2024-08-06 19:48

Purchasing bitcoin for the company balance sheet came following “soul searching” about how to provide value to shareholders, Eric Semler told CoinDesk. Semler Scientific's decision to covert its cash holdings to bitcoin came a bit more than a year after Eric Semler became an active investor in April 2023. Semler said he and the board studied MicroStrategy's success in adopting its bitcoin strategy. The medical device manufacturer has since spent more than $60 million acquiring the cryptocurrency and plans to buy more as soon as a hoped-for capital raise gains SEC approval. It was more than two years before Bitcoin's birth when Dr. Herbert Semler, who served as a flight surgeon in the Korean War before leading cardiology at a Portland hospital, co-founded Semler Scientific (SMLR) in 2007. Seventeen years later, the medical device manufacturer has converted much of its cash holdings to bitcoin and aims to buy a lot more. “He was so excited,” Eric Semler, the company’s chairman and son to Herbert Semler, said about his father’s reaction to this new investment strategy. Herbert's father and Eric's grandfather, Harry Semler, had seen gold as a great investment during his time, so he would’ve loved seeing the company invest in the “new gold,” Eric Semler told CoinDesk in an interview on Tuesday. Herbert – at almost 96 years old – is now retired and not involved in Semler Scientific anymore, and even Eric had only been a passive investor in SMLR until he took a more active role in April 2023, spurred by governance issues at the company. A lot has changed since the younger Semler's arrival, most notably the company’s decision to adopt bitcoin as a treasury strategy which was announced in May of this year. In this, Semler is attempting to follow the path of MicroStrategy (MSTR), which under the leadership of Michael Saylor famously began converting its cash holdings to bitcoin and today holds nearly $14 billion worth of the token. “Michael Saylor’s drumbeat about zombie companies with a lot of cash that were small and weren’t getting attention in the stock market kind of resonated with all of us on the board,” Semler said. So they decided to study MicroStrategy’s success and saw the value in adopting its strategy. Semler Scientific has so far purchased 929 bitcoins for a total of $63 million, or an average price of a bit less than $68,000 each, according to the firm's second-quarter earnings report. The recent decline in price to about $57,000 has trimmed the value of those holdings by about $10 million, but that doesn’t change the board’s conviction, Semler said. “When you believe in something so strongly and when you have conviction you have to be willing to step up and buy things when they go against you," he said. "I think that the ultimate test of conviction is whether you will buy something that's down and that you bought 20% higher.“ Taking another page from the Saylor playbook, Semler has moved to raise money in the capital markets to purchase far larger amounts of bitcoin. The company filed a $150 million mixed shelf offering in early June and is currently awaiting SEC approval to move forward. Seasoned issuers like MicroStrategy typically receive the green light from the regulator in quick fashion, but because Semler Scientific is a smaller company and this is the first time it has attempted this sort of capital raise, the approval is taking more time. An early believer Having been a professional investor since 1998, Semler met with bitcoin entrepreneurs early on in the crypto's life and began personally buying in 2016. His investment focus had always been on future trends, Semler said, and he liked to look for stocks and companies that could go from small cap to large cap. “Bitcoin fits into that realm,” he said and in recent years, he realized that the cryptocurrency had shown staying power, specifically during the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, one of three lenders that succumbed to bank runs in 2023. All three banks had provided banking services to cryptocurrency firms, which in turn increased uncertainty about the industry. “Bitcoin’s durability through that crisis impressed me and had an impact on my thinking about it,” Semler recalled. The ultimate decision to use bitcoin as a treasury reserve was a simple business move, Semler explained. The company had plenty of free cash on its balance sheet and was generating additional positive cash flow each year – fundamentals that Semler believed his firm wasn't getting credit for from Wall Street. “It was the result of a lot of soul searching about how to provide shareholder value,” he said. https://www.coindesk.com/news-analysis/2024/08/06/semler-scientific-studied-microstrategys-success-before-adopting-bitcoin-strategy/

