November 1st, 2024
Market Overview:
Digital assets exhibited excellent performance, as Bitcoin crossed $70,000 and approached its all-time high, before a late pullback driven by wider investor caution.
- Bitcoin broke above $70,000 for the first time since June, and came within touching distance of its record high set in March
- ETFs increased volumes substantially, dominated by BlackRock’s IBIT, which registered inflows above $315m for every trading day this week
- Bitcoin increased steadily in value throughout the week, growing from a Saturday low of $65,760 to a Wednesday high of $73,270—less than 1% below its all-time high of $73,750
- After climbing above the $70,000 mark on Tuesday, Bitcoin traded around those levels for more than 48 hours, until widespread stock market sell-offs following Big Tech disappointments led to further investor caution
- Ether couldn’t match Bitcoin’s momentum, trading between a Saturday low of $2,410 and a Wednesday top of $2,716
- The total market capitalisation of digital assets increased to $2.35tn, with a weekly peak of $2.46tn
- According to industry monitoring site DeFi Llama, total value locked in DeFi decreased slightly to $87.2bn
Digital assets performed bullishly before a late pullback erased some gains. Bitcoin ETFs experienced one of their best weeks since launch, bringing the leading digital asset within touching distance of its record high. Politics and stablecoins remained fertile spaces for reporting and development, MicroStrategy outlined an ambitious $42bn Bitcoin acquisition strategy, Franklin Templeton further boosted its significant tokenisation efforts, and much much more.
What happened: ETF News
How is this significant?
- Digital asset ETFs showcased contrasting fortunes this week, as Ether products languished with low volume and modest inflows, whilst spot Bitcoin ETFs broke records and transacted billions of dollars
- According to CoinShares data, digital asset investment products continued their recent strong inflows, logging $901m net gains in the trading week ending the 25th of October
- Once again, this was dominated by Bitcoin ETF inflows, as $920m growth helped counteract $35m of outflows from Ether ETFs
- Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw one of their best weeks since launching in January, including the largest daily inflows ever for a single issuer
- The issuer in question was (as long-term subscribers may have suspected) BlackRock, as the firm’s IBIT fund posted six straight days of nine-figure inflows, including a new record amount as Bitcoin approached its own historic zenith
- On Wednesday, the fund saw a massive $872m inflows, the most since its mid-January launch
- Tuesday was almost as good for IBIT, logging $642.9m inflows, and over $3bn in trading volume
- In fact, BlackRock registered five consecutive trading days of growing inflows (from $165.5m to $872m) before a wider sell-off triggered by stock market pullbacks cooled momentum a bit for Thursday inflows of a mere $318.8m
- To put IBIT’s performance into perspective; Bloomberg chief ETF analyst Eric Balchunas revealed that it was the best-performing ETF in the world this week, beating out much more established competitors
- Balchunas stated; “$IBIT took in more cash than any other ETF in the world over the past week. This is out of 13,227 ETFs, which includes $VOO $IVV $AGG etc. It's so hard to beat those veteran Cash Vacuum Cleaners, even for a week, especially for an infant ETF (3 months - 1 year old)”
- His colleague James Seyffart pointed out that 12 of the last 13 trading days featured inflows, worth a cumulative $5bn
- The overall Bitcoin ETF market posted its third-best day ever—for two days running
- On Tuesday, all spot products experienced around $870m inflows, only to top that figure with $893.3m inflows on Wednesday
- This helped to push ETF Bitcoin holdings above one million Bitcoin for the first time, representing nearly 5% of the maximum 21 million Bitcoin supply
- Other ETFs to experience significant daily inflows included Fidelity’s FBTC ($133.9m), Bitwise’s BITB ($52.5m), Grayscale’s low-fee mini ETF ($29.2m), and ARK Invest’s ARKB ($59.8m)
- Several analysts cited the so-called “Trump trade” as a driver for momentum, as the Republican presidential candidate leads across betting markets—although it must be noted that Trump and Harris remain neck-and-neck in official polling
- Emory University became the first endowment to report Bitcoin ETF exposure, as an SEC filing revealed $15m worth of Grayscale mini ETF shares
- Spot Ether ETFs once again lagged in their Bitcoin cousins’ shadows, with $13.6m inflows for BlackRock’s ETHA being the largest gain for any fund
- Elsewhere in ETFs, a group of major Japanese financial institutions recommended the nation approve creation of spot ETFs for Bitcoin and Ether
- The group, including entities such as Sumitomo Mitsui, Mitsubishi Banking, and KPMG, published a “consensus” opinion that “The large market value and stable track record of those cryptocurrencies make them suitable for investors to build up assets over the medium- to long-term”
- He also said that “basket ETFs” of multiple different crypto assets made sense, and that ETF performance and filings “are part of the trend of more and more institutionalised participation in the crypto industry”
- New issuer Canary became the second firm to file for a Solana ETF, following in the footsteps of industry veterans Valkyrie
What happened: Political and regulatory news
How is this significant?
