SEC rekindles Spot Bitcoin ETF hopes as FTX’s downfall becomes clearer
Data from CryptoCompare shows the price of the flagship cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) started last week moving down from around $27,500 to a low just slightly above the $26,500 mark, but quickly surged back to near $28,000 over the weekend.
Ethereum’s Ether, the second-largest digital asset by market capitalisation, moved in a similar way, dropping from nearly $1,600 to a $1,520 low before recovering, with the cryptocurrency now trading at around $1,580.
Cryptocurrency prices surged over the weekend after it was revealed that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chose not to appeal a court decision reversing its denial of Grayscale’s move to turn its Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). The decision not to appeal means the regulator will look at Grayscale’s application again.
While cryptocurrency investors are seemingly turning bullish over the potential launch of a spot Bitcoin ETF in the US, the combined spot and derivatives volumes on centralised exchanges last month, according to CCData’s Exchange Review report, declined 20.3% to $1.67 trillion, the lowest combined volume since December 2022.
Over the week, it was also revealed that the Bitcoin network has been seeing a significant decline in daily transaction numbers after hitting a historic high back in September. The network’s daily transactions are now at the lowest point since the Ordinals protocol was launched, as it has been losing steam.
From May to mid-September, Bitcoin transactions per week ranged from 400,000 to 500,000, with a high of 600,000 on September 20. However, by October 9, the weekly transaction number had fallen to around 283,000, the lowest since February.
According to the report, low volatility and seasonal patterns that usually affect the third quarter of the year are affecting cryptocurrency trading volumes. Adoption has nevertheless kept on growing, with Backed Finance, a Switzerland-based tokenization firm, launching tokenized short-term U.S. Treasurys on Coibnase’s Base network.
The move saw the tokenized firm bring its blB01 crypto token, a blockchain-based version of BlackRock’s short-term U.S. Treasuries ETF offering a 5.25% annual yield to investors, to the network. The offering is only available for qualified investors and licensed distributors who have completed know-your-customer and anti-money laundering procedures.
Ex-Alameda chief says Bankman-Fried ‘directed’ her to commit crimes
Caroline Ellison, the ex-CEO of Alameda Research and former partner of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), has said in court that SBF instructed her to use FTX customers’ funds to settle loans.
According to Ellison’s testimony, Alameda borrowed about $14 billion from FTX customers and used the money to trade and pay back loans. Ellison said that Alameda managed to return some of the money to the exchange before it collapsed and disclosed that SBF was responsible for setting up “these systems that allowed Alameda to take the money” and was “the one who directed us to take customer money to repay our loans”.
Ellison also revealed that, at the direction of Bankman-Fried, she sent the firm’s lenders balance sheets “that incorrectly stated the amount of our assets and our liabilities and made Alameda’s balance sheet look less risky than it really was”.
Over the week it was also revealed by Gary Wang, the co-founder of the collapsed exchange, that the insurance fund balance the trading platform was showing customers was not reflecting reality and instead displayed the result of a random number generation.
According to Wang, the exchange calculated the amount of cash added to the fund by using a random number — around 7,500— times the daily volume and then divided by one billion. However, this number was lower than the amount the actual insurance fund had.
Major crypto exchanges team up with local entities to continue serving UK market
Major cryptocurrency exchanges have been finding a way to comply with the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) crypto marketing rules in the UK by collaborating with local firms, shortly after crypto trading platform Bybit left the country over these rules.
Archax, a regulated digital securities exchange, is now helping Coinbase and OKX to get their financial promotions approved. Binance, meanwhile, has announced in a blog post that it has joined forces with Rebuilding Society, a licensed peer-to-peer lending company that has only lent out £35 million ($42.6 million) since it was founded in 2013, according to its website.
Over the week the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has, in a recent report, highlighted there are “serious risks” of potential harm investors could face in decentralized finance (DeFi), despite the sector’s infancy.
Francisco Memoria is a content creator at CryptoCompare who’s in love with technology and focuses on helping people see the value digital currencies have. His work has been published in numerous reputable industry publications. Francisco holds various cryptocurrencies.
Featured image via Unsplash.