2024-08-06 16:01

Though posting net outflows on Monday, the spot ETF action did show some positive surprises, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted. Bitcoin wallets holding between 1,000 and 10,000 BTC increased their holdings while prices slid over the past few days, while those owning less than 1 BTC were sellers, IntoTheBlock data shows. Bitcoin ETFs saw $168 million net outflows on Monday, led by Grayscale's GBTC, Fidelity's FBTC and 21Shares/Ark Invest's ARKB. ETF investors held on "much stronger" than expected with only 0.3% of the assets leaving the funds, argued one analyst. Bitcoin (BTC) investors endured a (mostly down) rollercoaster of action as prices plummeted through the weekend to $49,000 by early Monday before modestly rebounding to around the $56,000 level in morning U.S. hours, triggering diverse reactions by holders. Bitcoin whales, or large asset holders, seized the opportunity of lower prices to purchase, while small investors sold as the panic ensued, data by blockchain analytics firm IntoTheBlock shows. Crypto wallets holding between 1,000 and 10,000 BTC, worth roughly $56 million and $560 million at current prices, "demonstrated confidence during the recent dip, consistently increasing their holdings as prices fell," IntoTheBlock analysts said. Meanwhile, wallets with less than 1 BTC "showed weak hands, with the most substantial decrease in holdings during yesterday's market downturn, they added. U.S-listed spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds booked $168 million net outflows on Monday, according to data collected by Farside Investors. Outflows were limited to Grayscale's GBTC, Fidelity's FBTC and 21Shares/Ark Invest's ARKB, while rivals showed very modest inflows or flat performance. Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, focused on the positive, noting outflows only represented 0.3% of the total assets under management in the ETFs. Further, he said, the largest of the spot funds – BlackRock's $18 billion IBIT – had no net outflows. "That's peanuts," Balchunas said, referring to the overall level of flows yesterday. "That said, it's one day, I could see some more outflows this week. I was thinking a couple billion would leave. So far though, looking much stronger than that." https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/08/06/bitcoin-whales-increased-holdings-during-crypto-market-mayhem-but-etf-investors-didnt-buy-the-dip/

2024-08-06 13:12

A single wallet sold $2 million worth of the token earlier Tuesday, causing market capitalization to fall from $55 million to as low as $2 million almost instantly. The DJT token, previously said to be associated with Donald Trump and his son Barron, plummeted 90% after a single wallet sold $2 million worth in one transaction, reducing its market cap to $3 million from $55 million. Previously, Martin Shkreli, known as "Pharma Bro," had claimed he helped Barron Trump create the token and contributed to its promotion on social media. Shkreli appeared to blame Barron for Tuesday's price drop. The Donald Trump-themed DJT token on Solana dropped 90% earlier Tuesday after a single wallet sold $2 million worth in a single transaction, bringing its market capitalization down to $3 million from $55 million within seconds. The wallet ‘4UGm6’ held 20% of the DJT token supply and pocketed 15,500 SOL from the transaction. It then transferred the holdings to four different wallets, crypto social application @0xppl_ said. DJT was issued in early June and quickly gained virality and market capitalization amid rumors that it was directly related to Republican candidate Donald Trump and his son Barron. Crypto groups on X wondered who was behind the token given its outsized growth at the time. On June 18, Martin Shkreli, also known as "Pharma Bro," claimed he and Barron Trump created the DJT token despite initially denying involvement. He said he helped Barron issue the tokens and helped popularize them on X. On or around June 19, blockchain sleuths discovered that DJT’s Telegram channel appeared to share the same admins as another token supported by Shkreli. Meanwhile, at least one large holder in both DJT and Shoggoth.ai, Shkreli’s other project, had been profiting when he was publicly backing the token. One large DJT holder sold nearly $830,000 worth of DJT from a wallet that held millions of dollars worth of SHOGGOTH tokens around June 19. The Trump campaign has not officially commented on the matter or Barron’s involvement in the token. Nevertheless, Shkreli appeared to blame Barron for Tuesday’s price drop. He repeatedly claimed he did not hold any DJT tokens and did not share access to the private keys that controlled its liquidity pools. “Ask Barron, i don't have the keys or any tokens,” he claimed in an X post when asked for comment alongside a graph showing the token’s price drop. “I helped make it with understand (sic) it was the official trump token, not that this would happen,” he said in a reply to another X post. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/08/06/trump-themed-djt-token-issued-by-martin-shkreli-suddenly-dives-90/

