed it is one of three platforms requested to provide information to the New York Attorney General’s office. In a Tuesday blog post, Celsius said it was not one of the two unnamed crypto lending platforms that New York Attorney General Letitia James ordered to “cease any and all such activity” around selling or offering cryptocurrencies. Rather, Celsius said it was “working on providing regulators in New York” with information regarding its business. “If any regulatory or technical changes are required in a specific jurisdiction, Celsius will provide clear and timely communication as needed,” said the lending platform. “We know that the only way to thrive and ensure our long-term growth is through clear regulatory guidance. We anticipate a...
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn thinks Bitcoin may be the best hedge for inflation
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn warned Tuesday that the next market crisis may be on the horizon, and Bitcoin could be the best hedge against inflation. With the United States government continuing to stimulate the economy, Icahn stated that he fears the dollar is becoming more devalued and that the price of goods is rising. “In the long run we are certainly going to hit the wall. I really think there will be a crisis the way we are going, the way we are printing money, the way we are going into inflation. If you look around you, you see inflation all around you and I don’t know how you deal with that in the long term.” Icahn said on Monday with CNBC. His comments were in line with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell who mentioned that inflation was rising along with supply issues: “As ...
Powerful blockchain lobby group urges Washington not to overregulate stablecoins
A high-profile blockchain lobby group is urging United States lawmakers to adopt a “technology-neutral” approach when it comes to stablecoin regulation, arguing that dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies do not pose a system risk to the financial system. In a 17-page letter addressed to the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, which includes regulators from the Department of Treasury and Federal Reserve, the Chamber of Digital Commerce outlined a six-point plan for future regulatory action involving stablecoins. According to the group, stablecoin laws should be technology-neutral, regulate in a manner that is proportionate to risk, ensure that the U.S. maintains a competitive advantage in blockchain, recognize stablecoins as digital payment systems as opposed to investments, ensure com...
SEC Chair Gary Gensler responds to concerns about first Bitcoin-linked ETF
SEC Chair Gary Gensler and Proshares CEO Simeon Hyman discussed the launch of the first Bitcoin-linked ETF in a CNBC breaking news segment on Tuesday. Proshares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, also known as BITO, is based on CME Bitcoin futures contracts. CNBC commentator Bob Pisano shared concerns from some investors that BTC futures could deviate from the BTC spot price: “The futures market is a better place for price discovery,” said Hyman. “The CME futures market trades more volume than the largest US crypto exchange. We launched a similar mutual fund on 7/28 and since we launched on Friday, the Bitcoin Reference Rate is up 52 percent, our BTC mutual fund is up 52 percent and the BTC Greyscale Trust is up 37 percent.” The debut of BITO follows announcements that other BTC-linked funds, including...
Mariah Carey Teams Up With Winklevoss Twins’ Cryptocurrency Platform for Education Campaign
Tyler Winklevoss shared his enthusiasm and strategy behind the collaboration with the pop superstar, saying, “It’s great to see Mariah and other celebrities discover bitcoin as an investment and hedge against inflation. Cryptos like bitcoin and ether were two of the best performing assets of the last decade. Our goal at Gemini is to help educate you on the promise of crypto and make it simple, easy, and safe for you to engage in this new asset class.” Carey credited Gemini’s free resources for her education in better investment skills using cryptocurrency in a video on Instagram. You might remember the Winklevoss twins from the 2010 film The Social Network, where they were both portrayed by Armie Hammer as Mark Zuckerberg’s classmates who accuse him of stealing the i...
Buy the rumor… buy the news? BTC price passes $63K as US Bitcoin ETF launches
Bitcoin (BTC) hit $63,000 on Oct. 19 as the debut of the first regulated Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) saw solid uptake. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView ETF launch sparks six-month BTC highs Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hitting its highest levels since April 16 as the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF began trading under the ticker BITO on the New York Stock Exchange. BITO opened at just under $40, swiftly hitting local highs of $42.09 in price discovery before consolidating. The strength of the launch served to allay fears that the market would conversely fall into the United States open in what would constitute a classic “buy the rumor, sell the news” event. Volatility was still rampant at the time of wr...
ProShares Bitcoin-linked ETF launches on NYSE as BTC price rises above $63K
The first Bitcoin (BTC) futures-linked exchange-traded fund in the United States began trading on the New York Stock Exchange, opening at a price of $40 per share. According to the New York Stock Exchange, ProShares’ Bitcoin Strategy ETF, the first exchange-traded fund allowing U.S. investors direct exposure to cryptocurrency futures, opened at a price of $40 per share of BITO before rising 3.8% to reach $41.54 at the time of publication. The addition of the crypto fund to a major stock exchange follows years of deferred decisions from the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, the regulator responsible for greenlighting the asset. The NYSE welcomes @ProSharesETF in celebration of the first U.S. Bitcoin-Linked ETF $BITO https://t.co/0qh0NDS2d4 — NYSE (@NYSE) October 19, 2021...
NFTs of empowered women aim to drive female engagement in crypto
The market for nonfungible token, or NFT, digital artwork is taking on the traditional art industry. Within the first six months of 2021, analytics firm DappRadar recorded $2.5 billion in NFT sales, showing a major increase from the $13.7 million in sales during the same time period in 2020. Christie’s auction house reported $93.2 million in NFT sales during the first half of 2021. In addition to impressive sales, the NFT marketplace OpenSea, which reportedly hosts 98% of the entire market’s transactions, registered $4 billion in NFT trading volume during August this year. While the rise of blockchain-based digital artwork is notable, many of the artists responsible for creating today’s most sought after NFTs are men. For instance, digital artist Mike Winkelmann — better k...
Facebook pilots Novi crypto wallet with Coinbase, Paxos
Social media giant Facebook has tapped Coinbase and Paxos for its forthcoming Novi digital wallet project, which kicked off its pilot testing phase in the United States and Guatemala on Tuesday. Beginning Oct. 19, a small cohort of users in both countries will be able to download the Novi digital wallet app on iPhone or Android devices and add money to their accounts with a debit card. From there, they will be able to send and receive money using Pax Dollar (USDP), a dollar-backed stablecoin issued by blockchain trust company Paxos. Facebook selected USDP in its pilot program because of its proven track record and “important regulatory and consumer protection attributes.” Because USDP reserves are fully backed by cash, Novi users will have the ability to withdraw their money in...
‘Brown recovery’ wipes out hopes that pandemic stimulus would drive climate spending
Greenhouse gas emissions, which had dropped more than 6 percent on a global basis last year, are ticking up sharply as economies rebound from the pandemic, the International Energy Agency said last week in its annual World Energy Outlook. As a result, fossil fuel subsidies will jump a record amount this year, the IEA said. “We are not investing enough to meet for future energy needs, and the uncertainties are setting the stage for a volatile period ahead,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a statement. “The way to address this mismatch is clear — a major boost in clean energy investment, across all technologies and all markets. But this needs to happen quickly.” While the analyses compiled by policy and energy experts looked at different sets of countries and used a range of metho...
UK Music Streaming Sector Faces Probe From Competition Watchdog
The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee raised concerns about how the dominance of Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music was “distorting the market” and that the benefits of the music streaming boom were not being passed on to musicians. In the U.K., the three majors make up 75% of the recorded music market, with independents accounting for the remaining 25%, according to the Association of Independent Music (AIM). Streaming now accounts for four-fifths (80.6%) of all music consumption in the U.K., according to labels trade body BPI. “The U.K. has a love affair with music and is home to many of the world’s most popular artists. We want to do everything we can to ensure that this sector is competitive, thriving and works in the interests of musi...
