Category Archives: Bitcoin
Wall Street struggles to sell Washington on Bitcoin for the masses – POLITICO
It's big. But Wall Street wants it to be even bigger. POLITICO's Kellie Mejdrich reports on an effort to open up access to Bitcoin investment.
In addition to pending fund proposals backed by Fidelity and Scaramuccis SkyBridge, One River Digital Asset Management is being advised by former SEC Chair Jay Clayton as it pitches a carbon neutral Bitcoin ETF. Clayton led the agency in the Trump era and didnt sign off on any of the cryptocurrency fund proposals during his tenure. While in office, Clayton highlighted concerns that cryptocurrency markets were ripe for fraud and manipulation and said that regulators had a host of issues to resolve before permitting ETFs.
The SEC, which is responsible for allowing the funds to launch, appears to be in no hurry to expand access to Bitcoin investments. The agencys new chair, Gary Gensler, has emerged in recent weeks as a clear crypto skeptic. That surprised some advocates who were hoping hed be more amenable to Bitcoin after teaching and researching digital finance at MIT.
Gensler has flagged fundamental concerns about the operations of the underlying cryptocurrency market that the ETFs want to track. He says exchanges that facilitate the buying and selling of digital currency arent adequately regulated and that market data is lacking.
Altogether, this has led to substantially less investor protection than in our traditional securities markets, and to correspondingly greater opportunities for fraud and manipulation, Gensler said in House testimony Wednesday.
Pedestrians walk past the New York Stock Exchange in the Financial District on March 23, 2021. | Mary Altaffer/AP Photo
Despite the growing industry enthusiasm, Wall Street is also split on the future of cryptocurrency. Some executives are dismissing the push to expand access even as their firms try to satisfy customer demand.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said in House testimony Thursday that his company the nations largest bank was debating how to make it available in a safe way. But Dimon's personal advice? Stay away from it.
That does not mean the clients don't want it, Dimon said. It goes back to how you have to run a business. I don't smoke marijuana, but if you make it nationally legal I'm not going to stop our people from banking it.
One of Genslers colleagues is urging him to act. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, a Republican on the agencys five-member board, said Genslers recent warnings conveyed the overly conservative approach that has typified the SEC in the crypto arena. She said the agency should move forward with approval of crypto funds on their merits.
Six applications are pending with the SEC to list cryptocurrency ETFs on stock exchanges run by the New York Stock Exchange and Cboe Global Markets. Wall Street titans are lining up to provide services for the funds, including Morgan Stanley, Bank of New York Mellon and State Street.
Hester Maria Peirce, a nominee to be a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission, testifies during a Senate Banking committee hearing on Capitol Hill on March 15, 2016. | AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Given the growth of the market and increased interest, the stakes are high as people compete to be the first approved," Peirce said.
By not bringing digital currency into the regulatory mainstream, Peirce and industry players say the SEC is allowing crypto activity to remain outside the purview of government watchdogs.
What that does is it allows the wild Wild West to continue, said Tom Quaadman, executive vice president of the U.S Chamber of Commerce Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness.
Jan van Eck, the CEO of the $71 billion asset manager VanEck, said those who oppose Bitcoin ETFs like the one his firm is proposing "are effectively forcing investors into inferior fund structures and less regulated venues."
Critics of moving forward with the funds say the SEC needs to first address underlying risks in the cryptocurrency market.
The regulatory concerns about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency markets go far beyond ETF issues," said Joseph Cisewski, senior derivatives consultant and special counsel to the Wall Street reform group Better Markets. "The crypto exchanges operate almost entirely in the dark, and weve repeatedly seen how risks increase and evolve when they are allowed to develop in the cracks of our regulatory system.".
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle including staunch Bitcoin advocates are unconvinced or on the fence, indicating that the SEC will face political pressure to continue to slow-walk the issue.
The companies need to show their contribution to our economy, and in that sense, they really havent done well, Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said in an interview.
"I would caution the commission against prioritizing the review of cryptocurrency ETFs over fulfilling the legal directives of Congress," said Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), who leads SEC oversight in the House and wants the agency to finish rules languishing from the 2010 Dodd-Frank law.
Republican lawmakers who champion free markets and digital currency said in interviews that they too are taking time to study the issue before backing the efforts.
