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ProShares’ Bitcoin ETF becomes first of its kind to garner green signal from SEC

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Bitcoin exchange-traded funds [ETF] have tried long and hard to make a debut in the US. This could finally be changing as ProShares’s application managed to garner the approval of the Securities and the Exchange Commission [SEC]. Just yesterday, Bloomberg shared a report noting that the USA would be getting its very first Bitcoin ETF and the SEC didn’t take too much time to make it official.

The SEC amassed immense hostility for its decisions pertaining to Bitcoin ETFs. An array of applications were shown the door after being time and again delayed. Many from the crypto community hoped that this would be changed with the departure of Jay Clayton and the arrival of Gary Gensler, the former and current chairman of the SEC, respectively.

The gods had finally answered the prayers of the US citizens as the SEC gave a green signal to ProShares Trust’s Bitcoin ETF. This would mean that ProShares would be listing its shares on the New York Stock Exchange’s Arca. The firm’s ETF would reportedly be rolled out by 18 October 2021 following the filing of a post-effective amendment prospectus.

James Seyffart from Bloomberg tweeted about the same and stated,

“There it is! Bloomberg’s data team in the process of adding the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF to the terminal. Ticker will be $BITO. 95 bps — less than half $GBTC’s 2% fee. This thing is going live next week. Either Monday or Tuesday.”

Back in August, ProShares along with VanEck decided to pull the plug on their Ether ETF filings. While several expressed angst over this, the approval of a Bitcoin ETF was a relief to many.

Bitcoin [BTC] pushes beyond $60K

Bitcoin [BTC] was sitting below the $60K zone for the longest time now. The king coin witnessed a massive plummet from an all-time high of $64K. During the time of writing, BTC had not only hit $60K but even made it past this zone. BTC was trading for $61,359 with a 3.41% surge in the last 24-hours. The entire week was certainly beneficial to the asset as it acquired gains of about 11%.

Additionally, Bitcoin’s market cap was at a high of $1.15 trillion.

Bakkt concludes merger; All set to become a Publicly traded firm

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Bakkt LLC, the prominent digital exchange marketplace has announced the completion of the merger with VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings [VIH]. The move would help the platform to transition into a publicly listed firm from October 18 this year. Along the same lines, the founding company, Intercontinental Exchange [ICE], revealed that the latest announcement would enable Bakkt holdings to trade publicly under the token name, ‘BKKT’ in the New York Stock Exchange [NYSE].

The official press release further revealed that ICE, which happens to be a global platform for data services and technology solutions, currently retains an astonishing 68% equity stake and a minor fraction of the voting power in the merged entities. Additionally, the financial stake will be regrouped as an equity-based investment and hence would not be incorporated in the ICE’s balance sheets. The resultant proceeds which are expected to generate at least $447 million, would not be included as well in the firm’s revised non-GAAP earnings as per the press release.

The development comes a month after the digital exchange foundation and VPC Impact Acquisition holdings had announced the intention to integrate and unite to form a single public traded entity. Following the request, the US-based regulator Security and Exchange Commission [SEC] finally approved the merger and set the stage for Bakkt holdings, initiating a new chapter in the company’s three-year-old history.

Bakkt’s previous partnerships

Earlier this month, the exchange joined hands with search engine giant Google to expand its reach and bring crypto-assets across a widely targeted audience in the United States and facilitate customers with faster digital transactions. This includes developing new analytics tools such as Artificial Intelligence [AI], Machine learning [ML], and Geolocation function, using Google Cloud’s innovative service to understand users’ individual preferences and demands and accordingly customize loyalty redemption packages.

In a recent development, the Georgia-based firm partnered with Finastra, a financial services-based open digital platform to grant access to Bakkt’s wallets and other use cases to the latter’s community bank customers and other credit unions under the ambit of Fusion Digital Banking solution. Reacting to the collaboration, Phillip Taliaferro of Bakkt stated

“Finastra’s clients are constantly seeking new and innovative experiences to drive engagement with their end consumers. Bakkt’s robust digital marketplace meets those demands by seamlessly integrating crypto, cash management, money transfer and wallet capabilities into Finastra’s FusionFabric.cloud platform and marketplace.”

Bitcoin ETFs could finally see the light of the day in the US

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Crypto enthusiasts of the United States have been yearning to listen to the news of at least one Bitcoin ETF garnering approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC]. A Bloomberg report suggested that a Bitcoin ETF could be approved as early as next week.

