Digital Assets
Digital assets are about more than just Bitcoin. The global adoption of blockchain, expansion of cross-border payments, new investment vehicles tied to intellectual property, and more, could one day establish a global market of digitized assets worth $50 trillion. This channel provides access to the latest developments, opportunities, risks, and thought leaders in the growing Digital Assets space.
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Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD) has launched its Crypto app in the European Union (EU), allowing eligible customers to engage in crypto trading with the added incentive of earning Bitcoin rewards. Customers stand to receive up to 1 BTC as a reward when signing up and can earn an additional 1 BTC for each successful referral. The platform claims to be the sole custodial crypto platform in the EU offering customers a percentage of their trading volume back every month, paid in Bitcoin.
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More Stories on Digital Assets
Digital Assets: CME Announces Trading In Micro Ether Futures Effective December 6
The CME Group will launch Micro Ether futures on December 6, the exchange announced Tuesday. The Micro Ether future, except for its smaller size, will retain all the features and benefits of the larger Ether futures that currently trade on the CME.
Venture Capital: Low-Profile Digital Currency Group, Which Owns Grayscale, Valued At $10B
Digital Currency Group (DGC), a low-profile, cryptoasset-focused holding company that owns some prize digital businesses, has been valued at $10 billion in a secondary sale of shares. The transaction was led by SoftBank and saw participation by big name investors such as Google’s venture capital arm CapitalG, Ribbit Capital and others.
Alternative Investments/Digital: Roundhill Investments Launches Digital Infrastructure ETF
Roundhill Investments and IO Digital Partners have launched a new ETF to provide investors with exposure to the digital infrastructure sector. The Roundhill IO Digital Infrastructure ETF (NYSE: BYTE) will invest in companies that own high-tech assets that support the efficient storage and transmission of data, powering the internet.
Digital Assets: Canadian Fintech Mogo Launches World’s First Net-Green Bitcoin
Canadian fintech Mogo Inc (NASDAQ:MOGO) pioneered MogoCard, the Mogo Visa Platinum Prepaid Card that is climate-friendly because everytime the card is used, a carbon-sucking tree gets planted for free. The company is extending that concept to transforming bitcoin, a cryptocurrency noted for its emission-intensive ‘mining’ process, into “green,” or carbon-positive bitcoin, a world-first.
Digital Assets: Bukele Snaps Up 420 More Bitcoin For El Salvador
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele is becoming quite the accomplished bitcoin (BTC) trader. Earlier today he embellished the country’s BTC holdings with an opportunistic purchase of 420 BTC. He exulted in a tweet: “It was a long wait, but worth it. We just bought the dip! 420 new #Bitcoin.” According to media outlet La Prensa Gráfica, BTC was trading at US$58,999 at the time of Bukele’s tweet, translating the value of the transaction to approximately $25 million.
Digital Assets: Ripple Deploys ‘On-Demand Liquidity’ In The Middle East For Instant, Low-Cost Remittances
Financial institutions and small and medium-sized enterprises in the Middle East can now look forward to making instant, low-cost cross-border remittances using Ripplenet’s first-ever On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) deployment in partnership with Pyypl, an international blockchain company.
Digital Assets: A Cyberattack On The US Supply Chain Could Cripple The World (Ex-NSA Hacker)
David Kennedy, the founder of cybersecurity companies TrustedSec and Binary Defense, and a former marine who conducted cyber missions for the U.S. military and the National Security Agency, says the prospect of a successful cyberattack on the US supply chain gave him sleepless nights.
Digital Assets: Twitter Co-Founder Jack Dorsey Warns Of Hyperinflation
Prices in the U.S. are trending higher, and Jack Dorsey, who heads Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) and Square (NYSE: SQ), warned in a tweet on Friday night of imminent hyperinflation. The term refers to rapid and uncontrolled general price increases, or inflation, measuring more than 50% per month. Dorsey tweeted: “Hyperinflation is going to change everything. It’s happening.”
Digital Assets: Coinstar Bitcoin ATMs Seen At Walmart Stores
Walmart customers can now buy bitcoin at many of its stores in the U.S. In a pilot operation, Walmart (NYSE: WMT) has allowed the installation of 200 Coinstar kiosks across US stores that work with crypto wallet firm Coinme and exchange cash for bitcoin. Walmart shoppers can therefore buy bitcoin at their local Walmart along…
Digital Assets: Crypto Exchange FTX Rakes In $420M At $25B Valuation
29-year old billionaire founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is a majority owner of FTX. Just three months after closing a record $900 million Series B round, FTX, the Bahamas-headquartered crypto exchange announced its $420 million Series B-1 raise at a valuation of $25 billion. That valuation is up from $18 billion in July. In Thursday’s…
Digital Assets: Russian Energy Firms Seek Go-Ahead To Use Flared Gas For Mining Crypto
Russia’s crypto mining industry is in expansion mode after China’s clampdown on its crypto miners. Also wanting to join the party are Russian oil and gas companies that flare, or burn off, the natural gas released from their drilling operations. Known as “associated petroleum gas,” this is burnt if it cannot conveniently or economically be piped to a utility. The drillers want to use this flared gas, also a source of emissions, as an energy source for crypto mining data centers.
