Payments in National Currencies Surge to 92% Among SCO Members

September 1, 2024 Bitcoin.com

bitcoin.com

Payments in national currencies among Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) members have reportedly increased from 40% in 2022 to 92%, signaling a move away from reliance on the U.S. dollar. Similar to the BRICS economic bloc, the SCO, which includes Russia, China, India, and recently added Iran, is encouraging the use of local currencies to strengthen […]

US lawmaker reports AERO, GRT and VELO investments in 2024

August 27, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Georgia Representative Mike Collins previously disclosed purchasing up to $65,000 in ETH, but seems to have moved onto altcoin investments.

Mike Collins, who has represented Georgia’s 10th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives since 2023, disclosed three altcoin investments while in Congress.

In financial disclosure reports filed with the House of Representatives from July to August, Representative Collins revealed purchases of up to $15,000 in Velodrome (VELO), up to $15,000 in The Graph (GRT), and up to $115,000 in Aerodrome Finance (AERO). The same disclosures showed the US lawmaker partially sold his AERO holdings on Aug. 4 before making another purchase between $15,001 and $50,000 on Aug. 5.

Rep. Mike Collins’ financial disclosures. Source: Clerk, US House of Representatives.

China and Russia Push for Increased Local Currency Use in Trade, Deepen BRICS Cooperation

August 24, 2024 Bitcoin.com

artificial intelligence

China and Russia solidified their cooperation in currency, finance, and within the BRICS framework following a meeting between Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. They committed to local currency use, payment infrastructure, and mutual investments, while also advancing collaboration in artificial intelligence, sustainable development, and global governance. China and Russia Strengthen […]

Elon Musk’s Twitter buyout is going so poorly that banks had to issue pay cuts

August 22, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Banks

The “hung” loans have led to bankers calling it the worst buyout since 2008.

There have been thousands of corporate buyouts in the 14 years since the 2008 banking crisis. And, according to the banks holding the loans, none of them have been worse than Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter.

A report from the Wall Street Journal indicates that approximately $13 billion in loans used in the purchase of Twitter (now X) are stuck on banks’ balance sheets.

The typical practice for this type of debt financing is for banks to sell that debt to other investors. Since X is a private company, this practice allows investors who weren’t involved in the initial financing phase to become stakeholders.

Solana ETF ‘still in play’ despite Cboe filing removal — VanEck exec

August 19, 2024 Coin Telegraph

bitcoin etf

VanEck is still advocating for its Solana ETF with regulators, said Matthew Sigel.

Asset manager VanEck’s plans for a Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF) are “still in play” despite the removal of Cboe Global Markets’ regulatory filing proposing to list the fund on its exchange, according to an X post by Matthew Sigel, VanEck’s head of digital assets research.

“Some have noticed that the 19b-4 for the VanEck Solana ETF has been removed from the CBOE website,” Sigel said, adding:

On July 9, national securities exchange Cboe filed a request with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission seeking to list VanEck’s and 21Shares’ planned SOL (SOL) ETFs and asking the SEC to make a final decision by March. The filing is referred to as a 19b-4 and is distinct from the S-1s filed by issuers.

Crypto VCs see ‘big opportunities’ with L2 interoperability, but not AI

August 19, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Cointelegraph spoke to VCs to find out which sectors they’re currently interested in, as investments increased in Q2.

Layer-2 blockchains and infrastructure projects are among the big winners as blockchain venture capital (VC) spending rose to $2.7 billion in the second quarter of 2024.

Decentralized social media, decentralized physical infrastructure networks and decentralized science are some of the hot areas currently gaining traction.

However, some big-name VCs are starting to cool on artificial intelligence after revenue and demand failed to materialize.

Tokenized RWAs are ’a $30 trillion opportunity’ — Polygon exec

August 19, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Tokenized RWAs are ’a trillion opportunity’ — Polygon exec

Coin Telegraph

High-net-worth individuals and private equity funds will drive adoption, said Colin Butler.

Tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) represent a $30 trillion market opportunity globally, Colin Butler, Polygon’s global head of institutional capital, told Cointelegraph in an interview.

Adoption will largely be driven by high-net-worth individuals dramatically increasing portfolio allocations to alternative assets — such as private credit — as tokenization brings liquidity and accessibility to historically illiquid asset classes.

“The idea is that there are $300 trillion in global assets, half of which—$100 trillion—are owned by individuals with net worths between $1 million and $30 million” whose portfolio allocations to alternative assets are often negligible, Butler said.

Bitwise enters European market with acquisition of ETC Group

August 19, 2024 Coin Telegraph

bitcoin etf

The acquisition adds nine European-listed crypto ETPs to Bitwise’s portfolio and raises its assets under management to over $4.5 billion.

San Francisco-based asset manager Bitwise has entered the European markets with the acquisition of crypto investment firm ETC Group. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed by the companies.

According to an Aug. 19 announcement, the London-based firm ETC Group has over $1 billion in assets under management with a portfolio of products that includes a physical range of crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs), including Bitcoin ETP (BTCE), Ethereum with staking (ET32), Solana (ESOL), XRP (GXRP), and the MSCI Digital Assets Select 20 (DA20).

In total, the acquisition adds nine European-listed crypto ETPs and raises Bitwise’s assets under management to above $4.5 billion.

Franklin Templeton files S-1 for new crypto index ETF

August 16, 2024 Coin Telegraph

bitcoin etf

Issuers are lining up for the next wave of cryptocurrency exchange-trade funds.

Asset manager Franklin Templeton is seeking to launch a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) designed to as a one-stop-shop crypto portfolio, according to an Aug. 16 filing.

The Franklin Crypto Index ETF will track the performance of the CF Institutional Digital Asset Index, which currently only comprises Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), the filing said.

“The Fund will seek to achieve its investment objective by investing in the Digital Assets in approximately the same weights as they represent in the Underlying Index,” according to the filing, which says that the ETF may hold additional types of cryptocurrencies in the future.

Goldman Sachs, Capula, Avenir were biggest BTC ETF buyers in Q2 — CoinShares

August 16, 2024 Coin Telegraph

bitcoin etf

The companies collectively purchased nearly $1.3 billion worth of Bitcoin ETF shares during the quarter.

Asset managers Goldman Sachs, Capula Management, and Avenir Tech emerged as the biggest buyers of Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the second quarter of 2024, according to an analysis by CoinShares Research shared with Cointelegraph.

According to CoinShares’ review of quarterly 13F disclosures filed by large fund managers, the three investment firms collectively bought nearly $1.3 billion worth of BTC ETF shares.

Since launching in January, Bitcoin ETFs have seen enormous demand, aided in part by adoption by large financial institutions such as Morgan Stanley.

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