- Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest Sold Nearly $150M Coinbase Shares Last Week
Cathie Wood’s investment manager, ARK Invest, sold over 580,000 shares of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN) in the week ended March 8, worth $149.85 million at Friday’s closing price of $256.62.
ARK sold COIN shares from three of its exchange-traded funds (ETFs): Innovation ETF (ARKK), Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), and Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF).
The total marks the largest offload of Coinbase stock by ARK since the week ended Feb. 16 when it sold shares worth $151 million at the time. It is also the second-highest weekly total since July 2023.
- Bitcoin Flips Silver as It Breaks Above $71,000 for First Time Ever
Bitcoin, which has increasingly been referred to as “digital gold,” flipped silver’s market capitalization on its way past $71,000 and setting a new all-time high.
It’s a milestone that Bitcoin has seen often since the beginning of March.
On Friday afternoon, Bitcoin broke above $70,000 for the first time ever. Then early Monday morning, the Bitcoin price began climbing and was $71,239.37 at the time of writing. It’s gained 2.7% since yesterday and 11.4% since this time last week.
https://decrypt.co/221121/bitcoin-flips-silver-above-71000-first-time-ever
- Binance exit sparks fears and opportunities in Nigeria’s crypto community
Local cryptocurrency stakeholders have lamented the current ban on Binance naira operations in Nigeria, stating it will affect the livelihoods of many Nigerians and could increase youth unemployment in the country.
In separate interviews with Cointelegraph, local crypto stakeholders said the delisting of Nigerian naira-related services from Binance will lead to the rise of new crypto exchanges, which will fill the vacuum created by Binance’s exit by complying with local regulations.
Nathaniel Luz, the CEO of Flincap — a liquidity platform for crypto exchanges — said that several Nigerian traders who make a living from trading peer-to-peer on Binance are now affected. However, Luz said that some are trading on WhatsApp and Telegram groups.
- Ethereum Co-founder Vitalik Buterin Discusses Benefits of EIP-4844 on Warpcast
According to Foresight News, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently spoke about the advantages of EIP-4844 during a Warpcast session. He highlighted the proposal’s forward-looking nature, stating that the only consensus change required to transition from the current state to a complete 16 MB danksharding is a parameter change. Additionally, Buterin mentioned that the point eval precompilation returns the modulus, allowing for the construction of rollups that are forward-compatible with future changes in the modulus.
- JPMorgan Says ‘Unrealistic’ to Expect Bitcoin to Match Gold Within Investors’ Portfolios
Considering the vast $235 trillion traditional and alternative asset class (excluding bank and FX reserve holdings), the JPMorgan strategist detailed that the amount of gold held for investment purposes is around $3.3 trillion, implying an allocation to gold of around 1.4%. “Interestingly, only 7% of this gold, or $230 billion, is held through funds (primarily physical gold ETFs [exchange-traded funds]). The remaining portion is held in bars and coins,” Panigirtzoglou noted, pointing out:
One could argue that if bitcoin matches gold in investors’ portfolios, its market cap should rise to $3.3 trillion from $1.3 trillion currently, implying more than doubling in price. However, this calculation misses an important factor which is risk.
- Bitcoin Jumps Over $71K as UK’s FCA Lets Institutional Investors Create Crypto ETNs
Bitcoin (BTC) crossed $71,000 for the first time ever during the Asian trading hours on Monday.
The leading cryptocurrency has been steadily rising since the approval of the spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S. The token crossed $70,000 for the first time ever last week. Ether (ETH) also crossed $4,000 on Monday. Meanwhile, the broader CoinDesk 20 index (CD20) jumped nearly 1%.
The rally has lifted the annualized three-month futures premium on major exchanges, including Binance, to above 25%. The elevated premium could attract cash and carry traders, boosting overall market liquidity.
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/03/11/bitcoin-vaults-over-70k-hits-new-highs/
- Coinbase-Backed $85 Million Crypto Super PAC Sets Its Sights on Senate Races
After spending over $10 million in a successful effort to defeat a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in California earlier this week, a cash-rich super PAC funded by the crypto establishment is setting its sights on a handful of other key Senate races that could determine the balance of power in Congress.
The PAC, Fairshake, will focus its next efforts this election cycle on four U.S. Senate races in Ohio, Montana, Maryland, and Michigan, Fairshake spokesperson Josh Vlasto confirmed with Decrypt.
https://decrypt.co/220918/coinbase-backed-85-million-crypto-super-pac-senate
- London Stock Exchange to accept Bitcoin and Ethereum ETNs
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) announced that it will start accepting applications for Bitcoin and Ether crypto exchange-traded notes (ETNs) in the second quarter of 2024.
On March 11, the exchange confirmed that it would accept applications following the guidelines specified in its Crypto ETN Admission Factsheet. However, the exchange did not provide the exact date that it will start accepting applications.
In the factsheet, the exchange said that crypto ETNs should be physically backed and non-leveraged. They should have a market price or value measure of the underlying asset that is publicly available and must be backed by Bitcoin BTC $71,552 or Ether ETH $4,030.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/london-stock-exchange-bitcoin-ethereum-etn
- Kryptanium Capital Co-Founder Predicts Altcoin Season After Bitcoin Breaks ATH
According to BlockBeats, Kryptanium Capital co-founder Daniel Yan recently shared his thoughts on social media, stating that he believes the altcoin season will arrive after Bitcoin significantly breaks its all-time high (ATH). Yan explained that the logic behind the previous bull market’s altcoin season was the BTC halving narrative combined with institutional funds inflow, which drove the continuous increase in BTC price before the halving. However, after the halving, traders took profits from the halving trade, and funds flowed into altcoins with more potential for growth. This is similar to the current situation, where the current cycle is driven by ETF funds inflow, also driven by institutional demand.
- Performance of AI-Related Crypto Tokens Driven by News and ‘Memetic Speculation’ — Coinbase
According to Coinbase’s latest report on cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence (AI), AI-related crypto tokens have outperformed bitcoin and ether since the start of the last quarter of 2023. These tokens have also trounced major AI-related stocks such as Nvidia and Microsoft during the same period.
However, much of this market-beating performance is attributed to “AI headline news” and the strong showing of the crypto industry. According to the report, this performance suggests that the price of AI-focused tokens can trend upwards even when the price of bitcoin is trending downwards. Still, such a downward price movement can inevitably result in “upside volatility during bitcoin drawdown periods.”
