Bank of Russia Rejects Provision of Crypto-Related Financial Services

December 7, 2021 Bitcoin.com

BTC sentiment ‘comparable to a funeral’ — 5 things to watch in Bitcoin this week

December 6, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin

Bitcoin has not died for the 500th time, but market fear could easily convince you otherwise as analysts predict a slow return to higher levels.

Bitcoin (BTC) starts a new week with traders still digesting the impact of the last — a major price drop that at one point saw $41,900.

A modest recovery is now competing with some formidable resistance, first of which is $50,000.

As a sense of déjà vu pervades markets, analysts are coming to terms with the fact that the end of Q4 2021 will likely not produce the blow-off top that they had anticipated.

There is also concern that another, deeper, BTC price floor may have to enter before a genuine recovery takes place.

What could happen in the last few weeks of the year? Cointelegraph takes a look at five factors on everyone’s radar for the coming week.

Ranging into "bullish" Q1 2022?

After nearing $50,000 earlier this weekend, BTC/USD is now back around $48,000 — still down 16% in a week.

Against all-time highs of $69,000, the maximum loss overnight on Friday is so far 39% — significant, yet by no means record-breaking in Bitcoin terms.

______ ~40% Corrections 2W RSI Floor Breaks
2013 4 1 (bear confirmed)
2017 7 1 (bear confirmed)
2021 6 0 (excluding Mar 2020) pic.twitter.com/B1nwFEDwKP
— TechDev (@TechDev_52) December 5, 2021

As price predictions dry up, attention is now focusing on a revival into 2022.

“For what it’s worth, my base case is that we consolidate/range till EOY, carve out a regime of mixed-negative funding rates/premium, before bullish Q1,” William Clemente forecast in a Twitter discussion.

*BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView*

A focus when it comes to the sustainability of price recovery will be derivatives markets after their cascade of position liquidations.

Yesterday's liquidation cascade was the second largest single day event of 2021 in #BTC terms, bested only by the May 19 crash in sheer size. pic.twitter.com/tRKPCJn6J8
— TXMC (@TXMCtrades) December 5, 2021

Friday’s events managed to somewhat “reset” open interest on Bitcoin futures to levels last seen in September at similar price levels to the pit of the dip.

*Bitcoin futures open interest chart. Source: Coinglass*

New CPI data, new Inflation woes

Macro markets are already on a knife-edge, but this week may add some familiar fuel to the fire in the form of fresh consumer price index (CPI) data.

Due for November, U.S. CPI readings are tipped to outstrip even October’s shock 6.2% year-on-year reading.

Economists’ prognoses were noted by Lyn Alden, financial commentator and founder of Lyn Alden Investment Strategy. She added that housing, a lagging indicator not as present last month, would likely be a factor in the results.

Economists on average expect next week's CPI print for what happened in November to be 6.7% year-over-year (up from 6.2% in the month prior) and for the month-over-month print to be 0.7% (down from the month prior's 0.9%). pic.twitter.com/ljOEZQVDBz
— Lyn Alden (@LynAldenContact) December 5, 2021

Inflation already hit the headlines again last week after Jerome Powell, Chair of the Federal Reserve, appeared to imply that “transitory” was no longer an apt description of it.

Bitcoin immediately reacted, and bulls will be keenly eyeing the new CPI data in the hope of a similar knee-jerk response to that from October.

The cryptocurrency, despite recent volatility, is argued to be the best possible workaround for purchasing power protection, not least as inflation is in fact much higher when assets not covered by CPI are factored in.

“Everyone has double-digit inflation if they measure it correctly and needs Bitcoin more than they realize,” MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, a well-known CPI critic in Bitcoin circles, warned late last month.

Central bank money printing, notably by the Fed, meanwhile recently attracted public criticism from the head of another sovereign state.

“Can you guys just stop printing more money? You’re just going to make things worse,” Nayib Bukele, President of El Salvador, responded to Powell’s “transitory” speech.

“Really. It’s a no brainer.”

Mind the gap!

Bitcoin faces a “giant” futures gap this week — one so large that it may not close immediately, but traders should not forget about it, says Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe.

With derivatives traders only adding to downside pressure at the weekend, futures may nonetheless form a target for positive momentum.

CME futures closed Friday at $53,545 — a full $5,000 higher than spot price levels at the time of writing.

In line with tradition, BTC/USD may well rise to “fill” that gap, paving the way for at least a reclaim of $50,000 and support and possibly even its $1 trillion market cap.

“There's going to be a massive CME gap to $53.5K later today,” Van de Poppe forecast Sunday.

