SEC approves Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust for Trading on NYSE Arca

July 26, 2024 Coin Telegraph

bitcoin etf

Grayscale must await final regulatory signoff on its registration filing before listing the fund

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved Grayscale’s newest spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) — Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust (BTC) — for listing on the New York Stock Exchange’s (NYSE) Arca electronic trading platform, according to a July 26 filing.

The approval is an important milestone for Grayscale, which announced plans on July 19 to spin off a portion of its flagship Bitcoin fund, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), into the new Mini Trust.

“Grayscale is excited to share that the [SEC] has approved NYES Arca's Form 19b-4 application to list and trade shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust (proposed ticker: BTC),” a spokesperson told Cointelegraph in an email.

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Blackrock foresees “very little interest” in crypto ETFs beyond Bitcoin, Ethereum — Bitcoin2024

July 25, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Analysis

Clients see Bitcoin and Ethereum as complements, not substitutes, in crypto portfolios, according to Blackrock's head of digital assets.

Asset manager Blackrock sees “very little interest” among clients in crypto beyond Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) and doesn’t foresee many crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) outside of those two core digital assets, according to Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock’s head of digital assets, speaking at the Bitcoin2024 conference on July 25 in Nashville, Tennessee.

“I would say that our client base today, their interest overwhelmingly is in Bitcoin first, and then somewhat in ETH… and there’s very little interest today beyond those two,” Mitchnick said at a panel entitled From Strategy to Innovation: BlackRock's Bitcoin Journey.

“I don't think we're gonna see a long list of crypto ETFs,” Mitchnick said. Blackrock launched its first crypto exchange-traded funds — iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA) — in January and July, respectively.

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VanEck says Bitcoin could hit $2.9 million per coin by 2050

July 25, 2024 Coin Telegraph

VanEck says Bitcoin could hit .9 million per coin by 2050

Analysis

Bitcoin Layer-2s could be collectively worth around $7.6 trillion, the report added.

Investment manager VanEck foresees Bitcoin (BTC) potentially hitting $61 trillion in total market capitalization — or some $2.9 million per coin — in 2050 as a result of massive demand for the decentralized currency as collateral for trade settlement and a reserve for central banks, according to a July 24 report.

“It is conceivable that by 2050 Bitcoin could be used to settle 10% of the globe’s international trade and 5% of the world’s domestic trade,” VanEck said in the report. “This scenario would result in central banks holding 2.5% of their assets in BTC.”

VanEck adds that scaling solutions for Bitcoin’s blockchain network — Bitcoin Layer-2s — could collectively be worth approximately $7.6 trillion, or around 12% of BTC’s total value.

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Coinbase UK fined $4.5 million for ‘high-risk’ customer onboarding

July 25, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Coinbase UK fined .5 million for ‘high-risk’ customer onboarding

bitcoin regulation

The $4.5 million fine could signal the start of more scrutiny for crypto exchanges in the region.

Coinbase’s United Kingdom arm was fined $4.5 million by a British regulator for breaching a voluntary agreement related to user onboarding.

In 2020, CB Payments Limited (CBPL), part of the Coinbase Group, entered a voluntary agreement with Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) that would prevent it from onboarding customers considered ‘high risk’ by the regulator.

Yet, CBPL has allegedly onboarded 13,416 customers that the FCA considered high-risk, and offered cryptocurrency services to them, which was also prohibited by the agreement. The British regulator fined Coinbase Group’s CBPL 3,503,546 pounds ( $4.5 million), for “repeatedly breaching” the agreement.

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Grayscale announces plans for Bitcoin ETF spinoff

July 19, 2024 Coin Telegraph

bitcoin etf

Current GBTC shareholders will receive shares in Grayscale’s new Bitcoin ETF in proportion to what they currently hold in GBTC.

On July 19, crypto asset manager Grayscale announced plans to spin off a portion of its flagship Bitcoin fund, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), into a new exchange-traded fund (ETF).

On July 31, Grayscale will contribute 10% of the spot Bitcoin (BTC) held by GTBC to its new ETF, Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust (BTC). The company said the ETF is set to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange’s (NYSE) Arca exchange pending final regulatory signoff.

