Cryptocurrency

In contrast, sentiment around Ethereum seems to be cooling off, with bearish views emerging after weeks of stagnant price action for the world’s second largest token. Per J.P. Morgan calculations, U.S. spot Ether ETFs reported slight net redemptions of $1 million on the same day.For Ether ETFs, excluding Grayscale’s ETHE, gross flows hit $19 million. Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETH) (NYSE:ETHE) took a big hit with net redemptions of -$20 million. Fidelity’s Ethereum Fund (NYSE:FETH)led the way with $14 million in net sales, while Grayscale’s ETH saw $4 million in sales, holding steady from the day before. Meanwhile, Van Eck’s Ethereum ETF (NYSE:ETHV) brought in $1 million, but BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (NASDAQ:ETHA) had no new activity for the second day straight. The world’s largest asset manager had its lowest daily trading volume since launch, with just $94 million in notional volume, way below the usual $444 million average.In the Bitcoin ETF space, excluding Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (BTC) (NYSE:GBTC), J.P. Morgan estimates that gross flows reached $93 million. The figure shows a solid uptick after the slower activity the previous day as investors scramble to accumulate the original cryptocurrency under $60,000. Securing a majority of the flows, BlackRock took the lead with iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ:IBIT) pulling in $76 million in sales. However, Grayscale once again resumes its losing streak, shedding $28 million in outflows. Since its launch, GBTC has been seeing hundreds of millions in outflows, leading to a loss of over $18 billion from its net assets.Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (NYSE:FBTC) followed with $9 million in net sales. Other ETFs posted sales in the low to mid-single-digit millions, though Bitwise’s Bitcoin ETF (NYSE:BITB) had a rough day with -$12 million in redemptions.“There were multiple other vehicles with low- to mid-single-digit millions of sales yesterday as well. Note Bitwise’s ~$2,250mn BITB saw -$12mn in redemption yesterday,” the report stated. More

The crypto industry has been actively lobbying for regulatory clarity, with key figures and entities within the sector expressing optimism about the prospects for significant legislative advancements. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer recently stated that Congress has the “absolute possible” to pass crypto market structure legislation by the end of the year, fueling this optimism. As a potential vehicle for this progress, Schumer pointed to FIT21, the House-passed crypto market structure bill, as well as a bill being developed by the Senate Agriculture Committee.However, analysts at TD Cowen outlines several reasons for skepticism.“Crypto entities are aggressively making political contributions with Public Citizen reporting Aug. 21 that crypto companies have contributed $119 million this year, which constitutes 48% of corporate contributions,” the analysts said in a note. Additionally, the Fairshake PAC, a major crypto political action committee, has received about $95 million from industry executives and affiliates. These contributions have undoubtedly influenced legislative priorities, evidenced by the bipartisan efforts to override SEC accounting rules opposed by the industry.Despite this financial influence, TD Cowen warns that the optimism within the crypto sector may be misplaced.The note mentions that while Schumer’s comments have raised expectations, his track record suggests that these broad pledges may not lead to concrete action, particularly as election campaigns intensify. The analysis draws parallels to the cannabis industry in 2022, where similar promises of legislative action during the lame-duck session ultimately fell short.TD Cowen also points to potential political obstacles that could hinder progress. “Our view is that the crypto industry also has hurt prospects for legislation this year by spending $12 million to defeat Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown,” the analysts said.Given Brown’s influential position, his opposition could be a major barrier to any crypto-related bills, both this year and potentially in the future, depending on the outcome of his re-election.Moreover, TD Cowen expresses skepticism about the prospects for 2025, regardless of the election outcomes. The note mentions that both political parties might seek to extract more contributions from the crypto sector before delivering any legislative victories, further delaying the process. More

