Enegra migrates digitized equity tokens from Ethereum to Polygon blockchain

November 5, 2021 Coin Telegraph

The firm selected the Polygon blockchain for its low transaction fees and fast transaction time.

Enegra Group, a commodities trading firm based in Malaysia with a net asset value of $28 billion, has migrated its equity-tied EGX security tokens to the Polygon (MATIC) blockchain from Ethereum (ETH). In 2019, Energra tokenized 100% of its equity, enabling shareholders to digitally exercise their dividend, voting and governance rights. Both the initial tokenization and token migration were facilitated by Tokeny, an asset tokenization and compliance infrastructure provider.

Matthew Averay, managing director and CEO at Enegra, said:

We tokenized our equity to improve liquidity. And, now that the technology is available for faster, cheaper and compliant transactions on the blockchain, we wanted our investors to take advantage of it. Polygon and Tokeny provided the complete infrastructure we needed to do so, and we are extremely pleased with the results.

Meanwhile, Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder at Polygon, commented:

The tokenization of real-world assets and financial securities is probably the next big wave in DeFi, and we are excited to see our partner, Tokeny, bring qualitative and compliant assets to the Polygon network. By leveraging our infrastructure with the right software provider, such as Tokeny, businesses can quickly deploy or convert their assets to Polygon.

1/2 @enegragroup is coming to #Polygon, all thanks to @TokenySolutions

Enegra is one of the world’s first regulated companies to issue equity-backed digital security tokens, under security token code EGX on the Polygon network.

Learn More: https://t.co/gVegl4QDsH pic.twitter.com/jUN5g7IgSp
— Polygon | $MATIC (@0xPolygon) November 5, 2021

Finally, Luc Falempin, CEO at Tokeny Solutions, added the following statement:

Issuers of tokens don't need to worry anymore about being blocked on a blockchain forever. Without losing any history, we now have the tools and processes for smooth migrations from one network to another.

Polygon is a protocol designed for scaling and developing infrastructure on the Ethereum blockchain. According to PolygonScan, the network processes over 3 million transactions per day and has approximately 105 million unique wallet addresses. Altcoin blockchains with low transaction costs continue to surge in popularity as of late, due to high gas fees on the Ethereum network — which currently hover around $153 per smart contract execution.

Bitcoin reverses Tuesday gains, while Solana joins Ethereum in fresh all-time highs

November 3, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin

Altcoins eat Bitcoin’s lunch on Wednesday, but confidence in an imminent Bitcoin rebirth is stronger than ever.

Bitcoin (BTC) fell to 24-hour lows before Wall Street’s open on Nov. 3 as a previous bull run halted at $64,000.

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

BTC price inches back toward $62,000

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirmed the return of uninspiring sideways price action after Tuesday’s volatility.

As Cointelegraph reported, BTC/USD rose almost $4,000 before topping out, with momentum then fading away to produce lows of $62,400 at the time of writing.

As ever for a post-halving Q4, analysts continued to cast aside any bearish theories.

“Market looks primed,” popular Twitter account TechDev summarized.

A separate post reexamined Fibonacci levels that have determined Bitcoin price cycle tops in both the 2013 and 2017 post-halving Q4 periods.

Should BTC/USD repeat history, even the upcoming 4.236 extension at $73,500 would mark the start, not the end, of the most intense phase of gains.

“Will it mark the top, or will we top just above log 2.272 once again? I cannot say for certain of course, but I do expect the top of the 2-week RSI channel to tell us,” he wrote, referencing Bitcoin’s bullish relative strength index.

“But if you expect neither, and instead think BTC will suddenly top at the linear 4.236 for the first time in history, with the 2-week RSI also failing to hit the channel for the first time in history... To me that is an extremely low probability bet.”

*BTC/USD annotated chart with Fibonacci levels. Source: TechDev/Twitter*

For the short term, funding rates once again creeping higher coincided with the price drawdown.

SOL replaces DOT in altcoin all-time high fest

Altcoins continued to be anything but placid Wednesday as Ether (ETH) continued to new all-time highs.

ETH/USD was joined by Solana (SOL), which launched its own comeback to see all-time highs of $235 on the day.

*SOL/USD 1-day candle chart (FTX). Source: TradingView*

Polkadot (DOT), which also broke new records on Tuesday, meanwhile, took a breather, still trading above $50 at the time of writing.