I'm not clear yet on exactly what we should do, said Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), who in May launched the bipartisan Senate Financial Innovation Caucus to encourage policy development in crypto and other financial technologies.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who with Lummis serves on the Senate Banking Committee, said he's concerned about the accuracy of the underlying reference prices for the funds because crypto trading occurs on venues that arent regulated by the SEC.
Tillis said the fund applications have to be scrutinized, mainly from a consumer protection perspective.
We need to figure out how we deal with this, said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), a member of the Banking Committee. Otherwise youre going to have a lot of people lose a lot of money."
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Wall Street struggles to sell Washington on Bitcoin for the masses - POLITICO
Bitcoin contends with biggest monthly drop on record – Fox Business
FOX Business Ashley Webster breaks down Tuesdays market open.
Bitcoin was flirting with its biggest monthly decline on record as May comes to an end.
Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was on track to close down 36% for May at $36,509 per coin. A finish below $34,885 would cement the cryptocurrencys worst month on record.
Bitcoin prices came under pressure in May amid concerns the cryptocurrency market could face increased scrutiny from regulators both in the U.S. and abroad.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell this month floated the possibility that the central bank could create its own digital currency and was looking into ways to tighten regulation. The Internal Revenue Service said cryptocurrency transfers over $10,000 needed to be reported.
Meanwhile, Chinese regulators this month took a number of steps to limit the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. They announced plans to crack down on bitcoin mining and trading behavior and the countrys banking association warned its members to refrain from transacting in digital currencies. China is working on its own digital currency, the digital yuan.
Talk of increased regulation comes as Tesla Inc. this month reversed its policy to accept bitcoin as payment for its vehicles, citing concerns over the environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining.
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Bitcoin in April hit a record high of more than $63,500 per coin, fueled by the decision of a number of U.S. companies to begin investing in the cryptocurrency as a way to diversify their cash.
Business intelligence software provider MicroStrategy Inc. has invested more than $2.2 billion in bitcoin while Tesla has parked about $1.5 billion in the cryptocurrency.
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Bitcoin contends with biggest monthly drop on record - Fox Business
Few, if any, financial advisers expected to recommend bitcoin and dogecoin to clients — here’s how many now suggest buying crypto – MarketWatch
Despite Bitcoin BTCUSD, -0.86%, Ethereum ETHUSD, -0.93% and Dogecoins DOGEUSD, +2.07% wild ride last month, more financial advisers than ever are recommending their clients have some crypto in their portfolios.
Some 14% of financial advisers have already added cryptocurrencies to their clients portfolios or are recommending it to them, according to a survey released Tuesday of 529 financial advisers conducted by the Financial Planning Association in March.
Some 14% of financial advisers have already added cryptocurrencies to their clients portfolios or are recommending it to them
Thats up by 13 percentage points from last year when less than 1% of advisers were recommending it, the poll found. More than a quarter (26%) of advisers are planning to recommend or add crypto to their clients portfolios in the coming year.
Last year however none of the 242 respondents to the same survey anticipated that theyd recommend crypto to their clients in 2021, the survey commissioned by Onramp Invest, a crypto portfolio management software company concluded.
So why the change of heart? Clients appear to be less concerned about asset market volatility this year compared to last, despite the rollercoaster ride in cryptocurrencies in recent months.
More than half (52%) of advisers said their clients inquired about market volatility over the past six months, whereas last year some 76% of advisers fielded questions from their clients about it over a six-month period.
Investors may also be drawn to cryptocurrencies lately because they view them as a hedge against inflation, which in the U.S. is hovering at a 13-year high.
Whereas stock-market investors will effectively earn less on any gains they realize this year due to inflation, investors in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, which has a limited supply like gold GC00, +0.03% or silver SI00, +0.36%, could have a better shot at earning more money as investors flock to them. Or not.
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Few, if any, financial advisers expected to recommend bitcoin and dogecoin to clients --- here's how many now suggest buying crypto - MarketWatch
Want to Stop Ransomware Attacks? Ban Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies. – The New Republic
Heres how these attacks work. A hacker penetrates a companys systemsan often easy task, given many firms shoddy cybersecurity practices. The hacker uses ransomware to encrypt the companys data, making it inaccessible to anyone who doesnt have the requisite password, and then demands payment in Bitcoin or another digital currency. The victim can open an account on a cryptocurrency exchange, buy Bitcoin, send it to the hackers wallet address, and the hacker will then decrypt the victims data. Life can then go back to normal, save the embarrassment and damages suffered by the victims businessand anyone who depended on it. As for the hacker, they can launder their proceeds by using various exchanges and payment processors that shuffle the cryptocurrency around before issuing the same amount of currency in a new wallet, without a payment trail.
