Grayscale’s New Co-Investment Vehicle Aims to ‘Capture the Upside of Crypto Winter’

October 6, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Grayscale’s GBTC Discount to NAV Breaks Records as Spread Widens by More Than 35%

September 26, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Grayscale Declares Distribution of Rights to Ethereum Proof-of-Work Tokens With SEC

September 17, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Upcoming Ethereum Upgrade Could Do More Harm Than Good to Crypto Sector Worth Over $140,000,000,000: DappRadar

August 26, 2022 The Daily Hodl

Grayscale: Bitcoin Could See Another 5-6 Months of Downward or Sideways Price Movement

July 21, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Crypto Giant Grayscale Says Crypto Bear Market Began in June 2022 – Here’s How Long It Could Last

July 20, 2022 The Daily Hodl

Crypto winter has 250 days left if the market cycle repeats: Grayscale

July 18, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bear Market

The crypto industry has endured some infamous bear markets, and the 2022 downturn will be remembered for its acid test of decentralized finance platforms and over-leveraged trading.

Grayscale Investment's latest Insight report provides interesting food for thought, pinning the start of the current bear market in June 2022, which could last another 250 days if previous market cycles are to repeat themselves.

Grayscale notes that cryptocurrency markets mimic their conventional counterparts with cyclical movements. Bitcoin (BTC) market cycles conventionally last 4 years or approximately 1,275 days. The firm defines a cycle when the realized price of BTC moves below the current market price.

Realized price is determined by the sum of all assets at their purchase price divided by the asset's market capitalization. This gives a measure of how many positions are profitable, if at all. June 13 saw the realized price of BTC cross below market price, which Grayscale identifies as the start of the current bear market.

The firm believes this presents a prime investment opportunity - which is set to last another 250 days from July if the duration of previous cycles repeats itself.

Retracing history, Grayscale highlights the 2012-2015 market cycle with events like the rise and fall of the dark web marketplace Silk Road and the infamous Mt. Gox debacle, which led to the first major bear market. The development of Ethereum, major exchanges and wallet providers led to a gradual climb to the next highs in the market.

2016 to 2019 will be remembered for the boom in initial coin offerings, made possible by smart contract functionality introduced by Ethereum. Much of the capital that flowed into the cryptocurrency ecosystem in late 2017 exited the following year, as the second major bear market began.

The 2020 market cycle will be remembered as a story of leverage. Grayscale notes that investors were enticed to leverage trade with increased government spending during the Covid-19 pandemic.

A positive funding rate lasted for six months, with many traders leveraging positions with cryptocurrency as collateral. When crypto prices dipped, traders were forced to sell, which triggered a cascade of liquidations, seeing BTC drop from a November 2021 peak of $64,800 to $29,000 in June 2021.

Again leverage hurt the markets a year later, but DeFi’s major centralized finance (CeFi) players faltered after attracting massive investment with attractive yields. The rest is history, as the collapse of the US Terra stablecoin (UST) engulfed the ecosystem. Over-leveraged traders and positions were liquidated across various CeFi platforms - which exacerbated market sell-offs and sunk major capital lending firms in the space like Celsius and Three Arrows Capital.

Crypto Biz: 3AC’s founders are nowhere to be found

July 15, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bankruptcy

Liquidators don't know the whereabouts of Kyle Davies and Su Zhu. Meanwhile, Grayscale's legal officer says the asset manager's lawsuit against the SEC could take a while to play out.

In the world of crypto, there’s no such thing as “too big to fail.” Three Arrows Capital, once the most recognizable hedge fund in the industry, has essentially gone belly-up after its founders believed their own hype and decided to go full-degen mode during the worst macro climate of a generation. Since the proverbial shit hit the fan last month, founders Kyle Davies and Su Zhu have kept a very low profile. So low, in fact, that their whereabouts remain a mystery, according to court documents.

This week’s Crypto Biz chronicles the latest developments surrounding Three Arrows Capital and explores Grayscale’s legal proceedings against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Liquidators can subpoena 3AC founders despite ‘tricky issues’ with crypto assets

We may not know the whereabouts of Kyle Davies or Su Zhu, but that won’t stop liquidators from subpoenaing the founders of bankrupt Three Arrows Capital, also known as 3AC. Earlier this week, United States bankruptcy judge Martin Glenn issued an order giving 3AC liquidators permission to demand that the founders attend court. Apparently, Zhu and Davies haven’t been cooperating with their liquidators. Zhu broke his nearly one-month silence this week by alleging that the liquidators “baited” his firm. Whatever that means.

Sadly, our good faith to cooperate with the Liquidators was met with baiting. Hope that they did exercise good faith wrt the StarkWare token warrants. pic.twitter.com/CF73xI8r6n
— Zhu Su (@zhusu) July 12, 2022

Grayscale legal officer says Bitcoin ETF litigation could take two years

Grayscale’s quest for a Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) could get more complicated as the asset manager embarks on suing the SEC for denying its latest application. Specifically, Grayscale is trying to convert its GBTC product into an ETF, but securities regulators won’t let them because of “concerns” about manipulation in the spot BTC market. Craig Salm, Grayscale’s chief legal officer, said the litigation process could take up to two years before a resolution is reached. Who knows, by that time, the SEC may decide to waive its magic wand and approve another spot Bitcoin ETF.

Multicoin Capital raises $430M for new crypto startup fund

Crypto venture funding has slowed in recent months, but that hasn’t stopped major firms from continuing to raise serious capital. Prominent investor Multicoin Capital announced this week that it has launched a massive $430 million fund to bootstrap crypto and blockchain startups. The firm’s new “Venture Fund III” will allocate between $500,000 and $25 million to early-stage companies, with an increasing focus on decentralized autonomous organizations, the creator economy and consumer-facing products. 2022 is shaping up to be the biggest funding year ever for crypto.

Playboy to launch first ‘MetaMansion’ in The Sandbox

Iconic lifestyle brand Playboy is entering the Metaverse — and doing it tastefully, too. The company behind your dad’s favorite raunchy magazine has launched its first MetaMansion in The Sandbox, giving users access to a virtual version of the Playboy mansion. If you decide to pay a visit to the virtual property, you’ll be able to attend a host of gaming and social events and possibly collect nonfungible tokens (NFTs) in the future. Apparently, the MetaMansion builds on Playboy’s Rabbitar NFT project, which is comprised of 11,953 tokenized bunny avatars.

Anybunny home? We're teaming up with none other than.... @playboy! ‍♀️

Together, we will be creating a Playboy MetaMansion social game inside #TheSandbox with #NFT collectibles & special experiences for the Rabbitar @PlayboyNFTs community! pic.twitter.com/3l6Wq6ncvt
— The Sandbox (@TheSandboxGame) July 11, 2022

Don’t miss it! Why are crypto platforms going bankrupt?

The cryptocurrency market may never be the same after 2022 — and that could be a good thing or a bad thing. With companies like Voyager Digital, Three Arrows Capital and Celsius filing for bankruptcy, investors are worried about what comes next. Is your crypto safe being held on exchanges or lending platforms? In this week’s Market Report, I sat down with fellow analysts Jordan Finneseth, Marcel Pechman and Benton Yaun to discuss how the recent wave of bankruptcies will impact the market.

Crypto Biz is your weekly pulse of the business behind blockchain and crypto delivered directly to your inbox every Thursday.