During a recent CNBC interview, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink admitted he was “wrong” about Bitcoin, now recognizing it as “digital gold” and a “legitimate” financial instrument.
Speaking with CNBC’s Jim Cramer, Fink said, “I was a skeptic, a proud skeptic,” but his perspective changed after studying the decentralized asset.”
He acknowledged Bitcoin’s potential for uncorrelated returns, stating, “It is a legitimate financial instrument that allows you to maybe have uncorrelated type of returns.
“I believe it is an instrument that you invest in when you’re more frightened, though. It is an instrument when you believe countries are debasing their currency by excess deficits, and some countries are.”
Fink highlighted the economic and political instability in certain countries, suggesting that Bitcoin offers an alternative investment opportunity beyond local geographies for individuals in those regions.
In May, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) surpassed Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) to become the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange-traded investment fund.
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By July 15, IBIT’s year-to-date inflows had exceeded $18 billion.
The asset manager also incorporated shares of the Bitcoin ETF into its Strategic Income Opportunities Fund (BSIIX) and the Strategic Global Bond Fund (MAWIX), emphasizing Bitcoin’s potential benefits for income-focused investors, including retirees.
CoinShares’ most recent inflows data, released on July 15, showed that Bitcoin investment vehicles recorded their fifth-highest week of inflows, with over $1.35 billion invested in a single week.
Bitcoin’s price reacted positively to Fink’s comments and other bullish developments, including the German government selling its final Bitcoin holdings, which had been creating significant selling pressure by dumping 50,000 coins on the market.
The decentralized asset saw four consecutive days of gains, with the nine-day exponential moving average crossing back over the 200-day exponential moving average.
This technical movement reversed several weeks of negative price action, pushing Bitcoin back above the $60,000 mark.
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Tokenized United States treasuries are projected to reach $3 billion by the end of 2024, highlighting the growing benefits and widespread adoption of financial asset tokenization.
To achieve the $3 billion mark by year-end, tokenized treasuries must nearly double their current value.
This growth is driven by decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) increasingly diversifying their holdings into tokenized US treasuries, says Tom Wan, a research strategist at 21.co.
The anticipated growth to $3 billion is supported by major players like Securitize and BlackRock. In a July 15 X post, Wan noted:
“With the two projects allocating to tokenized US treasury, we could be seeing the total market cap of tokenized US treasury increasing to $3B+ by the end of 2024.”
Data from Dune shows that tokenized US government securities have already accumulated over $1.6 billion in total assets under management (AUM).
BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, tickered BUIDL, has emerged as the largest tokenized treasury fund, surpassing Franklin Templeton’s fund.
In just six weeks, BUIDL reached over $375 million in market capitalization, now valued at over $528 million and holding a 28.8% market share.
Wan believes BlackRock’s fund will significantly boost inflows into tokenized treasuries.
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He explained:
“As the strategy laid out by Securitize and Blackrock, they intend to provide diversification for the crypto ecosystem to access risk-free US treasury yield without needing to leave the blockchain ecosystem.”
Tokenization is seen as a potentially massive market opportunity.
According to the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA) and Boston Consulting Group, the global value of tokenized illiquid assets could grow to $16 trillion by 2030.
Citigroup analysts offer a more conservative estimate, predicting that an additional $4 trillion to $5 trillion worth of tokenized digital securities will be minted by 2030, as stated in a 2023 report.
Major companies are increasingly recognizing the potential of tokenization. For instance, Goldman Sachs plans to launch three new tokenization products later this year, driven by rising client interest.
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Bitcoin experienced a drop of over 3% on July 16 due to concerns related to the defunct exchange Mt. Gox.
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView indicated that BTC’s price was under pressure after reaching $65,000 on Bitstamp.
The decline occurred as Bitcoin from Mt. Gox moved between wallets associated with its rehabilitation program.
Crypto intelligence firm Arkham reported that approximately 92,000 BTC (valued at around $5.7 billion) was transferred out of Mt. Gox’s cold wallet, constituting about two-thirds of the exchange’s total holdings.
“Mt. Gox moved 44,527 $BTC (2.84B) to an internal wallet 5 minutes ago, which may be preparing for repayment,” noted onchain analytics platform Look Into Bitcoin on X (formerly Twitter).
The impending distribution of refunds to Mt. Gox creditors, who originally lost their assets when the exchange was hacked and subsequently closed more than a decade ago, has historically impacted prices negatively.
Markets fear massive BTC sales as a result.
However, some argue that these fears are exaggerated. “And here is the next Bitcoin FUD,” remarked popular crypto investor and YouTuber Quinten Francois on X.
Cointelegraph previously reported that sell-side pressure affecting markets in recent weeks also stemmed from the German government, which had sold off its stocks of confiscated BTC, now depleted.
