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Financial Giant State Street Sees Cryptocurrency Demand From Institutional Investors

Investment management firm State Street says that institutional clients are not deterred from investing in cryptocurrencies despite falling prices. “There is a belief that the asset class is here to stay,” said a State Street executive.

State Street in institutional demand for cryptocurrencies

State Street, a leading investment management firm, sees persistent institutional demand for cryptocurrencies despite market selloffs, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Monday.

Irfan Ahmad, State Street Digital’s product leader for the Asia-Pacific region, said institutional clients of the banking giant are still interested in cryptocurrencies and their underlying technology. He was quoted as saying:

During the June and July period, when things got very hot in terms of activity, we saw institutional clients not necessarily double down, but they weren't really deterred from making strategic bets on the asset class itself.

“The advantage of this is that, I think, there is a belief that the asset class is here to stay,” the executive emphasized.

State Street (NYSE: STT) operates in more than 100 geographic markets globally and employs approximately 40,000 people worldwide. The financial services giant had $38.2 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration and $3.5 trillion in assets under management as of June 30.

The company’s digital arm, State Street Digital, offers solutions for a variety of digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, digital money, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), according to its website.

Ahmad noted that several large investment firms such as Goldman Sachs have started offering crypto products and are likely to make more forays into the crypto space. In April, Goldman Sachs offered its first bitcoin-backed loan.

The world’s largest asset manager, Blackrock, launched a private bitcoin fund in August. “Despite the sharp decline in the digital asset market, we are still seeing substantial interest from some institutional clients,” the company said.

The State Street executive further shared that institutional clients inquired about the crypto product launch, explaining:

Certainly our customers have been talking to us more pragmatically about how they can launch products or what our capabilities might be in the future to help them support the launch of those products.

In July of last year, State Street announced the expansion of its cryptocurrency service, citing growing demand for traditional funds.

Cryptocurrency exchanges are also experiencing increasing demand from institutional investors. Bitstamp’s chief executive said in August that his trading platform is seeing “huge interest in crypto” from institutional clients. In June, Binance launched a new platform for VIP and institutional crypto investors to increase support for institutional clients.

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South Korea’s second largest city, Busan, partners with FTX for a local exchange

The city of Busan, the second largest city in South Korea, commonly known as the ‘Blockchain’ city of South Korea, has partnered with major cryptocurrency exchange FTX to build a local exchange. Furthermore, the association also aims to promote the development of blockchain in the city.

Pursuant to the agreement according to a statement issued by the Busan Metropolitan City on Aug. 30, FTX will assist in the creation of a local cryptocurrency exchange duped by the Busan Digital Asset Exchange. The Bahamian cryptocurrency exchange led by Sam Bankman-Fried will also support the city of Busan in promoting the growth of the local blockchain industry.

Busan City Cryptocurrency Exchange

The city of Busan will leverage FTX’s technology and infrastructure to build its own cryptocurrency exchange and promote blockchain-specific education at local universities and projects within the city’s ‘Special Blockchain Free Zone’ established in 2019.

FTX, through its Investment Division CEO Amy Woo, said that it will establish a Korean branch of FTX in the city of Busan within the next 12 months to help make Busan a digital financial hub in Asia.

In addition to signing an agreement with FTX, Busan also partnered with Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange by turnover, on August 1. Binance has signed a memorandum of understanding to provide the city with infrastructure and technology support for its blockchain development effort.

Both FTX and Binance are expected to establish a presence in South Korea in the next 12 months.

Since Busan was designated as the Blockchain City of South Korea in 2019, several projects have already been launched. These projects include a proprietary blockchain-based identification system, a blockchain-powered driver’s license platform, and cryptocurrency support for various services.

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Ukraine Blocks Cryptocurrency Wallet Used to Raise Funds for Russian Forces

Ukraine’s law enforcement and counterintelligence agency managed to seize funds in a cryptocurrency wallet used to finance the Russian military campaign in the country. Kyiv officials say the money raised through the wallet was spent on military equipment for pro-Russian separatist forces in the east.

Ukraine Seizes Cryptocurrency Donations Funding Russian Invasion

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has for the first time implemented a mechanism to curb fundraising through cryptocurrencies for troops fighting on the Russian side in the ongoing hostilities in the country. The conflict turned into a full-scale war when the Russian army crossed the border into Ukraine in late February in what Moscow calls a “special military operation” in support of the pro-Russian breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.

In a press release on Tuesday, the SBU announced that a cryptocurrency wallet operated by a citizen of the Russian Federation and used to sponsor Russia’s military effort in Ukraine was blocked. The man, who volunteered, has been raising money for the needs of the Russian forces since the invasion began.

The wallet had accumulated digital coins worth 800,000 hryvnia (nearly $22,000 at current exchange rates) by the time it was blocked, the SBU said, adding that the funds had already been seized. Experts are now working to trace related transactions and transfer custody to Ukraine. The agency did not specify how it seized the wallet, but did reveal that it enlisted the help of foreign cryptocurrency companies.

Ukrainian investigators were able to establish that the owner of the wallet dedicated a significant part of the donated cryptocurrency to the purchase of military supplies for separatist fighters of the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics. Representatives of the National Police of Ukraine and the Public Ministry also participated in the operation.

Russian “volunteer” active on social media

The Russian activist has been actively seeking financial assistance on social media platforms since the beginning of the latest phase of the conflict. To promote his efforts, he regularly creates and publishes photo and video content, distributes publications published by partners and reports on the use of the funds raised, the SBU detailed without revealing the identity of the Russian.

