Category: Bitcoin

Categories
Bitcoin Bitcoin ETF

Bitcoin Spot ETFs to Hit Hong Kong Market on April 30, Expert Warns of Imminent Rate War

In a significant development for the Bitcoin (BTC) market, Hong Kong will witness the start of trading of several spot Bitcoin ETFs on April 30.

This milestone follows the successful approval and subsequent commercialization of Bitcoin ETFs in the United States earlier this year under the regulatory oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

With institutional adoption on the rise and Bitcoin reaching its all-time high of $73,700 in March, the upcoming launch of these ETFs in Hong Kong holds great promise for the cryptocurrency market.

Rate battle looms

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) made a notable announcement on April 15, approving the trading of several Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs. This regulatory approval paved the way for Bitcoin ETF trading in Hong Kong.

Industry experts Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart of Bloomberg anticipate a rate war will ensue as ETF issuers strive to attract the largest number of customers.

Balchunas and Seyffart predict possible rate war in Hong Kong as Bitcoin ETFs prepare to launch. The Harvest Fund, for example, plans to enter the market with full fee waivers and the lowest rate of 0.3% after the waiver period.

Revised Bitcoin ETF Projections

The competitive fee structures of these Bitcoin ETFs are expected to generate greater interest among investors, which could attract greater assets under management.

Balchunas acknowledges the relatively low rate levels and describes them as a positive sign for the market. Lower fees are likely to increase the attractiveness of these index funds and increase their assets under management (AuM).

While optimism surrounds the launch of Bitcoin ETFs in Hong Kong, Eric Balchunas offers a cautious analysis of potential capital inflows into this new market.

Blachunas suggests that these ETFs could lag behind their US counterparts, which have already achieved trading volumes of more than $200 billion since their launch in January.

Balchunas revised his initial forecast, estimating that these Hong Kong ETFs could attract up to $1 billion in assets under management in the first two years of operation, doubling his previous projection of $500 million.

Categories
Bitcoin Bitcoin Wallet Cryptocurrency news

Bitcoin Supply on Cryptocurrency Exchanges May Only Last 9 Months

Cryptocurrency trading and exchange platform Bybit has released a new report highlighting the impacts of the upcoming Bitcoin halving event on Bitcoin supply dynamics across exchanges in the crypto space. The crypto firm provided valuable insights into how the halving event would improve scarcity and hugely influence the price of BTC.

Exchanges will face Bitcoin supply crisis

On Tuesday, April 16, Bybit published a new report providing a detailed analysis of the Bitcoin halving event taking place this month. The crypto firm revealed that Bitcoin reserves on the world’s crypto exchanges are rapidly depleting, leaving just nine months of BTC supply on exchanges.

For a clearer perspective, Bybit explains that with just two million Bitcoin remaining in its total supply, a daily inflow of $500 million into spot Bitcoin ETFs would result in approximately 7,142 BTC leaving exchanges daily. This suggests that it would only take nine months to completely consume all remaining BTC reserves on exchanges.

Bybit stated that one of the main contributors to this reduction in supply would be the upcoming Bitcoin halving event, which would reduce the cryptocurrency’s total supply by 50%, cutting Bitcoin miners’ rewards in half.

The cryptocurrency exchange also revealed that after the halving, the sell-side supply of BTC flowing to centralized exchanges (CEX) will be greatly reduced. Furthermore, the “Bitcoin supply constraint will apparently be worse.”

BTC will become “twice as rare as gold”

In its report, Bybit compared the supply of Bitcoin after the halving with that of gold. The crypto exchange revealed that Bitcoin was steadily rising to become one of the safest investment options for even the most experienced and sophisticated investors in the crypto space.

According to the exchange, Bitcoin’s halving would significantly impact the cryptocurrency’s scarcity factor, making it an even rarer asset than gold.

Basing this analysis on the stock-to-flow (S2F) ratio, Bybit revealed that Bitcoin’s S2F ratio is currently around 56, while gold’s ratio is 60. After the halving event in April, it projects that the Bitcoin’s S2F ratio will increase to 112.

“Each Bitcoin halving enhances the narrative of Bitcoin not just as a currency, but as a scarce digital asset, similar to digital gold. The next halving in 2024 will push BTC into an era of unprecedented scarcity, making it twice as rare as gold,” said Bybit co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou.

While highlighting the importance of Bitcoin’s rarity after the halving, another report also revealed that Bitcoin’s price would see significant upward pressure after the halving. This suggests that the reduction in BTC supply could push its price to new highs during this period.

Furthermore, the report revealed that several crypto analysts predict that the post-halving rise in Bitcoin’s price would be less notable than the initial pre-halving surge that saw Bitcoin’s price reach new highs of over $73,000.

Categories
Bitcoin Bitcoin Investment crypto casino bonus Investment News

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, founders of the Gemini

cryptocurrency exchange, are now investors in Real Bedford Football Club.
The brothers invested $4.5 million in Bitcoin in the soccer club as part of a transaction facilitated by Winklevoss Capital, their investment company.

This new partnership puts them alongside cryptocurrency podcaster Peter McCormack, who acquired the club in 2022.

The financial injection of the Winklevoss twins to Real Bedford is committed to several future projects. These include the creation of a new training center, the creation of a soccer academy and increased support for youth and women’s soccer programs.

The Twins became indirectly involved with the club in January 2022 after Gemini became one of their sponsors.

With this latest investment, Real Bedford also plans to establish a Bitcoin treasury.

Real Bedford’s linking up with high-profile American investors echoes a similar trend seen at Wales’ Wrexham AFC, which actors Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds bought in February 2021 for £2 million ($2.5 million ).

