Australia poised for ‘inflection point’ of crypto demand

Australia’s crypto industry is in a good spot to benefit from a global “inflection point” for crypto demand as long as its lawmakers make the right decisions, according to a Kraken Australia executive.

Speaking to Cointelegraph on the sidelines of the Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne, Miller looked to the influx of fresh capital into spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), stablecoin adoption and BlackRock’s recent move to launch a $100 million tokenization fund on Ethereum as reasons to take a bullish outlook on crypto in the coming months.

Miller noted that while institutional demand for crypto had soared in the United States — with fund managers such as Fidelity and BlackRock instructing their clients to invest in Bitcoin — this was yet to make its way to Australia.

However, Miller explained there had still been a drastic uptick in interest from retail investors and crypto-related businesses in the country.

“We‘re still seeing quite an increase in adoption here. People are starting to invest again, and many are building new businesses around crypto as well,” he said.

“We’re seeing a lot of these businesses come to us specifically because they’re after liquidity,” added Miller.

Miller noted that many of the new Australian crypto businesses were focused largely on stablecoins, which he — like many others — described as the crypto industry’s “killer app.”

“All of our engagement with [Australian] Treasury has been positive. Our next challenge is to kind of get the government to prioritize legislation. It’s very hard to do that, but I think we’re getting closer,” he said.

In October 2023, the Department of the Treasury released a consultation paper that proposed mandating crypto exchanges to apply for a financial services license from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

#news #Australia #Cryptocurrencies

Web3 startups flock to accelerators as crypto enthusiasm surges

Some Web3 startups are turning to accelerator programs as crypto enters a new bull market and investors look to get involved in the

Accelerator programs offer mentorship and guidance in return for early equity. For example, United States-based Y Combinator counts several crypto firms, such as Coinbase and OpenSea, among its alumni.

On March 26, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) revealed the lineup for its spring 2024 crypto startup accelerator. The 25 startups will undergo a 10-week mentorship program in London led by the a16z crypto team.

Operating partner Jason Rosenthal shared a list featuring projects including Farcaster infrastructure, decentralized food delivery and zero-knowledge passport authentication. Startups in a16z’s accelerator get $500,000 from the firm in exchange for 7% equity. Alumni include Flashbots and Phantom.

On Nov. 9, 2023, the Avalanche Foundation and Ava Labs introduced the first group of startups in its accelerator, Codebase. The program will see investments ranging from $500,000 to $1 million for startups.

Investment activity in Web3 gaming has also steadily increased recently. 0G Labs closed a $35 million pre-seed funding round on March 25, with participation from over 40 crypto-native institutions, including Hack VC and the Blockchain Builders Fund.

#news #web3 #defi #crypto

Bybit crypto exchange launches trading platform in the Netherlands

Bybit, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges by trading volumes, is expanding operations in Europe after facing regulatory scrutiny in Hong Kong.

On March 28, Bybit officially announced the launch of its digital asset platform, Bybit.nl, in the Netherlands. The new local trading platform is regulated in the country and designed to provide Dutch users access to cryptocurrency trading and education resources.

The launch of Bybit.nl is enabled through collaboration with Satos, one of the oldest Bitcoin - focused companies in the Netherlands. Through the partnership, Bybit’s Dutch users can deposit and withdraw fiat currency and trade over 300 pairs.

“The first changes to the new regulations will be effective from March 5,” Cryptotag’s head of communications Indy Rottier wrote in a LinkedIn post on Feb. 20.

According to Rottier, other major global exchanges like Binance and Gemini were forced to terminate their operations in the Netherlands to comply with local laws in 2023.

Cointelegraph approached Bybit for a comment regarding the Bybit.nl launch but had yet to receive a response at the time of publication.

The news comes a few weeks after Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued a public warning against Bybit on March 14. The regulator elaborated that Bybit offered crypto-related products in a number of jurisdictions without holding a license.

“The SFC is concerned that these products have also been offered to Hong Kong investors and wishes to make it clear that no entity in the Bybit group is licensed by or registered with the SFC to conduct any ‘regulated activity’ in Hong Kong,” said the regulator.

