MicroStrategy Inducted into Nasdaq 100 amid Bitcoin’s Bullish Run

Posted on December 14, 2024 by Olumide Adesina

The Nasdaq-100 Index will include MicroStrategy (MSTR), a company managed by Michael Saylor on December 23. MicroStrategy is one of three companies added to the index, along with Palantir Technologies Inc., according to a statement released by the Nasdaq.

MicroStrategy’s stock price has more than tripled this year, reaching a market valuation of almost $94 billion. The company started purchasing and holding bitcoin as its software business’s revenue moderated. It holds the most cryptocurrency among corporations. According to analysts, MicroStrategy’s choice to buy Bitcoin to safeguard the value of its reserve assets has increased the stock’s appeal, which typically corresponds with Btcoin’s performance

Bernstein analysts anticipate that the market will target MicroStrategy’s inclusion in the S&P 500 in 2025 following its inclusion in the Nasdaq-100. The brokerage anticipates “more visibility and recognition beyond new ETF inflows” after the company’s inclusion in the Nasdaq-100, and it also thinks the company’s outlook will continue to improve next year. In recent weeks, Bitcoin has increased in value as the S.

The election of Donald Trump as president-elect raised expectations among the cryptocurrency sector that regulatory obstacles would be lowered. The digital asset hit $100,000 for the first time earlier this month.

The move follows a resolution to include Bitcoin in Microsoft’s balance sheets which was rejected at the company’s annual meeting in December. 10. Saylor’s three-minute speech to the Microsoft board stated that if Microsoft were to commit to Bitcoin, it could increase its market capitalization by nearly $5 trillion.

In his argument for Microsoft to switch its cash flows, dividend payments, debt, and stock buybacks to Bitcoin, Saylor concluded, “Microsoft cannot afford to miss the next technology wave, and Bitcoin is that wave.”.

Forex Signals Brief December 13: UK October GDP Closes the Week

Posted on December 13, 2024December 12, 2024 by Skerdian Meta

Today the UK GDP report is the main event of the day, which will close the week, ahead of the FOMC interest rate decision next week.

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Robinhood Crypto Asset Under Custody Hit $38 billion

Posted on December 13, 2024 by Olumide Adesina

Robinhood Crypto celebrated a historic year filled with noteworthy achievements, such as regional expansions, new listings, and improvements to its cryptocurrency portfolio. A recent announcement states that, as interest in Bitcoin (BTC) surged to previously unheard-of levels, the company ended the year with $38 billion in crypto assets under custody and $119 billion in notional crypto trading volume.

All 50 US states and territories, as well as the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii, had exposure to Robinhood’s trading platform. The platform added Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), XRP, and others to its list of supported cryptocurrencies.

Robinhood introduced a Crypto Trading API to serve more experienced traders, allowing them to programmatically execute trades, manage portfolios, and access market data. Additionally, advanced order types were added to its mobile platforms, including stop-limit and stop-loss.

Robinhood Crypto celebrated its first European anniversary with localized apps in Italy, Poland, and Lithuania.

The platform increased the number of cryptocurrency options available in the area with 40 supported coins. Two-thirds of SOL’s holdings in Europe have been actively staked since the second quarter when a staking feature for Solana and Ethereum (ETH) was introduced.

The self-custody web3 wallet from Robinhood was also quickly adopted; it has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times on iOS and Android in more than 100 countries. The wallet supported several networks, including Ethereum and Solana, and introduced cross-chain and gasless token swaps.

Robinhood Crypto’s general manager and vice president, Johann Kerbrat, emphasized 2024 as a pivotal year for the business and the larger cryptocurrency sector. “2024 was an important year for the cryptocurrency landscape, and new developments indicate that 2025 is poised to be an even more transformative year,” Kerbrat stated.

Ethereum Tops Most Used Blockchain On USDT

Posted on December 13, 2024 by Olumide Adesina

Ethereum surpassed Tron to become the primary blockchain for Tether’s USDT supply, marking a significant change in stablecoin dominance. Tether issued $20 billion in USDT on the network in Novemeber, potentially establishing itself as the primary blockchain for transactions on the USDT platform.