The disruption from these concerns interrupted what had been one of Bitcoin’s strongest performances in recent months.
BTC/USD had last reached $65,000 on June 21, a critical level reflecting Bitcoin’s short-term holder cost basis.
This cost basis, also known as realized price, serves as support during bull markets and was last breached in August 2023.
Look Into Bitcoin recorded the short-term holder cost basis at $64,835 as of July 15.
The resurfacing of Mt. Gox-related fears thus added to the already present market anxieties, influencing Bitcoin’s price movements and market sentiment.
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Bitcoin sentiment has dramatically shifted from “extreme fear” to “greed” and “FOMO” within just a few days, driven by a 12% gain over the last week.
On July 16, crypto analytics platform Santiment posted on X, advising caution amidst the sudden bullish trend.
They warned that investors should be careful when “the crowd has collectively become so bullish without many signs of fear.”
Santiment attributed the market’s optimism to investors favoring the potential election victory of Donald Trump and his crypto-friendly running mate JD Vance in November.
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During the period from July 13 to July 16, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index for Bitcoin sentiment flipped from “extreme fear” to “greed” as the crypto market rallied.
Bitcoin has surged by 12.8% in the last week, currently trading at $64,508, according to TradingView data.
Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have also shown strength, with eleven spot Bitcoin funds seeing net inflows of $300.9 million on July 15.
Leading the inflows were funds from BlackRock and Ark 21 Shares, each with $117.2 million on that day, as reported by FarSide Investors.
Bitcoin’s price rebounded from a July 5 low of $53,500, which followed significant sales by German government-linked entities and negative sentiment due to fears about $8.5 billion in BTC being returned to creditors of the collapsed crypto exchange Mt. Gox.
After Bitcoin surpassed the $62,000 mark, several analysts told Cointelegraph that an improving macro-environment suggests that the worst “is likely behind us.”
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Bitcoin-stacking investment firm Metaplanet has made a significant move by purchasing an additional 21.88 Bitcoin, valued at over $1.2 million (200 million Japanese yen), amid a recent Bitcoin rally that has driven prices close to $65,000.
In its latest purchase statement dated July 16, the Japan-based firm revealed that its total Bitcoin holdings now stand at 225.6 Bitcoin, valued at approximately $14.6 million.
This recent acquisition, coupled with a 4.4% rise in Bitcoin’s price over the last 24 hours, has led to a notable surge in Metaplanet’s share prices.
According to Google Finance data, the company’s shares jumped 25.8% to $0.74 (117 yen) within the first two and a half hours of trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on July 16.
Earlier this month, Metaplanet took advantage of a dip in Bitcoin’s price, purchasing an additional 42.46 Bitcoin on July 7 for $2.5 million (400 million yen).
This strategic move has contributed to the firm’s stock price soaring nearly six-fold since it announced its Bitcoin investment strategy on April 9, 2024.
Despite the impressive growth in its stock price, Metaplanet’s overall gain on its Bitcoin holdings is modest at 2.8%, given its average Bitcoin purchase price of $62,890.
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According to CoinGecko, Metaplanet is currently the 21st-largest corporate holder of Bitcoin globally.
Often referred to as “Asia’s MicroStrategy,” Metaplanet mirrors the investment approach of Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy from 2020.
On May 13, Metaplanet reiterated its commitment to utilizing a full range of capital market instruments to enhance its Bitcoin reserves.
The firm adopted this strategy as a hedge against Japan’s escalating debt and the rapidly depreciating Japanese yen.
Since January 2021, the yen has depreciated nearly 54% against the U.S. dollar, while Bitcoin has appreciated over 145% against the yen in the past year.
Currently, Bitcoin is trading at $64,640, marking a 13.6% increase over the past week.
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Ava Protocol has successfully launched its mainnet on Ethereum, positioning itself as an EigenLayer Actively Validated Service (AVS) that facilitates smart contract automation. This significant development introduces enhanced transaction automation, privacy, composability, and cost-efficiency for developers integrating Ava Protocol into their decentralized applications (dapps), ensuring extensive compatibility across the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) ecosystem.
The protocol’s event-driven activation model is designed to simplify complex on-chain operations by autonomously executing “super-transactions” when specific predefined conditions such as time, price, and smart contract updates occur. This innovation not only minimizes friction for developers and users but also addresses a major hurdle in web3 adoption by offering a user-friendly solution comparable to Stripe. Notably, these super-transactions do not require custom code, simplifying implementation for developers.
Ava Protocol, as an AVS on EigenLayer, benefits from not being confined to the limitations of the Ethereum Virtual Machine’s architecture. This allows it to extend new capabilities to developers that are not inherently possible on Ethereum and other EVM-compatible chains. It supports a variety of applications, including scheduling future and recurring payments, stop-loss and limit orders, streaming rewards, dynamic NFT minting, and more, making it a versatile tool for dapps.
