2024-10-18 21:35

The decision follows Nasdaq recently also getting permission for options on spot bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved stock exchange rule changes that permit the listing of options tied to spot bitcoin ETFs, broadening the investment ecosystem around products that've received billions of dollars of inflows this year. According to two memos from the SEC published Friday afternoon, NYSE will be allowed to list and trade options on the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust (BTC) and the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB). Cboe Global Markets got approval to list and trade options on the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) and the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB). The approval comes several weeks after the SEC approved Nasdaq's rule proposal to allow the listing and trading of options on BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). Options are derivatives that allow the purchase or sale of an underlying asset – in this case, bitcoin ETFs – at a predetermined price on or before an agreed upon date. Many market participants believe that options trading on bitcoin ETFs will increase institutional interest in crypto and increase overall liquidity. In its NYSE approval, the SEC wrote that it believes options on the bitcoin ETFs "would permit hedging, and allow for more liquidity, better price efficiency, and less volatility with respect to the underlying Funds," as well as "enhance the transparency and efficiency of markets in these and correlated products." https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/10/18/nyse-cboe-win-sec-approval-for-bitcoin-etf-options/

2024-10-18 18:21

The governance token of Ondo Finance has often moved on news related to BlackRock's tokenization push as a proxy, even if direct impact isn't clear on the protocol. BlackRock is in early talks to list its tokenized money market fund as collateral for derivatives trading on exchanges including Binance, Deribit and OKX, Bloomberg reported. Ondo's governance token spiked to 79 cents before paring gains, still up nearly 9% over the past 24 hours. Tokenized money market funds as collateral allows traders to keep earning a yield while using them for margin for trading, as opposed to posting stablecoins for collateral. Real-world asset tokenization platform Ondo Finance's governance token (ONDO) spiked 8% on Friday following a report about asset manager BlackRock's push to list its tokenized money market fund BUIDL as collateral on major derivatives exchanges. According to Bloomberg's report, BlackRock and issuance partner Securitize are in early talks with crypto exchange giants including Binance, Deribit and OKX to accept BUIDL as margin for trading derivatives. Ondo's token jumped to 79 cents immediately after the report, advancing 8% in an hour before paring some of the gains. It's price was still up nearly 9% over the past 24 hours, outperforming the broad-market CoinDesk 20 Index's 2.2% daily gain. While it is not clear how the development would impact the Ondo platform, its governance token has been a favored proxy play among crypto traders for BlackRock's tokenization push, moving abruptly on news related to the asset management giant. Notably, the token jumped as much as 20% when CoinDesk reported that BlackRock filed paperwork with Securitize to create the BUIDL offering. The token also moved when Ondo started to use BUIDL as the backing asset of its own retail-focused money market fund token (OUSG) to offer instant redemptions and conversions for Circle's USDC stablecoin. Tokenized collateral push BUIDL is the largest tokenized offering on the market with over $550 million of assets. Its price is fixed at $1 and offers money market yield to investors without leaving blockchain rails. It's offered to institutional investors and other protocols to invest or use it as reserve asset, with a minimum investment limit of $5 million. Tokenized U.S. Treasuries, backed by short-term government bonds, have grown to a $2.3 billion asset class within crypto assets, tripling in size in a year. Funds, businesses and protocols using them as a vehicle to park their on-chain cash and earn yield fueled the growth. The next frontier for growth might be getting accepted as on-chain collateral asset. The allure of using these tokens as collateral is that it allows traders to keep earning a yield while using them for margin for a trade, as opposed to posting stablecoins for collateral. Hashnote's $320 million USYC money market fund token got listed on Deribit as cross-margin collateral option earlier this month. Institutional trading services FalconX and Hidden Road already accept BUIDL as collateral asset. State Street sees significant potential in tokenized collateral asset in traditional finance, too. Donna Milrod, the bank's chief product officer, said in an interview this month that collateral tokens could help mitigate liquidity stress during financial crises, for example allowing pension funds to post money market tokens for margin calls without selling underlying assets to raise cash. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/10/18/ondo-spikes-8-as-major-derivatives-exchanges-mull-blackrocks-buidl-as-collateral-option/

