Under Saylor’s guidance, Microstrategy started accumulating large amounts of Bitcoin in 2021. While the company had some rough times due to this strategy, which led to Saylor giving up his CEO role, it looks like it is finally paying off.

After dropping under 20K early in the year, Bitcoin enjoyed a steady rise in recent months. It surpassed the 30K mark in October and reached $37,885 per coin last month, its highest since April 2022.

As a result, Microstrategy’s stock has been on an upward trajectory and closed at $524.20 per share on Friday. The last time the company’s shares were above $500 was back in December 2021 before reaching a low of $141.57 in late 2022.

Microstrategy is believed to have 158,400 Bitcoins in its portfolio, with its holdings being valued at around $5.6 billion. The business intelligence company purchased its coins for an average price of $29,803, meaning its investment resulted in close to $1 billion in profit at the moment.

The post Microstrategy Stock Reaches Two-Year-High Thanks to Surging Bitcoin Prices appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

Pegged to the U.S. dollar, this currency is defined as a stablecoin as it is designed to be protected from the volatilities that cryptocurrencies tend to experience, thereby making it easier to use for digital payments and as a store of value.

Backed by U.S. dollar deposits and short-term U.S Treasuries, PayPal USD is set to be issued by Paxos Trust Co, the company revealed. PayPal added that this currency will be gradually rolled out in the United States.

Last month, a U.S. congressional committee came close to passing a bill to establish a legal framework to govern stablecoins however this motion ultimately fell apart.

This isn’t the first occasion that a major player in payments has pushed the usage of digital currencies. In 2021, Visa announced that it would allow the usage of the cryptocurrency USD Coin for transactions on its payment network.

The post PayPal Launches Stablecoin in Crypto Push appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

In its lawsuit filing in early June, SEC charged Coinbase with “operating its crypto asset trading platform as an unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency.” It also argued that the crypto exchange failed to “register the offer and sale of its crypto asset staking-as-a-service program.”

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong told the Financial Times that they could have avoided going to court if they had accepted the recommendation from SEC to trade only in Bitcoin.

“They came back to us, and they said . . . we believe every asset other than bitcoin is a security,” Armstrong told the media outlet. “ … We really didn’t have a choice at that point, delisting every asset other than bitcoin, which by the way is not what the law says, would have essentially meant the end of the crypto industry in the US.”

When Reuters reached out to Coinbase for further comments, the company’s spokesperson clarified that SEC didn’t make a formal request to delist all tokens besides Bitcoin. Instead, it was more of a recommendation and stance brought forward by individual SEC staffers.

The post SEC Asked Coinbase to Delist All Cryptocurrencies Except Bitcoin Before the Lawsuit appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

BlackRock, the world’s largest investment manager, recently announced its decision to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that would be focused on Bitcoin and Bitcoin-related stocks. Following in BlackRock’s footsteps is Deutsche Bank, which revealed its intention to operate a crypto custody business to hold digital assets for its clients.

Such movements have boosted Bitcoin’s value, with the world’s most valuable digital currency rising to $31,389 on Friday. This comes after Bitcoin reached the $30,000 mark for the first time since April.

Fidelity Investments, Charles Schwab, and Citadel Securities are also looking to get a foothold in the crypto market, partnering to launch a new cryptocurrency exchange.

The Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month filed lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase, two of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, after they allowed digital currencies onto their platforms that were not yet registered with the SEC. Despite this pressure, cryptocurrencies have continued to rise on the back of heightened support from traditional banking institutions. Total market capitalization for crypto assets reached $1.2 trillion on Friday; a 14% rise from the previous week.

The post Banking Majors Prop Up Cryptocurrency Amid Rising Lawsuits appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

The recent crypto rise follows a wave of interest in digital currencies from traditional banking and investment institutions. This includes the recent unveiling of the digital-asset exchange, EDX Markets, which has received backing from the likes of Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Charles Schwab Corp.