Bitcoin ETFs have had a rather tough time in the US. Cryptocurrencies witnessed drastic growth over the last couple of months. From being closely linked to the dark web, to being widely accepted by governments across the globe, BTC has certainly come a long way. While an array of crypto-related services were used by many, BTC ETFs failed to amass the approval of certain financial watchdogs. When the entire globe was enjoying crypto exchange-traded funds, the US was the only country that was being constantly left behind.

This was soon going to change as an ETF analyst, Eric Balchunas affirmed that BTC futures ETFs would not face any opposition from the SEC. ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF could potentially be the first of its kind to launch in the US.

Bitcoin ETFs touch down in the USA

BTC ETF applications in the US witnessed nothing but constant delays or disapprovals. Several officials even suggested that the country wasn’t ready for a crypto ETF. Bringing in a whole new perspective to this, Bloomberg reported that ETFs from ProShares and Invesco could commence trading from next week. The applications of both these platforms were submitted and the judgment on them was due next week.

While all the sources remained anonymous, Eric Balchunas noted that it was a “pretty much done deal.”The tweet further read,

However, considering the track record of the SEC, Balchunas noted that he wasn’t ready to close the case. He added,

“Like I said tho until these little F-ers (ETFs) are literally trading on the exchange I’m not ready to close this case. But odds now over 90% IMO.”

Additionally, during the same time, the price of Bitcoin hit a high of $60K. BTC hit this level for the first time since April 2021. At press time, the king coin was trading for $59,055 with a 2.51% daily surge. The market cap of the coin was also seen soaring and was noted at $1.11 trillion.

JP Morgan CEO labels Bitcoin “worthless”; Clients strongly disagree

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A vast number of individuals across the globe have welcomed Bitcoin [BTC] with open arms, however, JP Morgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon remained untethered while the hype around crypto persists. Dimon was even seen outrightly dissing the king coin.

Despite being the first and the largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin [BTC] took long and hard to reach its current stature. With criticisms from all across the globe, survival became rather difficult for the asset. However, the latest fervor around the coin got it out of its nascent stage in no time. While Bitcoin continues to thrive, major platforms were seen onboarding the coin. But, one platform continues to remain hostile towards BTC.

JP Morgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon appeared in a recent interview with Bloomberg and reveal that his resentment towards Bitcoin was persisting.

JP Morgan CEO still hostile towards BTC

Over the last couple of years, the JP Morgan CEO had continuously expressed his discontent with regard to Bitcoin. Dimon has called BTC an array of things, including, “terrible store of value,” “a fraud”, ” will be stopped,” and many more. Now, in his latest interview, Dimon went on to label the asset,” worthless.”

While all the altcoins were seen plummeting, BTC was the only asset that was thriving. The asset was undoubtedly aiming for $60K. At press time, BTC was trading for $57,310.

Despite the well-lauded growth of the king coin, Dimon went on to call it worthless. “I personally think that Bitcoin is worthless,” he added. He also suggested that he didn’t care and that it made no difference to him.

However, JP Morgan’s clients certainly think the same about the coin. Addressing the same, Dimon said,

“Our clients are adults, they disagree, that’s what makes markets, so if they want to have access to buy yourself Bitcoin, we can’t custody it but we can give them legitimate, as-clean-as-possible access.”

This made it clear that Dimon had no interest in BTC. While he does not refrain his clients from using it, Dimon could miss out on what the crypto market has to offer.

Will pivoting back to Ethereum [ETH] help in addressing climate change?

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The Ethereum blockchain is one of the robust infrastructures ever created by humans. According to the Founder of MarkerDAO, Rune Christensen, circling back to the DeFi protocol’s reliance on the Ethereum blockchain and its native token, ETH may help in reaffirming its commitment to decentralized collateral. and subsequently, address climate change concerns.

In the latest blog post, Christensen described Ethereum as a blockchain that was built for human coordination and resilience. With dire implications of climate change being intensifying global conversation, the exec asserted that Ethereum blockchain may facilitate financial markets to coordinate on mitigation. He also went on to add that it will continue to function even during large-scale disasters.

“Finally we need to double down on our roots of decentralized collateral, in particular, solidify our fundamental commitment to and reliance on Ethereum and the ETH token. The Ethereum blockchain is built for human coordination and resilience. As the world is forced to deal with the impacts of climate change, Ethereum will enable financial markets to coordinate on mitigation, and it will continue to function even during large-scale disasters.”

