Gemini Crypto Exchange Gains FCA Approval To Expand Into The U.K.

By Brenda Ngari – September 24, 2020

Crypto exchange Gemini, founded by Tyler and Cameroon Winklevoss, is expanding its footprint into the United Kingdom after receiving approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

According to an official blog post on Sept.24, the New York-based firm was granted an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license by the financial watchdog. This means that Gemini can now conduct crypto operations in the UK as a regulated entity.

Gemini Opens Its Doors To UK Crypto Investors

Gemini’s approval by the FCA indicates its intention to provide crypto services to the masses. The exchange will allow both retail and institutional investors to trade and invest in cryptocurrencies. Gemini has added support for pounds sterling (GBP) as a funding currency to give UK customers “a more local experience”.

In addition, UK users will be able to seamlessly fund their accounts via SWIFT wire transfers, Faster Payments, and CHAPS. This will ensure that they do not incur additional foreign exchange charges.

Besides the EMI license, Gemini has also been approved as part of FCA’s Fifth Money Laundering Directive (5MLD) crypto-asset registration process. This approval means that the exchange will have to be compliant with all anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism laws and policies that the FCA has put in place to protect consumers.

Gemini’s Move Into UK Is A Stepping Stone To Global Expansion

Gemini’s move into the UK is part of its global expansion strategy. The exchange’s CEO Tyler Winklevoss said in a statement:

“Going live with our full services available in GBP in the UK is another exciting step forward in Gemini’s international expansion, advancing our mission to empower individuals and organizations around the world through crypto.“

Tyler further noted that providing crypto services in the UK is a huge feat for Gemini.

“The UK is a global center of financial innovation with a stringent and progressive regulatory regime. We’re proud to help usher the crypto revolution into this historic market and become a part of its rich tradition. We look forward to welcoming consumers and institutional customers to our platform.”

Gemini is currently ranked as the 67^th-biggest crypto spot exchange in the world by CoinMarketCap. Back home in the United States, Gemini is competing with leading exchange Coinbase. Right now, the exchange will also have to face off other FCA-approved exchanges in the new British market.

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DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.

The original article written by Brenda Ngari and posted on ZyCrypto.com.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Number of Bitcoin Addresses Depositing BTC to Exchanges Has Doubled

John P. Njui   •   BITCOIN (BTC) NEWS   •   SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

In summary:

• The number of Bitcoin addresses depositing BTC to crypto exchanges has doubled since the beginning of the year
• An average of 100k unique Bitcoin addresses are sending BTC to exchanges daily
• The last time such a number was witnessed, was during the peak of the 2017 bull season
• The latest Bitcoin pullback originated from BTC held in exchanges and not the usual massive transfers before a dump

The number of Bitcoin addresses depositing BTC to crypto exchanges has doubled since the beginning of 2020. This is according to the team at Glassnode who also added that approximately 100,000 unique Bitcoin addresses send BTC to crypto exchanges on a daily basis. Furthermore, the last time such an influx of BTC to exchanges was witnessed, was during the peak of the 2017 bull market.

The Recent Bitcoin Pullback Originated from ‘Inside’ Crypto Exchanges

The recent Bitcoin pullback from $11,000 levels to a local bottom around $10,300 caught many crypto analysts off-guard, specifically those who rely on on-chain data to anticipate major BTC moves. What usually happens before such as sell-off, is the rapid transfer of large amounts of Bitcoin as is so often seen with BTC miners. However, this was not the case this past week.

According to veteran Bitcoin analyst, Willy Woo, the recent pullback originated from within exchanges further providing a link with the analysis of the team at Glassnode that points towards continual Bitcoin deposits to exchanges since the beginning of the year.

Bitcoin traders could be transferring their BTC and setting limit orders to maximize on their Bitcoin profits in anticipation of a potential bear market brought about by an uncertain stock market.

Mr. Woo shared his analysis of the recent pull-back via the following tweet.

$7k Highly Unlikely for Bitcoin

In terms of the short term price of Bitcoin, there have been a few calls for BTC dropping hard below the psychological price level of $10k and even as far down as $7,700. However, Mr. Woo sees the latter scenario highly unlikely as explained below.

While I've heard talk of bearishness down to even 7k, I don't see fundamentals supporting this as a likely event.

