Aurelia Butler

Gurbacs’s message to those countries is to follow the example set by El Salvador and consider adopting Bitcoin first as a reserve currency instead of the U.S. dollar, and then announce BTC to be legal tender. El Salvador did choose BTC as its official legal tender in 2021.Now, Argentina intends to learn from El Salvador and adopt its Bitcoin experience. Recently, the securities regulator of Argentina (the National Securities Commission, NSC) has initiated a meeting with El Salvador’s National Commission of Digital Assets (CNAD). In this meeting, they discussed potential Bitcoin adoption and regulation in Argentina in the future and how this was performed in El Salvador.He believes that these days, in 2024, not holding Bitcoin on a balance sheet is “irresponsible for nation states not to hold Bitcoin.”According to recent reports by Whale Alert, the early Bitcoin trading platform has released the Bitcoin equivalent of $5.1 billion, presumably to further direct these funds to the creditors who suffered after the Mt. Gox hack that happened a decade ago.Whale Alert spotted seven massive transactions carrying between 4,000 BTC and 34,138 BTC roughly three hours ago.By now, Bitcoin has managed to recover 1.26% as it is changing hands at $68,446.This article was originally published on U.Today More

A recent official announcement from the exchange also stated that no direct repayments of either Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash have been yet made to the creditors through designated crypto exchanges. The statement also says that no crypto has yet been sold to make those repayments from the proceeds. “The Rehabilitation Trustee is currently managing Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash in a secure manner,” according to a tweet by Chinese crypto journalist Colin Wu, who quoted the statement made by Mt.Gox.Mark Karpeles has also taken to the X platform to confirm that the $5 billion in Bitcoin that has been moved from Mt.Gox to a new wallet were not preliminary steps to selling this crypto. In his X post, the former CEO of the battered crypto exchange said that the Rehabilitation Trustee is currently transferring Bitcoin to a different wallet “in preparation of the distribution that will likely happen this year.” He stressed that “there is no imminent sale of bitcoins happening” right now.Earlier today, Bitcoin responded to these hefty BTC transactions from Mt.Gox by plummeting almost 4% and losing the recently recaptured $70,000 level. By the time of this writing, BTC has made a slight recovery and is changing hands at $68,467.This article was originally published on U.Today More

The wave of positive regulatory news did not stop there as the House of Representatives passed its first crypto bill, and the UK gave the green light to crypto exchange-traded products.Signs that an approval was imminent appeared earlier in the week when several exchanges amended their filings to exclude staking. According to Kaiko Research’s latest analysis, the market had been gradually pricing out an ETF approval over the past month amid growing uncertainty around ETH’s regulatory status.“With these approvals, the SEC implicitly stated that ETH (without staking) is a commodity rather than a security. This isn’t just about access to ETH but has significant and likely positive ramifications on how all similar tokens will be regulated in the U.S. with respect to trading, custody, transfer, etc.,” Kaiko Research added.ETH implied volatility for the nearest expiry surged from less than 60% on May 20 to nearly 90% on May 22 before retreating by the end of the week. This dramatic shift in sentiment was also evident in derivatives markets. Ethereum price hit a 2-month high on Monday as bulls try to break above the strong resistance zone that is surrounding the $4,000 level. “For a long time, Ethereum was cornered between narratives, often pursuing trends. We are finally seeing its relative market share catching up to its fundamentals. Bull runs are fueled by attention, inflows, and narratives, and Ethereum has been scoring points on all three fronts lately,” Kiril Nikolov, DeFi Strategist at Nexo, told Investing.com.Nikolov anticipates “inflows will be at least proportional to the asset’s market cap in terms of size, or approximately 30-40% of those achieved by the spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S.”“As long as inflows outpace Grayscale outflows, the remainder of the year could be incredible for Ethereum.”A break above the 2024 high would open the door for a quick move towards the record high in ETH/USD, which was set in 2021. The next resistance zone is located near the $6,000 level. Within just three days, ETH perpetual futures funding rates surged from their lowest level in over a year to a multi-month high. Open interest also reached an all-time high of $11 billion, suggesting strong capital inflows into the space.The ETH to BTC ratio, measuring the two assets’ relative performance, surged from 0.044 to 0.055, though it remains below February highs. The rally was broad-based, with both U.S. and offshore spot markets seeing strong net buying since May 21. Offshore exchanges had been registering net selling until then.Looking ahead, the launch of ETH ETFs could bring selling pressure from likely outflows or redemptions due to Grayscale’s ETHE, which has been trading at a discount between 6% and 26% over the past three months. ETHE currently holds over $11 billion in assets under management, making it the largest ETH investment vehicle. During the first month of bitcoin ETF trading, GBTC saw outflows amounting to $6.5 billion, roughly 23% of its AUM as of launch day.Should a similar magnitude of outflows occur with ETHE, this would translate to $110 million in average daily outflows, or 30% of ETH’s average daily volume on Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN). However, GBTC’s outflows were offset and surpassed by inflows from other BTC ETFs by the end of January.”The overall market impact of ETHE’s redemptions is still uncertain, especially considering the lackluster launch of Hong Kong ETFs,” Kaiko Research stated. “Additionally, ETH’s market depth on centralized exchanges is about $226 million, still 42% below its pre-FTX average levels, and only 40% is concentrated on US exchanges compared to around 50% in early 2023.” More