According to data released by the on-chain data platform Token Terminal, Tether’s $20 billion issuance on the largest blockchain in the world by total value locked is almost twice as much as the number of active loans on protocols such as Aave. The spike in USDT minting began on November 6, according to additional data from Lookonchain, another blockchain analysis platform. Since then, Tether has issued between $1 billion and $2 billion worth of stablecoins every few days, with most being Tron and Ethereum.

Tether has maintained its issuance expansion, holding over 69 percent of the $201 billion stablecoin market, according to DefiLlama data. According to data from Q4 2024, roughly 109 million wallets holding the asset, more than twice as many as those holding Bitcoin and fewer than 20 million behind those holding Ethereum.

Furthermore, during the first nine months of the year, the issuer recorded over 4.5 billion web hits, with emerging markets contributing to almost half of that total. With a market valuation of $140 billion, USDT is present in over 80 blockchain networks and has increased by 12 to 55 percent in the past month.

To challenge Tether’s hegemony, its nearest rival, USD Coin (USDC), valued at $41.5 billion, recently partnered strategically with Binance. Although little is known about the partnership, its goal is to increase UDC’s worldwide adoption. The stablecoin will be available to Binance’s 240 million users by being integrated into its entire range of goods and services.

Bitcoin ETFs Cumulative Net Inflows Worth $51 billion

Posted on December 13, 2024 by Olumide Adesina

Vetle Lunde, the head of research at the digital assets research firm K33, wrote on X that spot bitcoin ETFs currently have 500,925 BTC in cumulative net inflows, more than $505 billion at the current price. Earlier, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) accomplished this milestone.

The fund broke the previous record of 1,329 days to become the fastest ETF in history to surpass $50 billion in assets under management (AUM), which it accomplished in 228 days.

However, the cumulative net inflows into the 12 US spot bitcoin ETFs took longer to reach the 500,000 BTC milestone because Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust had primarily seen negative flows. Lunde also stated that ETFs have taken up over 2.5 percent of the available supply. Bitcoin’s circulating supply is currently 190.7 million BTC, with a supply cap of 21 million BTC.

Over the past two weeks, the funds have been flowing in, and Wednesday marks the tenth day in a row. SoSo Value data shows that $223 million was in net inflows into spot bitcoin ETFs on Wednesday.

The largest inflows were $121.9 million in new investment in Fidelity’s FBTC. Inflows were $52.27 for GBTC and $20.13 for ARKB. On the other hand, BlackRock’s IBIT kept neutral flows.

According to the data, $34.58 billion was invested in the 12 US spot Bitcoin ETFs overall. The consistent inflows into spot bitcoin ETFs have been largely attributed to growing institutional interest in bitcoin. The recent BTC rally coincided with the most recent inflows which saw the top cryptocurrency trading above $99K as of press time,

Forex Signals Brief December 12: The SNB and ECB Follow Up With More Rate Cuts

Posted on December 12, 2024December 12, 2024 by Skerdian Meta

Yesterday the Bank of Canada delivered a 50 bps rate cut while today the Swiss National Bank and the ECB are expected to continue the monetary policy easing and lower interest rates by 25 bps each.

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Forex Signals Brief December 11: Another 50 bps BOC Cut and US CPI on Agenda

Posted on December 11, 2024December 10, 2024 by Skerdian Meta

Today the US CPI consumer inflation is expected to tick higher again, while the Bank of Canada is expected to deliver another 50 bps rate cut.

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Chainlink Merge With Coinbase

Posted on December 11, 2024December 11, 2024 by Olumide Adesina

Chainlink, a blockchain oracle network, has integrated with Coinbase’s Project Diamond, the digital asset platform for international organizations. New tokenized assets on the platform can now be fully managed throughout their lifecycle and collect data.

Coinbase announced Project Diamond in December 2023. Users in the United States cannot access Project Diamond. Chainlink launched the CCIP In April. It permits smart contract communication and token transfers between blockchain networks.