Like Reynolds and McElhenney, the Winklevoss twins are aligning their technology investing capabilities with sports, expanding their influence beyond traditional business sectors into regional and community sports initiatives.

But the Winklevoss duo are just the latest in a long line of wealthy investors who see football clubs as a lucrative trophy.

According to a recent S&P Global report, “A few decades ago, sports teams were primarily viewed as risky, vanity assets.”

Today the scenario is different. The rising value of sports broadcasting rights and changes in player salaries have turned sports into an asset class that “combines above-market returns with the defensiveness often seen in sports utility companies.” low growth.”

One team that reportedly intends to sell a minority stake is Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon Football Club.

The current negotiations over the deal follow a debt restructuring at the club, where superstar Cristiano Ronaldo started out.

Categories
Bitcoin Bitcoin ETF

Bitcoin spot ETFs to receive green light in Hong Kong in April

According to a recent Reuters report, Hong Kong will become the first city in Asia to launch Bitcoin spot ETFs. Notably, initial approvals for these ETFs are expected to be announced next week, significantly exceeding industry expectations for these types of launches this year.

The revival proposed by Hong Kong

According to the report, the decision to introduce spot Bitcoin ETFs comes as Hong Kong seeks to revive its status as a preeminent financial center, in which pandemic-related restrictions have been somewhat eased, China’s economic slowdown and tensions between China and the United States.

By adopting cryptocurrency investment vehicles, Hong Kong aims to attract new global investments and take cryptocurrency adoption to new heights.

Adrian Wang, CEO of Metalpha, a Hong Kong-based crypto asset manager, emphasized the importance of introducing Bitcoin ETFs in Hong Kong, noting the potential for greater global investment and broader adoption of cryptocurrencies.

This move follows the success of the United States, which launched the first US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs in January and attracted approximately $12 billion in net inflows, as Bitcoinist previously reported.

While the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the three Chinese firms declined to comment, the Hong Kong units of China Asset Management and Harvest Fund Management recently obtained approval from the SFC to manage portfolios with investments greater than 10% in virtual markets. asset.

These parent companies are major mutual fund companies in China, each managing more than 1 billion yuan ($138 billion) in assets.

Bitcoin Futures Success Fuels Interest in Spot Bitcoin ETFs

Cryptocurrency trading is prohibited in mainland China. However, Chinese offshore financial institutions have shown great interest in participating in the development of crypto assets in Hong Kong.

The city had already approved ETFs for cryptocurrency futures in late 2022, with the CSOP Bitcoin Futures ETF being the largest. It has accumulated around $120 million in assets under management, up sevenfold since September 2023.

In addition to the aforementioned asset managers, Hong Kong-based Value Partners has expressed its exploration of launching a spot Bitcoin ETF, although it has not revealed whether an official application has been filed.

Additionally, at least four asset managers from mainland China and Hong Kong, including China Asset Management, Harvest Fund Management and Bosera Asset Management, have filed applications to launch Bitcoin spot ETFs.

As the regulatory landscape evolves, the introduction of spot Bitcoin ETFs in Hong Kong is expected to pave the way for greater investment opportunities and contribute to the growth and maturation of the global cryptocurrency market.

At the time of writing, the market-leading cryptocurrency has witnessed significant price volatility. It approached its all-time high on Monday and hit a high of $72,600. However, it encountered upper level resistance, falling towards the $67,600 range. This represents a 3.5% reduction in the last 24 hours alone.

Categories
Bitcoin Cryptocurrency news

Bitcoin gives mixed signals: here are the key events to watch this week

Bitcoin (BTC) is back below $70,000 after momentarily surpassing that psychological price range on April 7. This price action suggests that the bears are still in control, which could remain the case throughout this week. As the tug-of-war continues, here are some key events to keep an eye on.

Is the pre-halving pullback over?

Crypto analyst Rekt Capital previously highlighted the phases of the Bitcoin halving, including the pre-halving pullback. He noted that the price of Bitcoin usually drops between 28 and 14 days before the Halving event. With around 12 days left until the halving event, the pre-halving pullback is believed to be over.

However, considering that the cycle has already proven to be unique, especially with BTC hitting a new all-time high (ATH) ahead of the Halving, investors will no doubt be wary of the leading cryptocurrency making one last price correction this fall week. . In one of his recent posts on X (formerly Twitter), Rekt Capital also admitted that it is still unclear whether the bottom has been reached or not.

Whale activity this week will also give an idea of the current sentiment in the market as the Halving event approaches. Significant purchases of the leading cryptocurrency suggest that Bitcoin investors believe the worst is over and are already positioning themselves for a potential parabolic rise in prices once the halving occurs.

If the whales indicate bullish sentiment, it also means that the market has likely moved into the next halving phase, which, according to Rekt Capital, is the “reaccumulation” phase. On the other hand, a wave of BTC selling this week will strengthen the bearish narrative currently affecting BTC and suggest that the pre-halving recovery bottom has not yet arrived.

Bitcoin Spot ETF and the Derivatives Market

The net flows recorded by Bitcoin Spot ETFs this week will also be instrumental in determining the current market sentiment. They have experienced mixed inflows over the past two weeks, something that gave a more pessimistic than optimistic outlook considering the amount of net inflows they were recording so far.

However, things could improve again this week, as BlackRock expanded the list of authorized participants for its iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) last week. These participants include notable names such as Goldman Sachs, Citadel and Citigroup. Therefore, a significant amount of new money could flow into the IBIT ETF this week.

Meanwhile, the crypto community will be keeping an eye on the derivatives market as, depending on market volatility, many positions could be eliminated this week. Crypto analyst Ali Martinez recently revealed that nearly $72 million could be liquidated if Bitcoin recovers to $70,875. If that happens, it could be the first step in helping the bulls regain control of the market.