Further evidence that Bitcoin is a commodity, and falls outside the securities issue
The week in review
with Jason Deane
My column last Friday discussed the extremely uncertain regulatory landscape currently facing the crypto industry in the US spearheaded by the SEC and how it seemed like total war raging between the two sides.
Yesterday, it seemed like a counter attack from the crypto-camp was launched when Blackrock suddenly announced it was launching an application for a full spot Bitcoin ETF in the USA, using Coinbase to custody the funds.
Now, let’s just think about this for a minute. This is very big news in a whole host of different ways, some of which don’t seem that obvious at first.
First, Blackrock is a seriously major player with approximately $9 Trillion Assets Under Management. Yes, that TRILLION. With a “T”. These are the sorts of numbers the Fed itself would like to have access to.
The fact that an organisation of this size is effectively making a statement of support for Bitcoin, effectively in defiance of the clear anti-crypto position of the regulatory powers tells us a few things.
First, it reinforces the point that Bitcoin is a commodity and outside the securities issues that all other cryptos fall into. Second, there must be a degree of confidence in Coinbase – itself currently being sued by the SEC for allegation of acting as an unregistered exchange – as a custodian for the funds. EFT applications are not simple to do and we can be sure that many, many hours of preparatory work was done behind the scenes before this became public.
It’s also a statement of confidence in Bitcoin as a whole and the bullish sentiment bucked the recent trend and sent $16m of Bitcoin shorts into liquidation.
Of course, there’s a long way to go before an ETF becomes an actual real thing in the US and many companies have tried – and failed – at the hands of the SEC.
More than likely the SEC will follow form and drag the decision out to the last possible day, then extend the decision period, then delay, then extend again and so on. Bitcoin might run 24/7, but regulatory bodies certainly do not. One thing is for certain; the SEC is going to need more staff.
There was also a positive signal this week from miners when Wednesday’s Bitcoin difficulty adjustment jumped yet again by another 2.1784% to a record breaking 52.35T based on an average hashrate of 374 EH/s over the period. Lots of technical numbers there, but the bottom line is that it is already 53.5% harder to mine Bitcoin now than it was at the start of the year. That’s an incredible statement of confidence by the mining industry who are seemingly still deploying at a faster and faster rate.
Finally, confidence was also brimming at Bitcoin Racing yesterday at Brands Hatch as the team was getting in some tuition and testing potential new drivers for 2024 on a perfect sunny day and a quiet track. I’ll be back in the seat myself in Car 42 at the Anglesey circuit up in North Wales next week for round 3 of the Nankang CityCar Cup Challenge, so if you’re in the area and fancy watching a couple of days of qualifying and racing (plus endless chat about Bitcoin of course!) check out the details here.
Have a great weekend!
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Yesterday’s Crypto AM Daily
In the Markets
The Bitcoin Economy
*Data can be found at https://terminal.bytetree.com/
Total crypto market cap
The total capitalisation of the entire cryptocurrency market this morning was $1.036 billion.
What Bitcoin did yesterday
Bitcoin closed yesterday at $25,576. The daily high yesterday was $25,735, and the low was $24,797.
Bitcoin market capitalisation
Bitcoin’s market capitalisation this morning was $494.217 billion. To put it into context, the market cap of gold is $12.979 trillion and Visa is $473.69 billion.
Bitcoin volume
The total spot trading volume reported by all exchanges over the last 24 hours was $15.398 billion.
Fear and Greed Index
Fear and Greed is 47, today, in Neutral..
Bitcoin’s market dominance
Bitcoin’s market dominance today is 49.33. Its lowest ever recorded dominance was 37.09 on January 1 2018.
Relative Strength Index (RSI)
The daily RSI is currently 35.60. Values of 70 or above indicate that an asset is becoming overbought and may be primed for a trend reversal or experience a correction in price – an RSI reading of 30 or below indicates an oversold or undervalued condition.
What they said yesterday
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Crypto AM: Editor’s picks
FCA’s new crypto advertising rules met with mixed industry response
ChatGPT urges crypto conference panel not to become over-reliant on AI
Mt. Gox customers will have to wait until November to recover lost Bitcoin funds
Sam Bankman-Fried: A tissue of lies soaked with fake tears?
Three-in-four wealth managers are gearing up for more cryptocurrency exposure
Crypto.com granted FCA licence to operate in UK
Q&A with Duncan Coutts, Principal Technical Architect at IO Global
Jamie Bartlett – on the trail of the missing ‘Cryptoqueen’
MPs are falling silent over potential of cryptocurrency
Erica’s ‘Crypto Wars’ handed honours in Business Book Awards
Crypto AM: Features
Crypto AM: Founders Series
Crypto AM: Industry Voices
Crypto AM: Contributors
Crypto AM: In Conversation with James Bowater
Crypto AM: Tomorrow’s Money with Gavin S Brown
Crypto AM: Mixing in the Metaverse with Dr Chris Kacher
Crypto AM: Visions of the Future, Past & Present with Alex Lightman
Crypto AM: Tiptoe through the Crypto with Monty Munford
Crypto AM: Taking a Byte out of Digital Assets with Jonny Fry
Crypto on the catwalk
Crypto AM: Events
Cautionary Notes
It’s definitely tempting to get swept up in the excitement, but please heed these words of caution: Do your own research, only invest what you can afford, and make good decisions. The indicators contained in this article will hopefully help in this. Remember though, the content of this article is for information purposes only and is not investment advice or any form of recommendation or invitation. City PM, Crypto AM and Luno always advise you to obtain your own independent financial advice before investing or trading in cryptocurrency.