German dwpbank to offer Bitcoin trading to 1,200 affiliate banks on new platform

March 24, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Banking

Securities processor Deutsche WertpapierService Bank (dwpbank) will provide its affiliates seamless integration with their current offerings, with more digital assets to come.

Deutsche WertpapierService Bank (dwpbank), which offers securities processing to around 1,200 banks in Germany, is creating a new platform, wpNex, that will offer Bitcoin (BTC) to all of its affiliates’ retail customers in the second half of this year.

The new service will feature crypto accounts alongside bank customers’ other accounts and will not require additional Know Your Customer procedures, according to local media reports.

Wallet-as-a-service provider Tangany and Bankhaus Scheich’s tradias digital asset trading service will also participate in the new offering. Retail customers will not hold private keys. Dwpbank CEO Heiko Beck said the bank planned to add other cryptocurrencies, digital assets and tokenized securities to the service in the future.

MLB Banking was the first dwpbank affiliate to sign on to the platform and has already performed a transaction on it. MLP Banking account and securities processing head Paul Utzat said in a statement:

“In our MLP customer portal, it is a logical addition to the existing wealth management offering.”

Crypto accounts are linked to euro cash accounts, so transactions can take place without going through a separate payments account.

Germany has been named one of the world’s most favorable countries for crypto. DZ Bank announced in February that it was adding crypto to its asset management service. DZ Bank is Germany’s second-largest bank by assets and a central institution for a network of bank coops with 8,500 branch offices.

Great news for #BTC adoption and access in

Through its new wpNex platform, the dwpbank will allow up to 1200 German banks to offer #Bitcoin trading - and soon more crypto-assets.

The crypto holdings will be integrated into the customers's online banking securities account.
— Patrick Hansen (@paddi_hansen) March 24, 2023

German crypto bank Nuri, however, shut down in November under stress of the crypto bear market. It had half a million customers. On the traditional finance side, Deutsche Bank shares plummeted on March 24 as instability spread among European banks. Deutsche Bank asset management division DWS was reportedly in talks with tradias on investment in the service.

Magazine: Best and worst countries for crypto taxes — plus crypto tax tips

Coinbase announces acquisition of One River Digital Asset Management

March 3, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Business

As part of the acquisition, Coinbase said One River Digital’s team would join the exchange and CEO Eric Peters would stay to lead the firm under the name Coinbase Asset Management.

United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has acquired cryptocurrency-focused hedge fund One River Digital Asset Management, or ORDAM.

In a March 3 blog post, Coinbase said One River Digital will transition to become Coinbase Asset Management, “an independent business and wholly-owned subsidiary” of the crypto exchange. One River Digital is registered as an investment adviser under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and has previously accepted investments from Coinbase to scale its operations.

“Coinbase and ORDAM share an ethos grounded in prudent risk management, a trait which has enabled both firms to successfully navigate the recent market turmoil,” said Coinbase. “Culturally, our two organizations are strongly aligned on pursuing the opportunity in digital assets with an uncompromising priority on safety and soundness.”

As part of the acquisition, Coinbase said One River Digital’s team would join the crypto exchange and chief executive officers Eric Peters would stay on as leader under the rebranded firm. The exchange suggested “minimal disruption to current business activities” amid the transition.

News of the acquisition followed Coinbase leading the charge in a slew of crypto firms cutting ties with Silvergate amid reports the bank was under investigation from the U.S. Department of Justice over its alleged involvement in the collapse of FTX. The crypto exchange has already announced Signature Bank will take over institutional client cash transactions for its prime customers.

Celsius’ co-founder Daniel Leon follows Mashinsky out as crypto exec flight continues

October 4, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Leon is at least the eighth crypto sector executive who has resigned in recent months; Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky resigned a week ago.

S. Daniel Leon, who cofounded Celsius with Alex Mashinsky in 2017, has quit his job as the bankrupt crypto lender’s chief strategy officer, CNBC reported Oct. 4, citing unnamed sources and an internal memo seen by the outlet. Bloomberg later reported receiving confirmation of Leon’s resignation from the company. Leon’s resignation comes one week after Mashinsky’s and is part of an apparently growing trend.