“The rally is backed by institutional demand,” Hayden Hughes, co-founder of social-trading platform Alpha Impact observed. “The BlackRock announcement on a Bitcoin ETF, plus EDX Markets, gave Bitcoin a boost on hopes that traditional institutions will add depth to the crypto market.” BlackRock Inc. and WisdomTree Inc. both applied to launch their own US Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.

Recent interest in cryptocurrencies from traditional banking firms is unexpected given a recent crackdown from the US Securities and Exchange Commission. This included lawsuits against exchange operators  Binance Holdings Ltd. and Coinbase Global Inc.

WisdomTree’s most recent effort to launch a Bitcoin ETF comes after the company had its previous bid rejected. The company’s second filing comes after BlackRock submitted its own filing on June 15.

The post Bitcoin Rises for Sixth Straight Week as Financial Giants Back Crypto appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

Several smaller digital currencies were hit exceptionally hard by selloffs, with Cardano’s ADA plummeting by 25% on Saturday. Avalanche’s AVAX, Polygon’s MATIC, and Solana’s SOL followed with double-digit losses of their own.

Of the major cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin shed 3% on Saturday while Ether, the second-ranked crypto on the market, fell by more than 6% to its lowest level since March.

While weekends are typically known as a turbulent time for cryptocurrencies, this was a particularly concerning time after the SEC launched lawsuits earlier in the week against Binance Holdings Ltd. and Coinbase Global Inc. In addition, it flagged several altcoins as unregistered securities, including ADA, MATIC, and SOL.

In addition to the recent SEC-induced industry concerns, investor anxiety was also driven by a decision coming from Robinhood Markets Inc. on Friday to drop several altcoins from its platform. Noelle Acheson, former head of market insights at Genesis Global Trading Inc., commented that price drops could have also been caused by selloffs aimed at driving prices downward.

The post Weekend Crypto Selloff Sparks Investor Anxiety appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

According to Geoff Kendrick, head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered, Bitcoin will reach a price of $100,000 by the end of 2024.

“While sources of uncertainty remain, we think the pathway to the $100,000 level is becoming clearer,” Kendrick wrote in this week’s note via Reuters.

Kendrick based his prediction on crypto mining’s increase in profitability, the recent banking crisis in the United States, and the fact that the Federal Reserve will likely end its aggressive policy of hiking interest rates in the near future. He also points out that European Union’s steps toward regulating the cryptocurrency market will also benefit Bitcoin.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that a huge rise has been predicted for Bitcoin. After a crypto boom during the pandemic, a number of analysts believed Bitcoin would easily surpass the $100,000 mark in 2022, but the cryptocurrency actually took a huge hit.

 Bitcoin reached $30,000 at one point last week for the first time in more than 10 months. It has since come down and is currently trading at around $27,000.

The post Standard Chartered Predicts Bitcoin Will Be Worth $100,000 By the End of 2024 appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

By placing rules in place, European Union intends to limit the risk for customers who are obtaining crypto assets. It introduces “key provisions” for crypto exchanges and covers “transparency, disclosure, authorization, and supervision of transactions.” Issuers and traders of crypto assets will also be required to give their customers better information “about the risks, costs and charges linked to their operations.”

The Markets in Crypto Act is expected to be officially put in place at some point in 2024.

“This puts the EU at the forefront of the token economy with 10 000 different crypto assets,” said Stefan Berger, lead MEP for the MiCA regulation. “Consumers will be protected against deception and fraud, and the sector that was damaged by the FTX collapse can regain trust.”

After the news came out, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said on social media that the world’s largest crypto exchange is ready to make adjustments that will ensure they are in compliance with EU rules when they roll out.

The post EU Parliament Vote in Favor of Uniform Legal Framework for Crypto appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

Armstrong shared his opinion on the matter while discussing the failure of Bahamas-based crypto exchange and crypto fund FTX during a recent appearance at an Innovate Finance-organized conference in London.

