The biggest crypto news and ideas of the day |
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Welcome to The Node! This is Ben Schiller to take you through the latest crypto news. In today's news: Standard Chartered says bitcoin isn't a safe haven; Grayscale has an Aave fund; CFTC approves tokenized shares; Credbull rolls out $500M fund. The Takeaway: The proposed 25% levy would hurt early investors in bitcoin and lead to a selloff in the wider market, says Zac Townsend, CEO and co-founder of Meanwhile.👇 |
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StanChart: Bitcoin Is Not a Safe Haven |
Geopolitical risk related to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East will likely weigh on the bitcoin (BTC) price and push it below the $60,000 level before the weekend, still, the dip should be bought, investment bank Standard Chartered (STAN) said in emailed comments Thursday. The world's largest cryptocurrency is not a safe haven against geopolitical risks, the report said. "Gold is a geopolitical hedge," wrote Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered, adding that "BTC is a hedge against TradFi issues such as bank collapses or de-dollarization/U.S. Treasury issues." The bank noted that geopolitical concerns depressed the bitcoin price while at the same time increasing Donald Trump's odds of winning the U.S. election in November, "which improves BTC's post-election probabilities." Options market activity also supports this view, with open interest for the bitcoin December expiry at 80,000 jumping in recent days, the report noted. Bitget Research echoed this positive sentiment. "Despite the general downturn, institutional investors continue to buy digital currency at a rate at par or higher than the quantity mined daily," said Ryan Lee, chief analyst of Bitget Research, in emailed comments. |
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Grayscale Rolls Out Aave Fund |
Grayscale’s has started a new fund which offers exposure to Aave's AAVE token, the asset manager said on Thursday, in what has been a series of novel products from the crypto asset manager. Aave is a decentralized lending platform based on the Ethereum blockchain that offers automated loans of cryptocurrency using other tokens you own as collateral. It also lets users lend out their crypto to earn interest. While the platform’s native token stands at a market capitalization of $2.3 billion, a relatively small number compared to most well-known tokens, the protocol has become the largest cryptocurrency lending protocol by total value locked (TVL), according to data by DeFiLlama. “Grayscale Aave Trust gives investors exposure to a protocol with the potential to revolutionize traditional finance,” Grayscale’s head of product and research, Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary, said in a statement. “By leveraging blockchain technology and smart contracts, Aave's decentralized platform aims to optimize lending and borrowing while removing intermediaries and reducing reliance on human judgment,” she said. The launch comes only a few weeks after Grayscale rolled out its most recent fund, the Grayscale Avalanche Trust, offering investors exposure to the AVAX (AVAX) token. The asset manager currently offers over 20 different crypto investment products, a number that has grown after the launch of the spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in January, which spurred interest for publicly tradable products tracking cryptocurrencies. Grayscale is the issuer of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), the Grayscale Mini Bitcoin Trust (BTC), Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) and Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust (ETH), which all launched earlier this year. |
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A message from EnigmaFund |
Is UNA Hope for LUNA and UST Victims' Financial Recovery? What do a venture capitalist, a tokenomics expert, a memecoin legend, an eCommerce pioneer and a top-tier CTO have in common? It may sound like the setup to a punchline, but the reality is far more serious. This diverse group of innovators has united with a shared mission: to build a groundbreaking protocol aimed at reviving and recapitalizing communities devastated by the collapse of projects like Luna and UST. For those who lost everything due to market upheavals or the manipulations of bad actors in the crypto world, hope is on the horizon. Continue reading here |
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Tokenized Shares Approved |
The likes of BlackRock and Franklin Templeton could see tokenized shares of their money-market funds pledged in trading after a major group under the aegis of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) approved guidelines for their use, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. A subcommittee of the CFTC’s Global Markets Advisory Committee voted to pass the recommendations on to the full committee, which is expected to vote on the recommendations later this year, the report said citing two people familiar with the matter. The report did not reveal what the recommendations were but the mere action that they have been sent to the full committee could be seen as the next step. The CFTC did not immediately respond to a CoinDesk request for comment. BlackRock's USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) is an example of how creating blockchain-based tokens of traditional investments such as bonds and funds is a fast-growing use case for the larger digital asset space. The BUIDL fund became the largest tokenized Treasury fund just six weeks after its late launch in March. It surpassed $500 million market value in July. |
