Btc Spot ETF Here, Where To Now?

GM, Anon! So, here we are, in a world where the BTC Spot ETF has been confirmed. It's almost unbelievable after so much time and focus has been placed on this event. Where do we go from here? Let's dive in!

ICYMI

• Crypto firm HashKey raises $100M, claims unicorn status 

• United Nations identifies USDT as a prominent choice for fraud in SEA 

• Moody’s says adoption of tokenized funds signals ‘untapped market potential’ 

• SEC agrees to delay Terra trial so that Do Kwon can attend the proceedings

• Argentina sees first Bitcoin rental agreement

• Indian crypto exchanges entice Binance & OKX investors after FIU ban

• Bitfinex stops $15B XRP ‘Partial Payments Exploit’ attack attempt

Good Meme

Narrative of the week: Everyone Is Getting An ETF

It has been a week since the confirmation of the spot BTC ETF, and the initial response in terms of price has been somewhat underwhelming. However, it's important for users and market participants to recognize that the short-term impact of this event was expected to be marked by volatility, which continues to be the case. 

To gain a more accurate perspective, it's crucial to view this event from a long-term standpoint. The entrance of billions of dollars into the crypto space through institutional investments is expected to propel Bitcoin's price to new heights. Healthy inflows have been observed for the ETF. Here are some key figures:

• The launch of BTC spot ETFs had a significant impact on the crypto industry, with approximately $4.6B in trading volume recorded on their first day of trading, which increased to over $7.6B after the second day. 

• Bitwise and Fidelity's spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted higher day-one inflows compared to their competitors, with net inflows of $238M and $227M, respectively. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) also saw $112M in net flows, while Grayscale Investments' Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) experienced net outflows of approximately $95M.

• Following the ETF launch, issuers engaged in intense competition by aggressively reducing fees for their products, even before their official market debut. The fee structures for these new bitcoin ETFs range from 0.2% to 1.5%, with many firms offering fee waivers for specific durations or asset thresholds.

• BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) now consists of 11,439 bitcoins, which is equivalent to $487M. Moreover, these coins are unlikely to return to the market in the near future.

Many users are now turning their attention to the Bitcoin Halving and the ETH ETF as the next major events, with expectations that the ETF may occur in May.

• BlackRock's Larry Fink recently expressed his belief in the "value" of Ethereum ETFs and the future of tokenization, suggesting that ETH could experience a price surge in anticipation of this event.

•  For a deeper dive into this development, you can watch an informative video by Virtual Bacon.

• Additionally, it's worth noting that a world filled with various crypto ETFs, such as an XRP ETF, SOL ETF, ADA ETF, and more, appears to be just around the corner.

On the regulatory front, USDT recently came under scrutiny from the UN, and South Korea is contemplating imposing sanctions on coin mixers, mirroring actions taken by the US.

• Moreover, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire has stated that 2024 is likely the year when the US will enact concrete laws for the stablecoin industry. The stablecoin market, valued at $135.3B, remains largely unregulated, despite its pivotal role in facilitating crypto trading.

• These instances represent just a few examples of the ongoing discussions and criticisms surrounding crypto regulations.

• In the near future, we can expect significant developments in regulatory frameworks as governments seek to establish control and taxation mechanisms for crypto users.

In other news, Barclays Bank has revised its outlook, now anticipating that the FOMC will adopt a policy of gradually reducing rates by 25 basis points at every other meeting, beginning in March.

• This adjustment deviates from their previous expectation of rate cuts commencing in June. The recalibration of the nominal policy rate is likely to create a more favorable environment for crypto and risk-on assets in general.

• This improved environment will be further bolstered by the ongoing increase in global liquidity initiated by the Federal Reserve and the People's Bank of China.

Lastly, many users are currently enjoying what appears to be the resurgence of airdrop season, following two challenging years in a bear market, it's crucial to appreciate the benefits of early involvement in the crypto space and the importance of remaining engaged even during challenging times.

Industry

Circle has announced its intentions to go public through an IPO. Additionally, Celsius, a crypto lender that filed for bankruptcy, is taking action to repay creditors. They have transferred more than $125M worth of ETH to various crypto exchanges over the past week as part of this process. On another front, Morgan Stanley is expressing the belief that Bitcoin and CBDCs could potentially lead to a global "de-dollarization" trend.

• Gamestop to closedown NFT marketplace

• Crypto giants Binance and Gulf Innova start trading in Thailand.

• OKX obtains VASP license in Dubai to operate crypto exchange services 

• Venezuela terminates Petro crypto after 5 years

• Coin Center fires back at Sen. Warren

• Crypto-friendly U.S. presidential candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy, suspends campaign 

• Google Cloud joins Flare Network as validator 

• Solana Mobile plans to launch cheaper Saga successor

Projects

Airdrop season is in full swing, rewarding users for their early adoption of protocols. Airdrops played a significant role in the last bull run, and it appears they will continue to do so in the current one. Airdrops serve to bootstrap new protocols and generate substantial interest in projects. However, sustaining this interest can be challenging. Many protocols and ecosystems have chosen to conduct multiple airdrops over time to maintain user engagement. Rabby recently announced its snapshot, and the highly anticipated Manta Network airdrop is on the horizon. Meanwhile, Juper Exchange on Solana is preparing for its token launch on January 31st, with the airdrop being divided into four different rounds.

• Opensea 2.0 will track the popularity of Solana NFTs and ordinal inscriptions 

• Hedera approves $389M Worth of HBAR to grow ecosystem

• ​​Socket, Bungee restart operations after apparent $3.3M hack

• Fantom slashes validator staking requirements by 90% 

• Ethereum restaking protocol Renzo raises seed round at $25M valuation 

• Hackers steal over $4M in pseudo airdrops on Solana

• FTX’s token valuation rebounds to over $1B as customers contest bankruptcy plan

• Layer 2 network Taiko released its public testnet on January 15th. Mainnet release is expected by the end of Q1 2024

• Binance will offer Manta Network farming on Binance Launchpool as of January 16. Users will be able to stake their BNB, FDUSD into separate pools to farm MANTA tokens over 2 days.

• Layer 1 blockchain XION has rolled out its major Generalized Abstraction upgrade to its public testnet

Big developments happening over at Polygon

GBTC insights

Holding funds on Blast? Check this out

Get some transactions in on SatoshiVM testnet in case of a potential airdrop