Source: Crypto Briefing Go to Source Author: Mike Dalton
Volt Equity’s ETF consults with PlanB’s Bitcoin Stock-to-Flow model to adjust exposure.
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) continues listing Bitcoin (BTC)-linked exchange-traded funds (ETF), with Volt Equity becoming the latest company to debut such a product on the exchange.
Volt Equity’s Crypto Industry Revolution and Tech ETF will debut trading on the electronic securities exchange NYSE Arca on Oct. 28, the company’s CEO Tad Park told Cointelegraph. The ETF will be available for trading at market opening under the ticker symbol BTCR.
BTCR will open at $21, giving a nod to Bitcoin’s capped supply of 21 million Bitcoin. According to the company, the ETF is implementing a management approach informed by PlanB’s Bitcoin Stock-to-Flow (S2F) model, a major quantitative model intending to predict BTC price.
“We consult the famous Stock-to-Flow model as one input to understand how Bitcoin’s mining supply shock due to its scheduled halvings could affect Bitcoin’s price and when. Based on what we’re seeing, we could adjust our mining-related exposure accordingly,” Volt Equity said.
Approved by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in early October, Volt Equity’s product is not a pure Bitcoin ETF as it’s based on companies with significant exposure to Bitcoin.
The ETF tracks so-called “Bitcoin Industry Revolution Companies,” including Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy, Tesla, Twitter, Square, Coinbase crypto exchange as well as Bitcoin mining companies like Canaan, Bitfarms and Riot Blockchain. Volt Equity will regularly review the fund’s holdings and allocations “when appropriate” based on research, data and models like the S2F.
“Bitcoin is not just a coin, it’s a revolution that encompasses miners, companies using it on their balance sheet, and everyday HODLers who want to hold the first digital store of value that can’t be inflated away by a government,” Park said.
Related: SEC Chair Gary Gensler actually is pro-Bitcoin, Volt Equity CEO argues
The latest ETF launch comes soon after NYSE Arca listed a Bitcoin futures-linked ETF by investment company ProShares on Oct. 19. As previously reported, ProShares’ Bitcoin Strategy ETF became the first Bitcoin futures-linked ETF to launch in the United States.
In mid-October, major cryptocurrency fund Bitwise Asset Management also applied with the SEC to list a pure Bitcoin ETF on NYSE Arca. The SEC has not yet approved an ETF that would track Bitcoin price directly.
Major asset management firm AXS Investments filed for two Bitcoin futures ETFs on Oct. 27. According to Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, major crypto investment firm Grayscale Investments expects the SEC to approve its spot Bitcoin ETF by July 2022.
Jack Dorsey wants to build a single system that can improve accessibility to Bitcoin mining and further decentralize the BTC network.
American finserv Square will soon begin investigating technical requirements for building an open-source Bitcoin (BTC) mining system, according to CEO Jack Dorsey.
Dorsey shared a series of tweets explaining his intent to follow a collaborative approach in further decentralizing Bitcoin mining. He said:
“Square is considering building a Bitcoin mining system based on custom silicon and open source for individuals and businesses worldwide. The more decentralized this is, the more resilient the Bitcoin network becomes.”
Dorsey believes that further decentralizing the Bitcoin network will be critical for securely settling the transactions “well after the last bitcoin is mined.” Moreover, Square’s system aims to deliver energy-efficient mining solutions by innovation in silicon, software, and integration.
The initiative will be led by Jesse Dorogusker, Square’s hardware lead, who previously helped launch Square hardware wallet and custody service. According to Dorsey, the company will build the mining system following a similar collaborative approach that was used to develop its ‘assisted custody’ BTC hardware wallet.
The announcement also called out issues related to silicon shortage and vertical integration that the project will have to overcome in order to become successful. Dorsey further shared the intent to build a single system that can improve accessibility to Bitcoin mining:
“Mining isn’t accessible to everyone. Bitcoin mining should be as easy as plugging a rig into a power source. There isn’t enough incentive today for individuals to overcome the complexity of running a miner for themselves.”
Related: Twitter launches crypto tipping for all users
Dorsey belongs to a group of American billionaires that support the Bitcoin community through various business initiatives, with the latest being the launch of a cryptocurrency-based tipping service on Twitter.
The rollout of Twitter’s crypto tipping jar allows users of the social media platform to link third-party apps such as Cash App and Venmo to receive funds from other members of the platform.
According to Twitter staff product manager Esther Crawford, the new feature provides access to pathways to get paid:
“Digital currencies that encourage more people to participate in the economy and help people send each other money across borders and with as little friction as possible — help us get there.”
Business intelligence company MicroStrategy is reaping tremendous profits from its Bitcoin investments, with Square and Tesla also seeing their BTC holdings pay off in a big way. Bitcoin has been surging in recent weeks, and just today broke past the $60,000 level for the first time since April. Back in late August when Bitcoin was […]
The post MicroStrategy Is Now $3,000,000,000 in Profit on Bitcoin Investment As Square and Tesla Witness Massive Returns appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
After pulling back from Bitcoin three years ago, Stripe is looking to re-enter the crypto sector.