The native token TON, actively used in Telegram, has already reacted, falling 15% in price and 61.3% in total value locked in the blockchain.The reaction, of course, stirred social media, and in particular the crypto space. Among those who weighed in was Max Keiser, known for his maximalist views on Bitcoin (BTC) and as an advisor to Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador.In a new post on X, Keiser stressed that BTC remains the only truly secure cryptocurrency. He pointed out that other altcoins, such as XRP and Cardano, are more susceptible to legal problems, while Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, remained anonymous to avoid those risks.However, there is also the opinion that if the authorities succeed in the Durov case, Bitcoin will not survive for long, and if Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity could be determined by Interpol methods, he would have been arrested long ago. Either way, BTC is in the crosshairs, some believe.If Telegram falls, the first cryptocurrency may also fall, although they are not connected externally or internally. Skeptics believe that the government, having won once, will want to repeat the banquet.This article was originally published on U.Today More

Blockchain data tracker Whale Alert reports, “A dormant address containing 64 BTC worth $4,147,400 has just been activated after 13.6 years.”The period called the “Satoshi era” refers to the time when Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin’s pseudonymous founder, was active on online forums between late 2009 and 2011.Several dormant Bitcoin wallets have been activated in recent days and weeks. As reported, on Aug. 21, a dormant address containing 142 BTC was activated after 10.8 years with staggering 11,454% gains.In another occurrence, on Aug. 19, a dormant Bitcoin wallet with 19 BTC awakened with 8,844% gains after being inactive for 10.7 years. On Aug. 16, a dormant address containing 174 BTC was activated after 10.6 years with the BTC stash now worth over $10.1 million, up from $142,600 in 2014.Long-dormant wallets often belong to early BTC adopters, who mined or purchased Bitcoin when it was still in its infancy, thus making their activation a noteworthy occurrence on the market.”The time has come for policy to adjust,” Powell stated in his speech at the Jackson Hole Summit on Friday. “The direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks,” Powell added.Bitcoin surged in the immediate aftermath of these remarks. The gains spilled over into Saturday’s trading session with Bitcoin reaching highs of $64,529.Bitcoin’s rally has slightly eased, at the time of writing, BTC was down 0.43% in the last 24 hours to $63,929.According to crypto analyst Ali, based on the MVRV pricing bands, one of the most significant resistance levels for Bitcoin to clear is $67,300. Breaking past this hurdle might set the stage for BTC to climb to $80,500.This article was originally published on U.Today More

In its recent Q2 2024 LP letter shared by Tomaino, 1confirmation puts forward its strongest crypto theses presently, which includes Ethereum challenging Bitcoin’s market reign.The 1confirmation CEO predicts that the Ethereum market cap will flip the Bitcoin market cap in the next five years. Today, the BTC market cap (over $1.2 trillion) is nearly four times the ETH market cap ($321 billion). However, he believes both will continue to grow but ETH will eventually flip BTC. Tomaino states the reason for his market prediction.According to Tomaino, BTC has a clear narrative (digital gold) that institutions have bought into by now. While Ethereum has been the most impactful blockchain in the crypto space for the past five years, ETH is not yet well understood. He went on to say that Ethereum is the chain in which talented developers are building the decentralized internet and ETH is the digital oil that powers it.Tomaino believes ETH is scarce, yield-bearing and useful, and since its market cap is now significantly smaller than BTC, Wall Street can own more of it, allowing it to shill the ETH narrative aggressively to the world in the coming years.BTC finally got the recovery the market had been waiting for, with the recent Fed chair Jerome Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole serving as the catalyst it needed to break out of the $58,000 to $62,000 range. Rate cuts seem confirmed for September, but there was no indication on how much, so August payrolls will be critical.On the other hand, Ethereum spot ETF had a total net outflow of $5.6976 million on Aug. 23, and continued net outflow for seven consecutive days. Grayscale ETF ETHE had an outflow of $9.7656 million, and VanEck ETF ETHV had an inflow of $2.0063 million. The total net asset value of Ethereum spot ETF is $7.652 billion.Ethereum ETFs officially began trading in the U.S. in July, putting ETH in a vehicle favored by many professional investors and advisors.This article was originally published on U.Today More