“Quite often, like 99% of the time, they close at some point. At least an important level to watch coming weeks if the market continues to bounce for Bitcoin.”

*CME Bitcoin futures 1-hour candle chart showing gap. Source: TradingView*

The dip meanwhile succeeded in closing a previous gap to the downside which appeared at the end of November.

“Some minimal movements on the markets during the weekend, but I expect the real volatility to kick in when the weekly opens and the futures for USA launch again,” Van de Poppe added.

Fresh echoes of March 2020 as sentiment hits 5-month lows

Despite being just months after September’s price wobble, last week’s mayhem is drawing the most comparisons to the events of March 2020.

Then, as is now, Coronavirus formed the backdrop to instability, with BTC/USD selling off dramatically in a run that totaled 60% over the course of a single week.

This time around, the stakes were not as high, leading to descriptions of a “mini” re-run this month.

$BTC Is looking like a miniature version of the March 2020 crash so far. pic.twitter.com/KtBGd4K83d
— Daan Crypto Trades (@DaanCrypto) December 5, 2021

One key difference lies in market composition: 18 months ago, leveraged traders and their influence on the markets were a much smaller phenomenon.

“This Bitcoin dip was NOT driven by sentiment,” Danny Scott, CEO of exchange CoinCorner, said in a series of tweets Saturday.

“It was driven by gamblers leveraging and being liquidated. Sentiment is still very Bullish.”

While sentiment remains intact, Scott argues, the timing is serving to upend the positive mood and hopes that 2021 will finish with a boom rather than a bust. March 2020 saw a slow recovery from the lows which only accelerated around eight months afterward.

A look at the Crypto Fear & Greed Index meanwhile highlights the shock among many market participants, with 16/100 marking both “extreme fear” and its lowest score since July.

“The fear hasn't been so low since May's crash,” Van de Poppe added about the Index.

“The sentiment is literally comparable to a funeral. I like it.”

*Crypto Fear & Greed Index. Source: Alternative.me*

Hash rate de facto at all-time highs

One aspect of Bitcoin which is looking anything but bearish? Network fundamentals.

The panic among spot traders and doomsday mainstream press headlines made no dent in Bitcoin’s key network activity, underscoring miners’ long-term perspective.

Even a dip to $42,000 was not enough to compromise performance, and hash rate — a measure of the computing power dedicated to the network — remains near all-time highs.

Highest hashrate since April pic.twitter.com/qYw2htrtVl
— Nico (@CryptoNTez) December 4, 2021

Different estimates give different definitions of what was really the highest-ever Bitcoin hash rate tally.

According to the popular MiningPoolStats resource, hash rate is at its highest-ever sustained levels.

*Bitcoin hash rate chart. Source: MiningPoolStats*

Blockchain’s seven-day average currently stands at 162 exahashes per second (EH/s), meanwhile, 18 EH/s off the pre-China crackdown record in May.

*Bitcoin 7-day average hash rate chart. Source: Blockchain*

Regardless, the popular mantra remains that spot price action inevitably follows trends in hash rate.

Difficulty, which keeps Bitcoin in balance regardless of hash rate changes, is now set to increase by just under 1% in six days’ time. Previously, the metric was slated to decline for a second period running.

More Than $750,000,000 Worth of Crypto Liquidated in Just 12 Hours As Markets Sell Off

November 27, 2021 The Daily Hodl

Crypto miner PrimeBlock reportedly plans to go public through 10X Capital merger

November 18, 2021 Coin Telegraph

10x capital

The merger could result in a valuation of the two firms at roughly $1.5 billion following a $150 million fundraising round from 10X Capital Venture.

Prime Blockchain, also known as PrimeBlock, is reportedly preparing for a public offering in the United States through a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC.

In a Thursday report, Bloomberg said Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm PrimeBlock is currently discussing going public in the U.S. through a merger with 10X Capital Venture Acquisition Corp II. Though the terms of the deal are reportedly not yet finalized, the merger could result in a valuation of the two firms at roughly $1.5 billion following a $150 million fundraising round from the venture capital firm.

A crypto mining company based in the United States, PrimeBlock rolled out its first operations in Tennessee and North Carolina in September. The firm announced on Nov. 4 it had appointed Goldman Sachs veteran Gaurav Budhrani as the company’s CEO and former tZERO chief legal officer Alan Konevsky as its CLO.

As of Nov. 4, PrimeBlock reported it held more than 10,300 rigs equipped for BTC mining, as well as 2,600 Ether (ETH) miners. According to Bloomberg, the company currently mines roughly five BTC daily operating at a hashrate of one exahash.