“This is the reason why we need clarity about legislation and regulation onshore because if the UK doesn’t have this, if the US doesn’t have this, these firms are going to be built in offshore havens,” Armstrong said.

Armstrong also raised the idea of relocating Coinbase headquarters or “whatever is necessary” in case US regulators continue to ignore the crypto market.

Cryptocurrencies remain mostly unregulated in the US, although the country’s agencies have been pursuing enforcement actions against a number of crypto firms in recent years due to illegal offerings or failure to prevent illicit activity. The holdback is believed to be caused by the lack of consensus between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the US Securities and Exchange Commission about who would have the authority to oversee the crypto sector.

At the same time, the UK and European Union have been working on drafts for crypto-focused laws, but those rules are still waiting to be put into action.  

The post Coinbase CEO Says Crypto Firm Will Develop in “Offshore Havens” Without Clear Regulations appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

These tokens, known as “staked ether,” have been deposited by investors on the blockchain in the past three years. By staking their Ether coins, investors helped secure the network while receiving interest in exchange. Around 15 percent of all Ethereum tokens fall in the category of “staked ether.”

According to a previous announcement by Ethereum Foundation’s Tim Beiko, the Shapella upgrade will roll out on April 12 at 22:27:35 UTC.

Many analysts believe that the unlocking of “staked ether” will prompt the investors to quickly offload the unlocked ether tokens and bring the cryptocurrency’s price to drop significantly.  

“The release of this previously unrealized investment may lead to significant downward price pressure if it is immediately liquidated,” Deutsche Bank analysts said in a note to clients viewed by Reuters.

Ethereum has already seen a slide on Wednesday, dropping to as low as $1,861.63 per coin following a prolonged period of gains. The coin is more than 56 percent up year to date and has a market value of around $230 billion, trailing only Bitcoin.

The post New Ethereum Upgrade Will Unlock $31 Billion in Staked Tokens appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

Under Saylor’s guidance, Microstrategy started accumulating large amounts of Bitcoin in 2021. While the company had some rough times due to this strategy, which led to Saylor giving up his CEO role, it looks like it is finally paying off.

After dropping under 20K early in the year, Bitcoin enjoyed a steady rise in recent months. It surpassed the 30K mark in October and reached $37,885 per coin last month, its highest since April 2022.

As a result, Microstrategy’s stock has been on an upward trajectory and closed at $524.20 per share on Friday. The last time the company’s shares were above $500 was back in December 2021 before reaching a low of $141.57 in late 2022.

Microstrategy is believed to have 158,400 Bitcoins in its portfolio, with its holdings being valued at around $5.6 billion. The business intelligence company purchased its coins for an average price of $29,803, meaning its investment resulted in close to $1 billion in profit at the moment.

The post Microstrategy Stock Reaches Two-Year-High Thanks to Surging Bitcoin Prices appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

Pegged to the U.S. dollar, this currency is defined as a stablecoin as it is designed to be protected from the volatilities that cryptocurrencies tend to experience, thereby making it easier to use for digital payments and as a store of value.

Backed by U.S. dollar deposits and short-term U.S Treasuries, PayPal USD is set to be issued by Paxos Trust Co, the company revealed. PayPal added that this currency will be gradually rolled out in the United States.

Last month, a U.S. congressional committee came close to passing a bill to establish a legal framework to govern stablecoins however this motion ultimately fell apart.

This isn’t the first occasion that a major player in payments has pushed the usage of digital currencies. In 2021, Visa announced that it would allow the usage of the cryptocurrency USD Coin for transactions on its payment network.

The post PayPal Launches Stablecoin in Crypto Push appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

In its lawsuit filing in early June, SEC charged Coinbase with “operating its crypto asset trading platform as an unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency.” It also argued that the crypto exchange failed to “register the offer and sale of its crypto asset staking-as-a-service program.”

