Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Grayscale parent firm DCG to expand GBTC buy limit by $500M

Digital Currency Group has purchased a total of $194 million worth of GBTC shares so far.　　Digital Currency Group, the parent company of digital asset manager Grayscale Investments, is now authorized to purchase up to $750 million worth of shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust.　　The company announced Monday that DCG increased its prior authorization to buy up to $250 million worth of GBTC shares by an extra $500 million.　　The share purchase authorization does not obligate DCG to acquire any certain amount of shares in any period, and it may be expanded, modified or discontinued at any time, DCG noted. Actual purchases will depend on many factors like the levels of available cash as well as price and market conditions, the firm said.　　DCG mentioned that the firm had purchased a total of $193.5 million worth of GBTC shares as of Friday. DCG plans to use cash to fund the purchases and will make the purchases at managements discretion in compliance with Rule 10b-18 under the Securities Exchange Act, the company noted.　　The news comes shortly after DCG originally announced in March its plan to purchase up to $250 million of GBTC shares. The move came amid volatile conditions for GBTC and plans to hire

2021-05-04Deep Dive

VORTECS Report: Altseason indicator flips to Bitcoin even as Rally and Polygon surge

Timely NewsQuakes deliver market-moving events directly to Markets Pro subscribers, while a record-breaking VORTECS Score coincides with Polygons remarkable price action.　　Crypto investors are scratching their heads this week, as a key indicator suggests that Bitcoin is about to take center-stage once more — even as Cointelegraph Markets Pro subscribers had the opportunity to take major profits on altcoins such as Rally (RLY), Polygon (MATIC) and Ampleforth (AMPL).　　Since Markets Pro was launched in January, the Altseason Analysis indicator has leaned heavily toward altcoins — and indeed, the performance of an evenly-weighted basket of the Top 100 altcoins has strongly outperformed holding Bitcoin since Markets Pro began tracking these metrics on January 3.　　Holding Bitcoin: 74% return　　Holding Top 100 altcoins: 432% return　　Best-performing time-based VORTECS™ strategy: 1,843% return　　Best-performing score-based VORTECS™ strategy: 1,367% return　　The Altseason Analysis, developed for Markets Pro by data analytics firm The TIE, works similarly to the VORTECS™ Score, but adds two additional variables including press release data from tokens and exchange listing data.　　It compares current market conditions to those in the past, to assess whether the market currently looks more bullish for altcoins or bitcoin for the next 14 days.　　The VORTECS™ Score includes sentiment analysis, tweet and trading volume, and price

2021-05-03Deep Dive

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse Bashes U.S. Regulators on Lack of Regulatory Clarity

San Francisco-based blockchain startup Ripple has been in a bitter war with the U.S. SEC over the last few months. The SEC slapping lawsuit on Ripple over the alleged sale of XRP securities has put the two at crossroads. Bashing out the U.S. regulators once again, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said that the lack of regulatory clarity on the use of cryptocurrencies in the U.S. is “Frustrating”.　　Speaking to CNBCs Squawk Box, Garlinghouse said that the U.S. is far behind other Asian countries when it comes to crypto regulations. He added:　　“I give credit to markets like Singapore and even parts of Korea where there really has been a thoughtful government-led effort to define and have clear regulatory frameworks around cryptocurrencies.”　　Garlinghouse didn‘t miss to touch down upon his company’s legal battle with the SEC. He notes that the U.S. is the only country that considers XRP as a security. Garlinghouse noted:　　“Ironically, here in the United States they have not provided that same clarity. It is the only country on the planet that has said XRP is anything other than a currency. The SEC has said… XRP is a security. And so we‘re now engaged in a court discussion. So far, I feel