Other crypto firms have used the SPAC route to go public in the United States. In March, Bitfury's U.S. subsidiary Cipher Mining said it would be merging with Good Works Acquisition Corp as part of a $2 billion deal to become a publicly listed company. Bitcoin miner Core Scientific is also set for a public listing on Nasdaq following a $4.3 billion merger with Power and Digital Infrastructure Acquisition Corp.

Cointelegraph reached out to PrimeBlock, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

Novogratz’s crypto firm Galaxy Digital delays US stock listing to 2022

November 16, 2021 Coin Telegraph

BitGo

After initiating the BitGo acquisition in May, Galaxy Digital expects to close the deal in the first three months of 2022.

Galaxy Digital Holdings, Mike Novogratz’s cryptocurrency investment management firm, is not going public in the United States in late 2021 as the firm previously planned.

Galaxy Digital has postponed plans for a U.S. listing, now expecting to go public in the first quarter of 2022, the company’s founder and CEO, Novogratz, announced Monday.

“We look forward to our U.S. listing and the close of our BitGo acquisition, which we now expect will occur in the first quarter of 2022,” he said.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is yet to approve Galaxy Digital’s potential listing on an American exchange, Galaxy reportedly said.

Novogratz’s crypto investment manager is also still in the process of closing the acquisition of cryptocurrency custodian BitGo after initiating the purchase earlier this year. The acquisition is expected to close in the first three months of 2022.

Galaxy Digital officially announced the company’s plans for a U.S. listing in May, with Novogratz expecting the firm to go public in the U.S. in the second half of 2021. The firm did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.

One of the largest crypto investment companies in the world, Galaxy Digital has already been trading on a major Canadian stock exchange. The company debuted its first-ever listing on Toronto’s TSX Venture Exchange in August 2018 after acquiring local crypto startup Coin Capital.

Trading under the ticker symbol GLXY, Galaxy Digital’s stock has posted significant growth recently, surpassing $40 for the first time last week. At the time of writing, the stock is trading at $41, up around 0.2% over the past 24 hours, according to TSX data.

*Source: Toronto’s TSX Venture Exchange*

The news comes amid Galaxy Digital announcing its Q3 financial results on Monday. Its net comprehensive income surged to as high as $517 million from $42 million over the same period last year. Galaxy Digital also reported that it managed $3.2 billion in assets as of October 2021.

“As the crypto economy continues to mature and adoption trends accelerate, driving both asset price increases and greater quantities of institutional capital into the space, I have never been more bullish about the future of our Company,” Novogratz added.

Crypto mining stocks dip as SEC issues subpoena for Marathon Digital mining facility

November 15, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin mining

Share prices of Marathon Digital stock dropped, as did those from major crypto mining firms including Riot Blockchain, Bitfarms, Bit Digital, and Hut 8.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has ordered crypto mining firm Marathon Digital Holdings to produce documents and communications for one of its mining facilities in Montana.

According to a Nov. 15 filing with the SEC, Marathon Digital received a subpoena concerning an investigation concerning possible violations of the federal securities law related to its Hardin, Montana data center. In the third quarter of 2021, the SEC ordered the mining firm to produce documents and communications for the 100 megawatt facility, which it made arrangements to develop and stock with Bitcoin (BTC) miners in October 2020.

Marathon Digital said it was cooperating with the SEC’s investigation but did not go into details regarding the subpoena. A separate filing from October 2020 shows the company issued 6 millions shares of restricted Common Stock “in transactions exempt from registration.”

Share prices of Marathon Digital stock dropped roughly 17% today to $63.07 as news of the subpoena reached major outlets, as did those from major crypto mining firms including Riot Blockchain, Bitfarms, Bit Digital, and Hut 8 — falling 6%, 2%, 3%, and 5%, respectively. Though the stock prices may fall when the price of BTC drops, data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro shows the crypto asset has only dipped roughly 2.4% today to reach $63,798 at the time of publication.

Earlier today, Marathon Digital announced it was planning to buy more BTC and set up new crypto miners through a $500 million private debt offering. Cointelegraph reported on Nov. 3 that the company’s MARA stock reached a six-year high price, with the mining firm accumulating $460 million worth of Bitcoin.

Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin mining firm Marathon to raise $500M in debt

November 15, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin mining firm Marathon to raise 0M in debt

Coin Telegraph

Marathon’s stock hit a six-year high in early November, with the firm accumulating $460 million worth of Bitcoin.