Celsius filed for bankruptcy July 13, while it was under investigation by six American states and a month after freezing withdrawals. The company was reportedly $1.9 billion in debt at the time of its bankruptcy declaration. Mashinsky resigned Sept. 27, saying in a statement, “I regret that my continued role as CEO has become an increasing distraction, and I am very sorry about the difficult financial circumstances members of our community are facing.” His financial dealings and handling of the firm’s final days of solvency were the subjects of intense scrutiny.

Leon filed in U.S. bankruptcy court to have his 32,600 common shares of the company declared worthless on Sept. 5. Bids on Celsius assets will be accepted through Oct. 17, with an auction set for Oct. 20, if necessary. FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was reportedly among the interested bidders.

Leon has joined a steady stream of executives departing from the crypto sector as the crypto winter stretches on. Some execs, such as former MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell, FTX US president Brett Harrison and Genesis CEO Michael Moro and managing director Matthew Ballensweig moved into less visible advisory roles. Others, such as former Alameda Research co-CEO Sam Trabucco, Ignite CEO Peng Zhong and bankrupt Voyager Digital’s chief financial officer Ashwin Prithipaul have changed direction entirely.

All of those leaders have left their positions since July.

Stone Ridge board approved plan for ‘liquidation and dissolution’ of its Bitcoin fund

September 12, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin

“Effective after the close of business on October 3, 2022, the Fund’s shares will generally no longer be available for purchase," said a Stone Ridge filing with the SEC.

Stone Ridge Asset Management, whose holding company is behind the New York Digital Investment Group, has filed notice with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission that it will liquidate its Bitcoin Strategy Fund.

In a Monday SEC filing, the asset manager said the Stone Ridge Trust board of trustees approved a Friday plan to liquidate and dissolve its Stone Ridge Bitcoin Strategy Fund, first filed with the SEC in July 2021. According to the plan, the asset management firm will continue to operate the fund through Oct. 3, after which time it will “reduce the fund to cash” in preparation for liquidation and distribution to shareholders.

“The liquidation of the Fund is expected to take place on or about October 21, 2022,” said the filing. “Effective after the close of business on October 3, 2022, the Fund’s shares will generally no longer be available for purchase.”

According to its July 2021 prospectus, the Bitcoin (BTC) strategy fund aimed to offer exposure to the cryptocurrency via futures markets, as the SEC has not approved spot investment vehicles linked to BTC. The asset manager said at the time the objective of the fund was “capital appreciation.”

Data from Yahoo Finance showed the fund held roughly $2.8 million in net assets at the time of publication. A Stone Ridge semi-annual report from April 2022 said more than half — 50.5% — of the funds were allocated to foreign government agency bonds and the fund had more than $10.9 million in total net assets.

In October 2020, Stone Ridge purchased 10,000 BTC through the NYDIG as part of a post-pandemic investment strategy, making it one of the largest BTC holders among private companies. At the time of publication, the price of Bitcoin was $22,230, hitting a three-week high on Monday.

SBF and the Mooch tie the knot as FTX Ventures takes 30% stake of SkyBridge Capital

September 9, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Scaramucci calls Bankman-Fried part of the “small universe of outside investors SkyBridge would ever consider partnering with,” promises SkyBridge’s investment strategy will not change.

FTX Ventures, an arm of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX crypto exchange, will acquire a 30% stake in alternative asset manager SkyBridge Capital, the firms announced Sept. 9. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but SkyBridge will use $40 million of the proceeds to purchase cryptocurrencies to hold as a long-term investment, according to a statement.

SkyBridge founder and managing partner Anthony Scaramucci said about the deal on Twitter, “There's a small universe of outside investors SkyBridge would ever consider partnering with, and @SBF_FTX is one of them.” He added separately, “This won’t significantly impact our day-to-day business and doesn’t change our strategy. […] We will remain a diversified asset firm, while investing heavily in blockchain.” SkyBridge managed about $2.5 billion, including over $800 million in digital assets, as of June 30, according to its website.