- With less than a week to go before the US presidential election, focus and reporting on the digital asset industry (and its political financing power) intensified
- The “Trump Trade” theory—investors betting on asset classes perceived as beneficiaries in a potential Republican administration—was identified by numerous analysts and publications as a possible catalyst for Bitcoin’s bullishness
- However, Trump’s own crypto project, World Liberty Financial, remains untradeable for token holders until a future governance vote
- Investor response to the project is still muted, leading the developers to cut their funding goal by 90%—from $300m to $30m—after initial token sales proved lacklustre
- Despite the Republican party’s perception as better for the industry (thanks to pro-business anti-regulation attitudes), a Harris victory could still prove preferable to the current Biden administration status quo
- Congressman Wiley Nickel claims Harris represents “a huge shift from the Gary Gensler approach, the regulation by enforcement”, and represents a reset with a forward-looking crypto approach
- However, any potential changes in political approach may come to late for several in the industry; Ethereum development firm Consensys cut 20% of its workforce this week citing “regulatory uncertainty”
- Co-founder Joe Lubin wrote that “Multiple cases with the SEC, including ours, represent meaningful jobs and productive investment lost due to the SEC’s abuse of power and Congress’s inability to rectify the problem”
- Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong meanwhile demanded that the next SEC chair should “apologise” to Americans for its hostile industry approach, and should drop “frivolous lawsuits” against digital asset firms
- Armstrong’s company Coinbase furthermore pledged another $25m to crypto-centric SuperPAC Fairshake, in order to fund more pro-crypto candidates running in the 2026 midterm elections
- A recent report by VC firm Paradigm researched crypto in the context of an election issue, and found that (according to their respondents), 5% of US voters identify as single-issue crypto voters—potentially enough to impact results in too-close-to-call swing states
- This represented one in four voters within the 20% of overall survey respondents who claimed crypto exposure
- Additionally, 35% of all respondents claimed an intent to invest in digital assets in the future, almost twice as many as have already invested
- However, it should be noted that industry-funded reports such as this are often commissioned with the intent to communicate a specific message, so ultimate conclusions can be taken with a pinch of salt
What happened: Stablecoin news
How is this significant?
- The industry’s leading stablecoin issuer, Tether, had a mixed week, contrasting media claims with strong results
- On Friday, the Wall Street Journal claimed that Tether is under investigation from US officials over possible sanctions and AML violations, citing unnamed sources
- Tether swiftly denied these claims, publishing a statement that “These stories are based on pure rank speculation despite Tether confirming that it has no knowledge of any such investigations into the company… The article also carelessly glosses over Tether’s well-documented and extensive dealings with law enforcement to crack down on bad actors seeking to misuse tether and other cryptocurrencies”
- Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino tweeted “there is no indication that Tether is under investigation. The WSJ is just regurgitating old noise”
- He added that “the US can press a button and kill us anywhere… what matters is that we onboarded the FBI [to our compliance systems]... We onboarded the U.S. Secret Service. We have thank-you letters from the DOJ… We think we are doing, you know, the best we can”
- On a more positive note, Tether claimed (via a third-party attestation, but not an audit) $2.5bn profit in Q3, driven by realised gains on gold and treasuries holdings
- Additionally, the firm holds $84.5bn in US Treasury bills
- Stripe's recent deal to acquire stablecoin platform Bridge will net a substantial windfall for several VCs, as Sequoia stands to benefit to the tune of $100m thanks to previous investments in the startup
- Stablecoin issuers Circle meanwhile raised fees for instant redemption (into fiat currency) of its USDC stablecoin, relating to daily redemptions above a $2m threshold
- A Circle spokesperson told Bloomberg “Circle Mint redemption options support the availability of instant liquidity globally—similar to banks and other financial institutions that charge for speed and service”
- Redemption fees for large amounts begin at 0.03%, but remain free of charge if users are willing to wait two days for their transaction
- CEO Jeremy Allaire maintained that the firm plans to pursue an IPO in the near future; “We are very committed to the path… We think we can be a really interesting company in public markets”
- Meanwhile, the US Treasury commented on “rapid growth from very low levels” for digital assets and stablecoins, which has resulted in “modest increase in demand for short-dated Treasuries”
- Its report states that “currently, $120bn in total stablecoin collateral is directly invested in Treasuries”, adding “Over the near term, we expect continued growth in stablecoin markets along with the overall size of the digital asset market”
What happened: MicroStrategy outlines $42bn Bitcoin acquisition strategy
How is this significant?
