Nearly everything else that’s being built on or enabled by blockchains replaces something that’s already being done fairly well.
Yes, there are companies that facilitate crypto trades like Coinbase and Block (formerly Square).
But there’s no actual company that’s developed economic value by doing something brand new or better on a blockchain.
Energy drives the real-world economy, and unless Sam Altman or somebody successfully unlocks fusion and delivers energy that’s truly “too cheap to meter,” it’s going to remain a real asset with real value for some time.
In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Satoshi had some kind of connection to the energy industry.
Bitcoin has increased 9.5% in the past seven days and is up 50% on the month, according to CoinMarketCap data.
There is, of course, no way of telling how high bitcoin can rise during the current bull frenzy.
The CoinMarketCap Crypto Fear & Greed Index is in “extreme greed” territory at 89.12 points, up from “neutral” at 59.3 points, in early February.
The index measures price and trading data of the biggest cryptocurrencies, with its user behavior data to measure crypto market sentiment from 0-100.
The last bitcoin halving was on May 11, 2020 and drove its price up about 600% from around $9,000 to $63,000 by the April 2021 mark.
The digital currency hit a new all-time high for the first time since November 2021 when it passed $69,000 on Tuesday morning, as demand surged in recent weeks following the spot bitcoin ETF approvals in the U.S. and the pending bitcoin halving in late April.
Bitcoin halving, which is usually referred to as “the halvening,” is a periodic decline in bitcoin mining rates, which means the number of bitcoin miners can potentially get for each block mined is cut in half.
This process is meant to control the supply of bitcoin over time and once the number of bitcoin in circulation hits 21 million, its total supply, the process will end.
The price jump increase is also being driven by the 11 spot bitcoin ETFs the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved in January.
The total market cap across the spot bitcoin ETF products is $53.74 billion, according to Blockworks data.
Bitcoin jumped and Coinbase’s app crashed, while Aptos eyes Hong Kong and Telegram rolls out rewards with TONWelcome to TechCrunch Crypto, formerly known as Chain Reaction.
This week in web3Crunching numbersThis week the crypto market was very hyped up as the two biggest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, bitcoin and ether, both jumped about 23.6% and 18%, respectively, on the week, according to CoinMarketCap data.
The total crypto market cap increased 19.4% over a seven-day period to $2.34 trillion.
Our favorite ‘Crypto Twitter’ postICYMI, last week a lot of crypto people were tweeting about emails from Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin.
In June 2022, Magic Eden raised $130 million in a Series B round that granted it unicorn status.
Bitcoin’s rally is turning out to be bad news for Coinbase, the crypto trading app that has just confirmed some of its customers are seeing a zero balance across their Coinbase accounts.
The price of Bitcoin climbed in the wake of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, driving a 42% price rally this month.
Users of the Coinbase app grew concerned on Wednesday as they logged in to find their accounts showing a zero balance, despite owning crypto assets.
We are aware that some users may see a zero balance across their Coinbase accounts & may experience errors in buying or selling.
Remarked one user on X, who shared a picture of a zero balance, “My mom called and asked me and mine was at zero also,” they said.
Crypto fund Asymmetric Financial is creating its Bitcoin DeFi Venture Fund I to focus on investing in the blockchain’s nascent space with a target raise of $21 million.
The fund will be spearheaded by general partner Dan Held, former director of growth at Kraken and long-time Bitcoiner.
Many Bitcoin-focused VCs ignore DeFi because it’s speculative, and broader crypto VCs see it as a “dead boomer rock,” he added.
Much of this activity has centered on the Ethereum blockchain, but Held believes Bitcoin’s blockchain has tons of future potential as an ecosystem.
“It will be a Bitcoin DeFi renaissance.”“Bitcoin is worth more than every other crypto asset combined,” Held added.
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Prior to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of the spot bitcoin ETFs, some experts told me they expected trading volumes to hit $10 billion in a year, not a week.
Monica has spent the last 10 years at Ripple, working her way up from the director of communications to now, president.
What else we’re writingWant to branch out from the world of web3?
How low can bitcoin ETF fees drop before it hurts a business?
On Thursday, Franklin Templeton’s Franklin Bitcoin ETF ranked sixth among the 11 for first day trading volume at $65.45 million by the end of the day.
(Note: A number of issuers, Franklin included, are waiving fees for a limited time.)
There’s reason to believe that spot bitcoin ETFs and other related products that may come to market will see strong demand over time, and major investment houses want a piece of the action.
An additional preexisting $2.3 billion from Grayscale’s GBTC fund, which converted into a spot bitcoin ETF on Wednesday, brought the 11 issuers’ total to $4.6 billion.
Fast-forward to Wednesday and the SEC approved the first spot bitcoin ETF applications for 11 issuers (TC+).
I spoke with two executives from Grayscale and Valkyrie about what’s in store for their spot bitcoin ETFs.
Anyways, that’s enough housekeeping and spot bitcoin ETF news for today.
And now, Grayscale’s bitcoin spot ETF was approved.
We dive into what a spot bitcoin ETF approval means for GBTC and market demand.
It’s been a long road for spot bitcoin ETF filers – and today the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission finally approved all 11 standing applications from issuers.
“We always knew the investor sentiment would get there, regulators would get there and the financial advisor community would get there.”Grayscale, a digital asset investment firm that was one of the 11 firms to file for a bitcoin spot ETF, is best known for its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), which has now been converted, or “uplisted,” into its new bitcoin spot ETF product.
The 10 other issuers are BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, Bitwise Bitcoin ETP Trust, WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund, Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust, VanEck Bitcoin Trust, Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF, Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund, Hashdex Bitcoin ETF and Franklin Bitcoin ETF.
While futures ETFs marked a big milestone in 2021, Sonnenshein believes the most critical one that brought these bitcoin spot ETF approvals was the D.C.
Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling in favor of Grayscale against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commision in the case of a bitcoin spot ETF in the Summer of 2023.