There's a small universe of outside investors SkyBridge would ever consider partnering with, and @SBF_FTX is one of them. Sam is the real deal, and, in my opinion, is building @FTX_Official into the Amazon of financial services. He even has me dressing like a millennial. pic.twitter.com/yO9N6u24Rz
— Scaramucci.algo (@Scaramucci) September 9, 2022

The two firms have collaborated on SALT (SkyBridge Alternatives) Conferences and the Crypto Bahamas conference for the past year. Bankman-Fried told CNBC:

“We’ve gotten to know the team over the last year. […] We’ve been really excited about what they’ve been doing […] from the investment angle, growing out the community – the digital assets community and the traditional asset community – bringing them together.”

SkyBridge began investing in Bitcoin (BTC) in 2020 and Scaramucci has become a vocal proponent of crypto since then. The firm has been relatively untouched by the meltdown of the crypto market, although it announced the suspension of withdrawals from its crypto-exposed Legion Strategies fund in July.

Bankman-Fried’s firms have entered into a flurry of acquisition activity since the crypto winter began. Bankman-Fried bought a 7.6% share in online brokerage Robinhood in May. FTX US extended a $400 million revolving credit to BlockFi, and FTX offered to buy out some of the debts of bankrupt Voyager Digital in July. It has also made inroads into traditional finance.

VTB sealed the first deal with digital financial assets in Russia

June 29, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bank of Russia

VTB Factoring acquires a tokenized debt pool of industrial companies via the Lighthouse blockchain.

VTB Factoring, a subsidiary of Russia’s state-owned bank, reported the first major deal with digital finance assets. As part of the deal, the bank subsidiary acquired a tokenized debt pool of the engineering company Metrowagonmash, issued via the fintech platform Lighthouse.

On Wednesday, June 29, VTB reported the deal on its webpage, claiming it to be the first issuance and placement of digital financial assets secured by cash in the Russian Federation. In the announcement, the bank compares it with the issue of short-term commercial bonds.

Anton Musatov, CEO at VTB Factoring, emphasized the new technology’s potential regarding the access of Russian businesses to the funds necessary for operational activities:

“Apart from the standard factoring procedure, [here] a client shouldn’t necessarily sign a service contract to sell its debt pool. The issuer’s readiness to tokenize it and the factoring bank’s decision to acquire it.”

In June 2022 the largest Russian bank Sber announced its first operation with the digital financial assets (DFA) to take place in Mid-July, after finally obtaining a license from the country’s central bank.

While current legislation on the DFA was put in force in 2020, in June 2022 the head of the Financial Markets Committee of the Russian parliament’s lower chamber introduced a bill that would prohibit the use of DFA as a “monetary surrogate”.

In February 2022 VTB conducted the first successful testing of the operation with “digital rubbles”, a central bank digital currency (CBDC) project of the Bank of Russia. Later, the bank announced its first purchase of DFAs in exchange for the digital ruble. By the press time, there is no information on whether the aforementioned deal was made via CBDC.

Galaxy Digital reports $112M Q1 loss, citing crypto price volatility

May 9, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Galaxy Digital reports 2M Q1 loss, citing crypto price volatility

Asset Management

Bitcoin and altcoins declined sharply in the first quarter in a selloff that was partly triggered by a shift in central bank policy.

Cryptocurrency investment manager Galaxy Digital Holdings reported a sharp loss in the first quarter due to unrealized losses in its digital asset portfolio, underscoring heightened volatility in the digital asset sector in 2022.

Galaxy Digital reported a net comprehensive loss of $111.7 million in the quarter ending March 31, compared to a gain of $858.2 million in the same quarter of 2021, the company announced Monday. In addition to unrealized losses in its digital asset portfolio, Galaxy’s overall losses were also attributed to investments in its trading and investment businesses.

