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Bitcoin for Christmas: MicroStrategy buys another $600M

The firm reported it held 174,530 Bitcoin as of Nov. 29 — worth roughly $6.6 billion at a price of $37,726.

Business intelligence firm MicroStrategy purchased 16,130 Bitcoin (BTC) in November, bringing its total holdings to more than $6 billion.

In a Nov. 30 announcement, MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor said the company acquired the BTC for roughly $593.3 million — a price of $36,785 per Bitcoin. 29, MicroStrategy reported it held 174,530 BTC — worth roughly $6.6 billion at the time of publication — at a price of $37,726.

The business intelligence firm has consistently purchased large volumes of Bitcoin since announcing it would adopt the cryptocurrency as its treasury reserve asset in August 2020. Saylor’s last announcement was in September, reporting MicroStrategy bought 5,445 BTC for roughly $147 million.

Related: MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin stash back in profit with BTC price above $30K

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Digital Asset Traders Withdraw $208,000,000 Worth of Crypto From KuCoin Following Government Charges: Nansen

Coinbase stock will be ‘weighed down’ until US rules are clear: Citi

The investment bank downgraded Coinbase stock to "Neutral" amid the exchange's ongoing battle with U.S. regulators.

Crypto exchange Coinbase’s stock price will continue to be “weighed down” until regulators establish the legal “rules of the road” in the United States, according to investment analysts from Citi.

As per reports on May 1, the investment bank downgraded shares of the crypto exchange from “Buy” to “Neutral” and lowered its price target — citing “too many unknowns” as the company battles it out with regulators.

Screenshot of the analyst note from Citi. Source: Twitter

"Until the regulatory 'rules of the road' are better established in the U.S., the stock will remain weighed down by this high level of uncertainty," Citi analyst Peter Christiansen wrote in a May 1 note.

In March, Coinbase disclosed it had received a Wells notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over possible violations of securities laws — signaling possible future enforcement action.

In April, it shot back at the SEC, filing a federal court action compelling the SEC to give clarity into the regulatory treatment of certain digital assets.

Later in the month, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Chief Legal Office Paul Grewal released a public response to the March Wells notice on YouTube.

“As it stands, both long and short debates begin and end with Coinbase's regulatory predicament,” said Christiansen, noting there could be a few ways the regulatory scuffle could play out:

“Clarity could come from: (i) a lengthy legal process vs. the SEC, where the possibility of an operating injunction cannot be ruled out, (ii) long-awaited legislative movement amidst a challenging legislative calendar and an upcoming election year, and/or even (iii) Ripple’s ongoing legal process, which could be potentially precedent setting,” the analyst wrote.

The analyst noted that the latest SEC developments don’t suggest that the parties are close to any resolution.

Related: Coinbase is planning to set up crypto trading platform outside US: Report

At the time of writing, Coinbase is trading at $51.32, down 58.5% over the past year, as per Yahoo Finance.

Coinbase share price over a year period. Source: Google

Itsstock price slumped around 16% on March 22 after it disclosed it received the Wells notice.

The company has recently become the target of two proposed class action lawsuits, one of which alleges it breached privacy laws in Illinois over its collection of customer biometrics, and the other alleging certain executives profited from insider information when the company went public.

Magazine: Crypto regulation — Does SEC Chair Gary Gensler have the final say?

Digital Asset Traders Withdraw $208,000,000 Worth of Crypto From KuCoin Following Government Charges: Nansen

MicroStrategy adds another 1,045 Bitcoin to its growing crypto treasury

MicroStrategy buys another 1,045 Bitcoin for $29.3 million, taking its total holdings to 140,000 BTC worth over $12.6 billion.

MicroStrategy, the American business intelligence firm, has just announced its latest acquisition of an additional 1,045 Bitcoin (BTC) for approximately $29.3 million at an average price of $28,016 per BTC. This news was announced in a tweet by Microstrategy's executive chairman, Michael Saylor, on April 5.