Marathon Digital Holdings, one of the largest Bitcoin (BTC) mining companies in the United States, is looking to raise $500 million in debt to buy Bitcoin and set up new Bitcoin miners.

The Nasdaq-listed company officially announced Monday a private debt offering featuring a $500 million aggregate principal amount of its convertible senior notes. The company also expects to grant the initial purchasers an option to purchase up to an additional $75 million principal amount of notes after 13 days from the date the notes are first issued.

“The notes will be senior, unsecured obligations of Marathon, will accrue interest payable semi-annually in arrears and will mature on Dec. 1, 2026, unless earlier repurchased, redeemed or converted,” the announcement notes.

According to the announcement, Marathon will use the raised capital for general corporate purposes like the acquisition of Bitcoin or setting up new Bitcoin mining devices.

“This is not factored into anyone’s model,” MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor noted, referring to the newly announced offering.

A publicly traded #Bitcoin miner @MarathonDH is raising $500 million in a debt offering to acquire bitcoin and bitcoin mining machines. This is not factored into anyone's model. $MARA https://t.co/WauIvs4bJy
— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) November 15, 2021

Marathon’s stock has already reacted to the news, with MARA shares surging more than 7% over the past 24 hours and trading at $75.9 at the time of writing, according to data from TradingView. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, MARA reached a six-year high in early November, with Marathon accumulating $460 million worth of Bitcoin.

Apart from posting major success in its own stock, Marathon has been driving a number of the Bitcoin industry-linked investment products, including exchange-traded funds (ETFs). As such, Marathon’s stock is part of many crypto ETPs tracking industry companies, including Volt Equity’s Crypto Industry Revolution and Tech ETF, Melanion Capital’s BTC Equities Universe UCITS ETF, Cosmos Asset Management’s Global Digital Miners Access ETF and others.

Local Council Member in Ukraine Declares 124 BTC and 500 Tesla Shares

November 14, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Austria Plans to Tax Cryptocurrencies Like Stocks, Vows Equal Treatment

November 12, 2021 Bitcoin.com

These publicly traded firms are pulling institutions into crypto

November 9, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

With increasing institutional capital flow into the crypto markets, publicly listed digital asset companies offer the best crypto gateway to institutional investors.

Cryptocurrencies have quickly emerged as one of the hottest investment vehicles of the past decade, gaining traction first from retail traders, as seen in 2017, and now from institutional investors.

From being a domain of bedroom coders to a growing financial sector with over $2 trillion in market capitalization, the crypto space has seen a sudden surge in value and continues to attract huge interest from investors.

While crypto assets have proven to be valuable, volatility remains a top concern, especially for institutional players. Sure, any investor can buy some cryptocurrencies and profit from their rising value. However, investing in established companies that are involved in the crypto and blockchain business is another way of diversifying and gaining from the overall uptake of everything blockchain and crypto-related.

This gives investors exposure to an investment vehicle with a low correlation to the volatile price swings of the crypto market.

Here is a look at some of the top publicly traded digital asset companies available to retail and institutional investors alike.

Coinbase

Coinbase’s direct listing on Nasdaq in April this year was a watershed moment for the entire cryptocurrency market. Boasting as the largest crypto trading volume for a crypto exchange in the United States, Coinbase made its debut on Nasdaq as a publicly-traded company with a valuation of close to $100 billion. Coinbase chose to go with a direct listing as opposed to the conventional initial public offering.

Founded by Fred Ersham and Brian Armstrong in 2012, Coinbase offers crypto trading services to more than 40 million retail users and about 7,000 institutions spread across the globe. While its main source of revenue has been the transaction fees on its crypto exchange, Coinbase hopes to go beyond trading to offer a debit card that allows consumers to spend their digital assets conveniently. Coinbase also offers a cloud-based digital asset custody service, an asset loan service and a data monitoring service for digital assets on the blockchain.

Microstrategy

Microstrategy is a software company with more than 40% of its market valuation invested in Bitcoin (BTC). The company has been increasing its Bitcoin stash over the past year with an accumulative purchase of Bitcoin worth more than $5 billion at current prices.

With more than 100,000 BTC to its name, Microstrategy has gone from relative obscurity in the world of finance to a crypto giant and a well-known firm on Wall Street. The company’s CEO, Michael Saylor, a Bitcoin evangelist, routinely touts Bitcoin on social media as a revolutionary invention and has also been vocal in defense of the company’s move to invest aggressively in crypto.

Recently, MicroStrategy sold $1 billion worth of its stocks holdings to inject the proceeds in acquiring more Bitcoin. Since the company announced its debut in Bitcoin, Microstrategy’s stock price has soared by more than 400%.