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong told the Financial Times that they could have avoided going to court if they had accepted the recommendation from SEC to trade only in Bitcoin.

“They came back to us, and they said . . . we believe every asset other than bitcoin is a security,” Armstrong told the media outlet. “ … We really didn’t have a choice at that point, delisting every asset other than bitcoin, which by the way is not what the law says, would have essentially meant the end of the crypto industry in the US.”

When Reuters reached out to Coinbase for further comments, the company’s spokesperson clarified that SEC didn’t make a formal request to delist all tokens besides Bitcoin. Instead, it was more of a recommendation and stance brought forward by individual SEC staffers.

The post SEC Asked Coinbase to Delist All Cryptocurrencies Except Bitcoin Before the Lawsuit appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

BlackRock, the world’s largest investment manager, recently announced its decision to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that would be focused on Bitcoin and Bitcoin-related stocks. Following in BlackRock’s footsteps is Deutsche Bank, which revealed its intention to operate a crypto custody business to hold digital assets for its clients.

Such movements have boosted Bitcoin’s value, with the world’s most valuable digital currency rising to $31,389 on Friday. This comes after Bitcoin reached the $30,000 mark for the first time since April.

Fidelity Investments, Charles Schwab, and Citadel Securities are also looking to get a foothold in the crypto market, partnering to launch a new cryptocurrency exchange.

The Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month filed lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase, two of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, after they allowed digital currencies onto their platforms that were not yet registered with the SEC. Despite this pressure, cryptocurrencies have continued to rise on the back of heightened support from traditional banking institutions. Total market capitalization for crypto assets reached $1.2 trillion on Friday; a 14% rise from the previous week.

The post Banking Majors Prop Up Cryptocurrency Amid Rising Lawsuits appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

The recent crypto rise follows a wave of interest in digital currencies from traditional banking and investment institutions. This includes the recent unveiling of the digital-asset exchange, EDX Markets, which has received backing from the likes of Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Charles Schwab Corp.

“The rally is backed by institutional demand,” Hayden Hughes, co-founder of social-trading platform Alpha Impact observed. “The BlackRock announcement on a Bitcoin ETF, plus EDX Markets, gave Bitcoin a boost on hopes that traditional institutions will add depth to the crypto market.” BlackRock Inc. and WisdomTree Inc. both applied to launch their own US Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.

Recent interest in cryptocurrencies from traditional banking firms is unexpected given a recent crackdown from the US Securities and Exchange Commission. This included lawsuits against exchange operators  Binance Holdings Ltd. and Coinbase Global Inc.

WisdomTree’s most recent effort to launch a Bitcoin ETF comes after the company had its previous bid rejected. The company’s second filing comes after BlackRock submitted its own filing on June 15.

The post Bitcoin Rises for Sixth Straight Week as Financial Giants Back Crypto appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

Several smaller digital currencies were hit exceptionally hard by selloffs, with Cardano’s ADA plummeting by 25% on Saturday. Avalanche’s AVAX, Polygon’s MATIC, and Solana’s SOL followed with double-digit losses of their own.

Of the major cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin shed 3% on Saturday while Ether, the second-ranked crypto on the market, fell by more than 6% to its lowest level since March.

While weekends are typically known as a turbulent time for cryptocurrencies, this was a particularly concerning time after the SEC launched lawsuits earlier in the week against Binance Holdings Ltd. and Coinbase Global Inc. In addition, it flagged several altcoins as unregistered securities, including ADA, MATIC, and SOL.

In addition to the recent SEC-induced industry concerns, investor anxiety was also driven by a decision coming from Robinhood Markets Inc. on Friday to drop several altcoins from its platform. Noelle Acheson, former head of market insights at Genesis Global Trading Inc., commented that price drops could have also been caused by selloffs aimed at driving prices downward.

The post Weekend Crypto Selloff Sparks Investor Anxiety appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

According to Geoff Kendrick, head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered, Bitcoin will reach a price of $100,000 by the end of 2024.