In some cases, its even easier. DarkSide, whose inner workings were just exposed in a New York Times article, offers what might be called ransomware as a service. DarkSide develops the software and facilitates the attacks on behalf of clientsit even offers customer supportand all share in the proceeds. A person only needs a target and a little startup capital.
The rejoinder one hears from crypto supporters, often called coiners, is that fiat money, like the dollar, is used for crime and corruption all the time. Thats undoubtedly true, but its also a red herring: Cryptocurrencys main practical use, one could argue, is to facilitate crime and off-the-books financial transactions. That is not the case with the dollar, which is government-backed and sustains trillions in commerce every day. The dollar is imperfect, but it has widespread use, relative stability, and a robust, if insufficient, regulatory structure. Your bank account is even insured by the federal governmenta far better arrangement than trading on a shady cryptocurrency exchange.
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Want to Stop Ransomware Attacks? Ban Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies. - The New Republic
Cryptocurrency expert says Bitcoin, Stablecoin payments will be accepted by more businesses – Fox Business
Voyager Digital CEO Steve Ehrlich on whether more companies will accept crypto.
More companies will accept cryptocurrency as payment, especially Bitcoin and Stablecoin, Voyager Digital CEO Steve Ehrlich told FOX Business Maria Bartiromo on "Mornings with Maria" Tuesday.
MIAMI TO HOST LARGEST CRYPTOCURRENCY CONFERENCE IN HISTORY
STEVE EHRLICH: I think there's going to be more, you know, more companies accepting crypto. I think one of the other things are Stablecoins there, and I think there will be more companies accepting Stablecoins as the first step then they will start accepting Bitcoin.
That's a growing population. Us at Voyager, we're already seeing that as our business caters to small and mid-sized businesses as well as retail consumers.
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Those small mid-sized businesses want to accept USDC Stablecoin, they want to accept Bitcoin and they want to hold some of their Treasury in both of them because you can earn interest on those as well as use them in everyday payment.
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Cryptocurrency expert says Bitcoin, Stablecoin payments will be accepted by more businesses - Fox Business
Crypto market comeback? Ask experts anything about dogecoin, bitcoin, Ethereum latest and more – The Independent
After a monumental market crash in May, a period of relative calm has descended over the cryptocurrency space.
Ethereum (ether), Cardano (ada) and Binance Coin have all shown signs of recovery at the start of June, while dogecoin has shot up in price after Coinbase added it to its platform.
Bitcoin has also bounced back slightly, but continues to trade within a very narrow band. This stability has divided analysts and experts, with some believing it is the beginning of a drawn out bear market, while others claim it is just a price correction in the middle of a record-breaking bull run.
>> Follow all the latest updates withThe Independentslive coverage of the crypto market
To help make sense of all of this, as well as speculate on what the future holds for the broader industry, The Independent has invited two experts in the fields to offer their thoughts and predictions.
Samantha Yap, a cryptocurrency expert who is the founder and CEO of blockchain and fintech PR firm YAP Global, and Fred Schebesta, a crypto advocate and founder of comparison platform Finder.com, will join us.
They will give Independent readers an opportunity to ask anything they like about bitcoin and the crypto space.
Why did this crash happen? Is it a market collapse or just a price correction? And what developments in the DeFi and crypto world are they most excited about?
Put your questions below and well put as many as we can to our experts during a live stream that will be available to all registered users.
All you have to do is register to submit your question by 11am on Thursday (June 3) in the comments below.
If youre not already a member, click sign up in the comments box to leave your question. Dont worry if you cant see your question theyll be hidden until we post the live stream recording in this article.
Bitcoin slumps 7% as investors brace for another bouncy weekend – Aljazeera.com
Digital tokens took a hit on Friday as a growing list of central bankers expressed concerns about their usefulness.
ByLynn Thomasson and Anchalee WorrachateBloomberg
Bitcoin slumped 7% to near $35,500, recalling levels seen in the crypto meltdown last week as traders brace for fresh volatility over the long weekend.
Prices across digital tokens took a hit as Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda joined a growing list of central bankers expressing skepticism about the industrys usefulness in the real world.