Current GBTC shareholders will receive shares in the Mini Trust in direct proportion to the shares they hold in GBTC. As a result of the spinoff, GBTC holders will hold the same amount of spot BTC as before, but across two different funds.

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Plaintiffs amend complaint in Tether lawsuit for alleged USDT scheme

July 15, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Binance

The class-action lawsuit alleges Tether and Bitfinix conspired to manipulate crypto market prices.

Plaintiffs in a years-long class-action lawsuit against Tether and Bitfinix filed an amended complaint accusing the companies of manipulating crypto prices through a deceptive scheme involving USDT, Tether’s dollar-backed stablecoin, according to court documents filed in the Southern District of New York.

The complaint alleges Tether and Bitfinix “executed a sophisticated scheme to fraudulently inflate the price” of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), through “massive, carefully timed purchases […] to signal to the market that there was enormous demand and thus cause the price of those commodities to spike.”

The companies purportedly financed these purchases with billions of dollars in USDT, which — in contradiction to repeated assurances by Tether — was not, in fact, backed one-to-one by United States dollars. In doing so, the Plaintiffs claim that Tether and Bitfinix violated both the Commodities Exchange Act (CEA) and the Sherman Antitrust Act.

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SEC drops investigation of Bitcoin Stacks developer Hiro — Filing

July 12, 2024 Coin Telegraph

bitcoin regulation

This is the second crypto investigation the US securities regulator dropped this week.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped a three-year investigation into Hiro Systems, the developer of Bitcoin’s Stacks layer-2 blockchain, which raised $70 million from token sales between 2017 and 2019, according to a July 12 regulatory filing.

Hiro, which was previously called Blockstack, has been treating its native token, STX, as a security under US law since its launch in 2018.

“Based on the information we have as of this date, we do not intend to recommend an enforcement action by the Commission against Hiro Systems PBC, formerly known as Blockstack PBC,” according to a letter from the regulator included in the Friday filing.

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Mt. Gox repayment shakes crypto market, causing volatility

July 10, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin Price

Bitcoin faces immense volatility as Mt. Gox repayments flood the market.

In a long-awaited move, Mt. Gox, the infamous Bitcoin exchange that collapsed in 2014, has finally started repaying its creditors.

This resolution to one of crypto’s most notorious scandals is not just closing a chapter to one of Bitcoin’s darkest hours but is also actively shaping the asset’s market dynamics in real time.

On July 5, Nobuaki Kobayashi — the rehabilitation trustee for Mt. Gox — announced the commencement of debt repayments to creditors in Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). The repayments are facilitated through a complex network of exchanges, with each entity playing a crucial role in distributing the funds.

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Crypto trading firm Cumberland secures New York BitLicense

June 17, 2024 Coin Telegraph

bitcoin regulation

The New York State Department of Financial Services lists 33 companies holding licenses, allowing them to offer crypto-related products and services.

The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has granted cryptocurrency trading firm Cumberland a BitLicense, authorizing it to operate as a virtual currency company.

In a June 17 announcement, Cumberland said it planned to engage in “strong trading relationships with institutional New York counterparties” with the BitLicense. The firm is one of only 33 companies listed on the NYDFS website holding a license, though it claimed to be “one of the only principal trading firms” to do so.

Since 2015, crypto firms operating in the state of New York have largely been required to apply for a BitLicense to offer products and services. Some critics, including New York City Mayor Eric Adams, have suggested scrapping the program, claiming it stifled innovation and economic growth.

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Trump vs Biden: Riot’s Morgenstern Highlights Stark Contrast in Crypto Policies

June 12, 2024 Bitcoin.com

biden crypto

Brian Morgenstern of Riot Platforms shared his insights on the 2024 election’s impact on bitcoin and the crypto industry, praising former U.S. President Donald Trump’s pro-bitcoin stance and criticizing President Joe Biden’s regulatory measures. Trump promised to protect bitcoin from regulatory threats, oppose a central bank digital currency (CBDC), and support the cryptocurrency industry, aligning […]

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