Biweekly Headlines 2024 Apr W4 – May W1
“Once you fully internalize Bitcoin, you will be free from your intellectual chains.” – Jimmy Song
Biweekly News Roundup
1. Fed and Economic Indicators
· Fed’s decision on benchmark fed funds rate
– As both the economy and inflation exhibit unanticipated strength, the Fed left its benchmark fed funds rate range unchanged at 5.25-5.50%.
· Impact on U.S. dollar and cryptocurrencies
– The dovish Fed meeting results mean the U.S. dollar’s surge likely topped, helping cryptos, following soft U.S. jobs data.
2. Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Performance Metrics
· Bitcoin’s transaction records and market capitalization
– Three days after the Bitcoin halving, BTC amassed a new all-time high of 926,842 transactions on April 23, surpassing the previous high of over 731,000 transactions reached in December 2023.
– The cryptocurrency industry could hit one billion users by 2025, according to Bitcoin analyst, while Boston Consulting Group estimates by 2030.
– BTC has made it the world’s ninth-largest asset with a $1.3T market capitalization, larger than Meta Platforms, Berkshire Hathway, Visa, or JPMorgan Chase.
· Comparison with Tesla’s stock performance
– Over the past five years, Bitcoin’s price has risen over 1,180%, while Tesla’s stock price has risen over 806%.
– BTC rose 139% while Tesla fell over 11% over the past 12 months.
– Year-to-date BTC is up 49% while Tesla’s stock price is down 42%.
· Predictions for Bitcoin’s future prices
– HashKey Capital predicts a $100K–$200K BTC price by the end of 2024.
– Standard Chartered reiterated its year-end bitcoin and ether targets of $150,000 and $8,000, respectively.
3. Ethereum Network Developments
· Creation of new wallets and network expansion
– On the 28th and 29th of April, the Ethereum network witnessed the creation of 266.6K new wallets, marking the most substantial two-day surge in network expansion since October 8th and 9th, 2022.
· Deadline and discussions on spot Ethereum ETFs in the U.S.
– The deadline for the approval of spot Ethereum ETFs in the U.S., which has generated considerable discussion, is May 23.
4. Global Cryptocurrency Adoption
· Middle Eastern crypto markets’ growth
– Middle Eastern crypto markets surged by 166% year-over-year, with the UAE leading regional adoption.
· Germany’s crypto services initiation
– Germany’s LBBW announced that it was launching crypto procurement and custody services later this year.
5. Cryptocurrency Financial Products
· Launch and performance of Asia’s first spot bitcoin and ether ETFs
– Asia’s first spot bitcoin and ether ETFs debuted in Hong Kong on Apr. 30 with a first-day trading volume of just $11M.
– Despite an inauspicious beginning, Kraken anticipates $1B AUM in Hong Kong ETFs by 2024 end.
· Financial results and forecasts for cryptocurrency ETFs
– For the first time since going live on January 11, BlackRock’s spot bitcoin ETF did not draw any investor money, snapping a 71-day inflows streak.
– The total April net outflows of $343.5M have broken the three months of consecutive inflow streak for the spot Bitcoin ETFs.
– BlackRock sees sovereign wealth funds, and pensions coming to Bitcoin ETFs and its BUIDL becomes the largest tokenized treasury fund hitting $375M, toppling Franklin Templeton’s.
6. Stablecoin Market Dynamics
· Comparison of USDT and USDC in terms of value and transaction volume
– The current value of USDT, at $33.5B, is over three times the size of USDC, but the transaction volume of USDC has been on the rise since 2024.
– On March 24, 2024, USDC closed the week with almost five times more volume than USDT.
– By April 21, 2024, USDC’s weekly transactions reached $455B, while USDT fell to $89B.
7. Crypto Mining Developments
· Marathon’s increased hash rate target for 2024
– Marathon increases the 2024 hash rate target to 50 EH/s, marking more than a 100% increase in the firm’s hash rate since the start of 2024.
8. Legal and Regulatory Actions in Cryptocurrency
· Penalties imposed on major cryptocurrency projects and individuals
– The SEC is looking to impose its steepest fine yet on a cryptocurrency project, a $5.3B penalty for Do Kwon and Terraform Labs.
– It comes on the heels of the $4.3B fine imposed on Binance and follows its proposed $1.8B penalty for Ripple.
– The former CEO of Binance, CZ, was sentenced to four months in prison on Apr. 30.
9. Technological and Governance Innovations
· U.S. DHS’s launch of a new AI Safety and Security Board
– The U.S. DHS launched new AI Safety and Security Board on the 26th, and the 22-member board includes OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang.
May 4, 2024