MakerDAO’s Ethereum Strategy

One of the major reasons for Bitcoin’s [BTC] price tumble was due to the age-old debate of its impact on climate and the environment. Hence, the Ethereum network’s environmental efficiency after the much-anticipated transition to Proof-of-Stake [PoS] from Proof-of-Work [PoW] with the 2.0 upgrade is expected to be a gamechanger. According to the MakerDAO exec, ETH will become a sustainable contender to BTC’s present position as the market leader.

It is important to understand that, MakerDao’s users are required to deposit cryptocurrency to collateralize minting of the DAI stablecoin. Even as the protocol was built on top of the ETH blockchain and supported ETH exclusively as collateral, it later expanded to other assets such as USDC, Wrapped Bitcoin [WBTC], as well as Basic Attention Token [BAT].

However, MakerDAO’s latest collateral strategy to accumulate more Ether as collateral indicates the rising confidence of the 2.0’s aftermath. In addition, the exec also highlighted accumulating more collateral derived from ETH like LP tokens or ETH collateralized assets. Christensen also stated that holding ETH directly as protocol reserves is yet another option that Maker can adopt in a bid to “both directly support, and directly benefit from its ecosystem.”

Bitcoin [BTC] sees a ‘decisive turnaround’ in sentiment; Etheruem [ETH] not far behind

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The 2020-21 bull run was fueled by wealth managers, and institutional investors entering the Bitcoin [BTC] and the cryptocurrency market. Institutional investors are turning back to Bitcoin which coincided with the steady market recovery. This was revealed by CoinShares’ latest “Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly” which stated that BTC investment products have recorded a third consecutive week of inflows.

The report revealed that BTC’s investment product saw inflows of a whopping $69 million last week. Zooming out, digital asset investment products saw inflows of US$90 million during the same time. This marked the seventh consecutive week of inflows adding up to a total of $411 million.

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Bitcoin [BTC] sees a 'decisive turnaround' in sentiment; Etheruem [ETH] not far behind 3

According to CoinShares, the “decisive turnaround” in sentiment could be due to the rising confidence in the asset class amongst the market players. Another reason for the renewed trend could be due to more flexible statements from the US Securities Exchange Commission [SEC] and the Federal Reserve.

Ethereum [ETH] is gaining favor over Bitcoin [BTC]

While Bitcoin continues to enjoy its position as the market leader, Ethereum [ETH] is also gaining traction at a rapid pace. After a brutal month of September, institutional investors have resorted to broadening their horizons. As a matter of fact, these high-profile market players are slowly diversifying their portfolio and shifting their focus away from Bitcoin and have turned to Ethereum [ETH].

As per CryptoCompare’s Data Asset Management Review for September, institutional investors are looking for a more favorable position on the world’s largest altcoin.

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Bitcoin [BTC] sees a 'decisive turnaround' in sentiment; Etheruem [ETH] not far behind 4

It was observed that assets under management [AUM] for BTC have plunged by 7.8% last month, thereby, dragging the total amount of BTC AUM to a little over $35 billion. According to the historical data, the latest figure is the lowest that Bitcoin AUM had ever been in a five-month period.

The same cannot be said for Ethereum. CryptoCompare also reported that Ethereum-based products have not followed Bitcoin’s decline. In fact, these products have increased as big money flowed into them. Additionally, Ethereum went on to register its highest market share of total AUM for crypto at approximately 26%.

Bitcoin [BTC] surges past $50K after a month

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After the wreckage of September, Bitcoin [BTC] finally breached the coveted level of $50K in four weeks. With the latest feat, the crypto-asset amassed daily gains of over 6%. The rally above the crucial psychological threshold comes amidst many altcoins losing value against the king coin lately. The initial rally was perhaps driven by the United States Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, who revealed that they have no intentions of banning cryptocurrency assets.

As a result, Bitcoin’s market dominance tumbled down from nearly 70% to a low of 39.9% in a span of five months. The figures took another damaging turn in the second week of September. However, as price recovered, Bitcoin’s dominance in the market also noted an uptick. At the time of writing, it stood at 43%.