2024-10-18 16:42

Scroll's token launch has been met with eager anticipation from some and disappointment from others who have lamented the token allocation. Layer-2 network Scroll is expected to be the main focus of traders next week as it rolls out its native SCR token airdrop. Memecoins may also make a comeback after a significant rally in major crypto assets like BTC, ETH and SOL. Gaming firm Moonveil and communications platform Huddle01 will also host token sales. As the crypto market teeters back into euphoric territory following a rally to three-month highs, several investors are focusing on Scroll, a hyped layer-2 network that will release its native governance token next week. Scroll has around $1 billion in total value locked (TVL) and has been running a points farm since September 2023. Those that have been actively using the protocol since that date have accrued "marks" which can be converted to the Scroll token on Oct. 22. The distribution of said token has been met with disappointment from users, who have complained about how just 7% of the supply has been allocated for the airdrop next week whilst Binance Launchpool users will receive 5.5% of the supply. The skepticism continued this week as X user Andrew 10 GWEI revealed how Scroll's founder wallet had more than 1 million marks and that several Scroll-affiliated wallets had inflated balanced. Comparisons have been made to ZKsync, which faced criticism over its top-heavy top allocation. Aside from early tokenomics teething issues, Scroll plans to be the "turtle that wins the Ethereum scaling race" with a layer-2 network that is focused on efficiency, security and being cost-effective, as the headline of an April 2023 CoinDesk story put it. Scroll was selected by Donald Trump-affiliated project World Liberty Financial to be the layer-2 blockchain of choice, with a planned deployment along with its debut on Ethereum. (Although as chronicled by CoinDesk this week, initial demand for the project's new tokens has proven to be minimal relative to the overall amount allocated to a public sale, and at $13 million so far has not even come close to meeting a $30 million reserve needed to cover expenses.) Scroll was also selected by restaking firm Ether.fi for its upcoming cash card. The company has raised a total of $83 million over three separate funding rounds that included investment from the likes of Polychain Capital and Bain Capital Ventures. Best of the rest According to Icodrops, next week will also feature the launch of Moonveil, a blockchain gaming company that raised $11 million across two rounds and will raise further capital via a token offering on Oct. 22. A total of 200 million tokens will be up for sale for the company which is planning to launch a gaming-focused layer-2 blockchain. Hundreds of memecoins are also expected to hit the wires over the weekend as investors speculate whether another boom could take place after the likes of BTC, ETH and SOL rose significantly this week. Traders typically diversify profits into more speculative bets following a rally in major assets. BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes tweeted about GOAT, a token that was apparently launched solely through the use of artificial intelligence. A notable mention also goes to Huddle01, a communications platform backed by Stani Kulechov and LongHash Ventures. It will host a node sale round on Oct. 29. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/10/18/what-to-expect-over-the-coming-week-in-crypto-scroll-enters-the-frame/

2024-10-18 15:26

The company's use of "intelligent leverage" differentiates its stock from other means of gaining exposure to bitcoin, argued analyst Mark Palmer. Benchmark has raised its price target for MicroStrategy's stock from $215 to $245. Analyst Mark Palmer argued the value of the company's bitcoin holdings and its software business will continue to increase. He also believes that the company's high stock price is justified as it provides more value than just holding massive amounts of bitcoin. Bears on MicroStrategy’s (MSTR) high stock price thanks to its perky valuation compared to the amount of its bitcoin (BTC) holdings are overlooking the company’s “unique” shareholder value, investment banking firm Benchmark said in a research report on Friday. “We believe the ability of MSTR to generate compounding yield on its bitcoin holdings, using what management describes as “intelligent leverage,” differentiates its stock from alternative means of gaining exposure to bitcoin such as spot bitcoin ETFs,” Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer wrote. Already bullish on the stock, Palmer reiterated his buy rating and lifted his price target to $245 from $215. Alongside a rise in the price of bitcoin to $68,400, MSTR shares are higher by 6.6% Friday to $206.19. Led by Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, the stock of self-described Bitcoin Development Company currently trade at a 2.4X premium to the value of its bitcoin holdings, with some traders thusly believing that holding the equity instead of BTC itself (or the spot ETFs) is a bad move. MicroStrategy’s net asset value (NAV) is calculated by dividing MSTR's market capitalization by the value of its bitcoin stack. The NAV premium recently touched a new high of 2.5 times its bitcoin holdings, with a company market cap north of $41 billion against bitcoin holdings of around $17 billion. Benchmark believes MicroStrategy’s business model justifies the premium to NAV and that traders should focus on the company’s BTC Yield. Introduced by Saylor and team earlier this year, Bitcoin Yield tracks the effectiveness of bitcoin investments by measuring the percentage change over time of the ratio between MSTR’s bitcoin holdings and its fully diluted share count. The Bitcoin Yield stood at 17.8% through September 19 compared to 1.8% and 7.3% in 2022 and 2023, respectively, according to Benchmark’s data. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/10/18/microstrategys-nav-premium-shouldnt-be-feared-says-benchmark-raising-price-target-to-245/