Cointelegraph earlier reported on predictions that place ETH at up to $14,000 and DOT at $100 next.

Bitcoin ‘Moonvember’ begins as data shows November is best month for S&P 500

November 1, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin

It may turn out to be a race to the finish for both traditional and crypto markets, if historical data is anything to go by.

Bitcoin (BTC) bulls are betting on a solid month for BTC price action, as November traditionally sees strong gains for United States stocks.

Data shows that November has been the best performing month for the S&P 500 since 1985.

November 2021 has stiff competition

With “Uptober” already the biggest month in terms of gains for Bitcoin in 2021, odds are stocks could act as a catalyst for further upside in “Moonvember.”

Median S&P 500 progress in November over the past 35 years has been just over 2% — making it the only month to achieve those median returns.

At the same time, over 70% of years have seen positive returns, and Bitcoin’s history is similar.

In November, BTC/USD has ended up higher than when it started with the exception of just two years: 2018 (-36.5%) and 2019 (-17.2%).

2020 conversely saw 43% gains, leaving the door open for a rematch in line with expectations.

*BTC/USD monthly returns table. Source: Bybt*

As Cointelegraph reported , these predict a volatile but ultimately extremely beneficial month as Bitcoin approaches its Q4 peak.

“Highest monthly close in history. Congrats Bitcoin and congrats y’all,” an optimistic TechDev summarized on Nov. 1.

“We are now headed toward our second monthly RSI peak like every cycle before. Nowhere near a top. Trust the indicators.”

TechDev is eyeing either copycat retrace of 2017’s top sequence or that of 1970s gold, both apt to send BTC/USD far beyond $100,000.

Good morning bulls.

Quite the month ahead for #Bitcoin.

About to find out which path we’re on. pic.twitter.com/qbvPIvWLC2
— TechDev (@TechDev_52) November 1, 2021

Bumps in the road for stocks and Bitcoin

Bitcoin’s relationship to traditional markets has come into examination in recent months as the cryptocurrency begins to carve out its own path away from macro.

A test of trader resolve may come as soon as this week as the Federal Reserve prepares new comments on asset purchase tapering.

For Bitcoin, the decision whether or not to allow a regulated exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S. this month may yet steer price action far away from predictions — especially if a rejection is seen.

As proponents point out slowness in following other countries, VanEck — one of over 40 applicants — has revealed it is mulling applying to launch a spot ETF in Australia.

‘Uptober’ closes at record high in best month of 2021 — 5 things to watch in Bitcoin this week

November 1, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Analysis

October 2021, with 40% gains, becomes the best for Bitcoin price action since December 2020, even beating the Q1 run.

Bitcoin (BTC) sees a volatile start to a new week and a new month after its first ever monthly close above $60,000 — what’s next?

After a highly anticipated end to “Uptober,” bulls are looking to November to provide the next phase of what they hope — and sometimes promise — will be a BTC price surge like no other.

The timing varies, and so do the predictions. In store for BTC/USD this month could be a monthly close of nearly $100,000 — but also a dip to near $50,000.

With everything to play for and solid buyer support in the upper $50,000s holding, Cointelegraph takes a look at what could help shape Bitcoin price action in the coming week.

October 2021 becomes best month since 2020

Regardless of what comes next, market participants are in a celebratory mood this week as Bitcoin sees the highest monthly close in its history.

New all time high monthly close for Bitcoin
— Will Clemente (@WClementeIII) November 1, 2021

Not only $60,000, but $61,000 has now become the target to beat for November.

Bitcoin is anything but “up only” on short timeframes, however, and Sunday’s close was met with noticeable downside volatility post factum — a trip to $59,500 — before another surprise took it above $62,000 hours later.

Perhaps slightly nervous are fans of PlanB’s “worst case scenario” price predictions, these calling for at least $63,000 for the end of October.

While still more or less on track, for the series to continue its historical accuracy, $98,000 needs to be on the table by the end of this month.

For PlanB himself, however, the results have been more than satisfactory.

Aug $47K✅
Sep $43K✅
Oct $61K new monthly close ATH!✅
Ok ok, 3% rounding error .. close enough for me
Next targets: Nov>$98K, Dec>$135K pic.twitter.com/7LSnQBYJ33
— PlanB (@100trillionUSD) November 1, 2021

“Yes, Bitcoin might not close above $63K this month,” Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe meanwhile added about the situation.