U.S. fintech giant Stripe is hiring a new blockchain team to enable crypto payments for its users.
The $100 billion company is returning to the crypto sector three years after it pulled back from offering Bitcoin support due its slow transaction times and rising fees.
According to a job listing page on Stripe’s website, the firm is looking for four “Staff Engineers'' with experience in the crypto sector. Guillaume Poncin, the head of engineering stated on Twitter earlier today that he’s looking for engineers and designers to “build the future of Web3 payments.”
The listing outlines that the future engineers and designers will be tasked with working “across everything from web/mobile UIs to backend, payments and identity systems.”
“We hear a growing need from developers and users in that space for better building blocks to accept payments, move funds, exchange between fiat and crypto, etc. By focusing on these problems and needs, we aim to build faster, more trustworthy, and higher quality crypto-enabled experiences,” the listing reads.
Stripe announced a new Web3 payments team and Coinbase announced an NFT product this morning.
— Chris Neumann (@ckneumann) October 12, 2021
Probably nothing.
Stripe Co-founder John Collison chimed in on Poncin’s post by stating that “Stripe and crypto have grown up at the same time,” and said that the firm decided to take the plunge into crypto after observing “exciting” developments in the space:
“We started writing code the year after the Bitcoin paper dropped. We’ve always kept an eye on things (e.g. Bitcoin support 2013-2015) but last few years’ developments (L2s, new chains, stablecoins, DeFi) are particularly exciting.”
The move to accept crypto payments comes after major competitors includ Square, Paypal, Mastercard, and Square have all entered the crypto sector. Square launched BTC trading via its Cash App in 2018, Paypal launched crypto support for U.S. customers in October 2020, while Mastercard announced in February this year that it would support multiple crypto assets on its network.
Stripe initially started accepting Bitcoin (BTC) back in 2014, but withdrew support four years later due to its slow transaction times and rising fees. In a blog post from Jan. 23 2018, Stripe stated that it may return to the sector once crypto payments are “viable,” pointing to the development of the Lightning Network and “high-potential” projects emerging on the Ethereum blockchain.
Earlier this year in June, Collison hinted that the firm was looking at crypto again as he told Bloomberg TV that:
"If you think of the kind of world that crypto people and we are trying to bring about, I think it's a very related set of goals."
"We are stuck down at this level where only a fifth of interactions are cross border, crypto is one very exciting direction for trying to solve that," he added.
Related: Meet the crypto payment gateway startup that strives to become the Stripe of Africa
The digital payments company was founded in 2011 and has a current valuation at around $100 billion. In March 2021, Stripe raised $600 million in a funding round at a valuation of $95 billion, more than doubling its previous valuation of $35 billion from 2019. According to data from Built With, there are currently 784,256 active websites using Stripe’s payments platform.
While the news is unofficial at this stage, Twitter’s product lead Kayvon Beykpour hinted that there could be an announcement soon.
Twitter appears to be developing functionality that enables users to add Bitcoin and Ethereum addresses to their profiles.
The latest update is believed to be a part of Twitter’s Tip Jar feature — which was introduced in May this year — and adds to reports which surfaced earlier this week that the firm would enable Bitcoin (BTC) tipping for content creators.
Italian mobile developer and self-described “leaker” Alessandro Paluzzi tweeted screenshots on Sept. 3 which showed BTC and Ethereum (ETH) wallet address options in the settings toolbar of the app version of Twitter.
#Twitter is working to allow you to add your #Bitcoin and #Ethereum address to your profile to receive tips via the Tip Jar feature
— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) September 2, 2021
ℹ️ It is not necessary to link a Strike account to add them to your profile. pic.twitter.com/xT9Tg1vdzR
While the news is unofficial at this stage, Twitter’s product lead Kayvon Beykpour retweeted Paluzzi’s Sept. 1 post about the BTC tipping feature with the lighting and “soon” arrow emoji.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey hinted in July that BTC tipping was a part of its broader plans to integrate that asset into the platform via avenues such as commerce and subscriptions.
An Aug. 31 report from MacRumours claimed that the BTC tipping feature will utilize Lightning Network payment platform Strike. However Paluzzi has suggested that “it is not necessary to link a Strike account” to add BTC addresses to user profiles.
— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) September 1, 2021
Related: Ethereum alone not enough to disrupt Big Tech: Jack Dorsey
Dorsey’s Square Inc has outlined multiple BTC initiatives in 2021, including an assisted custody wallet and BTC-based DeFi services. The idea of digital gold being used to tip content creators on Twitter is unsurprising given that Dorsey is a BTC maximalist, however the inclusion of ETH appears to be uncharted territory for the tech leader who has notably refused to have anything to do with the second most popular cryptocurrency in the past.