On spot markets (Binance listed below), we have plenty of bids below this level and a liquidity gap above through to 10.8k-11k.

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Original article posted on the EthereumWorldNews.com site, by John P. Njui.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

This Is Why The World’s Largest Sovereign Wealth Fund Now Indirectly Owns Nearly 600 Bitcoins

By Brenda Ngari – September 21, 2020

Norway Government Pension Fund Global, the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund, now holds almost 600 bitcoins. This is according to a recent report published by crypto analytics firm Arcane Research.

Why Is The Norwegian Government Fund Indirectly Holding BTC?

Norway has arguably the largest wealth fund in the world, followed by China. The fund saves all the revenue from the country’s lucrative oil and gas industries in global companies, stocks, shares, real estate, and bonds for posterity.

Arcane Research noted in its September 19 blog post that the Norwegian Government Pension Fund has a 1.51% equity stake in Virginia-based business software firm MicroStrategy.

As you will recall, MicroStrategy recently completed the acquisition of 16,796 bitcoins, bringing the firm’s total bitcoin stash to 38,250. The company also made the benchmark crypto its primary treasury reserve asset for its “solid store of value” properties.

Arcane Research observed that via this ownership stake, the government fund now indirectly holds 577.58 BTC — worth approximately $6.3 million at current prices. The analytics firm further stated that it is very likely that the Norwegian Government Pension Fund has gained indirect exposure to bitcoin through other investments on top of its bitcoin exposure through MicroStrategy.

Positive Outlook On The Bitcoin Market

The central banks’ money-printing actions have led to many investors looking for alternative assets to store their wealth in. Besides MicroStrategy, institutional investors are also foraying into bitcoin.

According to Skew analytics, Bakkt bitcoin futures volume shattered a new record high on September 15, with the physically-settled contracts taking the lion’s share. Interestingly, the Bakkt Futures volume boom came less than a day after MicroStrategy’s bitcoin purchase.

The growing interest in bitcoin by corporations and institutional investors has already boosted the price of bitcoin in recent days. The flagship cryptocurrency is hovering above $10,492 at press time, down 3.73% in the last 24 hours.

Bitcoin could continue to attract more high net worth investors in the near-term. This will likely light a fire under the bulls, subsequently pushing the price of the asset higher.

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DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.

The original article written by Brenda Ngari and posted on ZyCrypto.com.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Dissecting the possibilities of Bitcoin becoming a U.S national currency

By Olivia Brooke – September 20, 2020

As reported over the week, MicroStrategy, a U.S based firm that provides business intelligence, mobile software, and cloud-based services has obtained a generous amount of Bitcoin. For different reasons, including safeguarding itself from the imminent tide inflation and more interestingly, taking advantage of what the company believes is the most authentic niche in value storage, even against gold, which has been an industry favorite for the past decades.

Bitcoin as a national currency: what are the possibilities?

The engagement with cryptocurrency from the American economy is a resounding echo of the comments made by Jason Williams, the co-founder of Morgan Creek Digital who asserts that Bitcoin could become the first country to adopt Bitcoin as a national currency.

At press time, no country in the world has made Bitcoin a national currency, and the United States, like all the others, is still in the early stages of stiffening favorable regulatory guidelines. But the two alternative paths through which Bitcoin can become more dominant than it already is, and set itself in motion to become the nation's currency is through external adoption from institutional investors and leading traditional technology companies.

The transition from Gold to Bitcoin is necessary and already in motion

Bitcoin as a better store of value is becoming less of an argument that needs to be proven and one that the year 2020 has made more pronounced. In 2019, Investors doubled down ahead of the following year and since then, there have been more investors moving money into their most trusted safe-haven assets than we've ever seen.

Bracing themselves for the perceived economic recession, investors raced to lock their assets in the safest form of storage, keep in mind that this began during the early phase of the political rigidity between the United States and the Chinese government, long before the pandemic hit globally. The USD has also been at its weakest as the United States presidential elections, among other rudimentary factors aggravated investor’s fears. Most U.S investors naturally looked into gold, silver, and the assets on the stock market.

The repeated printing of dollars to aid the stimulus, investors combated the impending inflation by securing hard assets and the value of digital currencies began to explode. But the year to date performance of Bitcoin against gold, even as the latter has held the title as an unmatched asset, was staggering. Bitcoin being the dominant cryptocurrency had an unbeatable YTD performance of 64%, while gold peaked at 28% and silver, a little higher at 49%.