Chris Li, the founder of Ava Protocol, expressed his enthusiasm about the launch: “With the support of our partners and community, we’ve reached a pivotal moment in our mission to deliver automated super-transactions on Ethereum. The launch of Ava Protocol’s mainnet will unlock new use cases for autonomous transactions that power smart contracts. We’re excited to showcase the versatility of EigenLayer’s AVS technology while addressing critical web3 automation challenges.”
Ava Protocol is among the first 15 projects to deploy an AVS, leveraging pooled security from Ethereum validators through EigenLayer’s innovative restaking mechanism. The protocol has commenced operations with 20 EigenLayer operators sourced from the top 100 by Total Value Locked (TVL), including EigenYields, InfraSingularity, Kukis Global, Coinage, and Staking4All.
Alex from EigenYields commented on the collaboration: “We see immense potential in Ava Protocol’s automated super-transactions, and are thrilled to provide a secure and resilient foundation for this innovative technology. This aligns with our mission to maximize value for our delegators by pushing the Ethereum ecosystem forward.”
Sam Shev, Head of Marketing at Ava Protocol, highlighted the significance of the mainnet launch: “We’re excited to bring Ava Protocol’s technology to a live environment for the first time and to see what our community will build using super-transactions. Thanks to the EigenLayer operators who have joined us on this mission, Ava Protocol will launch with a strong foundation to anchor everything that comes next.”
Following a successful testnet that engaged 10,000 wallets and facilitated over 1,000 automated transactions daily, Ava Protocol is gearing up to announce a detailed plan for AP token incentives aimed at initial operators.
Several Filipino musicians’ YouTube accounts have been hacked and are now promoting an XRP scam.
On July 15, numerous accounts belonging to renowned musicians in the Philippines were observed promoting a deepfake video of Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse predicting that XRP might reach $4.
Such scams typically direct victims to phishing websites to steal their funds.
A report from the local media outlet Bitpinas revealed that the YouTube pages for the local band Ben&Ben, boyband SB19, and musician Rico Blanco were all compromised.
Filipino musicians’ YouTube accounts seen promoting XRP scam
Ben&Ben, a nine-piece pop band with over 3 million followers on YouTube, announced on July 15 that their account had been compromised.
On their official Facebook page, the band stated that their YouTube channel was hacked, and their team was working to recover the page.
During this period, the account livestreamed a common XRP scam.
A few hours later, the band announced that they had restored and recovered part of their account from the hijackers.
However, the account continued to stream content by the attackers. As of now, the XRP scam livestream has ceased.
Simultaneously, Filipino boyband SB19 also announced that their YouTube account with 3.6 million followers had been compromised.
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The band’s management swiftly recovered the account and reported the incident to the relevant authorities.
Meanwhile, musician Rico Blanco also appeared to be a victim of the hacks.
Although there are no official statements from the artist yet, Redditors flagged that his account, with over 700,000 followers, had been compromised.
The account is currently blocked on YouTube for violating the platform’s guidelines.
Deepfake XRP scam on YouTube
Scammers using a deepfake of Ripple’s Garlinghouse have been active on YouTube for a while now.
In December 2023, Reddit users flagged a fraudulent video of Garlinghouse asking XRP holders to send their coins to a specific address and promising to send back double the amount — a common line used by crypto fraudsters.
Redditors reported seeing the fraudulent advertisements between November and December 2023 and claimed to have already reported them to Google.
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John Bigatton, a prominent promoter of the defunct cryptocurrency exchange Bitconnect, has been convicted by the Sydney District Court for providing unlicensed financial advice.
Between August 2017 and January 2018, Bigatton promoted Bitconnect through seminars and social media without the required financial services license, as reported by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Due to this conviction, he is now disqualified from managing corporations for five years.
Bitconnect, founded in 2016, offered a digital token called BitConnect Coin, which could be exchanged for Bitcoin.
Bigatton made bold claims during seminars, suggesting that BitConnect was superior to traditional term deposits and predicting that BitConnect Coin would reach a value of at least $1,000.
ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court highlighted the gravity of Bigatton’s actions, stating, “The unlicensed financial advice provided by Bigatton undermines trust in Australia’s financial services industry.”
In 2020, ASIC banned Bigatton from providing financial services for seven years due to his misleading promotion of Bitconnect.
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BitConnect has had a tumultuous regulatory history. Its founder, Satish Kumbhani, was sued by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2021 for fraudulently raising around $2 billion from investors.
Despite the US District Court for the Southern District of California ordering the restitution of $17 million for fraud victims, Kumbhani’s whereabouts remain unknown as of 2024.
