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US Senator Invests in Bitcoin and Ethereum via Grayscale

US Senator Invests in Bitcoin and Ethereum via GrayscaleU.S. Senator Patrick Toomey has declared investments in Grayscale’s bitcoin and ethereum trusts. His declaration shortly followed one by fellow congressman, U.S. Representative Barry Moore, who declared that he had invested in dogecoin, ether, and cardano. Senator Pat Toomey’s Cryptocurrency Investments A growing number of U.S. lawmakers are investing in cryptocurrencies or crypto-related investments. According […]

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Bitcoin’s key momentum metric hints at bullish divergence as BTC clings to $33K

The RSI is seeing higher lows after rebounding from its oversold areas as Bitcoin price is forming lower lows.

A recent run-down in the Bitcoin (BTC) market faces the prospects of exhaustion before confirming a full-fledged bearish breakdown, so reflects a classic momentum-based oscillator.

RSI forming higher lows

Dubbed as Relative Strength Index, or RSI, the indicator measures the speed as well as change of directional price movements. It operates within a set range of numbers—between 0 and 100. The close is RSI to 0, the weaker is the price momentum. Conversely, an RSI reading near 100 reflects a period of strong momentum.

The range also helps determine an asset's buying and selling opportunity. In detail, an RSI reading below 30 means the asset is oversold, thus an attractive buy. Meanwhile, RSI above 70 shows an overbought asset, meaning its holders would eventually sell it to secure profits.

The RSI also enables traders to spot buying/selling opportunities based on divergences between the price and the momentum. For example, when price makes a new low but RSI makes a higher low, then it is considered a buying signal—a bullish divergence. Conversely, a Bearish RSI Divergence appears when price makes a new high but RSI makes a lower high.

So it appears, Bitcoin is confirming a bullish divergence.

Independent market analyst CryptoBirb spotted the price-momentum deviation on Bitcoin's one-day chart. In there, the pseudonymous entity noted BTC/USD forming a sequence of lower lows around the same period its RSI climbed while forming higher lows.

Bitcoin price dips against a rising RSI. Source: TradingView.com, CryptoBirb

The statement appeared as the BTC/USD exchange rate corrected lower after forming a local top at $36,675 on June 29. However, as of the Friday London session, the pair was trading below $33,000. The RSI fell in tandem with the latest downside move and was near 42 at press time, a neutral-to-bullish area.

Numerous headwinds for Bitcoin

Downside sentiment in the Bitcoin market persisted due to a flurry of pessimistic events. That included a global crypto crackdown that started with a ban in China in May and spread to the UK, India, South Africa, and the United States.

For instance, the Financial Conduct Authority banned the world's leading crypto exchange Binance from undertaking regulated activities in the U.K. Additionally, in India, Enforcement Directorate issued a show-cause notice to Binance's subsidiary exchange, WazirX, for facilitating money laundering.  

More headwinds appeared from hints of hawkishness from the Federal Reserve. The U.S. central bank surprised Bitcoin investors with its sudden intention to control inflationary pressures with eventual interest rate hikes in 2023. BTC/USD dropped by more than 28% after the Fed's big reveal but later recovered after finding credible support near $30,000.

Nonetheless, bulls kept failing at sustaining Bitcoin price uptrends above the $40,000-level. As a result, the cryptocurrency remains stuck inside the $30K-$40K range, showing no clear directional bias in the short term.

Bitcoin anticipates to retest its prevailing channel's support trendline following recent pullback. Source: TradingView.com

Konstantin Anissimov, executive director at CEX.IO, also noted that accredited investors have started maintaining distance from Bitcoin over its concerning environmental impacts. He added that mainstream interest in the cryptocurrency will return once miners switch to alternative sustainable energy options.

"When the environmental concerns are no longer a worry, many institutional investors are likely to trust the digital currency again, and as such buy more," Anissimov told Cointelegraph, adding:

Bitcoin has a near-term projection of $50,000 and a longer-term projection of $75,000.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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Grayscale Considering 31 Crypto Assets for Investment Products

Grayscale Considering 31 Crypto Assets for Investment ProductsGrayscale Investments is considering 31 crypto assets to add to its family of investment products. The company, with $32.9 billion in crypto assets under management, currently offers investments in 13 cryptocurrencies. Grayscale Investments announced Friday 13 additional crypto assets it is considering for investment products. These cryptocurrencies add to the initial list of coins the […]

Kraken Institutional 2024 in review: A year of innovation and growth

Grayscale Bitcoin premium rebounds as BTC price falls below $35K — What does it mean?

A recent market outlook published by Glassnode shows institutions are returning to the Bitcoin market after May 19 crash.

Bitcoin (BTC) has crashed by around 44% from its all-time high of $64,899, signaling an end to its second-largest bull run that started in March 2020. Many analysts, including those from BiotechValley Insights, see "terrible technicals" in the Bitcoin market, noting that the flagship cryptocurrency could extend its ongoing decline until $20,000.

Nevertheless, Glassnode Insights, a weekly newsletter issued by on-chain data analytics service Glassnode, anticipates a Bitcoin price recovery in the sessions ahead, based on an on-chain indicator that serves as a metric to gauge institutional interest in the cryptocurrency.