This assertion highlights some significant issues and criticisms while also contributing to a larger discussion regarding Bitcoin’s possible use as a benchmark for value measurement. The foundation of Brandt’s argument is the notion that Bitcoin may be more accurate or representative of true value than more conventional measures of value like gold or fiat currencies. Homes are comparatively more affordable when gold is taken into account, as gold has historically been seen as a reliable store of value. Nonetheless, Bitcoin is beginning to be recognized as a novel form of digital gold that has the ability to replace traditional money standards, even in spite of its volatility. Brandt contends that given Bitcoin’s notable 10-year appreciation, homes priced in BTC would now seem significantly less expensive than those priced in dollars or even gold. The volatility of Bitcoin is a key issue that should not be disregarded. Bitcoin has experienced significant ups and downs, which makes it a potentially unreliable metric for pricing something as important as real estate. Moreover, the idea of using Bitcoin as a global standard for valuing real estate is still purely theoretical because of its comparatively low acceptance in regular transactions and its unstable regulatory environment.This article was originally published on U.Today More

Speaking at the high-profile annual gathering of global central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Powell said that he feels more confident about getting inflation under control after it peaked at a four-decade high in 2022.Even though markets fully priced Powell to hint at a rate cut for the Fed’s September meeting, his comments might have been a bit more dovish than expected. Right after his speech, Bitcoin jumped over 1.5%, hitting $61,900 after a brief spike above $62,000. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s price rose 2.9% to $2,685, and Solana’s price added 2.4% to $147. Polkadot price was up 2.7% on the day.Traditional markets also saw solid gains as the Nasdaq rose by 1.7%, the S&P 500 went up 1.2%, and gold increased by 1%. Moreover, the 10-year Treasury yield dropped five basis points to 3.80%, and the U.S. dollar index slipped by 0.6%. Similar to tech stocks, Bitcoin often gains from lower interest rates and increased market liquidity. There’s been an inverse relationship between interest rates and crypto prices. When the Fed hiked rates in 2022, it drained market liquidity, affecting both bitcoin and tech stocks. On the other hand, when the Fed cuts rates, it injects liquidity back into the market, which tends to favor riskier assets like bitcoin. Crypto-related stocks also performed well throughout the day. Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) saw a 5% increase, and MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ:MSTR) added 7% after dropping around 8% earlier in the month. In the mining sector, Iris Energy and CleanSpark (NASDAQ:CLSK) rose slightly by 2% and 4%, respectively. Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) was up 6.5%, and Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT) gained 3%.Markets are currently pricing a quarter-point rate cut by the Fed at its next meeting, with the CME FedWatch tool giving it a 67.5% chance. As of Friday morning, the prediction algorithm also placed the odds of a half-point cut at 32.5%. More

The chart showed Bitcoin’s price at a fraction of a cent, with $1 being enough to purchase over 10 BTC. Today, those same 10 BTC would be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, highlighting the meteoric rise in BTC’s price.Back in 2010, Bitcoin was a relatively unknown digital currency, having launched the year before and was primarily used by a small group of enthusiasts and early adopters.From being worth mere cents to reaching all-time highs of nearly $74,000 this year, Bitcoin’s price growth has been nothing short of extraordinary. What began as an idea for a decentralized currency has grown into a multi-trillion-dollar market, attracting investors, institutions and governments worldwide.Recent weeks have seen numerous reactivations of several ancient Bitcoin wallets, whose value has skyrocketed astronomically as the price of Bitcoin increased.As reported today, a long-dormant Bitcoin wallet address was activated after 11.4 years. Back in 2013, the BTC stash was worth around $10,174. This has now skyrocketed to an astounding $3,274,741, representing a phenomenal 32,087% increase.Bitcoin reached a new high of $73,798 in mid-March, boosted by wagers on looser U.S. monetary policy and inflows into U.S. exchange-traded funds. The surge has recently eased, as has the pace of ETF inflows.At the time of writing, Bitcoin was up 0.37% in the last 24 hours to $61,087.This article was originally published on U.Today More