As of April 5, 2023, MicroStrategy holds a total of 140,000 Bitcoin, which were acquired for approximately $4.17 billion at an average price of $29,803 per BTC. This news comes as a significant milestone for the company as it continues to invest in Bitcoin as a reserve asset.

Number 14 on Cointelegraph's Top 100 in crypto, Saylor has been an outspoken advocate for Bitcoin and has been leading the charge for corporations to adopt the largest cryptocurrency as a strategic asset. Saylor has repeatedly stated that Bitcoin is the most secure and reliable store of value that exists in the market today and that it offers a unique opportunity for businesses to protect their assets from inflation.

Saylor's MicroStrategy recently repaid its Silvergate loan and bought 6,500 BTC at the end of March. The company's Bitcoin strategy appears to be a dollar cost averaging but with vast amounts of money. 

Related: Michael Saylor is still on the hook for alleged tax evasion, says MicroStrategy filing

MicroStrategy made its first Bitcoin purchase in August 2020, and since then, the company has been consistently adding to its holdings. The latest purchase brings the total amount of Bitcoin owned by MicroStrategy to over $12.6 billion, which is a testament to the company's confidence in the long-term potential of the cryptocurrency.

Digital Asset Traders Withdraw $208,000,000 Worth of Crypto From KuCoin Following Government Charges: Nansen

In-Chat Tether Transfers Introduced in Telegram

In-Chat Tether Transfers Introduced in TelegramUsers of the Telegram messenger will now be able to send each other the leading stablecoin, tether (usdt), directly in the chats. The new option expands the list of cryptocurrencies available for purchase, sale, and trade in the messaging app. Tether Added to Wallet Bot in Telegram Messenger Support for transactions with the U.S. dollar-pegged […]

Digital Asset Traders Withdraw $208,000,000 Worth of Crypto From KuCoin Following Government Charges: Nansen

Moonpay and Looksrare Partner to Bring Convenient NFT Purchasing to the Masses

Moonpay and Looksrare Partner to Bring Convenient NFT Purchasing to the MassesOn Thursday, the fiat-to-crypto onramp business Moonpay announced a multi-year partnership with the non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Looksrare. According to the deal, Looksrare will allow marketplace users to buy and sell crypto assets through Moonpay’s services. Moonpay and Looksrare Join Forces to Streamline NFT Transactions Moonpay, the fiat-to-crypto service founded in 2019, revealed that it […]

Digital Asset Traders Withdraw $208,000,000 Worth of Crypto From KuCoin Following Government Charges: Nansen

Six reasons why blockchain makes sense for commercial real estate: Deloitte

The study reveals that blockchain technology is well-positioned to take over more than 50% of the entire leasing and sale process across commercial real estate.

Solutions built around blockchain technology offer several upfront benefits, including a censorship-resistant, irreversible distributed ledger. Deloitte’s study revealed blockchain’s position as a perfect fit for real estate use cases around leasing and selling.

Blockchain innovations often outdo traditional systems by not only digitizing information but also introducing a near real-time trustless environment, among other features. Big Four accounting firm Deloitte uncovered six opportunities for blockchain to disrupt the commercial real estate (CRE) industry.

The above infographic highlights six key pain points for CRE owners when leasing and selling their properties and maintaining complex transaction data. With this in the backdrop, Deloitte noted six opportunities for blockchain to serve the industry, which include improving processes around searching for properties and allowing people to make better decisions around leasing and purchasing.

Due to paperless processes, Deloitte envisions blockchain expediting property and payment evaluations and better-streamlining cash flow management. In addition, the technology's inherent qualities also offer cheaper means of managing property ownership history while enabling efficient processing of financing and payments.

The study reveals that blockchain technology is well-positioned to take over more than 50% of the leasing and sale process, excluding steps requiring physical intervention such as property inspection and loan negotiations. Deloitte noted:

“Blockchain seems to be most applicable to dynamically configurable or co-sharing spaces, which have a relatively higher number of tenants and shorter duration leases.”

