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.
Top Story
SoFi Technologies Inc., a rapidly expanding financial-services provider, is exiting the cryptocurrency market due to heightened regulatory scrutiny. The San Francisco-based company, initially focused on student-lending refinancing, diversified its services over 12 years. Having obtained a bank charter in January 2022, with conditions attached regarding its crypto business. Those necessitated regulatory approval or an exit from the digital asset sector within a two-year conformance period.
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More Stories on Digital Assets
Alternative Investments/Digital: CoinShares And 3iQ Join Hands For BTC ETF
Asset manager Coinshares is partnering with 3iQ for the launch of the 3iQ Coinshares Bitcoin ETF. The move follows a strategic investment by CoinShares in 3iQ. The ETF is expected to trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange from early April under the symbols “BTCQ.U” (in US dollars) and “BTCQ” (in Canadian dollars). 3iQ will act as the investment and portfolio manager of the ETF.
Digital Assets: Paxos’ Blockchain Conducts The First-Ever, Same Day (“T+0”) Equity Settlement
According to an announcement on Tuesday, Credit Suisse (SWX: CSGN) and Instinet settled U.S.-listed equity trades, entered at 11 AM ET and 3 PM ET, on the same day at 4:30 PM ET via a same-day settlement cycle (“T+0”) conducted on the Paxos Settlement Service blockchain.
Alternative Investments/Digital: North America’s First Bitcoin Mutual Fund From CI Global
CI Global Asset Management announced Monday the launch of the first mutual fund to offer exposure to bitcoin. The CI Bitcoin Fund requires a minimum investment of only $500 and charges a management fee of 0.40% – claimed to be an industry-low. With the launch of this product, CI Global earns the distinction of being the only firm across the globe to offer a bitcoin mutual fund as well as a bitcoin ETF.
Digital Assets: MicroStrategy Adds To Bitcoin Hoard With $15M Purchase
MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) the listed business intelligence company led by bitcoin evangelist Michael Saylor has invested another $15 million in cash to buy bitcoin. The purchase came to light in an SEC Form 8-K filing.
Digital Assets: Government Could Crack Down On Bitcoin (Ron Paul)
Former presidential candidate Ron Paul sounded the alarm bells on a government crackdown on bitcoin at an interview last week with Kitco News’ Michelle Makori. Separately, ex-SEC Chair Jay Clayton also warned of potential new regulations around bitcoin.
Alternative Investments/Digital: Grayscale Trains Its Sights On Morphing GBTC Into An ETF
In a blog post today, Grayscale cleared the air on its intentions regarding a bitcoin ETF, given the increasing number of applications piling up with the SEC for permission to launch such a vehicle for the leading cryptocurrency.
Digital Assets: Man Loses $600K To Fake “Trezor” App Downloaded From Apple’s App Store
Last month, Phillipe Christodoulou downloaded an innocuous-looking app from Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) App Store. All he wanted to do was check his bitcoin balance. But the app was a fake, and cleaned out his 17.1 bitcoins the moment he logged in crypto keys.
Alternative Investments/Digital: Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management To Offer Cryptos
Mary Rich, the new incumbent leading digital assets for Goldman Sachs’ private wealth management division, said the investment bank will begin offering investments in bitcoin and other digital assets as early as the second quarter of this year.
Digital Assets: CME Group Makes Bitcoin Futures More Accessible, Launches Micros
CME Group has added a new product, Micro Bitcoin Futures, to its existing suite of crypto derivatives. The CME will introduce the new future contract on May 3, subject to regulatory review. Constituting one 10th the size of one regular bitcoin contract (which has a size of five bitcoin), the micro bitcoin futures contract will enable more market participants to trade the leading cryptocurrency.
Digital Assets: U.S. Shoppers Can Now Pay With PayPal’s New “Checkout With Crypto”
PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) has made it possible for its U.S. account-holders to pay for their online shopping using cryptos. The new feature, dubbed “Checkout with Crypto,” allows PayPal customers to instantly convert their crypto holdings of Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, or Bitcoin Cash into a fiat currency such as the U.S. dollar and pay for their order.
Digital Assets: Dirty, Dirty Bitcoin
According to Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who was speaking on the Unconfirmed podcast on March 26, bitcoin mined outside the U.S. primarily uses “dirty energy.” “A part of the problem with Bitcoin is 90% of it is not done in the United States.” He said. “90% of it is done in countries that have dirty energy. So that’s the reason why it’s considered to be a dirty activity.”
Alternative Investments/Digital: New, Bullish Outlooks For Bitcoin
Speaking on a Bloomberg interview, Soros Management Fund Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Dawn Fitzpatrick took a bullish stance on bitcoin and infrastructure surrounding cryptocurrencies such as exchanges, custody agents, even tax reporting. She revealed that the fund had invested in the latter. Regarding bitcoin, she said it was positioned at an inflection point.