Now, retail players are set to dominate the coming trading sessions on typically thin exchange volumes.
Looking at the unrest across the crypto market, there is a chance that we see another hectic weekend trading in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote.
Prices spiked 10% last Saturday, only to plunge by 18% the next day.
Most of the trading is speculative and volatility is extraordinarily high, Kuroda said in an interview Thursday. Its barely used as a means of settlement.
All the same, Bitcoin was little changed for the week, after a 44% selloff from the Aprils peak of $63,000.
More broadly, the threat of tougher regulation continues to be a drag on crypto market sentiment. China and Iran have cracked down on Bitcoin mining operations for using too much electricity and theres speculation that the U.S.policymakers may increase financial oversight given the markets growing size and intense volatility.
On a technical level, the key marker is $30,000, said Swissquotes Ozkardeskaya. A break below that level would be further affirmation of an extended bear market, she said.
Volatility has eased this week, but that probably wont last entering a long weekend, Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda Corp., wrote in a note. Bitcoins consolidation phase should continue, but if the $37,000 level breached momentum, it could get ugly fast.
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Bitcoin slumps 7% as investors brace for another bouncy weekend - Aljazeera.com
In the Battle over Bitcoin, Its Bull vs. Bear in Elon Musks Brain – Barron’s
Illustration by Elias Stein
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What do Cathie Wood, ESG investors, and central bankers have in common? Theyre all involved in the bull and bear debate over Bitcoinand theyre all vying for space in Tesla CEO Elon Musks mind.
Wood is a big Bitcoin bull. Her price target is $500,000, and cryptocurrency brokerage Coinbase is a top 10 holdings in her ARK Innovation exchange-traded fund. Musk, for his part, regularly tweets about crypto. And Tesla holds some $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin.
ESG investors, however, worry that Bitcoin is feeding global warming. Lots of electricity used to mine Bitcoin comes from burning coal and natural gas. Musk cited climate concerns when he stopped accepting Bitcoin as payment for Tesla cars in May (after accepting it in March).
But Wood still sees Musk as a bull. Elon probably got a few calls from institutions, she told CoinDesk, noting that BlackRock is a big Tesla shareholder, and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and European Tesla investors are attuned to climate issues. Wood believes demand from crypto mining can provide utilities with cash to invest in renewables and that environmental issues will fade as the grid transforms. As for central bankers, many believe Bitcoin is too volatile to be used globally.
They have a point. Bitcoin closed on Friday, May 21 at just over $35,000. On Friday, May 28, Bitcoin was trading at just over $35,000. In-between, prices rose as high as $42,000 and fell as low as $31,000a 30% swing. If Musk stays sidelined, Bitcoin could struggle. If Wood is right, and Musks Bitcoin bearishness passes, well, that could be a catalyst.
Stocks rose as the new week dawned, and Bitcoin and other cryptos firmed, only to slip again on Tuesday. Meme stocks got traction in midweek as indexes slipped. Initial jobless claims fell to their pandemic low, sparking a rally, and April consumer spending rose 0.5% and prices 0.7%. On the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which celebrated its 125th birthday on Wednesday, rose 0.9%, to 34,529.45; the S&P 500 was up 1.2%, to 4204.11; and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 2.1%, to 13,748.74.
In a much-anticipated Exxon Mobil vote, Engine No. 1 won two board seats, with others still undetermined. The activist had sought four seats and called for Exxon to commit to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. At Chevron, 61% of shareholders voted to cut emissions, and a Dutch court ordered Shell to cut emissions by 45% by 2030.
The G-7 reached a deal on a global tax rate for corporations after the Biden administration came down from a 21% minimum to 15%. The G-7 hopes to press the proposal quickly through the larger Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, though Brazil has already said it would negotiate separately. The administration, meanwhile, reduced its infrastructure plan to $1.75 trillion from $2.25 trillion, and proposed a $6 trillion budget.
A much-debated theory that the coronavirus evolved in a mine in China and ended up in a Wuhan virology lab sprang to life after The Wall Street Journal reported that three Chinese researchers grew ill in November 2019. China denied the theory, and the White House asked the intelligence community to look into the situation and report back in 90 days.
The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, allegedly ordered a jet fighter to force a Ryanair jetliner to land in Minsk, where a protest leader was removed and arrested. In response, the European Union imposed sanctions and, with the United Kingdom, banned flights in Belarus airspace.
