Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

VanEck Files for an Ethereum Exchange-Traded Fund

Asset manager VanEck is seeking US regulatory approval to launch an Ethereum exchange-traded fund, with the move taking place as the company waits for word on whether it will be able to introduce trading of the first bitcoin ETF in the US.　　The VanEck Ethereum Trust would list shares on the Cboe BZX Exchange, according to an S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.　　The firm said the trust, in aiming to reach its investment objective, will hold ether, the currency native to the Ethereum blockchain network, and value its shares daily based on the reported MVIS CryptoCompare Ethereum Benchmark Rate. Ether is the worlds second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, behind bitcoin.　　VanEck and the Cboe are waiting for the SEC to render a decision on whether it can list a bitcoin ETF, which the asset manager applied for in March. The regulator last week delayed a decision until at least July 17, leaving investors waiting on the US to greenlight the countrys first bitcoin ETF.　　Wall Street institutions are increasingly embracing or signaling openness to including cryptocurrency into their operations. This week, S&P Dow Jones index announced the launch of three indices tracking the performance of the bitcoin and ethereum

2021-05-08Deep Dive

Bitcoin’s upcoming Taproot upgrade and why it matters for the network

While a vast majority of crypto enthusiasts around the globe seem to be gushing about Ether (ETH) at the moment and how its upcoming London hard fork stands to push the premier altcoin‘s value even higher, reports have recently surfaced that suggest Bitcoin’s much-awaited Taproot upgrade will go live also sometime by the end of this year.　　In this regard, many Bitcoin (BTC) mining pools seem to already be signaling their support for the activation and as per data available on Taproot.watch, a website designed by core Bitcoin developer Hampus Sjöberg, Taproot signaling currently accounts for about 56% of BTCs total hashing power.　　It should be mentioned that two of the largest Bitcoin mining pools by hash rate — AntPool and F2Pool — have been major proponents for this upgrade from the very beginning. Even other relatively large mining operators, such as Foundry USA and Slush Pool, have also expressed their support for the activation.　　 What exactly is Taproot？　　In its most basic sense, Taproot can be thought of as the latest step in Bitcoins evolutionary path because the upgrade seeks not only to enhance the overall usability of the network by making transactions cheaper, faster and easier to deploy but also eventually

2021-05-08Deep Dive

Will Amazon's Digital Currency Help Or Hinder Global Crypto Adoption?

A number of mainstream news outlets have reported that Amazon has hired ex-FCA officials- suggesting the launch of their digital currency is in sight. While the Amazon digital currency would not be a blockchain-based cryptocurrency,　　The British newspaper The Telegraph recently revealed that Amazon recruited several specialists from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), a sign that the multinational is preparing for the launch of its digital currency.　　While Amazon has remained tight-lipped about the launch of its digital currency, the decision to go ahead with a digital currency would signify a big leap for digital currencies, with a potential to make digital currencies ‘mainstream’.　　If the recruitment of ex-FCA officials is anything to go by, Amazon‘s launch of a digital currency would be equipped to navigate the currently murky waters of digital currency regulation. A new division was recently created by Amazon, Digital and Emerging Payments (DEP), which will allow users to “convert cash into digital currency” for spending on services like Amazon’s retail service and Amazon Prime Video.　　The company‘s current CEO Jeff Bezos has been rumoured a number of times to own cryptocurrency, however has never publicly confirmed this. As Bezos will be standing down as CEO of June this year, his