“However, @100trillionUSD his hitrate on the stock-to-flow model is way better than your trading performance, so I wouldn’t really roast him at all. Bitcoin at $61K is just as fine and close enough.”

After a correction from overnight lows, BTC/USD is trading at around $62,000. October, then, was its best month since December 2020, with returns just shy of 40%.

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

Difficulty lines up 8th straight increase

Those looking for something that truly is in “up only” mode need look no further than Bitcoin network fundamentals.

This week, difficulty will put in its eighth consecutive positive adjustment — something which has not happened since 2018.

Reflective of the increasingly competitive mining arena, the mining difficulty has now all but made up for the losses it necessarily inflicted after China forced miners to down tools in May.

Difficulty will increase to 21.89 trillion this week, just over 3 trillion below all-time highs.

Hash rate — the measure of processing power dedicated to mining — tells a similar story.

Despite being impossible to “measure” in definitive terms, hash rate is still trending towards new all-time highs, estimates show.

Raw data trends up and down, and different estimates often end up with considerably different readings. The weekly average hash rate, however, now stands at around 159 exahashes per second (EH/s) — closer than ever to the 180 EH/s record from April.

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

Hodlers hodl on

September provided a golden “buy the dip” opportunity for Bitcoin buyers, and October was likewise not without its brief retracements.

Did you buy the dip? If you did, you added to the increasingly strong cohort of long-term hodlers whose conviction has only increased in October.

As noted in research from major exchange Kraken last week, the price gains and run to $67,100 all-time highs have failed to tempt hodlers to sell BTC.

“Notably, while long-term holders were unfazed by the retracement last month and used it as an opportunity to continue accumulating, this trend has not changed despite a significant rebound in price to new all-time highs near $67,000,” researchers concluded.

“In other words, the supply shock bought by long-term holders last month has only grown stronger this month.”

It is these entities, rather than short-term speculators, who are driving price performance in Q4 this year, they add.

This chimes with previous analysis, notably by analyst Willy Woo, showing that the so-called “hodlers of last resort” or “Rick Astley” investors remain committed to their investment. Among the long-term holders, since 2020, are miners themselves.

“Since 2020 miners have been HODLers (and buyers) of BTC, this is a sea change in behaviour,” Woo noted this weekend.

“Miners have not been in sustained accumulation behaviour since the 2009-2014 era.”

*Bitcoin miner supply 1-hop chart. Source: Kraken*

Exchange balances lowest since October 2018

On the topic of supply shock, the picture from exchanges is grim — from the perspective of a Bitcoin bear.

According to fresh data from on-chain analytics firm Glassnode, exchange BTC reserves are now at their lowest in three years.

At that time, in late 2018, Bitcoin was heading into the pit of its previous bear market, one which bottomed out in December at $3,100.

Since then, price action has changed by an order of magnitude, but balances are still dwindling — all pointing to the scale of the potential shock should demand increase heavily from here.

Exchanges now control 2.47 million BTC, while at its peak in April 2020, over 3.1 million BTC stood on their orderbooks.

*Bitcoin exchange balance chart. Source: Glassnode/ Twitter*

Balance changes can vary considerably between exchanges. Over the past 24 hours, for example, Coinbase Pro led the decrease, down almost 20,000 BTC, while some other players saw slight increases in their balance.

Markets expect Fed tapering announcement

The coming week could produce some familiar trends on traditional markets — and their traditional knock-on impact on crypto markets.

These could come thanks to fresh comments from the United States Federal Reserve on coronavirus management Tuesday and Wednesday, as markets expect further cues on asset-buying tapering.

This comes as inflation ramps up worldwide, while Fed Chair Jerome Powell previously admitted that the accompanying narrative — supply chain crisis — will likely persist “well into next year.”

“I think the Fed has pretty well determined to start the taper pretty quickly. We expect them to announce it next week and then start it soon thereafter, so that's pretty well carved in stone,” Kathy Jones, chief fixed income strategist at Charles Schwab, told Yahoo Finance last week.

“I think the big debate now is how quickly the Fed moves toward actually raising rates. The expectation in the market has really shifted to expecting as many as two rate hikes in 2022 and 2023... that’s a pretty aggressive pace of tightening.”

Such conditions serve to increase Bitcoin’s attractiveness as an inherently deflationary asset class with a mathematically-verifiable supply cap.