2021-04-30Deep Dive

100M euro digital bond was a CBDC test, says Banque de France

It turns out the 100 million euro digital bond issued by the European Investment Bank earlier this week was actually a trial of a European central bank-issued digital currency, or CBDC.　　An April 28 announcement from Frances central bank, Banque de France, revealed the digital bond was settled using a CBDC on a blockchain.　　The two year-bond was issued on the Ethereum public blockchain on April 27 and settled the following day, with a maturity date of April 28, 2023. The sale was led by Goldman Sachs, Santander and Société Générale.　　“From a technological standpoint, the experiment required the development and deployment of smart contracts under secured conditions, so that the Banque de France could issue and control the circulation of CBDC tokens and so that CBDC transfer occurred simultaneously with the delivery of securities tokens to the investors portfolio,” Banque de France said.　　The bank also revealed plans for further experiments in the future, noting that its efforts are part a push to provide evidence of use cases for a European CBDC:　　“In the coming months and in cooperation with the market, the Banque de France will conduct additional experimentations to assess other uses of central bank digital currency in interbank settlements.”　　The news that

2021-04-30Deep Dive

Bitcoin Titan Microstrategy Reports Major Growth in First Quarter

MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) reported its quarterly earnings after market hours today, which emphasized its focused corporate strategy and the benefits of its ongoing Bitcoin standard, first adopted on August 11, 2020.　　“MicroStrategys first quarter results were a clear example that our two-pronged corporate strategy to grow our enterprise analytics software business and acquire and hold bitcoin is generating substantial shareholder value,” per the report.　　Since shifting to a Bitcoin standard, MSTR equity has increased 385.59%, while the price of BTC has increased 369.03% in the same time frame.　　MSTR reported first quarter revenues of $122.9 million, a 10.3% increase, or a 7.6% increase on a non-Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) constant currency basis, compared to the first quarter of 2020, while also reporting a gross profit of $100.4 million. Gross margins for the company came in at 81.7% compared to a gross margin of 78% in the first quarter of 2020.　　During the first quarter of 2021, MSTR purchased approximately 20,857 bitcoin, at an aggregate purchase price of $1.086 billion and an average purchase price of approximately $52,087. A vast majority of these purchases were enabled by $1.05 billion of 0% convertible senior notes, which were issued in February of this past quarter. The

2021-04-30Deep Dive

How Germany Cannot Agree On Crypto

Germanys approach to cryptocurrencies has raised the question, can Germany agree with cryptos？　　According to Germanys Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, Binance has violated the securities laws as a result of its stock tokens service　　In March, the Deutsche Bundesbank ran an experiment designed to run a blockchain system without issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC)　　On the other hand, Germanys federal parliament has cleared a law that could see approximately 4,000 existing German institutional investment funds invest in Bitcoin　　In terms of regulations, Germany is open to Bitcoin. Cryptos are generally considered legal. However, they are taxed differently depending upon whether the authorities are dealing with exchanges, miners, enterprises, or users.　　Germany Suspects Crypto Exchange, Binance　　Germany‘s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, or BaFin, has stated that it “has reasonable grounds for suspecting” that crypto exchange Binance may violate the country’s securities laws connected with its recently announced stock tokens service.　　Recall that Binance recently went live with a tokenized stock trading service. The services, which settle in the form of the exchanges BUSD stablecoin, opened with automaker Tesla.　　After stating that Binance Deutschland GmbH however, it is currently waiting to be rubber-stamped by its Federal Council. When enacted, both existing Spezialfonds and new ones will invest in

2021-04-30Deep Dive

BNY Mellon fund laments it should have bought Bitcoin, not gold

SEC filings show that Americas oldest bank has attributed the underperformance of its small-cap ETF to failing to buy MicroStrategy shares after the firm invested heavily in BTC.　　U.S.-based financial institution BNY Mellon, the worlds largest custodian bank and asset servicing company, states that the recent performance of one of its exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, was significantly impacted by its lack of exposure to companies investing in Bitcoin.　　The BNY Mellon Opportunistic Small Cap Fund (DSCVX) gained 35% from September 1, 2020, through February 28, 2021, underperforming its benchmark, the Russell 2000 Index — which produced roughly 41.7% over the same period.　　Filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission indicate the firm laments not purchasing shares in leading business intelligence firm MicroStrategy (MSTR) — which invested billions into Bitcoin last year, holdings that have since grown to more than $4.8 billion. The filings state:　　“Fund performance was hurt as well by a decision not to own MicroStrategy, whose stock surged when it announced it had invested in Bitcoin.”　　The document also notes that the funds position in gold mining company, Alamos Gold, “hampered performance as shares were hurt by weak gold prices.”　　According to ETF.com, 88 ETFs are currently exposed to MicroStrategy, including the sixth-strongest