The firm did report aggregate profitability for its asset management, investment banking and mining operations. Investment banking and mining posted record revenue and net comprehensive income during the quarter.

Assets under management held by Galaxy Digital Asset Management declined 5% during the quarter to $2.7 billion.

Galaxy’s declining profitability in the first quarter reflected extreme volatility in the digital asset market as Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins experienced multiple large drawdowns. The market appears to be entering a capitulation phase in May due to Bitcoin’s strong correlation with other risk-on assets.

Risk assets, including crypto, have nosedived ever since the United States Federal Reserve and other central banks decided to aggressively pursue rate hikes to combat soaring inflation. Last week, the Fed hiked interest rates by 50 basis points, marking the largest upward adjustment in over two decades.

Galaxy Digital, a crypto investment manager, founded by Mike Novogratz, is set to acquire institutional custodian service and wallet operator BitGo for $1.2 billion. https://t.co/QinaTE3PRE
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) May 5, 2021

Despite market volatility, crypto fund managers and venture capitalists continue to make large, strategic investments in the space. Galaxy plans to finalize its aquisition of BitGo later this year after first announcing its intent to buy the digital asset custodian in May 2021. Meanwhile, venture capital funding in crypto and blockchain projects reached a record high in the first quarter.

Sushi and Synthetix get the boot in Grayscale DeFi fund rebalancing

April 7, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Asset Management

Crypto asset management firm Grayscale has added three new crypto assets to its funds and has kicked SushiSwap and Synthetix from its DeFi Fund following its first quarterly rebalance.

Digital asset management firm Grayscale, has added three new cryptocurrency assets across three main investment funds, while removing two other assets from its Decentralized Finance Fund as part of this year’s first quarterly rebalance.

Grayscale removed tokens from crypto-derivatives decentralized exchange Synthetix (SNX), and decentralized exchange SushiSwap (SUSHI), from its DeFi fund after the two crypto assets failed to meet the required minimum market capitalization. No other cryptocurrencies were removed during the rebalancing.

Grayscale’s DeFi fund, which was launched in July last year, currently holds approximately $8 million in assets. The digital assets remaining in the DeFi fund after the quarterly rebalance include Uniswap (UNI), Aave (AAVE), Curve (CRV), MakerDAO (MKR), Amp (AMP), Yearn Finance (YFI) and Compound (COMP).

The crypto asset manager added Avalanche (AVAX) and Polkadot (DOT) to its Digital Large Cap Fund, alongside adding Cosmos (ATOM) to its Smart Contract Platform Ex-Ethereum Fund (GSCPxE Fund).

The GSCPxE Fund, which was launched on March 22nd, offers investors the ability to bet on an index of Ethereum’s largest competitors. The GSCPxE Fund’s current holdings listed by the total amount held are ADA, SOL, AVAX, DOT, MATIC, ALGO, XLM and ATOM.

Grayscale remains the world’s leading crypto asset manager, reporting that it held $43.5 billion in assets under management as of Jan. 3rd, this year. The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) remains the largest fund with just over $30 billion in AUM, but has traded at an increasing discount to its net-asset-value for the past year. GBTC is followed in size by the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETCG) which currently holds approximately $11.8 billion in AUM.

01/03/22 UPDATE: Net Assets Under Management, Holdings per Share, and Market Price per Share for our Investment Products.

Total AUM: $43.5 billion$BTC $BAT $BCH $LINK $MANA $ETH $ETC $FIL $ZEN $LTC $LPT $XLM $ZEC $UNI $AAVE $COMP $CRV $MKR $SUSHI $SNX $YFI $ADA $SOL $AMP pic.twitter.com/67Pb7xneoQ
— Grayscale (@Grayscale) January 4, 2022

In 2021, cryptocurrency investment funds generated over $9.3 billion in inflows as institutional adoption rose to new highs. Grayscale is gearing up to offer a Bitcoin Spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) and said it was willing to pursue legal action if the investment product remains barred by the SEC.