2021-05-08Deep Dive

Tajik government taps blockchain firm for e-government infrastructure

President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon is pursuing an ambitious integration of blockchain technology into his governments ongoing modernization drive.　　According to an announcement from smart contract platform Fantom, a new public-private partnership between the Fantom Foundation and the Tajik Ministry of Industry of New Technologies will see the two roll out a range of blockchain-based solutions across nationwide IT infrastructure.　　The scope of the partnership is to research, develop and implement various blockchain-enabled data-sharing, transparency and automation solutions. As a first step, the partners will establish a research and development hub to train local developers in building blockchain-based systems. In parallel, Fantom will thoroughly review existing data flows and documentation at the ministry and propose solutions that can streamline legacy processes and potentially boost productivity. Fantom will also look into the potential value of central bank digital currency issuance for the countrys payments system.　　The Republic of Tajikistans modernization program, which has been in motion since President Rahmon assumed power in 1994, has most recently resulted in the 2019 legislative agenda to widen broadband access, expand technology training programs and create dedicated agencies to oversee the digitalization of national IT infrastructure.　　Regarding the new initiative to innovate e-government strategies through blockchain, Fantom director of

2021-05-08Deep Dive

Chips Shortage May Be Exacerbated by Mining Giant Bitmain Order

Crypto mining company Bitmain has put more pressure on the market after placing a 5nm chip order with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company TSMC.　　Bitmain is looking to increase its efficiency and speed when it comes to crypto mining, which is likely due to the recent bullish narrative of bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH).　　TMSC will start the manufacturing of the chips later this year and expecting to finish early in 2022. It is unknown how much of TSMCs supply has been bought by Bitmain, but TSMC was predicted to up their production of chips from 55,000 to 60,000 wafer starts per month to 110,000 to 120,000.　　Chips shortage　　The chips shortage began in January 2021, when the global demand of semiconductors massively outweighed the supply. The chip shortage affects a host of industries from childrens toys, technologies, to the motor industry.　　McKinsey lead on semiconductors Ondrej Burkacky said that the chip shortage is a universal issue and might lead to some products being unable to be created. “At some point, consumers will be affected by the chip crisis,” he said and added:　　“The high noon season for consumer electronics are Q3 and Q4, and there might be shortages of several products during this time.”　　At the moment

2021-05-08Deep Dive

3 Reasons Ethereum Will ‘Dwarf’ Bitcoin, According to Mark Cuban

Ethereums price has been performing incredibly well for the past couple of weeks. Over the past 14 days, ETH is up more than 42% and more than 60% over the past month.　　This is not only true for its dollar value – ether is doing remarkably well trading against bitcoin. In fact, at the time of this writing, ETH‘s dominance sits at 16.9%, whereas BTC’s dominance stands at 44.3% – the lowest it has been in almost three years.　　In other words, Bitcoin‘s total market cap is currently only 27.4% larger than this of Ethereum, and we’re already seeing plenty of people jumping on the flippening bandwagon – the event where ether tops BTC in terms of market cap.　　Mark Cuban has been particularly vocal about his involvement in the cryptocurrency markets as of late. Hes also not hiding his excitement for ethereum and all of its capabilities.　　In a recent interview with CNBC Make It, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks gives three reasons for which he believes ether will outperform bitcoin.　　The Number of Transactions Per Second　　Cuban believes that the fact that ETHs network is capable of processing more transactions per second is a good enough reason for it to outperform BTC.　　“Right

2021-05-08Deep Dive

Cardano Creator Says Dogecoin Is Existential Threat to Crypto Space

Cardano (ADA) founder Charles Hoskinson is not a fan of Dogecoin (DOGE).　　In a new update on the state of Cardano and the crypto markets, Hoskinson says DOGE isnt sustainable and is likely to result in a systemic, catastrophic failure that will disenfranchise millions of investors.　　He believes such an event could “destroy the reputation” of the crypto industry and even lead to more stringent regulations.　　The Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK) chief executive says the root of the problem is that people arent buying Dogecoin for its utility.　　When someone buys DOGE, if you look at the commentary of the community, 99% is, ‘We’re going to get rich.　　The only way you get rich with DOGE is if you take your Dogecoin and sell it to someone else. So that other person, you have to ask – why are they buying it？　　Are they purchasing that because they intend on using it for something？ Or are they purchasing that because they want to get a 10x？　　If that mentality persists, there are only so many doublings you can have before it doesnt happen anymore and then a panic sale happens.　　Hoskinson points to a high concentration of wealth as another potential issue for investors.　　And if you look