Project Diamond resides in the ADGM RegLab sandbox and is governed by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).

The ADGM-regulated PSG Digital company Peregrine will be the primary user of the integrated platform.

Users will be guaranteed compliant solutions via the provision of data and connectivity between public and private blockchains on Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP).

Marcel Kasumovich, deputy chief investment officer at Coinbase Asset Management, stated: “We’re opening the door for broad institutional adoption of digital assets by incorporating the Chainlink standard natively into the Project Diamond platform, which is driven by Coinbase’s tech stack on Base’.

Angie Walker, senior executive officer of Chainlink Labs Abu Dhabi and global head of banking and capital markets, stated, “The MENA region has emerged as a global destination for innovators from around the world and a hub for adoption of on-chain finance.”. According to Chainlink, the market for tokenized assets is expected to reach a valuation of $10 trillion by the end of this decade

XRP On Rampage After Stablecoin (RLUSD) Approval

Posted on December 11, 2024December 11, 2024 by Olumide Adesina

XRP, the native token of the XRP Ledger (XRPL) network, saw a notable spike late Tuesday amid stablecoin approval. The Ripple token surged above $2.3 in the early hours of Wednesday despite high sell-offs in the cryptocurrency space.

XRP is correcting from the $2.50 resistance, trading below $2.30 and hitting a low of $1.989 as Bitcoin dipped below $95K before adjusting around the $96.2K support line.

This increase came after Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse declared that the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) had granted regulatory approval to the company’s stablecoin, RLUSD. Garlinghouse announced that RLUSD partners and exchange listings would be accessible shortly. This means that Ripple Labs’ stablecoin satisfies legal requirements by New York law.

RLUSD will now compete with industry titans Tether (USDT), USD Coin (USDC), and PayPal USD (PUSD). Ripple Labs thinks there is space for a new stablecoin even though Tether and Circle (USDC) currently control a large portion of the stablecoin market.

Ripple’s president, Monica Long, emphasized the company’s plan to use its well-established position in payment services among institutions as a crucial bridge in tokenization of real-world assets.

Tokenization is putting conventional financial instruments on blockchain platforms for more effective transactions.

RLUSD is presently undergoing beta testing on the Ethereum and XRP Ledger networks.

CryptoQuant highlighted that there are $10.4 million worth of RLUSD tokens on the XRPL and $42 million worth on Ethereum. This development is a major step for Ripple as it looks to increase its market share in the stablecoin space and further incorporate blockchain technology into established financial systems,

Microsoft Uninterested in Bitcoin

Posted on December 11, 2024 by Olumide Adesina

Microsoft confirmed that a resolution to consider adding Bitcoin to its balance sheet was turned down at its annual meeting.

Microsoft met with its shareholders to discuss several proposals, one of which was to include Bitcoin in the company’s reserves. Shareholders, however, heeded Microsoft’s management’s recommendation to reject this idea.

The Securities and Exchange Commission tagged the proposal as unnecessary, stating that “Corporate treasury applications that need steady and predictable investments to guarantee liquidity and operational funding should consider volatility when assessing cryptocurrency investments”

The National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) initiative recommended allocating 1% of the company’s assets to Bitcoin, but neither the board of directors nor shareholders were persuaded. Thus, Michael Saylor’s brief presentation was insufficient to convince Microsoft shareholders.

Unsurprisingly, the latter voted “No” to the study of a potential Bitcoin treasury presented to the board of directors.

The proposal, titled “Bitcoin Investment Assessment,” was put forth by Microsoft’s shareholder group, the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), to investigate the possibility of the computer giant investing 1% of its assets in Bitcoin. According to Bloomberg, Microsoft has $78.4 billion in cash and marketable securities on its balance sheet.

The success of IBIT, the Bitcoin spot ETF of BlackRock, which happens to be Microsoft’s second-largest shareholder, was used by the NCPPR group to support their claim that Bitcoin adoption could “reduce risk” and create billions of dollars in value for Microsoft shareholders.