2024-10-18 15:10

The downtrend in the yen has resumed in strong fashion, a good sign for risk assets, crypto among them. Gold has made another all-time high, climbing through $2,700 per ounce, as has the S&P 500, which rose above 5,870 on Thursday. While bitcoin is up 15% from the October low and appears set to rechallenge the $70,000 level, it remains about 8% below its record high recorded seven months ago. A fresh weakening trend in the Japanese yen bodes well for risk assets going forward. Bitcoin's (BTC) 8% rally this week has, outperformed gold and the S&P 500, but the cryptocurrency is still below its all-time high, while the yellow metal and benchmark U.S. stock index each climbed to new records. At $2,718, gold is up 32% year-to-date and on its way to its best annual performance since 2010, when it rose 38%. The S&P 500, meanwhile, is ahead about 23% for 2024. Though not joining in the fun of new records after what's now a seven-month period of sideways-to-lower prices, bitcoin remains higher by over 50% year-to-date. Why no new record for bitcoin? Perhaps the chief reason for bitcoin's sluggish action since putting in a record high above $73,700 all the way back in March is "too far, too fast." At that point, the price of the globe's largest crypto was up nearly five-fold from 14 months earlier, including almost a doubling in just the first 10 weeks of 2024. Getting into more detail, there was also plenty of forced sell pressure over the summer when the German government moved to market its large stash of seized bitcoin and the Mt Gox trustee began returning tokens to their owners. There's also the fact that bitcoin trades 24/7 and is thus subject to a lot more leverage and volatility than other assets. This in turn can lead to a lot more liquidation cascades, pushing the price below fair value. The significant amount of distribution that took place over the summer months, which put downward pressure on the bitcoin price, is shown by the deep red coloring. Looking ahead though, there appear to be signs of accumulation from many cohorts. So-called shrimps – those with less than one bitcoin – and whales – those holding between 1,000 and 10,000 tokens – have been accumulators for the past month, denoted by the deep blue coloring, according to Glassnode data. Outlook: all-time highs on the horizon With further rate cuts from Western central banks coming, the rise in the polls of pro-crypto GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump and the big pickup of flows into spot bitcoin ETPs, the case for a new record seems clear. One overlooked positive catalyst, though, might be the renewed weakening trend in the Japanese yen. Japan Friday released fresh data showing headline inflation year-over-year at 2.5%, marking the lowest reading since April and 0.5% softer than the previous month. Core inflation also declined sizably. The news could be a signal that the Bank of Japan might refrain from any further rate hikes. Recall that in early August, a tiny BOJ rate hike sent the yen soaring and global markets – bitcoin among them – crashing for a period of a few days. The yen, however, peaked in mid-September at about 140 to the U.S. dollar and has been weakening since. Following the inflation news Friday, it weakened to 150 to the greenback, its weakest level since that early August panic. "Japan has no inflation problem and little urgency to tighten," said Bob Elliott, CIO at Unlimited Funds. He noted that services inflation has fallen to roughly zero in recent months, while Japan's GDP has been negative for 2024. To conceptualize the weakening move in the Japanese yen (JPY), it can be compared against bitcoin and gold and to other major currencies such as the U.S. dollar (USD), Euro (EUR), British pound (GBP), Canadian dollar (CAD) and Australian dollar (AUD). In the past five years, bitcoin is up over 1,000% against the Yen, but far less against other currencies. Similar action is seen in gold, which is higher by 150% versus the yen, and just 80% to 90% against the other major currencies. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/10/18/bitcoin-isnt-at-a-record-like-gold-and-sp-500-but-an-overlooked-catalyst-suggests-a-coming-change/

2024-10-18 10:33

Republican control of the Senate would be key to passing bills such as FIT21 and appointing pro-crypto agency leaders, and digital asset reform would likely happen sooner with both chambers aligned, the report said. A potential Republican sweep of both chambers of Congress would be the most bullish result for Coinbase and crypto markets, the report said. Citi said a Harris win and a divided Congress would lead to more uncertainty for the digital assets space. The bank cut its Coinbase price target to $275 from $345, while maintaining its buy rating on the stock. A Republican sweep in the upcoming U.S. election would be the most bullish result for both Coinbase (COIN) and the wider crypto market, while a Harris victory and a divided Congress would likely lead to more uncertainty for the digital assets sector, Citi (C) said in a research report on Wednesday. "The Trump/Vance ticket has publicly endorsed digital asset reform, Republican control of the Senate would be important for passing bills like FIT21 and confirming pro-crypto agency leaders," analysts led by Peter Christiansen wrote, adding that "the pace of digital asset reform would likely move faster with both chambers of Congress aligned." Still, a GOP victory in the Senate and a Democrat win in the House would still be a bullish outcome for Coinbase and crypto markets, the report said. The U.S. election will be held on Nov. 5 and results will be declared on Nov. 8. Citi noted that the existing House Financial Services Sub Committee is manned by several Democrats who are strongly against crypto. However, they would "likely still be outweighed by a combined Democrat and Republican pro-crypto contingent." A Harris victory and a Republican Congress would be an uncertain outcome for crypto markets, as she is yet to detail her crypto policy goals, the bank said, and a Democrat administration would likely keep many of the current agency heads to avoid potential challenges with Senate confirmation. Citi said the result that would lead to the most uncertainty for digital assets would be a Harris win and a divided Congress. It would pose possible Senate confirmation challenges and Coinbase investors would likely be less hopeful that any potential crypto legislation would gain enough support from the Senate. Citi has a buy rating on Coinbase shares. It cut its price target to $275 from $345. The stock was 2.7% higher at $209.65 in early trading Friday. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/10/18/republican-sweep-in-us-election-would-be-the-most-bullish-outcome-for-coinbase-and-the-crypto-market-citi/