Amazon.com agreed to buy MGM studios for $8.45 billion, a boon to its streaming business AMC Entertainments largest shareholder, Chinas Dalian Wanda, sold most of its shares in the movie-theater chainGerman publisher Axel Springer is in talks to buy U.S. online-media company Axios for over $400 millionU.S. frackers Cabot Oil & Gas and Cimarex Energy agreed to an all-stock merger to create a $14 billion company run by Cimarex CEO Thomas Jorden HSBC exited U.S. retail banking after 40 years, selling much of its branch network to Citizens Financial and Cathay General Bancorp...SoftBank Group paid WeWork founder Adam Neumann $450 million after forcing him out in 2019...Investing app Acorns will go public in a $2.2 billion SPAC deal.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
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In the Battle over Bitcoin, Its Bull vs. Bear in Elon Musks Brain - Barron's
Analyst says reclaiming $37,500 is Bitcoins crucial line in the sand – Cointelegraph
Bitcoin (BTC) price continues to limp lower as traders in the U.S. hit the BBQ to enjoy the upcoming Memorial Day holiday on May 31 and regulated futures and options markets like the CME are closed through the weekend.
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after a brief attempt by Bitcoin (BTC) bulls to rally above $37,000 in the early morning hours on May 29, the price has tumbled below $34,000 as the support needed for a move higher failed to manifest.
Price action for Ether (ETH) was nearly identical to that of BTC, with an attempt to break above $2,500 met with stiff resistance that pushed the altcoin's price down to $2,300.
According to analysis from filbfilb, co-founder of Decentrader, Bitcoin's price action is a major source of the market's confusion as it remains a ways away from the 20 Week Moving Average (WMA) which is typically the line between Bitcoin being either in a bull or bear market and as such remains a bearish scenario for Bitcoin.
The analyst went on to further state that if Bitcoin is able to find solid support in the low $30,000s, the 20 WMA could turn into a major resistance zone in any attempt to move higher.
Filbfilbsaid:
At this point, according to filbfilb, it is crucial for BTC to reclaim $37,500 to avoid a retest of weekly support.
Should Bitcoin manage to stage a rally and break above $40,000, filbfilb identified the previous support/resistance zone at $45,500 to $46,500 as the next area of resistance that will need to be overcome.
Ether performed slightly better than BTC after it sold off back to the 61.8% retracement as the price was able to bounce back above the 20 WMA, but was ultimately rejected at the critical pivot price of $3,000 as the recovery momentum faded.
Filbfilbidentified $2,300 as an important area of support for Ether that would need to be held if bulls wanted to gather momentum for an attempt to break above the $3,000 level and retest $3,300, with this scenario be highly dependent upon the strength of Bitcoin.
Overall, the analyst expects that Ether will outperform BTC in any upside move and at least match any bearish movement.
He said,
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
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Analyst says reclaiming $37,500 is Bitcoins crucial line in the sand - Cointelegraph
Top cryptocurrency prices today: Bitcoin, ethereum, dogecoin and more – Moneycontrol.com
Top cryptocurrency prices today: All major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin were trading in the red, with volatility persisting in the market.
May 30, 2021 / 07:43 AM IST
Bitcoin, ethereumand other major cryptocurrencies are trading in the red, with volatilitypersistingin the market.
US federal regulators have accused a group of people of promoting a securities offering tied to the digital currency that raised over $2 billion from retail investors without being properly registered.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed the civil lawsuit on May 28 in federal court in Manhattan. It alleges that an outfit called BitConnect used a network of promoters to sell the securities without registering the offering with the SEC, or registering themselves, as brokers as required by law.
Here are the prices of the 10 largest cryptocurrencies at7.20 am IST on May30 (data fromcoinmarketcap.com)
> Bitcoin: $33,786.05 (-6.93 percent)
> Ethereum: $2,210.97 (-12.57 percent)
> Tether: $1.00 (-0.01 percent)
> Binance Coin: $297.25 (-12.97 percent)
> Cardano: $1.37 (-11.47 percent)
> Dogecoin: $0.2901 (-8.17 percent)
> XRP: $0.8058 (-13.01 percent)
> USD Coin: $0.9997 (-0.03 percent)
> Polkadot: $19.10 (-12.60 percent)
> Internet Computer :$106.06 (-11.15 percent)
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Top cryptocurrency prices today: Bitcoin, ethereum, dogecoin and more - Moneycontrol.com