Institutional inflows into extant Bitcoin investment products, along with the newly-launched futures exchange-traded funds (ETFs), highlight growing demand.

*Purpose Bitcoin ETF assets under management vs. BTC/USD chart. Source: Bybt*

Redditors cheer as GameStop assembles team of NFT experts

October 27, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

“Future creators won’t just build games but also the components, characters, and equipment. Blockchains will power the commerce underneath,” Gamestop’s Head of Web3 Gaming job listing reads.

GameStop (GME) is assembling a team of blockchain and NFT experts to work on the firm’s upcoming NFT platform.

The firm’s GME stock is a cult favorite amongst retail traders as a result of the r/wallstreetbets and Robinhood saga earlier this year. On Reddit the r/Superstonk community boasts 659,000 members, and is dedicated to hosting business and stock discussions related to GME.

A post about GameStop’s job listings yesterday has received more than 10,000 upvotes at the time of writing, with many members posting bullish sentiments over GameStop’s latest move.

GameStop quietly unveiled a bare-bones website for its NFT marketplace in May. The site currently features a Nintendo Gameboy-style gaming console with an Ethereum logo, along with a message calling out for recruits to work on the platform.

Since then the firm has held its cards close to its chest, however on Oct. 25 it listed a total of eight jobs for crypto-friendly candidates, including three roles for NFT experienced software engineers, three jobs for product marketers and with two roles focused on Web3 based gaming.

One of the listings for the Head of Web3 Gaming job says that GameStop is looking for someone with experience with “Ethereum, NFTs and blockchain-based gaming platforms.” The firm has also hinted that there are some plans related to the Metaverse in the works.

“GameStop is looking for a unique individual who can help accelerate the future of gaming and commerce. In this future, games are the places to go, and play is driven by the things you bring. Future creators won’t just build games but also the components, characters, and equipment. Blockchains will power the commerce underneath,” the job listing reads.

Web3, billions in revenue, NFTs, Ethereum Layer 2. probably nothing. $GME pic.twitter.com/s3PiaqtWQl
— Chris SilvΞstro (@vestro) October 26, 2021

Members of the r/Superstonk community were singing the firm’s praises yesterday, with “Triaspia2” calling it one of the “best job listings” they had seen, while pledging to buy more GME as it was a “bullish signal.”

Redditor “Donnybiceps” was equally bullish, noting that:

“NFTs are the future and people who haven't gotten on board the GME train while knowing all these clues then you should be blaming yourself for not thinking this through.”

GME has had a volatile performance in October, going as low as $166 before bouncing to around $187 and subsequently crashing down again. However, according to data from Tradingview, the price of GME has still gained 2.8% this month to sit at $178 at the time of writing. The year-to-date gain for GME is a whopping 844%.

Valour Uniswap exchange-traded product to increase UNI exposure

October 26, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Valour Uniswap ETP, with UNI as the underlying asset, launches on the Boerse Frankfurt Zertifikate AG stock exchange.

Valour, a Zurich-based exchange-traded products (ETP) issuer, announced the launch of a fully-backed investment product to increase exposure to Uniswap decentralized exchange’s native token, UNI.

The UNI token serves as the underlying asset within the Valour Uniswap ETP offering available as a fully-backed passive investment product. The Uniswap ETP was launched on a European stock exchange named Boerse Frankfurt Zertifikate AG, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange co-owner.

Valour CEO Diana Biggs highlighted the inaccessibility of blockchain-based investment products on traditional markets and stock exchanges. Speaking about Valour Uniswap ETP’s position in making DeFi investments available via mainstream investment channels, he said:

“Uniswap ETP will provide investors with the opportunity to gain exposure to areas of innovation, in particular to decentralized finance (DeFi).”

As of Oct. 25, Valour’s assets under management (AUM) offerings grew over 3033% in 2021, surpassing $290 million from trading on traditional stock exchanges. The Uniswap protocol passed $500 billion in total trading volume since Nov. 2018.

A Cointelegraph report from Oct. 19 credits Uniswap’s layer-two volumes surge to high transaction fees on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain.

Hayden Adams, the founder of Uniswap, estimated that Uniswap v3 processed daily volumes worth $115 million across the Arbitrum and Optimism smart-contract networks.

Uniswap v3 on layer 2 (arb + OE) doing an all time-time high of $115m volume!!

