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Five digital asset ETF products will be listed on the Chicago Board Options Exchange and are scheduled to start trading next week. Investment management firm Ark Invest, led by pro-Bitcoin investment veteran Cathie Wood, has collaborated with exchange-traded product (ETP) provider 21Shares to launch a new suite of digital asset exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The move aims to provide a “robust set of options" for investors looking to get digital asset s into their trading portfolio.  The countdown begins: today, 21Shares and ARK Invest announce the upcoming launch the ARK and 21Shares Digital Asset ETF Suite. The ETF suite uses crypto-specific insights alongside traditional indicators. pic.twitter.com/dkg8aTCtVR — 21Shares Funds (@21shares_funds) November 8, 2023 According to the 21Shares website, the companies will utilize on-chain signals and their crypto-native experience to deliver “long-term capital appreciation” by investing in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) futures ...

Stablecoin issuer Circle sent emails to customers stating that individual consumer accounts would be phased out. Stablecoin issuer Circle will close out consumer or individual accounts on November 30, according to emails received by Circle customers on October 31. In an email to Cointelegraph, the stablecoin issuer confirmed that it is closing the accounts but confirmed that business and institutional “Mint” accounts will remain available. On the morning of October 31, crypto user Evanss6 posted an image to X (formerly Twitter) of an email that Circle customers allegedly received. The email stated that individual accounts are being closed “as part of Circle’s strategic review.” The customer was told that “wiring and minting functionalities” would no longer be supported and that the account would be closed on November 30. In an email to Cointelegraph, a Circle representative confirmed that the accounts are being shut down but that business and institutional accounts will remain o...

In anticipation of possible approval of its Bitcoin ETF by the U.S. regulator, Galaxy Digital and Invesco have jointly applied to create an Ethereum spot ETF. Galaxy Digital Fund and Invesco have updated their joint application to create a spot ETF on Ethereum (ETH). After VanEck, ARK Invest, Hashdex, and Grayscale, Galaxy and Invesco are the fifth to launch an Ethereum spot ETF in the US market. Actually this was originally filed on 9/29 and i never saw it. This is an amendment — either way here's the firms who have filed for spot ETH etfs pic.twitter.com/4RKYrfY7P8 — James Seyffart (@JSeyff) October 18, 2023 Initially, sources reported the launch of an application for an Ethereum ETF. However, after this, analyst James Seyffart pointed out that the application for the ETF from Galaxy Digital and Invesco was originally submitted on Sept. 29. The latest updates were only about updating the application. UPDATE: @InvescoUS & @galaxyhq just filed for a spot #eth...

“Within the cryptocurrency sphere, the current gravitational force remains firmly tethered to BTC,” declared Vetle Lunde, the senior analyst at K33. The relatively lackluster performance of nine recently introduced Ethereum futures exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has stirred the analysts at K33 Research to advocate for a strategic “return” to Bitcoin. In their market report dated October 3rd, analysts Anders Helseth and Vetle Lunde articulated the imperative to “apply the brakes to ETH and pivot back to BTC.” They underscored this viewpoint by highlighting that the initial trading volume of Ether futures ETFs merely amounted to 0.2% of the monumental figures achieved by the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) on its inaugural trading day in October 2021. While acknowledging that nobody anticipated the initial trading volume of Ether futures ETFs to come close to the levels seen with Bitcoin futures ETFs, the disappointing debut figures were descri...

Ethereum core developers convened yesterday for a progress report on pivotal network upgrades and new privacy functionality. The biweekly All Core Devs call highlighted testnet advances and demonstrations of zero-knowledge technology to enable confidential transactions of Ethereum. First, developers celebrated last week’s successful launch of the Holesky testnet after an initial failed attempt. Holesky replaces the aging Goerli testnet to support more robust testing of planned improvements like sharding. Also read: SEC Charges Ex-Goldman Sachs Employee With Insider Trading With Holesky now live, the focus shifts to Devnet 9 and Devnet 10—short-term test environments—to stress test upgrades ahead of mainnet deployment. The temporary testnets will validate the Dencun hard fork, which implements proto-danksharding to improve Ethereum’s scalability. .@ ETH ereum ACDE 171 happened earlier today, covering Dencun devnets, 4788 audits, Holesky's launc...