Founded in Japan and Singapore, Oasys is a decentralized platform supported by major players in the gaming industry, including Ubisoft and SEGA. With its gaming-focused features, Oasys distinguishes itself in the crowded space through its architecture, which includes a primary layer-1 blockchain and an Ethereum-compatible layer-2 scaling solution. The platform’s capabilities also enable each individual game to create its own unique version, or “Verse”.In exclusive comments to Investing.com, Oasys shared that major game developers building on their platform is a game-changer. “The decision of major game developers to build on Oasys is transformative, paving the way for mass adoption of blockchain games by incorporating high-quality and popular IP titles,” said Daiki Moriyama, Director at Oasys.The move represents a major transition towards more scalable and user-friendly blockchain solutions in the gaming industry, he added.By using Oasys’s ecosystem, these games can benefit from faster transaction speeds and lower fees, upgrading the overall user experience. “Integrating large-scale games increases the volume of transactions, which not only tests but also strengthens our ecosystem’s capacity and stability,” Daiki further explains.Oasys is also optimistic about the upcoming listing of their tokens on Upbit. “We are confident that the listing on Upbit reflects the expansion of the Oasys ecosystem and signifies medium to long-term growth expectations for the brand, driven by the future onboarding of major games, rather than mere speculation,” they said. This listing is expected to improve the liquidity of $OAS, making it more accessible to Korean investors.OAS is the utility token of Oasys, offering staking as one of its primary functions. By staking their OAS tokens through Oasys Hub, users can earn rewards in the form of additional OAS tokens and other rewards from validator-run campaigns. Moreover, OAS holders can participate in the platform’s decentralized governance system.Oasys was created to address two major issues in the blockchain world: high gas fees and slow transaction speeds. Despite being a relatively new player in the market, Oasys shares its goals with infrastructure developers like Solana, Avalanche, and Polygon, all striving for a scalable blockchain ecosystem.  More

Hype over the approval of exchange-traded funds that directly track Ether also took a back seat while the Securities and Exchange Commission engages with fund managers over their applications to list such products. Last week, the SEC approved applications from major exchanges to list a spot Ether ETF, triggering a sharp rally in the token and broader crypto markets.Bitcoin had fallen by 0.5% in the past 24 hours to $68,289.3 by 09:08 ET (13:08 GMT). Ether sank 0.4% to $3,899.26, retreating from two-month highs touched over the weekend.Fears of higher-for-longer U.S. interest rates remained squarely in focus, especially ahead of the release of the monthly personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index on Friday.The reading is the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, and is likely to factor into the central bank’s outlook on rates.Sentiment towards crypto and other risk-driven assets was dented by growing suspicions that the Fed is in no rush to bring rates down from more than two-decade highs. A string of officials from the central bank have recently flagged that they need to see more proof inflation is sustainably cooling toward their 2% target before rolling out any cuts.  The notion has kept Bitcoin comfortably within a trading range established over nearly three months, and has also limited bigger gains in Ether.High rates bode poorly for speculative assets such as crypto, given that they limit liquidity that can be invested in the space, and also push up the attractiveness of conventional, low-risk investments such as the U.S. dollar and Treasuries. Ambar Warrick contributed to this report. More

“Our bitcoin treasury strategy and purchase of bitcoin underscore our belief that bitcoin is a reliable store of value and a compelling investment,” said Eric Semler, Semler Scientific’s chairman. “Bitcoin is now a major asset class with more than $1 trillion of market value. We believe it has unique characteristics as a scarce and finite asset that can serve as a reasonable inflation hedge and safe haven amid global instability. We also believe its digital, architectural resilience makes it preferable to gold, which has a market value of approximately 10 times that of bitcoin. Given the gap in value between gold and bitcoin, we believe that bitcoin has the potential to generate outsize returns as it gains increasing acceptance as digital gold.”Furthermore, we are energized by the growing global acceptance and ‘institutionalization’ of bitcoin — reflected most recently by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s January 2024 approval of 11 bitcoin exchange-traded funds. These funds have reported more than $13 billion of net inflows, with investments from nearly 1,000 institutions, including global banks, pensions, endowments and registered investment advisors. It is estimated that more than 10% of all bitcoins are now held by institutions,” added Mr. Semler.Semler Scientific’s board and senior management have spent substantial time examining potential uses of cash, including acquisitions. “After studying various alternatives, we decided that holding bitcoin would be the best use of our excess cash,” said Mr. Semler. In conjunction with its bitcoin treasury strategy, Semler Scientific will continue to focus on its core medical products and services. “We remain dedicated to our customers and our goal of operating a growing and profitable healthcare company,” said Doug Murphy-Chutorian, MD, Semler Scientific’s chief executive officer. “We are focused on maintaining sales of QuantaFlo® for peripheral arterial disease testing, while seeking a new 510(k) clearance from the FDA with expanded labeling for use as an aid in the diagnosis of other cardiovascular diseases.” As Semler Scientific continues to generate revenue and free cash flow from sales of QuantaFlo, it will proactively evaluate its use of excess cash. Bitcoin will serve as Semler Scientific’s principal treasury holding on an ongoing basis, subject to market conditions and the anticipated cash needs of Semler Scientific. More information regarding Semler Scientific’s bitcoin treasury strategy will be posted on its website at www.semlerscientific.com. More