BitDigest – Tuesday September 14, 2021
- SEC’s Gensler plans to discuss need for greater regulation with Senate
- House proposes that crypto adheres to wash rule
- El Salvador pulls Chivo wallet to fix errors
| Crypto Fear & Greed IndexThe Fear & Greed Index for bitcoin and other large cryptocurrencies dropped 49 points over the past week falling from 79 on September 7th to 30 today. Over the past 24 hours, the index has slid 14 points. The market is concerned about SEC Chairman Gensler’s meeting with the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs today and I assume the fake story with Walmart has raised additional concerns. |
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| Crypto Thoughts from SALT NYYesterday’s first day of the SALT conference had a considerable amount of discussion on digital currencies. Here are some of the highlights:New technology like Venmo and CashApp has a good customer facing interface yet uses old tradition rails and pipes while defi has an ugly interface with new efficient pipes (Wences Casares)We need a non-political standard of value and better if non-political standard of certainty (Wences Casares)Volatility and trial and error, starting in places like El Salvador, will drive real financial services and innovation (Peter Briger)Crypto is the twelfth sector of the S&P today (Kevin O’Leary)Scaling is the single blocker to mass adoption (Sam Bankman-Fried)Payments will become a commodity-free service on the internet (Jeremy Allaire) |
| The Headlines |
| Crypto is ‘Sitting Astride of…Regulatory Frameworks’In a pre-released statement, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler plans to tell members of the Senate Banking Committee that crypto technology is a “catalyst for change” but that “large parts of the field of crypto are sitting astride of — not operating within — regulatory frameworks” and that the SEC is prioritizing efforts to “work with other financial regulators under current authorities to best bring investor protection to these markets” and seek support from Congress to fill in any regulatory “gaps.”www.banking.senate.gov |
| Digital Currencies May Fall Under Wash RuleThe House Committee on Ways and Means is proposing to include digital assets to the wash sale rule preventing taxpayers from claiming tax losses while retaining an interest in the loss asset.waysandmeans.house.gov |
| Bundesbank President Calls for ‘Gradual’ Introduction of Digital EuroBundesbank President Jens Weidmann says the release of an ECB designed digital euro could disrupt the banking sector and extend the role of central banking and should therefore take a “gradual approach” with the “option to add further functionalities” in the future.www.reuters.com |
| El Salvador’s President Temporarily Halts Release of Digital Wallet to Fix ErrorsEl Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele admitted that his rush to release bitcoin as legal tender in his country was too aggressive, “launching everything in three months was too much of a challenge and we made mistakes, but we are already fixing them and hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans can already use Chivo with no issues.” Access to the Chivo wallet has been temporarily deactivated until “the application has no errors.”cointelegraph.com |
| Greenidge to Begin Trading on Nasdaq TomorrowCrypto miner Greenidge Generation announced that its propsed merger with publicly listed Support.com (NASDAQ: SPRT) is expected to close today and is expected to begin trading under the “GREE” ticker tomorrow.www.sec.gov |
| Eurex Issues Europe’s First Regulated Crypto Derivative ProductsDeutsche Börse’s derivatives exchange, Eurex, has started trading Europe’s first regulated crypto derivates with bitcoin exchange traded note futures.twitter.com |
| Coinbase Turning to Debt MarketCoinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) is planning to raise $1.5 billion through the issuance of Senior Notes due 2028 and 2031.investor.coinbase.com |
| Argo Blockchain Launches ADS OfferingLondon listed crypto miner Argo Blockchain has launched an initial public offering of its American depositary shares on the Nasdaq Global Market and is looking to raise around £100 million.www.proactiveinvestors.com |
| MSTR Buys More BTCMicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) announced that the company purchased an additional 8,957 bitcoin for ≈$419 million during the third quarter bringing its aggregate bitcoin holdings to over 114,000 ($3.1 billion)www.microstrategy.com |
| Walmart – Litecoin Announcement is FakeYesterday GlobalNewswire released a fake press release stating that Walmart intended to begin accepting crypto for payments from shoppers using the Litecoin network; to add to the misinformation, this release was immediately tweeted by the Litecoin Foundation. Walmart and GlobalNewswire are investigating the hoax.www.cnbc.com |
| Interactive Brokers Launches Crypto TradingTrading platform Interactive Brokers has launched crypto trading for a commission of 12 – 18 bps providing clients the opportunity to trade and custody bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), litecoin (LTC) and bitcoin cash (BCH) through an integration with Paxos Trust.www.businesswire.com |
| Brevan Howard Starting Crypto FundMacro hedge fund Brevan Howard is launching a new busines unit, BH Digital, to inest in cryptocurrencies and venture investments across the digital asset space; the fund will be led by Colleen Sullivan, the former CEO of CMT Digital.www.reuters.com |
| Market Data |
| Bitcoin Energy Use Surpasses 2020 TotalA report from Bloomberg is depicting that the bitcoin network has already surpassed 2020’s total consumption of energy and is likely to use 91TWh by the end of the year.www.bloomberg.com |
| Fidelity Releases Report on Institutional Crypto InvestorsFidelity Digital Assets has released its 2021 Institutional Investor Digital Assets Study showing that 44% of investors have increased their likelihood of investing in digital assets with Asian and European investors continuing to have a more progressive view to digital assets than Americans.www.fidelitydigitalassets.com |
| Daily Cartoon |
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