Credbull Launches $500M Private Fund |
Decentralized private credit platform Credbull is rolling out a new fixed yield credit facility LiquidStone, with a capacity of up to $500 million, exclusively on the real-world asset (RWA) focused blockchain Plume Network, the protocols announced on Thursday. In the first phase, the product debuts with a fixed 30-day 10% annualized yield with daily redemption features on assets and yield, with assets capped at $100 million at the beginning. The protocol plans a broader rollout in the first quarter of 2025, raising the maximum capacity to $500 million and offering a 90-day fixed yield of 15% annualized. On top of the yield, both retail and institutional investors may earn rewards for participating in the Plume ecosystem. The underlying assets are diversified across on-chain "high quality liquid assets," collateralized on-chain lending and high yield trade financing solutions underwritten by loan originators focusing on small and mid-size businesses. Private credit has been one of the first frontiers of crypto's RWA tokenization movement, a process that brings traditional financial instruments such as bonds, commodities and funds to blockchain rails in pursuit of efficiency, transparency and accessibility gains. The blockchain-based private credit market currently stands at $9 billion, rwa.xyz data shows, dominated by fintech firm Figure's home equity credit line service using the Provenance blockchain. That's still tiny compared to the booming private credit market in traditional finance, which the IMF estimated to be worth over $2 trillion. Credbull, led by McKinsey alum Jason Dehni as CEO, is one of the newer entrants, aiming to broaden access to high-yield structured products using blockchain tech to cut costs. Its first fund debuted on Polygon this year and is regulated in the Bahamas. The company raised $5.2 million in August in a venture capital round led by GnosisVC. |
The Takeaway: Wealth Tax Would Hit Crypto |
By Zac Townsend Last month, Kamala Harris endorsed a controversial 25% tax proposal on unsold assets. While Silicon Valley was up in arms about the plan, it barely registered with crypto investors who the plan would hit hard. At its core, an unrealized capital gains tax would require individuals to pay taxes on the appreciation of their cryptocurrency holdings, even if they have not made a single sale. Such a move could crush cryptocurrency markets. The so-called “wealth tax” is a radical departure from traditional tax principles, which only apply to gains realized when an asset is sold. The plan would have devastating consequences for crypto investors and the broader economy and undermine the inherent value of cryptocurrencies as a store-of-value that operates outside the clutches of any singular government. Harris and supporters of the proposal, first introduced in President Biden’s last budget proposal, have defended the tax as a levy on Americans worth more than $100 million. The wealth tax would “address substantial inequities in our tax system,” one White House official responding to the furor told Axios. But the plan would hurt all investors by encouraging a sell-off by larger investors to fund their tax payments. This sell-off would drive down the price of cryptocurrencies and impact returns for everyday investors, including those who have only invested small amounts in the hope of improving their economic situation. Prolific bitcoin investors such as Tim Draper, Michael Saylor, and Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss would beslapped with tax bills of up to $1 billion. Yes, that's a billion, not a million. Their crime? Recognizing the value of bitcoin before the majority of investors and purchasing the asset early. The Winkelvoss twins, who bought their bitcoin in 2013 when it was trading at $10, would be forced to pay $1 billion to the Internal Revenue Service. Draper, who invested in 2014 at a cost-basis of approximately $632 per coin, would be slapped with a $423 million tax bill, according to Meanwhile analysis. Meanwhile, Saylor, who personally holds 17,732 BTC, would be required to pay the IRS $212 million. Because of how well bitcoin has outperformed in the last decade, the tax liabilities would be enormous. Over the last five years, the price of bitcoin is up 700%. Over the last 10 years, that figure is 17,000%. Anyone with a basic understanding of the value of cryptocurrencies can see how this proposed tax would discourage long-term investment and encourage short-term trading. Diamond hands would be punished for believing in the long-term promise of bitcoin and forced to pay a king’s ransom on assets they hadn’t yet cashed out on. What’s more, the move would stymy innovation and financial prosperity across the board. Wealthy Americans who own trillions of dollars worth of stock would be forced to sell enormous tranches of holdings to also fund their tax bills, while startup founders, largely compensated in equity, would be discouraged from taking their businesses public. Read the whole story here. |
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