2021-04-30Deep Dive

What China’s Blockchain Services Network Means for the World

China‘s government has made the development and use of blockchain technology a national priority. To understand the impact this will have on global trade, one only needs to look at the country’s embrace of open-market economic reforms to forecast what is about to happen.　　Once Chinas leadership decides something is a priority, it is only a matter of time until the impact reverberates across the globe. China opening its economy changed the balance of world trade and finance, and prioritizing blockchain technology will be another core factor catapulting Beijing ahead as a leading global superpower.　　What this means for Western nations is a shift in power to the Far East that is accelerated by the coordinated implementation of technology as the rails of that transfer.　　Digital revolution 3.0　　Just as the Internet allowed for information to progress from antiquated paper and physical delivery systems to digital form with immediate delivery, blockchain technology allows for assets to make the same leap from paper to digital.　　Assets, including money, are now represented digitally, with global instant settlement 24/7 on an immutable ledger. Wall Street is beginning to understand this Cambrian explosion of possibilities, as the total value of digital assets exceeds more than $2 trillion. A similar

2021-04-30Deep Dive

Strong on-chain metrics suggest further upside for Binance Coin (BNB)

Binance Coin (BNB) has strengthened its market capitalization to position itself as one of the worlds largest cryptocurrencies. Following a 100% rally since the beginning of the month, BNB now ranks number three, behind Bitcoin and Ethereum.　　The increasing demand for Binance Coin has been fueled by the success of Binance Smart Chain (BSC). Transaction volumes have surpassed those on the Ethereum blockchain, making speculators claim this protocol will become the worlds main settlement layer.　　According to block explorer and analytics platform BSCScan, the daily transactions on BSC surpassed the 9 million mark on April 21, representing a 25,700x year-to-date increase.　　BINANCE SMART CHAIN DAILY TRANSACTION BY BSCSCAN　　Meanwhile, large investors have been accumulating Binance Coin at an exponential rate. On-chain data shows a significant increase in addresses with millions of dollars in Binance Coin, colloquially known as “whales.”　　As the below image shows, roughly 28 new addresses holding 10,000 to 1,000,000 BNB have joined the network over the past three weeks, representing a 17% increase in that period. At current prices, these whales hold between $60 million and $600 million in BNB.　　BINANCE COIN SUPPLY DISTRIBUTION BY SANTIMENT　　Binance Coin shows potential　　The Market Value to Realized Value (MVRV), which measures the average profit or loss of

2021-04-30Deep Dive

Crypto Ecosystem Matures, But There Are Fewer New Entrants

The growth of business models outside crypto exchanges demonstrates the maturation of the crypto markets infrastructure, while a noticeable decline in pre-seed deals shows a lack of new entrepreneurial entrants to the cryptospace, according to Mike Novogratz-led crypto-focused financial services and investment management firm Galaxy Digital.　　Alex Thorn, the companys Head of Firmwide Research, said that until recently, the biggest share of the capital invested in the crypto ecosystem would end up in early-stage startups. However, in the first quarter of 2021, most venture funds were for the first time injected in later-stage startups.　　“We see a maturation of the startup ecosystem when we look at median deal size and valuation. Both metrics spiked noticeably in 1Q21 to [all time highs],” Thorn said, adding that the median pre-money valuations in the first quarter of this year were up 340% year-on-year compared with the first three months of 2020.　　The reported crypto industry valuations have exceeded those in the broader venture capital market, bringing forward an intensified competition among investors for most promising startups.　　“Investors find themselves jockeying for position as increased demand, relatively low deal count, and a maturing crypto startup ecosystem all contribute to a founder-friendly environment,” he said. “Crypto startups are maturing.

2021-04-30Deep Dive

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