The latest moves in crypto markets, in context By Lyllah Ledesma, CoinDesk news reporter Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here. |
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Happy Thursday! Here’s what you need to know today in crypto: |
- Grayscale’s GBTC saw its discount to NAV shrink to 0% for the first time in almost three years.
- Franklin Templeton reduced the fee of its bitcoin ETF to become the cheapest of the bunch.
- UBS and Citi will let some customers trade bitcoin ETFs, contrary to rumors.
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CoinDesk Market Index (CMI): 1,830 −1.5%
Bitcoin (BTC): $45,939 −2.8%
Ether (ETC): $2,663 +0.7%
S&P 500: 4,780.24 −0.1%
Gold: $2,054 +2.0%
Nikkei 225: $2,054 +2.0% |
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The discount to net asset value (NAV) for Grayscale’s bitcoin fund (GBTC), the largest bitcoin investment vehicle, shrank to 0% for the first time since February 2021. The company got the all clear from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday to convert the fund into a spot bitcoin exchange traded-fund (ETF), which began trading Thursday alongside 10 other ETFs. The fund had been trading at a discount to the price of the bitcoin it held, hitting a record low of nearly 50% in December 2022. GBTC’s discount to NAV began to narrow significantly as the expectations of an ETF approval surfaced several months ago along with rising bitcoin sentiment. |
Franklin Templeton reduced the fee on its bitcoin (BTC) ETF to 0.19% of net assets, becoming the cheapest amongst the new investment products. San Mateo, California-headquartered Franklin Templeton has reduced the fee for its Bitcoin ETF (EZBC) from 0.29%, according to a filing with the (SEC) on Friday. The 10 basis-point reduction makes the fund's fee the lowest, beating Bitwise's 0.2%. Till Aug. 2 the fund manager will waive fees until the fund reaches assets under management (AUM) of $10 billion. UBS, the Zürich-based banking giant, will let some clients who desire to trade bitcoin ETFs do so, subject to some conditions, according to a person familiar with the matter. The conditions, according to the person close to UBS who asked to not be named, include: UBS cannot solicit the trades and accounts with a lower risk tolerance won't be able to buy them. A UBS spokesperson declined to comment. Citigroup, meanwhile, “currently provides our institutional clients with access to the recently approved Bitcoin ETFs from an execution and asset servicing perspective," a spokesperson told CoinDesk Thursday. The New York-based bank is "evaluating the products for individual Wealth clients.” |
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Market Insight: BTC ETF Debut Serves as a Lesson for Ether ETF Speculators |
Nearly a dozen spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs), assets that invest in the actual token, began trading in the U.S. on Thursday. The highly anticipated investment products came into effect after years of waiting as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved them on Wednesday. While several things happened in the weeks leading up to their debut, some related to implied volatility and the options market are worth noting as speculators look at ether (ETH) as the next likely candidate for a spot ETF approval. Implied volatility represents investors' expectations of price turbulence and positively impacts the prices of call and put options. A call allows buyers to profit from or hedge against price rallies, while a put offers protection against price slides. |
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- The chart shows that the ether-bitcoin ratio has risen to 0.057, the highest since Nov. 13.
- Up 12%, the ratio is on track to register its biggest single-week gain since July 2022.
- Ether's outperformance likely stems from traders looking at Ethereum's native token as the probable next candidate for spot ETF approval in the U.S.
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Disclaimer: The information presented in this message is intended as a news item that provides a brief summary of various events and developments that affect, or that might in the future affect, the value of one or more of the cryptocurrencies described above. The information contained in this message, and any information liked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. The information presented herein is accurate only as of its date, and it was not prepared by a research analyst or other investment professional. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency before deciding to purchase or sell any such instruments. |
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