Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Bitcoin Miner Marathon Patent Group Completes $200M Capital Raise

Nasdaq-listed bitcoin mining firm Marathon Patent Group (MARA) has announced the completion of a $200 million capital raise.　　U.S.-based Marathon reported Monday that following the previously announced shelf offering, it had ended the 2020 fiscal year with $217.6 million in cash and 74,656,549 shares outstanding.　　The company plans to use the funds to pay for major purchases of bitcoin (BTC, -5.63%) miners from manufacturer Bitmain, as well as further expand the business.　　So far, Marathon said it has bought 103,060 miners that, once delivered and deployed, are expected to produce approximately 10.36 EH/s in hash power.　　15,200 of these units are scheduled to be shipped in the first quarter of 2021, Marathon said. Its further anticipating installing 4,000 units in February, 6,300 in March and 4,800 in April.　　If all the miners were deployed immediately, at a bitcoin price of $28,000, “we would produce approximately $618 million in revenue annually and approximately $523 million in gross profit annually,” said Marathons chairman and CEO, Merrick Okamoto, citing numbers from mining profit calculators.

2021-01-05Deep Dive

Bitwise’s Crypto Assets Under Management Rise Fivefold in Just 2 Months

Bitwise Asset Management, a provider of crypto index funds, says its assets under management (AUM) have now passed the $500 million mark – up from $100 million reported in late October.　　The company said Monday that its Bitwise Bitcoin Fund and Bitwise Ethereum Fund have seen increased demand in the fourth quarter of 2020 from financial advisers, hedge funds and institutional investors.　　But the Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund – aimed at tracking a basket of 10 top crypto assets – saw the strongest demand, recently crossing over $400 million in AUM, the firm said.　　“The speed at which professional investors are moving into crypto right now is remarkable,” said Hunter Horsley, co-founder and CEO of Bitwise.　　The period since October has also seen prices across cryptocurrencies rise sharply, helping to boost the AUM total.　　Still, Bitwise said its funds had seen record inflows during Q4 2020, “surpassing the total cumulative inflows of 2018 and 2019 combined.”

2021-01-05Deep Dive

We Don’t Need a New Regulator to Have Better Crypto Regulation

Most crypto firms complain there are too many regulatory bodies globally and particularly in the U.S., and protest that this overlapping and even contradictory regulation stymies growth and innovation. The “alphabet soup” of U.S. federal regulatory bodies – the SEC, CFTC, DOJ, FDIC, FTC and IRS, to name a few – is just the beginning.　　At the state level, there are 50 attorneys general to contend with, not to mention the various state agencies and regulators that enforce the myriad of laws passed by state legislatures and applied by the courts. Digital currency has no borders, and while regulators do, they can extend their regulatory reach if markets, consumers and institutions in their jurisdictions are impacted.　　Donna Parisi is the Global Head of Financial Services and FinTech at law firm Shearman & Sterling. Sandra Ro is a former derivatives banker and market infrastructure executive and the CEO of the Global Blockchain Business Council, a Swiss industry non-profit building the next multi-trillion dollar industry through partnership, education, and advocacy.　　Some crypto startups and fintech leaders have advocated for a new regulatory body that would supersede these myriad of regulators, as a way to streamline regulatory compliance and reduce overlap between competing agencies. The Financial

2021-01-05Deep Dive

Ether developer Virgil Griffith could face trial next September

The U.S. government intends to argue that Virgil Griffith, an Ether developer, helped the North Koreans better understand how to use crypto to bypass financial sanctions against the country.　　Griffith, who was arrested in November 2019 on charges of conspiring to assist North Korea (DPRK) in using cryptocurrency for its own benefit, is seeking to have the charges against him dismissed. While U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel of the Southern District of New York ruled on some minor issues in the case, a full trial has been tentatively scheduled for September 2021.　　According to the governments complaint, Griffiths traveled to Pyongyang last April to speak at a blockchain conference, despite the U.S. governments refusal to grant permission. It was the first case involving cryptocurrencies and sanctions to be heard in a U.S. court.　　In October, Griffiths representatives filed a motion to dismiss the charges against him. The motion argued that Griffiths relaying of public information about blockchain technology to the North Koreans did not constitute a service to the state and that the governments allegations did not specify facts.　　That became a strong point of contention during Tuesdays hearing in the case. Judge Castor questioned whether the government intended to argue that Griffiths

2020-12-25Deep Dive

Ripple plunges after soaring more than 220% in November due to SEC lawsuit Contract liquidation soar

Liquidation of XRP futures contracts spiked late in the year due to a bullish signal in November that caused funds to go heavily long, which was followed by a plunge in December when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that Ripple hit the coins price.　　In November, the price of XRP surged more than 220% to a two-year high of just under $0.80 as traders anticipated a scheduled token airdrop campaign by the Flare network for all XRP holders. In short, anyone holding XRP will automatically receive a portion of the new Spark tokens, spurring new buyers to accumulate XRP.　　Adding fuel to the frenzy, Coinbase, the leading U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, announced plans to support the upcoming airdrop, according to a previous CoinDesk report.　　“XRP experienced massive price gains in November due to retail investor interest in the Spark airdrop scheduled for December 12, 2020,” said Florent Moulin, a cryptocurrency researcher at data provider Messari. “The market is also seeing experienced investors accumulating XRP in anticipation of a retail-led bull market.”　　Monthly liquidation of XRP since March 2020　　Source Bybt, CoinDesk Research　　XRPs acute bull trend came to a

2020-12-25Deep Dive

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