A report by blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis last month revealed that 54 pro-Russian groups have collectively received more than $2.2 million in cryptocurrency. These organizations, which operate in Donetsk and Luhansk, received most of the donated amounts in bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), but also in other cryptocurrencies.

Ukraine itself has relied on cryptocurrency donations, with the Kyiv government and volunteer groups raising digital money to fund defense efforts. Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov recently announced on Twitter that $54 million in cryptocurrency funds raised through the Aid for Ukraine initiative were spent to purchase armor, medicine, night visions, and even vehicles for the Ukrainian military.

The Ukrainian people have also received purely humanitarian aid from the crypto community and industry. European cryptocurrency exchange Whitebit, which has Ukrainian roots, has offered to support Ukrainian refugees through its representative offices abroad, and the world’s largest forex trading platform Binance has issued a card. of cryptocurrencies special for Ukrainians forced to leave their homes.

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NFT Lender BendDAO Liquidity Tested as ETH Reserves Fall

If you’re borrowing against the bored monkeys, you might want to keep your eyes peeled. Liquidity on the leading lending platform NFT BendDAO has been under a major stress test over the past 24 hours as ETH levels appear to be under pressure. To date, BendDAO’s ETH reserves have been replenished and are north of 800 WETH, however, many have noted that the lender has posted liquidity minimums of just 5 ETH, a dangerously low level for a lending platform of its nature.

BendDAO quickly appeared on the scene and spiced up the NFT conversation a bit, allowing users to leverage their first-rate NFTs as collateral; Let’s take a look at what we know about WETH lender reserves, what we’ve heard so far from the BendDAO team on the matter, and where we go from here.

Liquidity on high alert: how it happened

The often insightful research leader PROOF Collective @NFTStatistics.eth first published a report that gained traction on Crypto Twitter and the NFT community surrounding the issue, highlighting the issue when BendDAO’s liquidity dropped to just over 12 ETH:

He is well. Long discussion on the BendDAO situation:

1) They ran out of ETH. There is only 12.5 WETH in the contract. 2) What does it mean? People who have lent money to others through BendDAO to buy NFTs with leverage cannot withdraw their money. About 15,000 ETH was lent.

(1/9)

— NFTStatistics.eth (@punk9059) August 21, 2022

This conversation led to broader discussions about how the market reacts; Direct economics tells us that the threat of an imminent 100% APR would be powerful enough for many users to return collateral and replenish the DAO’s liquidity reserves. However, a downward spiral may begin if general market sentiment is bearish on NFT, as users will be less inclined to return their collateral if they believe the market will continue to move downwards.

BendDAO was quick to respond to settlement concerns, stating that they “underestimated how illiquid NFTs could be in a bear market when setting initial parameters” and proposing an emergency proposal to the DAO to improve liquidity parameters. This included adjusting the auction period, interest rate bases, settlement limits and the intention to continue the dialogue on the treatment of bad debts. That vote will likely pass.

It’s been an interesting ride over the past few days for holders of the BendDAO $BEND token. | Source: BEND-USDT at TradingView.com

how did we get here

BendDAO has been featured in many talking points among NFT circles lately, seemingly bridging the gap between DeFi and NFTs; The big bet here is whether BendDAO’s decision-making through future proposals will refine the mechanics of the lending process. In this case, the protocol is becoming an important piece of a growing ecosystem that has yet to prove its ability to weather major storms, but could still see substantial community involvement and interest.

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Investor Sentiment Drops as Cryptocurrency Market Loses $100 Billion

The cryptocurrency market has now faced another challenge. In the last day, bitcoin prices fell by around $2,000, causing the cryptocurrency market to lose a significant amount of value. As it stands now, the value of the cryptocurrency market has fallen over $100 billion and is now perilously close to falling below $1 trillion once again. This affected market sentiment, causing more fear in the market.

The market turns into fear

The cryptocurrency market was seeing some recovery in anticipation of the Ethereum meltdown. But as the excitement faded, the market began to see a drastic price correction. Bitcoin reached $25,000 at its peak in this latest recovery cycle. However, he has since lost most of those gains.

With that, cryptocurrency market sentiment picked up for a while after Bitcoin started its rally. At its highest point, the Fear & Greed index has a score of 42, the highest point in four months. That put him closer to greed than ever, but the market had other ideas.

Bitcoin price fell back below $22,000 and with it, market confidence plummeted. He finished Thursday with a low score of 30, putting him back in fear territory. The pullback is reflected in the cryptocurrency market, falling from $1.1 trillion to around $1 trillion at the time of writing.

As fear has returned to the market, investors are becoming more cautious when it comes to investing in the cryptocurrency market. Perpetrating traders have shown market fatigue over the past week, causing bitcoin funding rates to drop below neutral. Now the rest of the market is following suit.

Recovery in the cryptocurrency market?

With the market just starting to pull back, the correction is likely not over. These corrections are to be expected when the market grows so much in such a short time. This helps prices adjust to values ​​that reflect the current state of the market.

This means that the bitcoin price may still experience some drops. For now, the bottom is speculated to settle at a price of $17,600, so the bears will want to test support at this point. The historical movement also supports the movements, as it has done with previous bear markets.

Also, the weekend is here, and it is a period known for low liquidity. This means that Bitcoin is likely to continue its downtrend over the weekend. If the price of Bitcoin drops below $21,000, the cryptocurrency market will drop below $1 trillion.