The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has held a new round of discussions with asset managers proposing a spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States, this time with officials from Gary Gensler’s office participating in the meetings. Based on court filings, the regulator received representatives from BlackRock on Dec. 14 to discuss…
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Polychain Capital and Hack VC led the $18 million Series A funding round of Babylon Chain, a protocol working on Bitcoin (BTC) staking, bridging the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem with the Bitcoin blockchain. According to the Dec. 7 announcement, the funds will be used to support the development of Babylon’s Bitcoin Staking protocol, which enables…
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United Arab Emirates firm Phoenix Group has disclosed a new purchase of hardware equipment from WhatsMiner, aimed at expanding its portfolio of hydro cooling rigs. According to an announcement on Dec. 7, the $380 million deal represents WhatsMiner’s largest order in two years. Under the agreement, Phoenix received mining equipment valued at $136 million, with…
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Top Stories This Week Bitcoin ETF race gets 13th entrant, BlackRock revises ETF model Asset manager Pando Asset has become an unexpected late entrant into the spot Bitcoin ETF race in the United States. On Nov. 29, Pando submitted a Form S-1 — used to register securities with the agency — to the U.S. Securities…
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A recent court filing suggests that Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s legal challenges are just beginning, despite pleading guilty to violating the United States Anti-Money Laundering requirements in a settlement with the Department of Justice. Zhao is expected to be sentenced in February 2024. He is currently challenging the government’s efforts to prevent his return to the…
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Recent events surrounding the crypto exchange Binance sparked significant debate about the United States’ crackdown on crypto firms. According to Omid Malekan, adjunct professor at Columbia Business School and author, the Department of Justice’s approach in the case is very different from what is seen in traditional finance. “People who sincerely believe that crypto is…
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The prospect of a spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) being approved soon in the United States has increased demand for the major cryptocurrency, leading to a surge in transaction fees. The Bitcoin blockchain reached $11.6 million in fees paid on Nov. 16 according to statistics from CryptoFees. At the time of writing, YCharts data…
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Cryptocurrency may be “out of fashion”, but it still draws new users to Web3 every day, in particular in emerging markets such as Brazil, according to Bitcoin maximalist José Ribeiro, CEO of crypto exchange Coinext. During the Web Summit in Lisbon, Ribeiro discussed with Cointelegraph’s Joe Hall Bitcoin’s perspectives, Brazil’s vibrant crypto economy and how…
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Crypto firm Bakkt appears to be returning to digital asset custody as its primary business, adding support for six new coins, according to an announcement on Nov. 15. Aside from Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), Bakkt will expand its custodial support to include Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Dogecoin (DOGE), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Litecoin (LTC), Shiba Inu (SHIB)…
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Asset manager VanEck filed an amended application for a spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) on Oct. 27 with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to the regulator’s database. The amended filing highlights that a seed capital investor purchased in October the Seed Creation Baskets — a block of 50,000 shares of…
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