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Bitcoin [BTC] surges past $50K after a month 8

Bitcoin’s [BTC] return to profitability

Bitcoin strongly climbed out of a zone of heavy accumulation. Almost every day, its capital inflows are being observed to be around $1.75 billion. This can also be attributed to the network’s hash-power which has been on a steady path to recovery even after the BTC mining industry faced the most dramatic short-term disruption in all history. Throughout May, 50% of the hash rate went offline. Even after the massive effect on its industrial base, the hash rate has been on a consistent path to recovery every since.

The network mining difficulty has increased by 39% after crashing in late July. According to Glassnode’s latest weekly report, mining difficulty has now bounced back to the last 2020 levels. Furthermore, an additional adjustment to the upwards of approximately 3.9% is expected to happen this week.

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Bitcoin [BTC] surges past $50K after a month 9

The blockchain intelligence company also noted,

“The Difficulty ribbon is also about to flip over and signal full recovery, as the slowest 200-day moving average crosses over the fastest 9-day moving average. The only comparable difficulty ribbon flip to the current market was following the December 2018 bear market capitulation event that took prices down 50% to $3k.”

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Bitcoin [BTC] surges past $50K after a month 10

To put things into perspective, the mining recovery during 2018-19 took a total of 164-days to completely switch the bearish difficulty ribbon signal. On the other hand, the current market has been in a recovery mode for 120-days. Glassnode further speculated that it is likely to reverse completely after the next upwards difficulty adjustment.

PepsiCo to onboard Bitcoin [BTC] after an “awfully long time”

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Bitcoin [BTC], the world’s first and the largest cryptocurrency in the world has found shelter in major platforms over the last two years. PepsiCo, however, made it clear that it wasn’t ready to harbor Bitcoin and it would do so only after a really long time.

The achievements of the crypto-verse over the last year cannot be shunned. The upward trajectory that the industry was, in terms of both value and adoption rate, was commended by the entire world. The industry noted a swift and incredible move from the nascent stage. With the popularity of the market rising by the day, several platforms also recognized the value that crypto-assets hold. Therefore, these assets went on to be a part of major companies across various industries.

Even though many suggest that crypto is the future, an array of platforms and countries remain detached from the industry. PepsiCo moderately falls into this category.

PepsiCo CFO talks Bitcoin

Appearing in an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box, Hugh Johnson, the chief financial officer and Vice Chairman of PepsiCo, spoke about Bitcoin. While major firms have started to jump onto the Bitcoin bandwagon, the question of why PepsiCo still hasn’t arisen. Johnson outrightly suggests that he could not imagine the company purchasing BTC.

Despite noting that he was a “never say never” sort of a person, Johnson couldn’t bring himself to think that his company would pour its money into BTC. The reason behind this was simple.

The crypto industry has constantly been put off by many for its volatile nature. While it’s no secret that Bitcoin is volatile, an array of people continue to sit on the fence over this. The CFO pointed out the volatile and speculative nature of the king coin.

He stated,

“I’ve learned over time never to say never … #bitcoin to me is still too volatile and still too speculative. I think it will be an awfully long time before #bitcoin becomes a functional currency for us,”

While several platforms that now openly embrace Bitcoin have said the same things earlier, the chances of PepsiCo deciding to get on to the BTC bandwagon weren’t nullified.

When Is the Right Time to Buy Bitcoin?

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With Bitcoin (BTC) prices skyrocketing over the past few years, it’s safe to say that the space has gotten a little intimidating. It actually creates a weird paradox in the space: because of the price spikes, BTC gains more attention and becomes more recognized—however, with its price reaching unprecedented heights, people are also more afraid to get into the market.

With all that being said, when is the right time to get into it? If you’re looking for the short answer—spoiler alert—it’s that any time can be the right time. Don’t worry; we’ll break down why.

Make informed decisions

Before you get into the space, the most important thing you can do is do your own research and familiarize yourself with all the risks. By doing so, you’ll understand more how the space works and make sure that you don’t lose any money to careless mistakes.

First, familiarize yourself with all the slang. FOMO (fear of missing out), FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt), and buy the dips (we’ll explain this one a little bit more later) are some of the more important ones to be aware of as these are the slangs that refer to phenomena that can cloud your judgment.

FOMO, despite it being a little self-explanatory, catches a lot of victims on its web. How many times have you heard “I wish I bought BTC when it was [insert price here], I woulda been a millionaire by now!” In fact, it’s probably something we’ve said to ourselves at one point.