2⃣ L2 season is here :)
— hayden.eth (@haydenzadams) October 18, 2021

According to a crypto market data provider, Nomics, Uniswap v3 drove $80 million in volume on Arbitrum and roughly $14 million on Optimism during that timeframe.

BTC price ‘on the way to $90K’ — 5 things to watch in Bitcoin this week

October 25, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin

$60,000 support boosts wary hodlers and reinforces calls for even higher highs — the only question is how soon.

Bitcoin (BTC) launches into a new week determined to keep $60,000 as support — despite new all-time highs failing to last.

After a classic Sunday dip, bulls regained control and have managed to keep BTC/USD clear of sub-$60,000 lows.

With neither the April nor October all-time highs seeing a retest so far, however, investors are eager to see where Bitcoin is capable of going.

Expectations remain sky high — as much as $300,000 in the coming months, and even a continuation of the bull run well into 2022.

Cointelegraph takes a look at five factors to consider when charting BTC price action in the coming days.

Bitcoin's "relentless spot bid"

A cool picture on global markets as U.S. stocks futures remain unmoved prior to the open.

Inflation continues to bite, and even the Federal Reserve admits that it could stay higher for longer. A separate row over taxing unrealized gains is also coming in for intense debate among crypto circles.

Beyond soaring commodities, however, the picture is cooler when it comes to Bitcoin price triggers, as a decoupling from macro moves has already long characterized BTC/USD.

Ahead of the launch of the third Bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) Monday, more attention is being paid to gold — and traditional ETFs — and the threat that Bitcoin poses to them.

“If CME open interest jumping several places to number 1 globally in a matter of days this week is not a barometer for massive institutional interest, I don't know what is,” Charles Edwards, CEO of investment firm Capriole, commented last week.

“This is a changing of the guard.”

*Bitcoin futures open interest chart. Source: Charles Edwards/ Twitter*

Edwards previously said that the futures-based ETFs would provide a “relentless spot bid” on Bitcoin, countering concerns about the instrument’s overall potency.

Where is the key support level for $BTC?

$840M worth #Bitcoin was purchased in futures markets via market orders whenever the price approached $60K yesterday.

Taker Buy/Sell Volume helps to figure out key support/resistance levels.

Set an alert herehttps://t.co/URSHem9Swb pic.twitter.com/ygh4KQAOVg
— Ki Young Ju 주기영 (@ki_young_ju) October 25, 2021

Looking at the futures volumes, large buy-ins accompanied each challenge of $60,000, Ki Young Ju, CEO of on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant added.

Tracking the 2017 bull run

In classic fashion, a weak Sunday has turned into a bullish Monday this week as Bitcoin climbs above $62,000.

Last week saw a 10% dip from new all-time highs of $67,100, and April’s $64,900 peak provided barely any support.

As bearish calls began to surface, however, Bitcoin was in no mood for abandoning its new trading zone — even as analysis argued that even $50,000 would still constitute solid price action.

The weekly close failed to challenge a large buy wall which lies just under $60,000, providing further relief.

“So far, so good,” Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe summarized in his latest update Monday morning.

“Bitcoin on the way to $90K.”

The schedule for such a target has lengthened this month — for Van de Poppe, this should come only later in Q1 next year, contrasting with six-figure estimates with a much lower timeframe.

October is forecast to end at around $63,000, meanwhile, leaving uncharted territory for the last two months of 2021.

For popular analyst TechDev, Bitcoin is still replaying 2017 price action with almost uncanny accuracy. This, too, would suggest much higher price levels before the year is out — in line with December 2017’s blow-off top.

After 140 days, a slightly-flattened 2017 fractal continues to predict the day-to-day #BTC price action better than most short-term TA I’ve seen. pic.twitter.com/93l7RODsMU
— TechDev (@TechDev_52) October 25, 2021

VanEck ETF prepares for Monday launch

Another week, another reason to get bullish on institutional investment as Bitcoin sees another exchange-traded fund (ETF) go live.

This Monday, it’s the turn of VanEck, almost a household name in cryptocurrency circles thanks to its years of attempting to get a Bitcoin ETF product to market.

Like last week’s offerings, VanEck’s Bitcoin Strategy ETF (XBTF) will have Bitcoin futures underlying, adding to the competition in advance of an initial regulatory decision on physical ETFs next month.