2024-08-06 09:22

Indicators like the death cross are inherently lagging and offer limited predictive power. The bitcoin price is staring at the death cross, a pattern that trapped bears on the wrong side of the market last September. BTC's near-term prospects are closely tied to the health of the U.S. economy and volatility in the Japanese yen. Some indicators are inherently lagging and offer limited predictive power, yet they consistently make headlines in traditional and crypto markets, often resulting in unnecessary panic among inexperienced investors. One such example is the bitcoin (BTC) death cross, which tends to spark heightened fear and impulsive reactions on social media despite its poor record of accurately predicting future price trends. So get ready, because one seems to be on the way. A death cross occurs when the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) of an asset's market price falls below the 200-day SMA. Right now, the bitcoin price's 50-day SMA is at $62,332 and falling, indicating a potential crossover with the 200-day SMA at $61,605. Latest News: Bitcoin Jumps Above $56K, Solana Leads Recovery From Monday's Rout The impending crossover indicates that short-term momentum, represented by the 50-day SMA, is underperforming the long-term average. This development is widely interpreted as a bearish signal and leads to catastrophizing – a cognitive distortion that prompts inexperienced traders to jump to the worst possible conclusion, often with limited information and understanding. Overreaction is typical, especially when sentiment is already sour, as in the BTC market. The cryptocurrency has dropped over 20% to $55,000 in one week, according to CoinDesk data. In reality, the chart pattern only shows the nature of the price action over the recent 50 days. It doesn't guarantee future moves will follow in the same direction. The previous death cross confirmed on Sept. 12, 2023, was a major bear trap. BTC bottomed out at $24,900 on the same day and never looked back, eventually reaching new record highs above $70,000 in March this year. Investors who'd positioned for further declines were caught out. The previous nine death crosses have a mixed record, with only five presaging prolonged downtrends, as CoinDesk discussed last year. To sum up, the death cross is unreliable as a standalone indicator. Bitcoin's near-term prospects largely depend on the U.S. economic data and the volatility in the Japanese yen. Continued demand for the yen in the foreign exchange markets may further dent carry trades and keep risk assets, including BTC, under pressure. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/08/06/bitcoins-unreliable-death-cross-is-looming-again/

2024-08-06 08:48

ETH bounced over 18% in the past 24 hours to reverse losses from a steep fall on Monday, with some drawing eyes to the blockchain’s fundamentals. Despite a sharp 20% drop in price, U.S.-listed spot ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw net inflows of nearly $49 million on Monday, indicating strong demand. Meanwhile, some pointed to the resilience of the Ethereum network in the face of the price drop, indicative of strong fundamentals. U.S.-listed spot ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded net inflows of nearly $49 million on Monday amid a 20% drop in its price, showcasing demand for the second-largest token by market capitalization. Ether price cratered as much as 20% on Monday in its biggest one-day price fall since 2021 as prominent crypto trading firm Jump Crypto moved large amounts of the asset to centralized exchanges in preparation for potential sales. A broader crypto market haircut contributed to the selling pressure, with over $340 million in ETH futures liquidations adding to traders' wounds. Professional investors bought the dip, however. Data tracked by SoSoValue shows ETH ETFs traded over $715 million, the highest since July 30. BlackRock’s ETHA led inflows at $47 million. Fidelity’s FETH and VanEck’s ETHV recorded $16 million in inflows each. Grayscale’s ETHE was the only product with outflows at $46 million, while the provider’s smaller Ethereum Mini Trust (ETH) recorded inflows at $7 million. However, since they first went live for trading on July 23, the products have recorded net outflows of $460 million, indicating that long-term demand for ETH ETFs has yet to fully appear. Bitcoin ETFs, in contrast, recorded over $1 billion in net inflows within their first 12 days of trading. ETF flows help identify market trends and they broadly show where investors are putting their money. Meanwhile, some market observers pointed out that applications built on the Ethereum network showed resilience amid the steep declines – a sign of strong fundamentals. “Ether’s disproportionate price drop was largely driven by the Jump Crypto sell-off and liquidation of other whale wallets,” Alice Liu, lead researcher at CoinMarketCap, told CoinDesk in an email. “On a positive note, LSDFi stood up to the stress test: there’s been no major increase in Lido’s withdrawal queue, and no liquid staking depends on different projects.” LSDFi refers to liquid staking derivatives finance, a colloquial term for staking and derivatives. The process refers to a set of blockchain-based activities that allow users to earn rewards while maintaining liquidity through derivative tokens. “Another silver lining for ETH is that the recent liquidation seems to have revived the DeFi market, where activities on DeFi started to pick up significantly on the network. Gas fee has also fallen back to a more manageable level of 10-15 Gwei post the 370 Gwei recorded today,” Liu noted, referring to the fees that users pay to use the Ethereum network. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/08/06/ethereum-etfs-scored-49m-inflows-as-eth-plunged/