Established in 2018, Bybit is one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges. According to data from Kaiko, Bybit’s daily spot trading volume peaked at $4.3 billion on March 4, ranking the second biggest exchange after Binance, which reached nearly $24 billion in volumes on that day

#news #btc #europe #regulation

Cathie Wood’s Bitcoin ETF hits daily inflow record as BTC retests $72K

ARK 21Shares’ spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) managed to notch a record $201.8 million of inflows on Wednesday, almost quintupling its average daily inflows as Bitcoin just fell short of reaching $72,000.

Preliminary data from Farside Investors revealed that on March 27, the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF's daily inflow was a four-fold increase from its daily average of $43.9 million since its launch on Jan. 11.

It also nearly tripled the amount from the previous day when ARK Invest saw inflows of $73.6 million, while there were no recorded inflows on March 25.

Meanwhile, the Valkyrie Bitcoin ETF (BRRR) witnessed $5.1 million in inflows, the Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (BTCO) saw $4.8 million in inflows, the Franklin Bitcoin ETF (EZBC) had $4 million in inflows and the VanEck Bitcoin ETF (HODL) noted $1.9 million.

Both the WisdomTree Bitcoin ETF (BTCW) and Fidelity Investments Bitcoin ETF (FBTC) reported $1.5 million in inflows — all single-digit inflows. However, BlackRock data has yet to come in at the time of writing.

It comes as Bitcoin hit $71,670 before falling below the $69,000 support level before closing the day at $69,698. At the time of publication, Bitcoin’s current price is $69,464, as per CoinMarketCap data.

Crypto commentators, meanwhile, have begun to argue that investors are too fixated on Bitcoin’s short-term price fluctuations rather than considering the broader perspective.

In a March 28 post on X, crypto researcher Gumshoe informed his 28,900 followers that investors are opting for a micro perspective, focusing on daily price closures rather than considering the actual influx of funds into Bitcoin.

“Bitcoin ETFs seeing ATH inflows and people are panicking over the daily close of a candle,” he stated.

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London Stock Exchange to launch crypto ETNs on May 28

London Stock Exchange to launch crypto ETNs on May 28

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) will launch cryptocurrency exchange-traded notes (ETNs) tracking the performance of Bitcoin and Ether on May 28.

According to the March 25 announcement, applications for the crypto ETNs can be submitted as soon as April 8, and successful funds will be listed the following month contingent on the approval by the country’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Additionally, issuers must submit a draft prospectus and a letter explaining why they meet ETN requirements by April 15.

Despite substantial investor interest, the ETNs will only be available to professional investors as per the U.K. FCA’s ban on the sale of crypto derivatives and ETNs enacted in January 2021. To be approved, crypto ETNs must be physically backed, non-leveraged, have a reliable value of the underlying market price, and can only be denominated in Bitcoin or Ether. The underlying assets must be held in cold storage by an Anti-Money Laundering licensed custodian in the United Kingdom, European Union or United States.

#news #btc #eth

Goldman Sachs hedge fund clients are piling back into crypto this year

Goldman Sachs’ clients have reportedly started to make the jump back into crypto this year, with appetite renewed by the approval of spot Bitcoin
BTC

tickers down exchange-traded funds.

Max Minton, head of digital assets for Goldman Asia Pacific, said that many of his firm’s largest clients had recently become active or were “exploring getting active” in the crypto sector, according to a March 24 report from Bloomberg.

Minton added that much of the increased appetite for cryptocurrency stems from the approval of ten new Bitcoin ETFs in the United States in January, which rubber-stamped the crypto assets as being a more integral part of traditional markets.

Minton explained that the bulk of the fresh demand comes primarily from Goldman’s existing clients by way of his firm’s options and futures offerings, with hedge funds being the most involved of its clients.

Goldman Sachs reported a record $2.8 trillion in assets under management at the end of 2023.

Notably, Goldman currently does not offer any spot crypto products to its clients, despite having launched its first crypto trading desk in 2021. The desk only provides exposure to crypto derivatives, including Bitcoin and Ether options and futures.

“It was a quieter year last year, but we’ve seen a pickup in interest from clients in onboarding, pipeline, and volume since the start of the year,” Minton said.

Minton said that Goldman’s clients were primarily using their derivatives to gain exposure to the volatility of crypto as well as making weighted predictions on where prices were headed in the mid-term.

#news #btc #crypto #GoldmanSachs