Trader builds Bitcoin ‘buy the dip’ bot, outperforms DCA

February 8, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin Trader

A Redditor has created an automated dip-buying bot that beats dollar-cost averaging into Bitcoin by roughly 10%.

While a bullish backdrop emerges in February, spare a thought for the traders trying to time the market. One savvy trader by the name of u/Samjhill on Reddit has built a trading tool that outperforms dollar-cost averaging (DCA) for buying Bitcoin (BTC).

DCA is the strategy in which investors buy a small amount regularly regardless of price fluctuations. It works in contrast to traders keen to get the lowest entry, timing the dip to perfection and avoiding “catching a falling knife.”

The aptly named “Buy the Dip Bot” aims to “get the best price for a given asset by using a limit strategy.” Inspired by another Redditor who suggested a manual limit-buy-order strategy for getting the best price entry, u/Samjhill took the idea one step further, coding up a dip-buying bot.

The bot places limit orders at several intervals below the current price, and if an order gets executed or canceled, it starts again. Using tech from Amazon Web Services, Python, Lambda, DynamoDB and React.JS while hosted on GitHub, the cost to run is low, “about $5 per month.”

While the bot has been beavering away since December, it hit a maiden milestone on Monday. Reaching profitability versus regular dollar-cost averaging, “the price-per-coin advantage is about (cheaper) 5%–10% right now, which you could also think of as getting that much more coin for your money,” Sam told Cointelegraph.

The bot runs a backtesting library to work out the best entry points for the limit buys. A complex process, the work paid off, culminated in a “winning strategy.”

When asked by Cointelegraph if he would recommend the bot as opposed to regular DCA, Sam replied it depends on where you are in your BTC journey:

“For people just starting out, regular DCA probably makes more sense since your goal is probably to stack as many coins as possible. For those later in their journey, they might have a decent stack already and want to minimize increasing their cost basis and so might benefit more from this.”

Sam, who first learned of Bitcoin around 2013, added that he is doing both DCA and the limit strategy “to get a more even curve of coin growth.”

While the future is currently Bitcoin orange for the trading bot, Sam built the system for easy integration with other coins. Ether (ETH) features on the GitHub page, and Sam hints he may roll out other coins to production.

Valkyrie’s latest ETF offering has exposure to Bitcoin

December 16, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin

Crypto asset manager Valkyrie has launched an exchange-traded fund with exposure to Bitcoin on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

In a Wednesday SEC filing, Valkyrie said its Balance Sheet Opportunities ETF will not invest directly in Bitcoin (BTC) but 80% of its net assets would offer exposure to the crypto asset through securities of U.S. companies with BTC on their balance sheets. These companies may include custodians, crypto exchanges, and traders.

The filing specifies that Valkyrie’s ETF may invest up to 10% of its net assets in securities of Bitcoin mining firms, as well as up to 5% in the securities of pooled investment vehicles in the U.S. that hold BTC. At the time of publication, shares of the fund under the ticker VBB are trading for $24.48, having fallen more than 1.5% since launching on Wednesday.

Introducing the Valkyrie Balance Sheet Opportunities ETF (Nasdaq: VBB). Launching today on @Nasdaq. Disclosures in bio. pic.twitter.com/YgiyQcDPPW
— Valkyrie (@ValkyrieFunds) December 15, 2021

Valkyrie’s latest ETF filing follows the firm launching a Bitcoin Strategy ETF in October which offered indirect exposure to BTC with cash-settled futures contracts. Shares of the fund are currently trading on the Nasdaq for $18.70, having fallen roughly 27% since opening on Oct. 22.

Though the SEC has given the greenlight to investment vehicles linked to Bitcoin derivatives, including one from Valkyrie and another from ProShares, the regulatory body has yet to approve an application allowing direct investments in crypto. Several crypto ETF applications are still under consideration in the United States, while its neighbor to the north — Canada — has approved BTC ETFs from Fidelity.

According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro, the price of Bitcoin rose above $49,000 today but has fallen more than 30% since reaching an all-time high price of $69,000 on Nov. 9. At the time of publication, the BTC price is $47,736.

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