XBTF will have a 0.65% management fee, and will start trading as the third Bitcoin futures ETF on the U.S. market.

VanEck also plans to launch a physical ETF, with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) due to decide on its fate on Nov. 14.

As Cointelegraph reported, despite mixed opinions of the overall utility of futures-based ETFs, ProShares’ pioneering U.S. debut saw almost unprecedented uptake last week.

The second, from Valkyrie, was more subdued.

“We see Bitcoin on track to trade like gold,” a still-bullish Bloomberg senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone commented on the latter’s launch day.

He referenced the rags-to-riches transformation that accompanied gold in the early 2000s when it first attracted its own U.S. ETFs.

At the time, like ProShares, the first gold ETF, the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), gathered over $1 billion in its first three days’ trading in November 2004.

*Bitcoin ETF approval timeline. Source: Arcane Research*

No major exchange sell-offs

As Cointelegraph reported, exchanges are a key focus under current market conditions as a macro trend of decreasing Bitcoin supply slows.

During bull runs, mass inflows of BTC to exchanges tends to signal the price point at which the masses plan to sell — and hence the likely price top.

More broadly, however, the amount of Bitcoin held on exchanges has been falling — and this accelerated since the May price crash.

According to the latest data, it now seems that Binance has diverged from other major platforms this month, seeing inflows of BTC to its orderbook while most of the rest continue shedding reserves.

The run to new all-time highs for BTC/USD overall produced a slight uptick in exchange BTC levels, but this is negligible when viewed against the overall downtrend.

*Exchange BTC reserves chart. Source: Bybt*

Hodlers are already known to have little interest in selling such a short way past previous all-time highs, and institutional buyers are assumed not to be planning snap sales just after gaining exposure.

Derivative exchanges have seen particularly active buying over the past week.

Sentiment gets a welcome cleanout

Change is once again afoot in crypto market sentiment, but unlike earlier in the month, investors are getting wary.

According to the Crypto Fear & Greed Index, unsustainable optimism in “Uptober” is no longer the mood when it comes to Bitcoin or altcoins.

Having hit “extreme greed” last week, the Index has deflated in line with BTC price action, as of Monday lying at 72/100 — simply denoting “greed.”

That level has formed a cluster at various times over the past three months, reinforcing the feeling that a “reset” has occurred for sentiment with Bitcoin still at $60,000.

Given that the classic cycle top corresponds with a Fear & Greed score of 95/100 or more, the implication is that further price upside — if slow enough — could carry on much longer.

*Crypto Fear & Greed Index as of Oct. 25. Source: TradingView*

Bakkt sheds more than 6% on first of public trading

October 19, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Bakkt

The price of BKKT contracted by more than 6% during its first day of public trade.

Bakkt ($BKKT), an institutional and retail-facing digital asset platform founded by Intercontinental Exchange, has suffered a drawdown of -6.4% after closing a volatile first day of trading as a publicly listed company.

After launching on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at $9.45 on the morning of Oct. 18, BKKT rose by roughly 3.3% up to $9.77 during its first 30 minutes of trading. However, traders quickly moved to take profits, causing prices to slump by -9.5% down to $8.84 followed by lunchtime.

According to Bloomberg, BKKT was trading at $8.76 by the day’s close after having shed almost -7% from its opening.

Bakkt went public via a merger deal with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings on Oct. 15.

Bakkt initially launched in 2018 as a cryptocurrency custodian. The firm has since pivoted to launch institutional-facing bitcoin futures contracts and a retail crypto asset payments app.

Bakkt is not Intercontinental Exchange’s first foray into cryptocurrency, with the firm having participated as a lead investor in Coinbase’s Series C $75 million funding round in January 2015

Like Bakkt, Coinbase posted a bearish performance for its first day of public trading, shedding -13.8% from a starting price of $381 over the course of the day. Intercontinental Exchange sold their stake in Coinbase for $1.2 billion during the first quarter of 2021.

Earlier this month, Bakkt announced partnered with Google to enable its retail app users to make payments from their digital asset balances using Google Pay.

Crypto finserve Bakkt to soon trade publicly on New York Stock Exchange

October 16, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Bakkt

From Oct. 18, Bakkt's common stock and warrants will be listed on NYSE under the ticker symbols “BKKT” and “BKKT WS” respectively.