Riot Blockchain

Riot Blockchain is a U.S.-based Bitcoin mining and publicly listed company that uses a multitude of specialized machines called application-specific integrated circuits to mine Bitcoin. Recently, the Bitcoin mining firm dove deeper into the business with the purchase of a Bitcoin hosting facility in North America called Whinstone US.

In a press release, Riot Blockchain’s CEO Jason Les mentioned that “with Whinstone’s preeminent infrastructure and best-in-class construction, development and operations organization, Riot is extremely well-positioned to increase the scale and scope of its operations.”

Whinstone’s energy management strategy will reportedly help Riot Blockchain manage its Bitcoin mining energy costs, enabling access to reliable and responsive power to further support the Bitcoin network.

Riot Blockchain receives its mining machines from Bitmain and hosts more than 35,000 Antminers, leading to a hash rate capacity of 3.8 EH/s.

Paypal

Although PayPal stock is not purely a crypto play, the company opened its doors to digital currencies, allowing its customers with personal accounts to buy, sell and hold several cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin. Customers on PayPal can go as far as checking out with crypto even as the company continues to test out the concept of allowing crypto on its platform.

Given that digital assets and crypto are the future of finance, PayPal’s adoption of the crypto is a move to increase the usage of its app among retail investors, as well as facilitate more transactions between customers and merchants.

Furthermore, the company’s CEO has mentioned crypto several times, adding that its crypto functionality is not a speculative move but rather a developmental one that will offer customers more choices when shopping online.

Marathon Digital Holdings

Marathon Digital is a Nasdaq-listed company that has seen its stock price rally recently due to its Bitcoin purchases and mining activities. In May this year, the company released a letter of intent to collaborate with Compute North in hosting a Bitcoin mining data center with a 300-megawatt capacity.

So far, the company has seen tremendous progress with its revenue rising by 1,444% year-over-year with a host of over 70,000 Bitcoin miners setting its hash rate to 10.37 EH/s. Given the rising Bitcoin mining energy concerns and the recent developments, Marathons Digital expects its operation to achieve carbon neutrality by up to 70%.

Marathon Digital’s balance sheet has about 18.3 % of its total valuation invested in cash and Bitcoin, and continues to purchase more Bitcoin as well as store the crypto it produces at much larger percentages. According to reports, Marathon Digital is capable of mining upwards of 50 Bitcoin per day, setting the company’s value over $5 billion.

Hut 8 Mining

Hut 8 Mining features a unique approach to Bitcoin mining with a business model that is designed with scalability in mind. Believed to be one of the most promising Canada-based mining and blockchain infrastructure firms, the company has mined 264 Bitcoin in September alone, averaging about 9.11 BTC mined per day.

The company has adopted a long-term Bitcoin hold strategy where 100% of the self-mined Bitcoin is deposited in custody as the company advances toward its goal of holding 5,000 self mined Bitcoin by the end of the year. As of Sept. 30, Hut 8 Mining has accumulated 4,724 Bitcoin in custody.

EQONEX Group

EQONEX Group is a digital asset firm offering financial advisory services. This Nasdaq-listed company has since rebranded with the inclusion of additional services such as a crypto exchange, a custody platform and a multi-venture trading service, as well as an over-the-counter (OTC) offering.

With a Nasdaq listing in September 2020, EQONEX has since emerged as the first crypto-related firm to be listed on Nasdaq. So far, its crypto exchange has been growing, hitting a 24-hour trading volume of over $260 million and a 30-day volume of $4.5 billion.

Although it is not one of the biggest crypto exchanges, EQONEX touts its regulatory compliance and the fact that it doesn't make markets, thus avoiding the conflict of trading against its clients.

Growing institutional interest

Investing in stocks from digital asset companies offers a distinct advantage, whereby the investor is not directly exposed to the volatile market movements that riddle the rest of the crypto market.

Investing in crypto-related businesses also grants an investor the convenience of avoiding the complexities that come with buying and safely storing digital assets, all while exposing the investor to the upside of the crypto and blockchain industry.

Whether investing directly or indirectly, it has never been easier for institutional capital to flow into the crypto and digital asset market, given the increasing number of digital asset companies whose stock is traded publicly on stock exchanges such as Nasdaq.

Even companies such as Nvidia and AMD are increasingly contributing to the crypto and blockchain industry thanks to the use of their graphical processing units in mining crypto. These are just a few picks of the many publicly listed digital asset companies that investors can look to when it comes to traditional routes of investing in crypto.

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