2024-08-06 06:56

BTC has dropped over 13% this month, but all is not lost, according to key indicators. BTC's long-term options market indicator continues to signal bullish bias. Key indicator shows signs of bargain hunting during the price drop. Bitcoin (BTC) has had a horrible August, falling over 13% to as low as $50,000 in the first five days due to several factors, including the unwinding of yen carry trades and concerns about the U.S. economy. Still, market participants can find encouragement in at least two indicators, the first of which is connected to bitcoin options listed on the leading exchange Deribit. Long-term options skew remains bullish Despite the market swoon, bitcoin's 180-day call-put skew remains flat-lined above 3, indicating a bias for price strength over six months, data tracked by Amberdata show. A call option gives the holder the right but not the obligation to buy the underlying asset at a specific price at a later date and represents a bullish bet on the market. A put represents a bearish bet. Options skew measures investors' willingness to pay for an asymmetric bullish or bearish payout. Positive values suggest relatively stronger demand for upside or calls. The bullish long-term pricing is consistent with some observers' view that once the initial shock from global market volatility dissipates, bitcoin will regain ground. "The U.S. slowdown looks clearly underway, and the Fed, behind the curve, will need to cut more aggressively than previously expected. U.S. [Treasury] yields and the dollar are consequently repricing lower, which is hugely bullish for bitcoin. Further, with China ramping up stimulus and liquidity injections, combined with a weaker dollar, global liquidity conditions are set to accelerate," the founders of newsletter service LondonCryptoClub said in Monday's edition. "Bitcoin, for us, looks the most obvious trade for a Fed that is behind the curve and set to slash rates and ramp up liquidity. Strap in for a volatile few weeks, but don’t lose sight of the big picture," founders added. CVD suggests dip-buying. on U.S. exchanges The rapid sell-off has been characterized by dip buying on platforms available in the U.S., such as Coinbase, Gemini and Kraken, according to cumulative volume delta (CVD) tracked by Paris-based Kaiko. The CVD is the total difference between the volume of trades executed at the ask price (buying) and trades executed at the bid price (selling) over a specific period. A rising positive CVD indicates that buying volume exceeds selling volume, while a falling and negative CVD indicates otherwise. The CVD on Coinbase, Gemini, and Kraken has mostly held positive since Aug. 1, indicating net buying pressure or bargain hunting during price losses. "Interestingly, while offshore exchanges such as Binance and OKX saw strong selling since Friday, BTC’s cumulative volume delta (CVD) on most US platforms remained positive, suggesting that some traders bought the dip," Kaiko said in a note published Monday. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/08/06/these-two-bitcoin-indicators-offer-light-in-a-gloomy-marke/