- Enterprise software firm—and Bitcoin balance sheet advocate—MicroStrategy this week outlined its plan for additional Bitcoin acquisition… at a monumental scale
- According to its Q3 earnings release, the company plans to raise $42bn for additional Bitcoin purchases over the next three years
- The firm is currently the largest publicly-traded company by Bitcoin holdings, but its new “21/21” plan would boost those holdings (currently at around 252,000 Bitcoins) significantly
- In a press release, MicroStrategy CEO Phong Le said “we are announcing a strategic goal of raising $42 billion of capital over the next three years, comprised of $21bn of equity and $21bn of fixed income securities, which we refer to as our '21/21 Plan”
- The capital raised will increase in each of the next three years
- MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin balance sheet has brought benefits; since adopting the strategy in August 2020, the company has outperformed every firm in the S&P500, including A.I. poster child Nvidia
What happened: Hong Kong plans to further boost digital asset industry presence
How is this significant?
- Hong Kong will continue building its position as a major Asian digital asset hub in the near future, according to a recent keynote speech at the city’s Fintech Week
- Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) director Dr Eric Yip told attendees at the summit that the city will approve more Virtual Asset Trading Platform licences by year-end, noting that “The applicants and their controllers have by and large taken up our feedback, and they are willing to commit resources to rectify issues”
- He added “If virtual asset liquidity still resides in unregulated venues after all our efforts, and regulated entities cannot operate a sustainable business model, then we need to reflect on why investors don’t pick our state-of-the-art regulatory framework”
- In a press release, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd announced a new index for digital assets, providing consistent pricing benchmarks for APAC-based traders
- Additionally, Hong Kong Monetary Authority head Eddie Yue outlined plans to increase tokenisation of financial assets and investments, and Treasury Secretary Christopher Hui revealed that the city plans to provide tax incentives for virtual asset investments to family offices
What happened: Visa offers real-time crypto purchase via debit cards
How is this significant?
- Payments processing giant Visa this week announced a partnership with Coinbase exchange, enabling instant deposits into Coinbase accounts via credit cards
- According to a press release, “This will allow customers to quickly add funds offering them more flexibility to take advantage of trading opportunities, which can be critical in a dynamic crypto environment”
- Users will also be able to purchase directly via the debit cards, rather than converting to a specific crypto asset for crypto-crypto trading pairs
- Yanilsa Gonzalez Ore, Head of Visa Direct North America, commented “Coinbase users with an eligible Visa debit card know that they can take advantage of trading opportunities day and night”, whilst Coinbase senior director Akash Shah said “By enabling them to move money seamlessly and control their finances, we are delivering the trust, security, and flexibility they expect”
- Initially, the functionality is reserved for customers in the US and EU, providing a much easier pathway for customers with lower tech confidence
What happened: Franklin Templeton expands tokenisation footprint
How is this significant?
- Finance giant Franklin Templeton—the first to launch an on-chain money market fund—increased its tokenisation efforts further this week with several new initiatives
- Firstly, it announced the first fully tokenised UCITS (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) fund on a public blockchain in Europe
- The UCITS was approved by Luxembourg’s CSSF regulators, and should be tradeable throughout Europe
- Franklin Templeton’s digital asset and industry advisory services head Sandy Kaul commented “We believe that in the future, there may be opportunities to create other tokenized financial products, including interoperability with other digital assets… We are committed to continuing to explore these opportunities as part of our broader digital assets strategy”
- On the other side of the world, Franklin was also involved in an interbank settlement pilot program with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and OSL
- The pilot, part of HKMA’s Project Ensemble, “will conduct proof-of-concept distribution of Franklin Templeton’s on-chain wealth management products, including money market fund tokens… providing greater transparency, efficiency, and accessibility for investors”
- Finally, it became the first asset manager active on Coinbase’s proprietary Ethereum Layer-2 Base blockchain
- Franklin deployed its OnChain U.S. Government Money Market Fund (FOBXX) onto Base, marking the sixth separate blockchain to transact with the $410m fund
- Coinbase tokenisation chief Anthony Bassili commented “This is the first large asset manager to directly launch on Base, a clear signal to investors and issuers of what’s to come”
- Elsewhere, 175 year old financial services firm Lazard announced plans to develop tokenised funds in conjunction with Bitfinex and Kazakh firm SkyBridge Invest
- Lazard MD Matthias Kruse told industry publication Coindesk “The vehicle will offer exposure in a ‘fund of funds’ structure to various existing Lazard-managed funds focused on global equities and emerging market equities, which have been available only to professional investors and institutions before”
What happened: European exchange BitPanda mulls public listing options
How is this significant?
- BitPanda, a leading European digital asset exchange backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, is understood to be considering several options for growth, including a German IPO
- Bloomberg sources stated that “Any deal could value Bitpanda at $4bn or more”, in line with a 2021 funding round that raised $263m
- The exchange expects record profits this year, following strong revenue growth in the first few quarters
- Austrian-based BitPanda is working with Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase, and could potentially sell itself off in lieu of an IPO, according to the sources