While Deloitte’s report reaffirms blockchain’s potential to drive transparency, efficiency, and cost savings for commercial real estate owners, companies and CRE owners are advised to follow a three-step approach — educate, collaborate or create, facilitate — in determining the best way ahead for blockchain implementation.

Related: Nonfungible tokens don't live on the blockchain, experts say

While nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have been advertised as blockchain-based technologies, experts contradict the notion.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Jonathan Victor, the Web3 storage lead at Protocol Labs, revealed that main chains are very limited in size, which in turn makes storing data on the blockchain to be expensive. As a result, NFT ecosystems often opt for off-chain storage solutions.

Alex Salnikov, the co-founder of Rarible, confirmed the above claim as he told Cointelegraph:

“It is important to understand that the NFT living in a user’s wallet only points to the file it represents — the actual file itself, also known as an NFT’s metadata, is typically stored elsewhere.”

Despite the revelation, both experts noted that storage for NFTs can still be considered decentralized.

Digital Asset Traders Withdraw $208,000,000 Worth of Crypto From KuCoin Following Government Charges: Nansen

CleanSpark scoops up 1K+ mining rigs at ‘substantially discounted price’

“We are seeing unprecedented opportunities in this market,” said CleanSpark president and CEO Zach Bradford.

Crypto mining firm CleanSpark announced the purchase of more than 1,000 Bitcoin miners amid the market downturn, reporting a “substantially discounted price” compared to that earlier in 2022.

In a Thursday blog spot, CleanSpark said it had acquired 1,061 Whatsminer M30S rigs currently mining Bitcoin (BTC) at the Coinmint facility in New York, whose space the company shares with Riot Blockchain. The mining firm said it had purchased the machines for far less of price than that “just a few months ago,” hinting the recent bear market was responsible. CleanSpark also bought 1,800 Antminer S19 XP rigs in June following the market downturn.

“We are seeing unprecedented opportunities in this market,” said CleanSpark president and CEO Zach Bradford. “Our tried-and-true hybrid approach of co-locating our machines while expanding our own mining facilities puts us in an excellent position to sustainably grow our bitcoin mining capacity in what is shaping up to be an incredible market for builders.”

According to CleanSpark, the addition of the 1,063 miners added 93 petahashes per second (PH/s) to the firm’s total hash rate, reported to be 2.8 exahashes per second (EH/s) as of June 30. The miners brought in a 1,863 BTC, 328 of which CleanSpark reported selling in June for roughly $8.4 million “for operations and growth.”

Related: Crypto miners in Texas shut down operations as state experiences extreme heat wave

Major mining firms including Argo Blockchain, Bitfarms, Core Scientific and Riot Blockchain have sold some of their BTC holdings amid the recent market downturn. Argo reported selling 637 BTC in June to reduce its debt on a loan from Galaxy Digital, while other firms have cited building their data capacity and ability to mine more coins.

Cointelegraph reported on Thursday that Bradford had joined Cointelegraph Innovation Circle, a private membership service launched in March aimed at business leaders and experts in the blockchain industry.

Digital Asset Traders Withdraw $208,000,000 Worth of Crypto From KuCoin Following Government Charges: Nansen

Tracker Shows Close to 3,000 Crypto ATMs Were Installed in 2022’s First Quarter

Tracker Shows Close to 3,000 Crypto ATMs Were Installed in 2022’s First QuarterDuring the last 12 months, there’s been an exponential number of cryptocurrency automated teller machines (ATMs) installed as data shows that 20,000 crypto ATMs were installed last year. This year machines are still being installed in great numbers and since December 30, there have been 2,759 machines added to the list of 36,659 crypto ATMs […]

Digital Asset Traders Withdraw $208,000,000 Worth of Crypto From KuCoin Following Government Charges: Nansen

Terra smash-buys $139M Bitcoin, wallet reaches 31,000 BTC

The Bitcoin wallet belonging to Terra amassed a further $139 million in Bitcoin, bringing its total coffers up to 31,000 BTC or $1.47 billion.

Watch out Michael Saylor! Do Kwon, CEO of Terraform Labs, is hot on the heels of MicroStrategy’s CEO. The Terra wallet has now amassed almost $1.5 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) following another huge BTC purchase. 