“While sources of uncertainty remain, we think the pathway to the $100,000 level is becoming clearer,” Kendrick wrote in this week’s note via Reuters.

Kendrick based his prediction on crypto mining’s increase in profitability, the recent banking crisis in the United States, and the fact that the Federal Reserve will likely end its aggressive policy of hiking interest rates in the near future. He also points out that European Union’s steps toward regulating the cryptocurrency market will also benefit Bitcoin.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that a huge rise has been predicted for Bitcoin. After a crypto boom during the pandemic, a number of analysts believed Bitcoin would easily surpass the $100,000 mark in 2022, but the cryptocurrency actually took a huge hit.

 Bitcoin reached $30,000 at one point last week for the first time in more than 10 months. It has since come down and is currently trading at around $27,000.

The post Standard Chartered Predicts Bitcoin Will Be Worth $100,000 By the End of 2024 appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

By placing rules in place, European Union intends to limit the risk for customers who are obtaining crypto assets. It introduces “key provisions” for crypto exchanges and covers “transparency, disclosure, authorization, and supervision of transactions.” Issuers and traders of crypto assets will also be required to give their customers better information “about the risks, costs and charges linked to their operations.”

The Markets in Crypto Act is expected to be officially put in place at some point in 2024.

“This puts the EU at the forefront of the token economy with 10 000 different crypto assets,” said Stefan Berger, lead MEP for the MiCA regulation. “Consumers will be protected against deception and fraud, and the sector that was damaged by the FTX collapse can regain trust.”

After the news came out, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said on social media that the world’s largest crypto exchange is ready to make adjustments that will ensure they are in compliance with EU rules when they roll out.

The post EU Parliament Vote in Favor of Uniform Legal Framework for Crypto appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

Armstrong shared his opinion on the matter while discussing the failure of Bahamas-based crypto exchange and crypto fund FTX during a recent appearance at an Innovate Finance-organized conference in London.

“This is the reason why we need clarity about legislation and regulation onshore because if the UK doesn’t have this, if the US doesn’t have this, these firms are going to be built in offshore havens,” Armstrong said.

Armstrong also raised the idea of relocating Coinbase headquarters or “whatever is necessary” in case US regulators continue to ignore the crypto market.

Cryptocurrencies remain mostly unregulated in the US, although the country’s agencies have been pursuing enforcement actions against a number of crypto firms in recent years due to illegal offerings or failure to prevent illicit activity. The holdback is believed to be caused by the lack of consensus between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the US Securities and Exchange Commission about who would have the authority to oversee the crypto sector.

At the same time, the UK and European Union have been working on drafts for crypto-focused laws, but those rules are still waiting to be put into action.  

The post Coinbase CEO Says Crypto Firm Will Develop in “Offshore Havens” Without Clear Regulations appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

These tokens, known as “staked ether,” have been deposited by investors on the blockchain in the past three years. By staking their Ether coins, investors helped secure the network while receiving interest in exchange. Around 15 percent of all Ethereum tokens fall in the category of “staked ether.”

According to a previous announcement by Ethereum Foundation’s Tim Beiko, the Shapella upgrade will roll out on April 12 at 22:27:35 UTC.

Many analysts believe that the unlocking of “staked ether” will prompt the investors to quickly offload the unlocked ether tokens and bring the cryptocurrency’s price to drop significantly.  

“The release of this previously unrealized investment may lead to significant downward price pressure if it is immediately liquidated,” Deutsche Bank analysts said in a note to clients viewed by Reuters.

Ethereum has already seen a slide on Wednesday, dropping to as low as $1,861.63 per coin following a prolonged period of gains. The coin is more than 56 percent up year to date and has a market value of around $230 billion, trailing only Bitcoin.

The post New Ethereum Upgrade Will Unlock $31 Billion in Staked Tokens appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.