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on an Ethereum (ETH) wallet tied to alleged Sinaloa cartel money launderer Jimenez Castro. The action aims to crack down on cartel crypto operations. According to OFAC’s updated sanctions list, the Ethereum address received around $740,000 worth of deposits on Binance. The deposits happened within a two-month period, starting in January 2022. Also read: Kraken Expands European Footprint: Secures Regulatory Approvals in Ireland, Spain Source: CNBC US Treasury accuses Castro of funneling funds using crypto The Treasury alleges Castro runs an organization that utilizes cryptocurrency and bank transfers to funnel proceeds from U.S. fentanyl sales back to Sinaloa leaders in Mexico. In addition, he is one of 10 new Sinaloa-linked names sanctioned in a counter-narcotics push. The Sinaloa cartel is considered among the world’s most dangerous and prolific drug traffickers, responsible...

The “fake deposit” attack enables bad actors to execute a transfer where the requested value is larger than what the user actually owns. Ethereum staking protocol Lido Finance has assured both Lido DAO (LDO) and staked-Ether (stETH) tokens remain safe despite hackers allegedly exploiting a known security flaw in LDO’s token contract. Lido didn’t confirm any exploits, but acknowledged the security flaw was known and reassured LDO and stETH funds remain safe in response to a Sept. 10 post by blockchain security firm SlowMist. SlowMist said LDO’s flawed token contract allows bad actors to facilitate “fake deposit” attacks on exchanges because LDO’s token contract enables users to execute transactions even where they don’t have sufficient funds. This code deviates from the Ethereum Request for Comment 20 (ERC-20) token standard, according to SlowMist. However, Lido Finance argued the flaw is built into all ERC-20 tokens — not just Lido’s LDO token: This behaviour is expected and conf...

Bitcoin and most altcoins gave back the entirety of their gains shortly after the SEC decided to delay issuing a decision on all of the recently filed spot Bitcoin ETF applications. Bitcoin’s (BTC) volatility has increased over the past few days. The price soared on Aug. 29 after Grayscale scored a victory over the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). However, the euphoria was short-lived as the price gave back all the recent gains on the news that the SEC delayed the decision on all seven spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund applications.  News related to Bitcoin ETFs has been the major trigger for the markets in the past few days. Bloomberg ETF analysts remain upbeat over the possibility of the ETFs being approved by the regulator in 2023. In an Aug. 30 post of X (formerly Twitter), Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas bumped up the approval possibility of a spot Bitcoin ETF from 65% to 75%. Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 In the near ...

The two protocols will implement a standard for issuers to control the "canonical" minting of tokens, helping to reduce losses from unofficial bridges. Connext cross-chain bridging protocol has announced a new token standard to reduce losses from bridge hacks. According to a July 24 announcement, the new “xERC-20” standard allows token-issuers to maintain a list of official bridges and control how many tokens can be minted by each. In addition to Connext, DeFi platform Alchemix Finance will implement xERC-20 tokens, the announcement stated. Connext Alchemix Today, Connext is announcing support of the xERC20 standard and onboarding projects into safely bringing their token s to every chain . As our flagship user, we've been working with @AlchemixFi to bring $alUSD, $alETH, and $ALCX to @arbitrum and @optimismFND. https://t.co/S2tBLpuuqe — Arjun | xERC20 arc (@arjunbhuptani) July 24, 2023 The new token standard was originally put forth on July 7 as Ethereum Impro...

Bitcoin dominance is rising, but so is Ethereum’s share of market dominance among its altcoin competitors. Cointelegraph explains why. Ethereum has been the dominant smart contract and decentralized application (Dapp) network since its inception. An analysis based on Ether’s price (ETH), and its market capitalization, shows indisputable evidence that the blockchain has been gaining market share over time.  Ether market capitalization dominance (%). Source: TradingView As shown above, Ether’s dominance in market capitalization terms grew over the past couple of years, from an 18% average in July 2021 to the current 20%. Excluding Bitcoin (BTC) from the Analysis , Ether’s market share presently stands at 40.6%, while the next competitor, BNB, holds a 7.2% share. This shows the disparity from the leading Dapp-focused network to the incumbents, which is also evident when analyzing the total value locked (TVL) on each network’s smart contracts. Ethereum is the absolute leader with $24.6...