In a significant move in 2018, ASIC applied to the Federal Court to freeze Bigatton’s assets, including his cryptocurrency holdings, marking the first instance of the Australian regulator obtaining freezing orders over digital assets.
On May 17, Bigatton pleaded guilty to his role in promoting BitConnect, admitting to providing financial advice without proper authorization or the necessary license.
ASIC stated that Bigatton had advised on six occasions across different locations in Australia, noting that he “undertook promotional activities for BitConnect and the Lending Platform.”
Bigatton’s conviction underscores the importance of regulatory compliance in financial services, serving as a reminder of the consequences of providing unlicensed advice.
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Marathon Digital Holdings did not sell any of its Bitcoin in June, reflecting a growing trend among U.S.-based Bitcoin miners to hold rather than sell their mined Bitcoin.
Cointelegraph interviewed Salman Khan, Marathon’s CFO, to understand the factors influencing miners’ decisions on whether to accumulate or sell Bitcoin.
“It’s a very systematic process that we go through from an internal process standpoint,” Khan stated.
“There are market dynamics that you have to consider […] in the short term, the Bitcoin price could fluctuate, and your decision could be impacted as a result of that.”
Khan highlighted the unique nature of Bitcoin compared to other assets.
“If we were an oil company, we would sell all our oil because that would be our primary source of revenue and cash flows,” he explained.
“Bitcoin is a digital asset and can stay on your balance sheet without storage costs.”
Marathon currently holds 18,536 Bitcoin worth over $1 billion, up 48% from last year’s 12,538.
Khan noted, “Last year, the rate of return on this asset class was 150% over the last few years. We believe in the Bitcoin price going up further.
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“We don’t need to sell Bitcoin every month.”
Other U.S. miners are also accumulating Bitcoin. Riot Platforms hasn’t sold Bitcoin since January, and CleanSpark has sold only small amounts.
CleanSpark CEO Zach Bradford said, “We are not ideological about hodling Bitcoin but view it as strategically important.
“We expect Bitcoin’s price to be volatile, but over the long term, we expect it to increase in value.”
Bradford mentioned that market indicators last year led CleanSpark to begin accumulating Bitcoin, resulting in a treasury of over 6,500 Bitcoin.
Besides hodling, U.S. miners are increasing their mining capacities.
CleanSpark aims to surpass 50 EH/s by 2025, Marathon plans to reach 50 EH/s by year-end, and Riot expects to achieve 41 EH/s in 2024 and 100 EH/s by 2027.
Marathon also purchases Bitcoin, buying 183.5 Bitcoin in January. Khan pointed to institutional investors entering the space as a sign of Bitcoin’s potential price increase.
Marathon holds $1.5 billion in cash and Bitcoin. “This space is not as developed as traditional industries, but it’s warming up,” Khan said.
For now, Marathon’s capital will remain highly liquid, either as cash or Bitcoin, to support its capital-intensive operations.
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Inflows into digital asset investment products have reached a record high of over $17.8 billion year-to-date (YTD), indicating a potential recovery in the cryptocurrency market.
This milestone follows a week where cryptocurrency investment products saw inflows totaling $1.44 billion.
According to CoinShares data, the YTD inflows for 2024 have soared to $17.8 billion, eclipsing the previous record of $10.6 billion set in 2021.
The majority of these inflows are from U.S.-based investors, with Switzerland also making significant purchases of digital assets. CoinShares reported:
“Regionally, the US led with US$1.3bn for the week, although the positive sentiment was seen across all other countries, most notable being Switzerland (a record this year for inflows), Hong Kong and Canada with US$58m, US$55m and US$24m respectively.”
Bitcoin experienced its fifth-largest weekly inflow on record, totaling over $1.35 billion.
This influx helped Bitcoin climb back above the critical $60,000 mark.
Conversely, short Bitcoin-related investment products saw their largest weekly outflows since April 2024, with over $8.6 million leaving these products.
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Last week’s increase in Bitcoin buying was likely triggered by a price drop, partly due to the German government selling BTC. CoinShares commented:
“We believe price weakness due to the German Government bitcoin sales and a turnaround in sentiment due to lower than expected CPI in the US prompted investors to add to positions.”
Ethereum followed Bitcoin with the second-largest inflows, amounting to over $72.1 million last week.
The surge in Ethereum inflows is likely driven by anticipation of the first spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the US, which could start trading in the coming weeks.
US spot Ether ETF issuers expect to receive final comments from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) early this week, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Several issuers, including VanEck and 21Shares, have filed amended registrations this week, hoping to obtain the SEC’s final approval to list spot Ether ETFs. Currently, eight issuers are awaiting regulatory approval in the US.
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