The biggest crypto news and ideas of the day |
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Morgan Stanley Offers ETFs |
Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley's (MS) advisers will be able to offer bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to wealthy clients starting Wednesday, according to CNBC. Morgan Stanley is allowing its 15,000+ financial advisers to sell shares of BlackRock's IBIT and Fidelity's FBTC, CNBC reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. Clients will need to have a net worth of at least $1.5 million. January's approval of spot bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. brought hopes the investment vehicles would attract the deep pockets of financial institutions to cryptocurrency. However, major companies like Morgan Stanley often have lengthy compliance and review processes to undertake before they approve funds to be offered to their clients. The bank, which holds $1.5 trillion in assets under management (AUM), made the move in response to demand from clients, according to the report. Morgan Stanley held $269.9 million of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) as of March 31, a sign that it may have planned to offer ETFs to clients at some point. |
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BTC slumped to as low as $62,500 in late U.S. trading hours on Thursday, reversing losses and trading just under $64,000 at 6:30 UTC to trade near its 50-day moving average, which remains a tactical support line for some traders. “If the decline develops, dynamics around the $63K and $61K levels, near where the 50 and 200-day moving averages are, will be important,” Alex Kuptsikevich, FxPro senior market analyst, told CoinDesk in an email. “A failure of this support will open the way to $55K, which is quite frightening.”
“August is considered one of the two worst months for BTC. Over the past 13 years, bitcoin has ended the month up only five times and down eight times. The average decline was 15.4% and the average rise was 26%,” he added. Crypto majors fell in the past 24 hours amid weakness in global equities. Ether (ETH) lost 1.6% in the past 24 hours, while major tokens XRP and Solana’s SOL dropped as much as 8%. The broad-based CoinDesk 20 (CD20), a liquid index tracking the largest tokens by market capitalization, minus stablecoins, was down 2.44%. |
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BTC Risk-Reward Still Good |
While bitcoin's (BTC) price has more than doubled in the past year, the largest cryptocurrency continues to offer an appealing risk-reward ratio for those eyeing an investment, according to an on-chain indicator that successfully predicted the bull run in early 2023. Bitcoin's "reserve risk," an indicator that gauges the confidence of long-term holders based on their willingness to defer spending coins, remains entrenched in the so-called green zone below 0.002, according to data tracked by CryptoQuant. The measure can range between 0 and 1. The low reading is a sign long-term holders are motivated to hold at bitcoin's going market rate rather than sell, implying favorable demand-supply dynamics and an attractive risk-reward ratio for those looking to make additional or fresh investments. "The reserve risk continues to remain in the green zone, which means buying BTC at the current levels still offers an extraordinary reward to risk. Investing in bitcoin during periods where the reserve risk in the green zone has produced outsized returns over time," MintingM, a crypto research firm based in India, told CoinDesk. |
Cathie Wood's Ark Sells Coinbase |
Cathie Wood's investment company ARK Invest sold $14.8 million worth of crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) shares on Thursday, the biggest single-day divestment since May 7, ahead of the exchange's second-quarter earnings announcement. The divestment means the company sold more Coinbase shares on the first day of August than in the previous two months combined. It sold $2.88 million of the shares in June and $7.93 million in July. After the market closed, Coinbase reported second-quarter revenue that beat Wall Street analysts' expectations. Profit, however, came in lower than the consensus. The exchange's shares, which fell 5.2% to $212.64 during regular trading, rallied briefly after the report and were little changed in pre-market trading. ARK sold a total of 69,069 COIN shares across its Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) and Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF). The company's share sales are often made out of necessity, to keep within its own exposure guidelines that avoid one holding accounting for more than 10% of an ETF's total weighting. COIN accounts for 6.74% of ARKW and 9.69% of ARKF. |
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The Takeaway: Make America Mine Again |
Guest post by Jean-Marie Magnotti, CEO Coinshares:
In a bold proclamation that has sent ripples through both the cryptocurrency and energy sectors, former President Donald Trump recently suggested that all remaining Bitcoin should be mined on U.S. soil. While this goal is technically unattainable due to the decentralized nature of Bitcoin mining, it raises questions about America's potential to dominate this burgeoning industry. As of 2024, the U.S. accounts for approximately 37.8% of global Bitcoin mining, according to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index. Could we push this figure above 90%? This ambitious goal, while challenging, could reshape America's technological and economic landscape in profound ways. Importantly, the thriving of the American Bitcoin Mining Industry should be a bipartisan objective. Whether you lean left or right, the potential for job creation, energy innovation, and technological leadership makes this a topic that should matter deeply to both Democrats and Republicans alike. The United States is blessed with an abundance of natural resources ideal for energy production. It boasts 48.3 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and 691 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, reflecting significant increases from previous years. Additionally, the U.S. has vast potential for solar, wind, and uranium for nuclear power. However, it’s crucial to not forget that China is making significant investments to become abundant in energy. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, China’s total energy production reached 141.7 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) in 2021, compared to the U.S.‘s 95.7 quadrillion Btu. While the U.S. still leads in per capita energy production, China’s rapid growth and massive investments in this sector underscore the urgent need for a strategic reassessment of energy and technological policies to maintain a competitive edge. Energy is at the core of the reshoring plans proposed by both the Biden and Trump administrations, and naturally, the cheaper and more robust the energy infrastructure, the better positioned American Bitcoin miners will be in the global market. Read the full piece here. |
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