2021-05-07Deep Dive

Norway’s minister of climate Sveinung Rotevatn is a Bitcoin ‘hodler’

Norways minister of climate and environment Sveinung Rotevatn sits on a stack of Bitcoin, he revealed in an interview this week.　　“[Its] a well-suited store of value,” he said, adding that mining—using powerful computing equipment to validate transactions on and maintain the network—did pose considerable environmental challenges.　　Going Bitcoin　　Norway is popularly known for its high-tech finance industry and is one of the few ‘cashless’ countries on the planet. Only 4% of all payments are conducted with banknotes and coins.　　But the adoption of digital payments hasn‘t quite spilled over to the crypto space: Its central bank has previously stated Bitcoin “doesn’t preserve stability” and is “far too costly.”　　“The basic property and task for a central bank and central-bank currency is to provide stability in the value of money and in the system, and that is not done by Bitcoin,” said Oystein Olsen, the governor of Norges Bank, in a statement earlier this year.　　Rotevatn, however, has a different way of seeing it. “What might make Bitcoin so exciting is that it has some of the same properties. You cant suddenly discover a ton of Bitcoin somewhere, giving one country huge reserves,” he said, adding:　　“It‘s spread evenly, it grows slowly, but steadily, and has a

2021-05-07Deep Dive

Reports suggest Goldman Sachs is now offering Bitcoin derivatives

According to a new report, the firm is offering investors access to crypto through non-deliverable forwards.　　Investment banking giant Goldman Sachs has reportedly opened up futures trading on Bitcoin to Wall Street executives.　　According to Bloomberg Law, last month the investment firm began offering trading with non-deliverable forwards, a derivative tied to the price of Bitcoin (BTC) — roughly $56,000 at the time of publication — for which investors can be paid in fiat. Goldman Sachs reportedly lessens its risk to the crypto assets infamous volatility by buying and selling Bitcoin futures in block trades on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange using the crypto trading unit of DRW Holdings, Cumberland.　　“Institutional demand continues to grow significantly in this space, and being able to work with partners like Cumberland will help us expand our capabilities,” said Goldmans Asia-Pacific head of digital assets, Max Minton. He added that the offering was paving the way for the company “to evolve our nascent cash-settled crypto-currency capabilities.”　　Goldman has seemingly been increasing its exposure to the crypto market following price surges in tokens and institutional players like Tesla adopting cryptocurrencies. Rumors persisted that the investment firm planned to set up a cryptocurrency trading desk after first announcing one during the

2021-05-07Deep Dive

Will Elon Musk’s ‘SNL’ Appearance Send Dogecoin to the Moon? Curb Your Enthusiasm

A mere mention on TV would give dogecoin (DOGE, +2.92%) (DOGE) huge mainstream exposure. But Aprils “Dogeday” flop suggests the “Elon effect” may be priced in.　　Only in the looking-glass world of 2021 could a late-night comedy show have the potential to move markets. Dogecoin fans are hoping for another price surge this weekend when Elon Musk, co-founder of Tesla and SpaceX, hosts the U.S. television program “Saturday Night Live.” Numerous fans have asked the billionaire entrepreneur to mention the meme-inspired cryptocurrency in one of his sketches. In a tweet last week, the billionaire Tesla CEO strongly hinted he would do so: “The Dogefather SNL May 8”.　　The episode is scheduled to air at 11:30 p.m. Eastern time Saturday, or 03:30 UTC Sunday, on the NBC television network.　　Why could this be a big deal for dogecoin？　　Merely mentioning the dog-themed cryptocurrency on the air would give the digital asset significant exposure to a mainstream audience. So far, the 46th season of “SNL” has ranked as the number 1 U.S. comedy show in terms of viewers, with 4.1% of the American population aged 18-49 tuning in. So there‘ll likely be plenty of people watching Musk and musical guest Miley Cyrus who haven’t come across

2021-05-07Deep Dive

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