In a Twitter thread, chief legal officer at Ripple Stuart Alderoty sheds light on the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple. He reveals previously undisclosed information regarding Bill Hinman’s influential speech.  Alderoty states that, after five years and seven court orders, the public can finally access emails and drafts related to Hinman’s speech, which offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the controversy. 13/An investigation must be conducted to understand what or who influenced Hinman, why conflicts (or, at the very least, appearances of conflicts) were ignored, and why the SEC touted the speech knowing that it would create “greater confusion.” — Stuart Alderoty (@s_alderoty) June 13, 2023 Speaking at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit in 2018, Hinman provided guidance on how the SEC would regulate digital assets, including bitcoin and ethereum. He said, in particular, that digital assets should not be considered a security and, therefore, be subject to ...

In May, the average transaction fee spiked to new yearly highs on the Ethereum blockchain. The situation has significantly cooled down. However, the number continues to hover above average. Source: Etherscan Also Read: Ethereum: 67% of New NFTs Minted Are Profitable Fees paid by users typically serve as a proxy for network usage. Even though market conditions remain to be sluggish, users have not abandoned the Ethereum network. Over 100k transactions have been consistently taking place on the blockchain on a daily basis. In fact, participation by both new and existing users has surged by 58% and 17% respectively over the past week. On the price front, ETH has managed to rise from one narrow band to another. Even though it has shed more than 1% value over the past day, it was trading above its short-term EMAs [red, orange], and trying to establish a base around them at press time. ETH/USDT by TradingView Also Read: Solana’s Retention Rate Lowest Among Ethereum, ...

The total crypto market valuation has been stagnant in the $1.1 trillion to $1.2 trillion bracket of late, with prices of most top assets noting merely 1% to 2% movements on the weekly. Bitcoin’s YTD earnings continue to be positive, owing to 2023’s bullish start. As analyzed in an article yesterday, investors fetched the most returns in January and March. Notably, the banking turmoil ended up being a blessing in disguise for Bitcoin and helped it climb up in both valuation and dominance. Chalking out the same, a recent K33 Research report underlined, “The Bitcoin dominance has increased by 6% year to date and currently sits at 48%, with a majority of the increased dominance originating from the March banking turmoil.” Despite the rise, BTC’s dominance is still sitting “miles below” the dominance of 2019 to 2020, as illustrated below. Source: K33 Research Also Read: Bitcoin To Break 2023’s Bullish Streak In May? Stablecoins step up According to the report, rotation fro...

The total crypto market cap has been ranging sideways, but Bitcoin derivatives markets indicate pro traders don't expect any major price corrections. For the past 14 days, cryptocurrency markets have been trading within an unusually tight 7.1% range. In other words, investors are unwilling to place new bets until there’s additional regulatory clarity, especially in the United States. The total crypto market capitalization fell by 1% to $1.2 trillion over the seven days ending May 4, primarily as a result of Bitcoin's (BTC) 1.1% price decline, Ether's (BTC) 0.2% loss, and BNB trading down 1.4%. Total crypto market cap in USD, 12-hour. Source: TradingView Notice that the exact same $1.16 trillion to $1.22 trillion total market cap range previously stood for twelve days between March 29 and April 10. The conflicting forces: regulatory uncertainty weighing it down and the banking crisis pushing prices upward are likely the reason for the lack of risk-appetite on both sides. SE...

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is gaining popularity among investors as an alternative to Bitcoin. Many often wonder, “How do I buy Ethereum with cash?” But did you know that there are ways to buy Ethereum with cash? In this article, we’ll guide you through the process of buying Ethereum with cash, step by step. We’ll also cover selecting the right Ethereum wallet that supports cash purchases, payment methods for buying Ethereum with cash, and how to sell Ethereum and convert it back to cash. So let’s dive in! Source: CNN A Step-by-Step Guide to Buying Ethereum With Cash Step 1: Enter the amount you want to spend. The first step in buying Ethereum with cash is to decide how much you want to spend. This will help you determine the amount of Ethereum (ETH) you can purchase. Keep in mind that the price of Ethereum can fluctuate, so be prepared to adjust your investment accordingly. Step 2: Select Ethereum (ETH). Once you’ve deter...