Enough with discounts

Dubbed as Grayscale Premium, the metric tracks the capital flows into the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) — the largest investment vehicle for institutional investors looking to gain exposure in the Bitcoin market.

A rising Grayscale Premium shows a higher bitcoin inflow into Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. That prompts GBTC to trade at a premium with respect to the BTC spot price. Conversely, a lowering Grayscale Premium conveys a declining BTC inflow, prompting GBTC to trade at a discount to Bitcoin spot pricing.

The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust attracted more than 50,000 BTC to its reserves throughout January 2021 and the first half of February 2021. GBTC traded at a 10-20% premium in the said period, showing a rising institutional interest.

Grayscale BTC holdings so far in 2021. Source: Glassnode

Nevertheless, the premium fell below 10% in the first half of February. GBTC started trading at discounts to spot pricing. The same period saw the BTC/USD spot rate climbing from lower $30,000s to almost $65,000 in April. By then, GBTC premium had flipped below zero.

On May 13, just ahead of the Elon Musk-led Bitcoin market crash on May 19, the GBTC premium reached a peak low of 21.23%. It showed that institutional demand for bitcoin investment products had softened since late February.

But the May 19 price crash improved the Grayscale Premium, noted Glassnode Insights. The metric recovered to -3.8%, suggesting that institutional interest, "or at the very arbitrage trader conviction," rose in tandem with declining Bitcoin spot prices. 

Grayscale Premium recovering after GBTC at a discount 3 months in a row. Source: Glassnode

The Canadian Purpose Bitcoin ETF underwent a similar discounting trajectory, witnessing consistent capital inflows through late April and early May and outflows later in a sign of weakening institutional demand. Glassnode noted:

"However, similar to GBTC, demand flows appear to be recovering meaningfully in following the price correction with inflows back on the rise as of late-May."

Buying the Bitcoin price dip?

The contrast between lower Bitcoin spot rates and recovering GBTC prices conveyed that institutions have not outright abandoned the crypto market. Instead, it shows that the sell-off has motivated investors to gain exposure in both Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and Canadian Purpose Bitcoin ETF. Glassnode wrote:

"Institutional products GBTC and the Purpose ETF are showing signs of recovery despite collapsing prices providing early signs of renewed institutional interest."

The analytics portal also referred to metrics that showed that the majority of sellers in the latest BTC price run-down appeared to be short-term holders. Meanwhile, long-term holders bought the price dip "with conviction."

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Ark Investment tips $20M into Grayscale Ethereum Trust

Ark’s Q1 SEC report revealed holdings of 639,069 shares in Grayscale's Ethereum Trust, worth more than $20 million.

Cathie Wood's Ark Investment has reported holdings of 639,069 shares in Grayscale's Ethereum Trust for Q1 — currently worth around $20.9 million at today’s prices.

The news of Ark’s major investment into Ethereum was seen as a bullish sign by Ethereum and DeFi proponents. Mythos Capital founder and Bankless author Ryan Adams emphasized how significant he saw the developments:

“Remember when you told you the institutions would never buy ETH? They keep underestimating this asset. ETH IS MONEY.”

Ether bulls have been growing noticeably more confident recently, with the co-founder of venture capital firm Framework Ventures, Vance Spencer tweeting earlier today:

“There were many times when crypto would not have been strong enough to survive without BTC as the dominant narrative. I no longer believe this is the case. Regime change is coming.”

Cointelegraph reported on May 5 that institutional managers bought $30.2 million worth of Ethereum at the end of April, bringing their total holdings to an all-time high of $13.9 billion.

Despite the excitement around the ETH buy, Ark’s Q1 filing with SEC earlier this month shows the firm's portfolio still heavily leans in Bitcoin’s favor. Ark reported holdings of 8.6 million shares in Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust, worth more than $298 million as of today.

Data from TradingView however shows that Grayscale’s ETH Trust has been much more lucrative compared to Grayscale’s Bitcoin trust in 2021.  

The share price of Grayscale's ETH Trust, or ETHE, has increased by 179% this year, up from $11.70 on Jan. 4, to $32.70 as of today. The share price of Grayscale's BTC Trust, or GBTC, has increased by a mere 1.7% in the same time frame, up from $33.80 on Jan. 4, to around $34.38 today. GBTC has been trading at a 15-20% discount to its Bitcoin holdings.

Cathie Wood and Ark Investments don’t share the same environmental concerns as expressed recently by Elon Musk and Tesla.

In a May 17 newsletter published by the firm, Ark questioned how well Elon Musk had done his research on the topic, noting that “Tesla’s decision seems to have been triggered by private equity firm Greenidge’s plans to revive a coal power plant to mine Bitcoin.”

The firm highlighted that Greenidge had clarified not only that its plant is powered by natural gas and feeds the grid but also that it bought carbon credits to offset the emissions:

“In our view, the concerns around Bitcoin’s energy consumption are misguided. Contrary to consensus thinking, we believe the impact of Bitcoin mining could become a net positive to the environment.”