The wallet address thought to belong to Terra (while not officially confirmed) received another 2,943.00002511 BTC ($139 million) on Wednesday. Wallet alert accounts on Twitter have been tracking the wallet.

The wallet began amassing colossal amounts of Bitcoin on Jan. 21 and has not sold a single satoshi.

Terra Bitcoin wallet gradually then suddenly amassing billions in BTC. Source: BitInfoCharts

According to the chart, while the wallet first injected almost 10,000 BTC on Jan. 21, it began stacking sats in earnest on March 22. The timing coincides with announcements from the CEO, who stated, “$UST with $10B+ in $BTC reserves will open a new monetary era of the Bitcoin standard.”

TerraUSD (UST), an algorithmic stablecoin, would be pegged to the value of the United States dollar, and the value of these “dollars” would be backed by Bitcoin reserves. Terra’s native token, Terra (LUNA), will also play a role in the creation of the stablecoin.

As a result, Kwon has been stacking sats harder and faster than even the biggest Bitcoin bulls. According to BitcoinTreasuries, Terraform Labs will soon sidestep Tesla as the second-largest holder of Bitcoin, with MicroStrategy in its sights.

The current state of publicly traded companies with Bitcoin treasuries. Terra will soon rival Tesla. Source: BitcoinTreasuries

Related: MicroStrategy subsidiary will purchase Bitcoin after closing $205M crypto-collateralized loan

Ultimately, Kwon’s aim — as he says in the following video — is to ensure his Bitcoin coffers rival that of Satoshi Nakomoto, the anonymous creator of Bitcoin.

Meanwhile, with lackluster price action over the past 72 hours, it would appear that Terra’s buys are propping up the Bitcoin market, while LUNA is hitting new highs.

Digital Asset Traders Withdraw $208,000,000 Worth of Crypto From KuCoin Following Government Charges: Nansen

MicroStrategy subsidiary will purchase Bitcoin after closing $205M crypto-collateralized loan

The price of Bitcoin is $47,806 at the time of publication, making MicroStrategy's current 125,051 BTC holdings worth roughly $6 billion.

MacroStrategy, a subsidiary of business intelligence firm MicroStrategy, said it will purchase Bitcoin after obtaining a multimillion dollar loan from Silvergate Bank.

In a Tuesday announcement, MicroStrategy said Silvergate issued a $205 million loan “secured by certain Bitcoin held in MacroStrategy’s collateral account.” The firm's subsidiary MacroStrategy will be using the proceeds of the loan to purchase Bitcoin (BTC), pay fees and interest related to the loan and handle general corporate expenses.

“The SEN Leverage loan gives us an opportunity to further our position as the leading public company investor in Bitcoin,” said MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor. “Using the capital from the loan, we’ve effectively turned our Bitcoin into productive collateral, which allows us to further execute against our business strategy.”

Launched in 2020, the Silvergate Exchange Network leverage service allows firms to secure BTC-collateralized loans for U.S. dollars. According to the bank, it had roughly more than $570 million in commitments as of Dec. 31.

Since making a $250-million BTC investment in August 2020, MicroStrategy now holds billions in the crypto asset following separate buys using the company’s cash on hand and proceeds of sales of convertible senior notes in private offerings to institutional buyers. With the BTC price at $47,806 at the time of publication, the firm’s 125,051 coins are worth roughly $6 billion.

Related: MicroStrategy CEO won’t sell $5B BTC stash despite crypto winter

Silvergate has helped provide capital to many companies involved in the crypto and blockchain industry. In October, the bank issued a $100-million credit line to crypto mining firm Marathon Digital to be used for funding its operations as well as expanding the number of BTC miners. Crypto.com announced a partnership with Silvergate in November aimed at allowing institutional clients to deposit and withdraw from the crypto exchange using U.S. dollars.

Digital Asset Traders Withdraw $208,000,000 Worth of Crypto From KuCoin Following Government Charges: Nansen