By Darren Parkin
Data from CryptoCompare shows the price of the flagship cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) moved sideways throughout the past week, starting off at $30,400 and briefly moving to $31,000, before seeing a correction to its current 30,600 level.
Ethereum’s Ether – the second-largest digital currency by market capitalisation – moved upward throughout the week, starting it close to $1,850 and steadily growing to now trade at $1,950.
Headlines in the cryptocurrency space over the last seven days started off noting that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gave the green light to the first leveraged Bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF), allowing the Volatility Shares 2x Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITX) to be listed on the Chicago Board Options BZX Exchange on June 27.
The details provided in the SEC’s filing indicate that BITX aims to produce outcomes equivalent to twice the return of the Bitcoin Futures Daily Roll Index at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). Notably, BITX represents the inaugural leveraged Bitcoin ETF in the market.
Up until now, Bitcoin ETFs have generally been based on futures, with a spot Bitcoin ETF still awaiting approval in the United States. A race to list a spot Bitcoin ETF in the country kicked off last month after BlackRock filed with the SEC to list such a fund.
Last week, one of the world’s largest asset managers, Fidelity, refiled paperwork for its own spot Bitcoin ETF, the Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust. Like BlackRock’s foiling, Fidelity includes a “surveillance sharing agreement” with an unnamed U.S. spot Bitcoin trading platform in its filing. Over the last few days, several firms had to refile for their ETFs after the EC said these weren’t “clear and comprehensive”.
These filings reignited enthusiasm for cryptocurrencies among institutions, with the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), a Bitcoin futures fund, seeing a dramatic uptick in capital inflows of $65 million in a week, breaking its record for the year.
Similarly, shares pf the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) saw their value soar to a one-year high amid renewed optimism for the launch of a spot Bitcoin ETF. Earlier this year, Grayscale took legal action against the SEC after it refused their application to convert GBTC, a closed-end fund, into an ETF.
FATF urges nations to enforce crypto travel rule
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has encouraged countries globally to implement the “Travel Rule” to fight money laundering and terrorism financing through cryptocurrencies.
The Travel Rule, an essential FATF provision designed to prevent funds from reaching sanctioned individuals or organisations, calls for nations to apply anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing protections to crypto activities.
Meanwhile, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) has moved close to launching a wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC) pilot project. The wCBDC is set to be issued on the Swiss SIX digital exchange for a fixed period.
Meanwhile, leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance has announced it will keep on supporting trading of several privacy-focused digital assets in the European market, in a move that comes after the firm said it would drop these assets in May.
The exchange has announced plans to adjust its classification of privacy-focused cryptocurrencies, a move that will prevent several assets from being delisted in France, Italy, Poland, and Spain.
Coinbase claims SEC has no jurisdiction over crypto on its platform
Coinbase has taken a legal stand against the SEC asserting that the digital assets listed on its platform are not within the regulator’s jurisdiction. The move came in response to a lawsuit the SEC filed against Coinbase in June, accusing the exchange of offering unregistered securities.
Coinbase argues in its response that the cryptocurrencies on its platform are not securities and that the SEC has no authority over them. The company also accuses the SEC of changing its position on crypto regulation and praises its own compliance efforts.
Despite the SEC’s lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase, June saw Bitcoin-based investment products experience a notable surge, with assets under management (AUM) increasing by 12.4% to $24.4 billion, according to CCData’s latest Digital Asset Management Review.
As a result, Bitcoin-based products increased their market share to 73.1%, up from 70.1% in May, as a result of this growth. Ethereum-based products, however, had a smaller increase of 2.68% and a lower market share of 23.1% (compared to 24.5% in May).
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.