Knowing what FOMO means is important because everyone needs to know that missing out isn’t the end of the world. In fact, dwelling on it can do you more harm than good. FOMO can cloud your judgment and force you to make financial decisions that you’ll end up regretting.

FUD has a similar effect. Fear, uncertainty, and doubt refer to all the noise that non-believers of crypto will try to pressure you with. “Bitcoin is a bubble,” “Bitcoin is a scam,” and “Bitcoin suffers from technical problems” are among some of the phrases you’ll hear from people trying to spread the FUD. The motives may always be different and people may not even be spreading the FUD on purpose, but the effect is real and if you succumb, you can make some poor financial decisions in the long run.

These concepts are further pressurized by Bitcoin’s volatility. Because of its ability to spike and dip at rapid paces, BTC’s price is what drives FOMO and FUD.

Figure out your goal

Before you pull the trigger and spend some of your hard-earned money to buy some Bitcoin, you first need to ask yourself: why do you want to get into the space?

Your goal will make all the difference in determining when to buy. If you’re using BTC as an investment opportunity—which is what most people get into it for—then you can try “buying the dip.” This is a common phrase investors use, referring to the strategy of buying an asset when its price is low. It’s worth noting that there are a ton of other trading strategies out there, so don’t limit yourself to this one.

On the other hand, if your goal is to purchase a good or service, it doesn’t really matter when you buy. Since you’re using BTC for its original purpose of being a “peer-to-peer electronic cash system,” its price is irrelevant. You could buy Bitcoin with credit card right now, use it to pay for a good or service, and convert it back into your preferred fiat so that its price doesn’t fluctuate that heavily.

Once you do your research and figure out what your goal is, the rest is easy. With Bitcoin being over 12 years old now, the community is bigger and more passionate than ever before. Several exchanges and marketplaces have even popped up to make life even easier by allowing you to get a free Bitcoin wallet after signing up.

Research minimizes risk

Like any other investment, going into Bitcoin blindly is a good way for you to lose some money. Make sure to research what it is, the technology behind it, what you can use it for, and how to secure yourself from bad actors in the crypto space.

Generally speaking, the more you know about Bitcoin, the more sound your decisions will be. In this space, it’s practically impossible to completely eradicate the risk. The only thing you can hope to do is to minimize it. By doing your homework, you minimize the risks in big ways. This, in turn, keeps your money safe—and that’s what it’s all about, right?

Here’s how El Salvador is fostering Bitcoin [BTC] adoption despite a bumpy start

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El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin [BTC] has opened a can of worms. As thousands of protestors took to the streets to oppose the introduction of the cryptocurrency as a legal tender, the audacious experiment got off to a bumpy start. However, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has been looking for innovative ways to increase the adoption of BTC.

Bukele took Twitter to reveal that the country’s local consumers can enjoy a $0.20-per-gallon cut in the prices of petrol is paid using the government-backed Bitcoin [BTC] wallet, called Chivo. He also highlighted that that there is no limit to the discount. Additionally, any individual and company can access the rebate. and that the discount will eventually lessen the international price fluctuations of fuels and, at the same time, reduce transportation costs in supply chains.

From planning to offer eco-friendly BTC mining facilities, to not taxing foreign BTC investors on the capital increase or income and other strategies, El Salvador President has bold plans for the country but not everyone shares his views.

El Salvador has 3M userbase on Chivo

Bitcoin’s nationwide launch as a legal tender with the help of the Chivo crypto wallet did not roll out as smoothly as expected initially. However, after almost two months, the wallet is now being used by 3 million people in the country of 6.5 million. This was disclosed by the President of the Central American country in the following tweet.

Bitso, which happens to be a Mexican cryptocurrency exchange, had earlier been revealed to serve as Chivo’s key service provider. Despite the popularity, the government’s new digital wallet is also mired with its fair share of controversies. Chivo means “cool” in Salvadoran slang and it was created to facilitate Bitcoin transactions. However, the fact that it’s quite seamless with users who can instantly top up their balances and shift between dollars and small, fractional amounts of the crypto is what makes it a “perfect tool for speculation.”

Also, not every Salvadoreans share the same optimism as the 40-year of President. Notable figures in the industry have expressed skepticism over Bukele’s claims of increasing Bitcoin adoption in the country. One of the most prominent ones is the long crypto critic and author David Gerard who has been vocal about his stance. He had previously stated that the country’s officials are “feeding Bukele numbers that please him” that “fall apart under the slightest examination.”