According to news outlet Bazinga on May 18, Ark also recently added another 259,897 Coinbase shares to its holdings via the Ark Innovation ETF and the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF — worth more than $62 million at today’s price of around $241.

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Rothschild Investment Corp snaps up quarter of a million shares in Grayscale ETH Trust

Rothschild Investment Corp, has acquired more than 250,000 shares in Grayscale’s ETH trust, and added 8000 shares to its BTC trust holdings — however the firm holds zero ties to the famed Rothschild family dynasty.

Chicago-based financial institution Rothschild Investment Corp, has acquired 265,302 shares in Grayscale’s ETH trust, according to a filing on April 15 with the United States Securities Commission or SEC.

The firm also added more Grayscale Bitcoin trust shares to its holdings, with the latest SEC filing revealing that it increased its tally from 30,454 in January up to 38,346 this month.

Rothschild Investment has been accumulating GBTC since 2017, and the latest filing shows the firm’s appetite for crypto exposure is not slowing down. Ether proponent Ryan Adams, the founder of crypto investment firm Mythos Capital and Bankless, commented on the latest move noting that “BTC is the gateway drug to ETH.”

The brokerage firm’s history spans back to 1908, and it has been investing in crypto for a relatively long time when compared to the mass inflow of institutions who have swooped in during the past 12 months. An SEC filing showed that the firm owned $210,000 worth of GBTC in July 2017, when BTC was priced around $2000.

Founding members Monroe Rothschild and brother in-law Samuel Karger reportedly have no relation to the famed Rothschild family dynasty, much to the confusion of the crypto community despite the New York Times publishing an article that clarified the situation in 1995.

Grayscale is the leading U.S. digital asset manager that offers institutional exposure to crypto, the firm holds roughly 660,000 BTC, which accounts for 3.5% of BTC in circulation.

The firm revealed yesterday that its total assets under management has now reached $50.6 billion, its ETH trust, or ETHE, is now up to more than $7 billion worth of AUM, with its shares currently trading at around $24. GTBC has surpassed $41 billion in AUM, and shares are trading at around $59.

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Grayscale Reveals Intentions to Convert the Firm’s Bitcoin Trust Into an ETF

Grayscale Reveals Intentions to Convert the Firm’s Bitcoin Trust Into an ETFOn Monday, the digital currency asset manager Grayscale Investments announced intentions to file for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) when permissible. The subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG) says in regard to its crypto trust products that it always been the company’s intention “to convert these products into an ETF.” Transforming Grayscale’s $34 Billion Bitcoin […]

Kraken Institutional 2024 in review: A year of innovation and growth

Canada’s Purpose Bitcoin ETF may be cutting into Grayscale’s market share

Following the launch of Canada’s first Bitcoin ETF, shares in Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust have spent an entire month trading at a discount compared to spot BTC for the first time.

For the first time, shares in Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust traded at a discount compared to spot BTC for an entire month.

Rafael Schultze-Kraft, the CTO of on-chain analytics provider Glassnode, shared the observation to Twitter on April 1, noting shares in the institutional fund manager’s Bitcoin Trust had traded at a notional discount of -6% on average during March.

He noted the discount in Grayscale’s BTC shares has coincided with the launch of the Purpose Bitcoin ETF in Canada — which has accumulated 16,000 BTC worth roughly $940 million since launching in late February.

Glassnode’s CTO is not alone in speculating the launch of North America’s first Bitcoin ETF may be siphoning institution away from Grayscale, with Galaxy Digital’s Mike Novogratz tweeting:

“[Grayscale] used to be the only game in town. Now have an ETF in Canada that charges 40 bp. And there are many funds here in the USA with very low fee structures.”

Two Bitcoin and crypto ETFs were also approved by Brazil’s Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month.

Schultze-Kraft noted the Trust’s Bitcoin holdings have been flat over recent weeks, stating this was: “Not surprising, as subscribing to create new $GBTC shares makes little sense as long as existing shares are trading at a discount.”

Grayscale allows accredited investors to create baskets of shares that represent BTC or other digital assets by depositing fiat. Grayscale then deposits a corresponding quantity of crypto into its trusts, with investors facing a six-month lock-up period after which they can sell their shares using over-the-counter, or OTC, markets.

With Grayscale’s shares historically trading at a premium over the spot crypto markets, many institutional investors have invested in the Trust as an arbitrage play, speculating the sizable spread would offset the 10% holding and interest fees associated with the six-month lock-up.

Grayscale currently boasts $45.6 billion in assets under management across its 13 Trusts, following the launch of five new Trusts last month. Its new Decentraland (MANA) Trust represents $17.4 million, followed by Livepeer (LPT) with $12.3 million, Filecoin (FIL) with $8.5 million, Basic Attention Token (BAT) with $3.7 million, and Chainlink (LINK) with $3.5 million.

While all of Grayscale’s newly supported assets have seen significant gains over recent weeks, Filecoin’s performance has topped the list with a 105% gain this past week according to CoinMarketCap.

Kraken Institutional 2024 in review: A year of innovation and growth