The public listing for Bakkt ticker comes as a result of a merger with VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings, a Chicago-based special purpose acquisition company. According to an official statement, a shareholders meeting regarding the merger saw approximately 85.1% approval for the business combination:

“Upon closing, the combined company’s Class A common stock and warrants are expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the ticker symbols “BKKT” and “BKKT WS” respectively”

Additionally, the business combination resulted in gross proceeds of approximately $448 million to Bakkt, which is planned to be reinvested in growing the company's capabilities and partnerships.

Just last week, Bakkt crypto exchange announced a partnership with Google to allow the purchase of goods and services using Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies via the Google Pay platform. According to Bakkt CEO Gavin Michael, the partnership “is a testament to Bakkt’s strong position in the digital asset marketplace, to empower consumers to enjoy their digital assets in a real-time, secure, reliable manner.”

Back in March, Bakkt launched a payments app that allows users to make purchases via cryptocurrencies, prior to which the exchange offered BTC futures contracts exclusively to accredited investors.

Mainstream crypto adoption in the United States sees increased support from lawmakers as a new bill demands a safe harbor for certain token projects.

A new draft bill proposed by North Carolina House Representative Patrick McHenry, “Clarity for Digital Tokens Act of 2021,” suggests the amendment of the Securities Act of 1933 that allows projects to offer tokens without registering for up to three years.

The bill was based on an older initiative from SEC commissioner Hester Peirce in which highlighted that “safe harbor could be the most groundbreaking development for the U.S. cryptocurrency market to date.”

Bakkt Holdings, the digital assets management arm of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), has announced to soon become a publicly-traded company on the New York Stock Exchange from Oct. 18.

Elon Musk’s Tesla is already $1 billion in profit from holding Bitcoin

October 14, 2021 Coin Telegraph

<div>Elon Musk's Tesla is already billion in profit from holding Bitcoin</div>

Bitcoin Analysis

Tesla's Bitcoin stash is now worth $1 billion more than when Elon Musk approved the purchase in February.

Tesla's (TSLA) bold foray into the Bitcoin (BTC) market has been paying off in 2021 as BTC price rallies in October to hit over $58,000 on Oct.14.

Tesla currently holds roughly 43,200 BTC, worth roughly $2.5 billion at today's prices, according to online monitoring resource Bitcointreasuries.net. This is approximately 65% or $1 billion more than what the carmaker paid in February when Elon Musk's company revealed that it added $1.5 billion in BTC to its balance sheet.

*BTC/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView.com*

In Q2, Tesla's sold 10% of its Bitcoin holdings — about 46,000 BTC — at a reported average price of around $50,000 per token. In its Q2 earnings report, the company had notified that it booked gains worth $128 million from its Bitcoin sale.

Tesla made first billion in profit in Q2 from selling cars

Following the latest Bitcoin price rebound, Tesla's net profits from its crypto holdings came out to be as much as its income from Q2.

In detail, Tesla had reported $1.14 billion in net profit for Q2, the first time it ever crossed the one billion dollars mark. The income was a part of $11.96 billion in revenue that Tesla made mostly by selling cars — about $10.21 billion. The remaining $354 million came from the sales of regulatory credits.

Tesla revealed on Oct. 1 that it had delivered 241,300 electric vehicles during Q3, compared to 201,250 vehicles in the previous quarter. Combined with Tesla's Bitcoin profits, expectations are high for blockbuster earnings set to be released after the market closes on Oct 19.

"We think Q3 will be TSLA's strongest quarter ever," said Piper Sandler analyst Alexander Potter.

Will other companies follow?

Thus far, Tesla's Bitcoin strategy has been very successful, providing a case study of how other corporates could replace a portion of their cash reserves with BTC.

That said, several companies that invested in Bitcoin before Tesla, have seen even greater gains.

For instance, business intelligence firm MicroStrategy purchased around $3.15 billion worth of Bitcoin in multiple buying rounds. With its first purchase dating backing to Aug. 11, 2020, the company's net Bitcoin profits are now near $6.3 billion, almost doubling its investment.

Jack Dorsey's payment service firm Square also seen considerable gains from holding Bitcoin, now worth over $442 million from its $220 million investment.

Additionally, Canada-based crypto mining firm, Hut 8 Mining Corp, has seen its $39.3 million Bitcoin purchase increase in value by more than 600%, reaching around $250 million. Back in June, the company also revealed plans to hold 5,000 BTC by 2022.

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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