The traditional gold acquisition curve among investors is flattening and savvy investors are turning to Bitcoin. This is depicted in the case of American hedge fund manager Paul Tudor. The billionaire macro investor disclosed that he considered various bets on assets like gold, stocks, commodities, and treasuries before he realized that there was a "growing role for Bitcoin". This realization has pulled in firms like MicroStrategy, whose leading members are reiterating that their voluminous Bitcoin reserves are not to be sold. Crypto-centered institutions like Grayscale also saw a rise in fresh Investments.

The end result

Contained volatility is one of the end results. As investors buy Bitcoin in large quantities, volatility diminishes and the selling of Bitcoin to avoid a reduction in value is tackled, to an extent. Bitcoin could then be considered a more reliable asset than it already is. But even with this stability, Bitcoin has to pass through many more external stages to make the cut.

Bitcoin as a national currency, anywhere in the world, is a future possibility. But at the nation's pace, the cryptocurrency would've already outperformed long before the centralized policies are weakened. Without national adoption, Bitcoin is still inherently valuable.

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DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.

The original article written by Olivia Brooke and posted on ZyCrypto.com.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Over 83k Bitcoin (BTC) Options Expire Friday, Sept. 25th

John P. Njui   •   BITCOIN (BTC) NEWS   •   SEPTEMBER 19, 2020

Quick take:

• Over 83,000 Bitcoin options expire Friday, September 25th
• This number beats August’s record of 62k BTC options
• Such a high number of options expiring should bring considerable volatility
• Bitcoin is once again trading above $11k and the expiry of 83k BTC options could result in a dip

The month of September is slowly coming to an end, and with it, the expiry of Bitcoin (BTC) options on the last Friday of the month. According to the team at Skew, over 83.4k Bitcoin options expire on the 25th of September. This amount is very much higher than last month’s expiry of 62,000 BTC options.

The team at Unfolded captured the high number of Bitcoin options expiring next week via the following Tweet. To note is that they highlighted 80k BTC options but a quick glance at Skew.com reveals the number has increased to 83.4k as seen in the chart that follows the tweet.

Screenshot courtesy of Skew.com (Click on image for larger view)

High Chances there Will Be Bitcoin Volatility

With such a high number of Bitcoin options expiring and additional CME Bitcoin futures that expire on the same day, it is safe to conclude that the probability of an increase in volatility next week is very high. In order to determine the direction of the volatility, the daily BTC/USDT chart provides adequate information.

(Click on image for larger view)

From the BTC/USDT chart, the following can be observed.

• Daily trade volume is in the green but reducing
• MACD is clearly indicating a bullish environment for Bitcoin
• The 50-day moving average (white) is providing considerable resistance at $11,200
• The MFI is at 73 hinting that Bitcoin could soon run out of gas to overcome the resistance around the $11,200 – $11,300 price area

Conclusion

Summing it up, a record 83,400 Bitcoin options expire next Friday, 25th of September. According to Skew.com, the options are an aggregate of those traded on Deribit, LedgerX, Bakkt, OKEx, CME, Bit.com and Huobi.

Such a high number of Bitcoin options expiring increases the probability of BTC volatility being high in the coming week.

A quick glance at the daily BTC/USDT chart reveals that Bitcoin is clearly in bullish territory. However, the daily MFI is hinting at possible exhaustion in the days to follow with considerable resistance around the $11,200 – $11,300 price area.

As with all analyses of Bitcoin, traders and investors are advised to use adequate stop losses and low leverage when trading BTC on the various derivatives platforms.

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Original article posted on the EthereumWorldNews.com site, by John P. Njui.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Only 14M Bitcoin (BTC) Will Ever be In Circulation – Crypto Analyst

John P. Njui   •   BITCOIN (BTC) NEWS • MINING   •   SEPTEMBER 18, 2020

Quick take:

• Crypto analyst Timothy Peterson, explains that the supply of Bitcoin is shrinking on a daily basis
• He estimates that a total of 1,500 BTC is lost per day compared to about 900 BTC mined
• The maximum number of Bitcoin that will ever be in circulation is around 14 million
• Individuals lose their BTC through lost hardware, private keys, death, and sending to wrong addresses

The question as to how many Bitcoin may be lost forever has been answered by Timothy Peterson of Cane Island Alternative Advisors. Mr. Peterson shared his analysis via twitter by explaining that after halving, about 900 BTC are created on a daily basis. In the same time period, approximately 1,500 BTC are lost forever. Therefore, the supply of Bitcoin is actually contracting and not growing.