Digital Assets: KiwiSaver, A New Zealand Retirement Fund, Opts For Bitcoin
The KiwiSaver Growth Fund, an investment fund geared to saving for retirement, has invested about 5% of its assets in bitcoin. This was revealed by James Grigor, Chief Investment Officer at NZ Funds while speaking to Stuff.
Alternative Investments/Digital: Goldman Sachs Offers Proxy Exposure To Cryptos Via “ETF-Linked” Notes
Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) plans to offer notes linked to the performance of the ARK Innovation ETF, an actively managed fund by Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment Management. The $ 15.7 million Auto-callable Contingent Coupon ETF-linked notes are due 2026.
Digital Assets: Bitcoin Could Be Outlawed, Says Ray Dalio
Dalio is the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, the $150 billion hedge fund that is the world’s largest. History could repeat itself and bitcoin could be done in by a governmental crackdown similar to the one on gold when the U.S. government made it illegal for individuals to own the precious metal. Speaking to Yahoo…
Digital Assets: Investors Pile Into Blockchain.com’s $300M Raise, Valuing It At $5.2B
This mega-round follows on a $120 million raise just last month. Blockchain.com’s valuation has surged to $ 5.2 billion from $ 3 billion in just a month, such was investors’ appetite for its latest Series C raise. The investment was led by DST Global, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and VY Capital, and included participation from other existing and leading investors across the globe.
Digital Assets: Crypto Security And Infra Provider Fireblocks Raises $133M From BNY Mellon, Others
Fireblocks, which provides a specialized and secure platform for custody, settlement, and new crypto offerings, announced last its raise of $133 million via Series C funding. Coatue, Ribbit, and Stripes led the round, while The Bank of New York Mellon made a strategic investment. Previous investors, including Paradigm, Galaxy Digital, Swisscom Ventures, Tenaya Capital, and Cyberstarts Ventures, also participated in the round.
Alternative Investments/Digital: Scaramucci’s Skybridge Capital Files For A Bitcoin ETF
Last week, Anthony Scaramucci-founded Skybridge Capital filed an S-1 registration prospectus for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). It follows previous applicants such as Vaneck and Valkyrie Digital Assets, all in the hope that the SEC will, after years of rejecting bitcoin ETF applications, may finally thaw this time around under the aegis of a new administration.
Digital Assets: Greenidge Generation, A Powerplant-Crypto Mining Hybrid, To List On Nasdaq
Greenidge Generation, an 84-year old mothballed coal-fired power station located in the New York Finger Lake Region, pivoted to natural gas-based generation and crypto mining in the past few years after its purchase in 2014 by affiliates of Atlas Holdings LLC, the private equity fund. Greenidge announced today a merger agreement with Support.com (NASDAQ: SPRT) that is expected to close in Q3 of 2021.
Digital Assets: Bank of America Punctures Most Arguments In Favor Of Bitcoin
Bank of America issued a report on Wednesday that debunked many arguments generally touted in favor of bitcoin as an investment. A team of analysts led by Francisco Blanch, the head of Global Commodities, Equity Derivatives, and Cross-Asset Quantitative Investment Strategies at the bank, said the only reason for owning bitcoin was if you “see prices going up.”
Digital Assets: Visa Signals Potential ‘Mainstream’ Adoption of Bitcoin
In a hugely positive comment for the global adoption of bitcoin, Al Kelly, CEO, Visa (NYSE: V) said on a podcast earlier this week that the leading cryptocurrency could potentially become “extremely mainstream” within five years.
Alternative Investments/Digital: Grayscale Expands Product Lineup; Launches Five New Crypto Investment Trusts
Grayscale Investments launched on Wednesday five new digital currency investment trusts to address the growing global demand for digital currency products. The new trusts are named the Grayscale Basic Attention Token Trust, Grayscale Chainlink Trust, Grayscale Decentraland Trust, Grayscale Filecoin Trust, and the Grayscale Livepeer Trust. These trusts are now open for daily subscription eligible individual and institutional accredited investors.
Digital Assets: Retail Investors A Force To Reckon With In Cryptos (JP Morgan)
Latest quarterly numbers show retail investors stole a march on institutions.
Figures from JPMorgan Chase, cited by Bloomberg, show that retail investors invested in 187,426 bitcoins in the current quarter up to Friday, whereas institutions bought up 172,684 of the leading cryptocurrency.
Digital Assets: Stimulus Checks Could End Up Chasing Bitcoin And Stocks (Mizuho)
Nearly 10% of the direct stimulus amount of $380 billion could potentially end up being used not for groceries and healthcare but instead in bets on volatile assets such as bitcoin and stocks said a report in Yahoo Finance that cited a survey by Mizuho Securities.