Digital Assets: Short Seller And Forensic Finance Research Firm Hindenburg Offers $1M Bounty On Tether
Shortly after the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) ordered Tether to pay $41 million to settle charges for maintaining inadequate dollar reserves on its stablecoin, short-seller Hindenburg Research announced a $1 million bounty for information leading to previously undisclosed details about Tether’s financial reserves.
Alternative Investments/Digital: Bitcoin Futures ETFs By Vaneck And Valkyrie Set To Launch
Wealth manager Vaneck has won SEC approval to launch a bitcoin futures ETF after October 23, according to a post-effective filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This is the second such ETF to be cleared after the ProShares bitcoin ETF (NYSEArca: BITO), and will trade under the moniker XBTF.
Digital Assets: Bitcoin At Fresh All Time High, Scales $66K
Bitcoin surged to a new all-time high of $66,283.96 today, driven higher by investors’ enthusiasm over the launch Tuesday of the first-ever bitcoin futures ETF on the NYSE. The leading crypto had previously touched a peak of $64,895 in April this year.
Alternative Investments/Digital: Encouraged By BITO, Grayscale Files To Convert GBTC Into An ETF
Grayscale Investments LLC, together with the NYSE, has filed with the SEC to convert the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a physical bitcoin ETF. They applied on the same day that the first bitcoin futures ETF, the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (NYSEArca: BITO) opened for trading.
Digital Assets: Interactive Brokers Launches Crypto Trading For Financial Advisers In The U.S.
Interactive Brokers (NASDAQ: IB) has launched a crypto trading service for RIAs to manage clients’ crypto portfolios. Advisers can now trade and custody bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), litecoin (LTC) and bitcoin cash (BCH) via Paxos Trust Company on behalf of clients. These crypto assets can be traded off the same, single screen that displays stocks, options, futures, bonds, mutual funds and ETFs from all over the world.
Alternative Investments/Digital: Bitcoin Futures ETF From ProShares To Start Trading Tomorrow On The NYSE [Updated]
By a notice on Form 8-A dated October 15 the US SEC has notified registration of the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF for trading on the NYSEArca Exchange. The notice referred to a post-effective amendment number 238 filed on the same date by ProShares in Form N-1A that states the approximate date of the proposed public offering as October 18, 2021.
Digital Assets: BoE Official Likens Crypto To Subprime, Warns Of 2008-Like Crash
In a speech on Wednesday, Jon Cunliffe of the Bank of England called for tough regulations on cryptocurrencies, drawing a parallel between the $1.2 trillion subprime mortgage market in 2008 and the growth of the crypto market from a mere $16 billion five years ago to its $2.3 trillion capitalization today.
Alternative Investments/Digital: Bitcoin Spikes In Anticipation Of SEC’s Clearance Of Bitcoin ETF
Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, is within handshaking distance of its April all-time high of $64,895 after spiking over the last 24 hours on rising market expectations of an imminent SEC approval for a futures-based bitcoin ETF.
Digital Assets: MintGreen’s Bitcoin Mining To Heat The City Of North Vancouver
MintGreen, a Canadian cleantech cryptocurrency miner, will supply 2022 its proprietary digital boilers to Lonsdale Energy Corporation, North Vancouver’s district energy utility. These boilers recover more than 96% of the electricity used for bitcoin mining in the form of heat energy. This heat would be delivered to the 100 residential and commercial buildings in North Vancouver, a city that is on a mission to decarbonize and transit away from natural gas.
Alternative Investments/Digital: Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest Partners With 21Shares For Bitcoin Futures ETF
Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest has lent its brand name to the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin Futures Strategy ETF which will trade under the ticker symbol ARKA on the CBOE BZX Exchange, according to a filing Wednesday. While Philadelphia-based, white-label ETF issuer Alpha Architect will act as adviser to the ETF, cryptocurrency asset manager 21Shares will be sub-adviser. ARK will lend marketing support.
Digital Assets: Cipher Mining Commits $350M To Large Purchase Order of Mining Rigs
U.S. bitcoin miner Cipher Mining (NASDAQ: CIFR) announced this week its agreement with Bitfury Top HoldCo B.V. to purchase 4,000 to 8,000 Bitfury next generation mining rigs on a monthly basis between June and December 2022.
Venture Capital: Crypto Lending Platform Celsius Network Raises $400M
The transaction values the company at more than $3 billion. Celsius Network, the platform founded by Alex Mashinsky for borrowing and lending crypto, announced its raise of $400 million led by WestCap, a growth equity firm, and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), the Canadian pension fund. (CISION PRNewswire) The investors were undeterred…
Alternative Investments/Digital: BetaShares To Soon Launch Crypto ETF On The ASX
BetaShares is to launch the BetaShares Crypto Innovators ETF (ASX: CRYP) on the ASX. The fund will track the Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovators Index (BITQ).