Below is his tweet explaining the shrinking supply of Bitcoin.

There Will Never Be More than 14 Million Bitcoin in Circulation

In the tweet, Mr. Peterson also shared a link to his research notes which includes one paper titled ‘There Will Never Be More Than 14 Million Bitcoins’.

As the title suggests, the research paper answers the question of how many Bitcoins have been lost by providing actual numbers and reasons why individuals lose their Bitcoin. According to Mr. Peterson, Bitcoins are lost in the following ways.

• Accidental lose (throwing away) of hardware
• Misplacement or total loss of private keys e.g Elon Musk
• Death of the owner of Bitcoins without a proper process of passing on the BTC to the next of kin e.g Mathew Mellon who held over $500 Million in XRP
• Sending to the wrong address, and the address is not accessible e.g users sending BTC to a dormant address with lots of Bitcoin in hopes of being rewarded. By ‘donating’ small amounts of BTC to a dormant whale address, some hope the owner will one day reward them with a handsome payout. Mr. Peterson compares the practice to a wishing well

Conclusion

Summing it up, the initial idea that there will only be 21 Million Bitcoin mined is enough to declare that BTC is very scarce.

Timothy Peterson has revised this idea of scarcity by pointing out only 14 Million Bitcoins will ever be in circulation due to the loss of millions of BTC over the years.

With this new information, investors and traders can now revise their idea of Bitcoin scarcity with a particular emphasis on the 7 Million BTC that will never be in circulation.

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Original article posted on the EthereumWorldNews.com site, by John P. Njui.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Bahamas Central Bank Set To Introduce A National Digital Currency Next Month

By Brenda Ngari – September 17, 2020

The Bahamas has seemingly beaten other major economies to the national digital currency punch. The nation’s central bank has revealed that it will be issuing a central bank-backed digital currency next month.

The Sand Dollar To Facilitate Financial Inclusion

Speaking to Bloomberg on September 15, Bahamas Central Bank’s assistant manager of eSolutions, Chaozhen Chen, observed that the goal of the ‘Sand Dollar’ is to streamline digital payments and settlements particularly in the country’s distant islands that play a key role in generating national income via tourism. Additionally, the digital currency will serve the unbanked and underbanked adults in the Caribbean nation with a population of 400,000.

“A lot of residents in those more remote islands don’t have access to digital payment infrastructure or banking infrastructure. We really had to customize the effort and the solution to what we need as a sovereign nation.”

The central bank will circulate Sand Dollars valued at $48,000 once the digital currency is launched in October. The CBDC will be pegged to the Bahamian dollar at 1:1, which will subsequently be pegged to the US dollar. 

Sweden’s digital currency will be accessible to users through mobile phones. In other words, the country’s residents will be able to easily transact with other people or businesses.

The Sand Dollar Will Be Regulated Just Like The Bahamian Dollar

The senior central bank official clarified that the roll-out of the nation’s digital currency does not come without rules. For one, the digital currency will be subjected to the same rules as the Bahamian dollar. This means that there be anti-money-laundering and Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures to be met during the creation of Sand Dollar accounts.

Moreover, Sand Dollars will be minted according to the available demand, and the digital currency will only be issued after physical Bahamian dollars are completely removed from circulation to avoid expanding the money supply.

The Bahamas Is Winning The Digital Currency Race

Several central banks across the globe have been exploring government-backed digital currencies. Notable efforts include those of China, South Korea, and Sweden, among several others. 

Nonetheless, it appears that the Bahamas is well ahead in the game. The country’s central bank first announced its interest in a central bank digital currency back in 2018. Last year, Bahamas assigned the responsibility of designing and implementing the digital currency to NZIA Limited.

Notably, Bahamas started testing the Sand Dollar on Exuma and Abaco islands in December 2019. With the imminent October launch, it seems the Bahamas will be the first nation in the world to launch a CBDC. Other countries have some catching up to do.

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DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.

The original article written by Brenda Ngari and posted on ZyCrypto.com.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe